DV466      Half Unit
Humanitarian Consultancy Project

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

Course Convenor

Availability

This unit is a core half unit course for the MSc IDHE. Students work on a consultancy report in Autumn and Winter Terms.
Students will gain practical experience of dealing with current policy issues and best practice in the fields of humanitarian assistance or international development by working on a live consultancy project for a real client. The consultancies are based around an experiential learning format. Students receive guidance through a structured supervision process and with support from a staff coach.
Students are allocated to consultancy teams usually comprising between three and six people. Students can express preferences for particular clients but may not be allocated to one of these. The roster of clients and projects changes every year.
The consultancy project begins in Autumn Term (AT) with client reports due in the Winter Term (WT). The client report and final presentation form part of the assessment.

8 hours of lectures and 6 hours of classes in the Autumn Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn and Winter Term.

This course is delivered through a combination of lectures and interaction with coaches driven by student needs. Consultancy groups are expected to meet most weeks throughout AT and WT and group members generally commit around 30 days of their time to the course. During AT there will be a minimum of 4 lectures, 2 optional Zoom based problem-solving workshops and mandatory sessions devoted to student inception report presentations. There will be three scheduled optional Zoom problem-solving workshops in the WT.

Autumn Term

• Weeks 2, 3, 4 and 5: 2-hour Skills lectures
• Week 6: Reading Week
• Weeks 7 & 8: Zoom based problem-solving workshops 
• Weeks 9, 10 and 11: Inception report presentations

Winter Term

• Weeks  1, 3 & 7: Zoom based problem-solving workshops

Presentation

• John Rowley and Frances Rubin, 'Effective Consultancies in Development and Humanitarian and Humanitarian Programmes' (Oxfam: Oxford: 2006);
• Michael Bamberger, Jim Rugh and Linda Mabry, 'Real World Evaluation: working Under Budget, Time, Data and Political Constraints' (Sage: London, 2012);
• Michael Quinn Patton, 'Utilization Focused Evaluation' 4th Edition (Sage: London, 2008);
• Michael Edwards and Alan Fowler, 'NGO Management' (Earthscan: Oxford, 2002);
• Eric James 'Managing Humanitarian Relief: An Operational Guide for NGOs' (Practical Action Publishing: Rugby, 2008)

Presentation (20%)

Report (70%, 8000 words)

Learning Log / reflective learning report (10%)

Students are required to complete three elements of summative assessment: 

• The first is the formal presentation of the report (in front of the client), worth 20% of the overall mark, and takes place at the end of WT. This comprises a 20-minute presentation plus 40 minutes Q&A.
• The final written report, worth 70% of the overall mark, takes place at the end of WT. This comprises an approximately 8,000-word paper.  
• Students will also be assessed through Course Participation, worth 10% of the overall grade. This is compiled at the end of WT and is measured by the coach, utilising a variety of sources including peer assessment and a mandatory reflective learning report.

An alternative assessment pathway is available in situations where groups are dissolved or individual students are removed from groups usually, but not exclusively, for disciplinary, client related or personal reasons.  The suitability of this pathway is determined by the Programme Director and Head of Department. The department may also require or request individual students who have performed extremely well or are suspected not to have contributed fully to demonstrate contributions through a portfolio of assessed work. Students produce two reflective learning reports in the form of two individual diaries. Individual performance is assessed through a peer review exercise and the coach’s own assessment of individual contributions. Final client presentations take place in weeks 9, 10 and 11 of WT and are scheduled by the students in consultation with academic staff and the client. Students should be aware that presentations to clients may have to take place in the week after the end of WT, and students should plan accordingly and be available to participate if required. Participation in the final presentation is mandatory to complete the course requirements.