The mission of the Ford Institute for Human Security is to promote effective responses to severe threats faced by individuals and their communities as a result of conflict and deprivation. To that end, the Institute conducts research on the causes and consequences of political violence and economic underdevelopment, and works to advance the idea that governments have a sovereign responsibility to protect their people.
  

The Ford Institute for Human Security


The Ford Institute for Human Security engages in independent and collaborative research on causes of political violence, the effects of conflict on civilians, methods of conflict resolution, and transitions from conflict to stable peace. We make our research findings available through publications, presentations and consultation to national and international policy makers, non-governmental organizations and other interested parties.

The Ford Institute treats human security and national security as mutually reinforcing. The gravest threats to human security arise when governments are unable or unwilling to protect their population from internal and external threats. Governments face their greatest challenges when the lives and livelihoods of the people they govern are threatened.

Human Security at GSPIA

The Graduate School of Public and International Affairs offers a major concentration in human security for degree candidates in International Affairs and International Development. The major adopts a broad definition of human security as the protection of people from large-scale threats to their physical and economic well being. The Ford Institute and the human security major together make GSPIA a leader in research and education concerning the complex security challenges people face in this rapidly changing world.

 

Pitt Team Shares $2.6 Million Government Contract to Evaluate U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Programs in West Africa

05/10/2013

In West African communities where crime, unemployment, and religious extremism are high and government effectiveness is low, organizations are working to establish democratic order. Are they succeeding? How should these aid groups determine whether they’re effecting meaningful change?

To help answer these questions, a University of Pittsburgh faculty group has joined an evaluation and training project supported by a $2.6 million contract from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. government’s primary humanitarian aid agency. Pitt’s Governance Group in the University’s Ford Institute for Human Security has partnered with The Mitchell Group, a Washington, D.C.-based research firm, to examine the effectiveness of USAID programs in Burkina Faso, Chad, Cote D’Ivoire, and Niger over the next five years. Read more.

Does the Maghreb Matter? Building Peace through Economic Development

05/07/2013
By Camille Gockowski

The Ford Institute for Human Security in collaboration with the World Affairs Council recently hosted the panel discussion “Does the Maghreb Matter? Building Peace through Economic Development” featuring Dr. Timothy Docking, Dr. J. Peter Pham, and Dr. Louis A. Picard to examine the current state of affairs in West and Northwest Africa. The president of the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh, Dr. Steven E. Sokol, served as the moderator. Read more.

U.S. Institute of Peace Officer Leads Career and Grant Writing Workshops

05/07/2013

Elizabeth Murray, a senior program officer with the U.S. Institute of Peace, recently shared career advice and best practices in grant writing as part of an outreach program on peace building and nonprofit work in the U.S. and around the world. Read more.

 
 

Ford Institute for Human Security
3930 Wesley W. Posvar Hall, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260

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