Event
Ethics in Humanitarian Research: A Practical Discussion
Please save the date for the next Humanitarian Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (HuMEL) meeting on Wednesday, May 20!
About this Event
Humanitarian Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (HuMEL) is an emergency M&E learning network centered around the increasingly complex humanitarian context. The purpose of the network is to share lessons learned, methodologies, and experiences between implementers, donors, and other stakeholders with the goal of improving programming.
Join us for a lively discussion on ethical reviews for humanitarian research and monitoring. The webinar will kick off with a panel presentation from several implementing organizations that have in-house ethical oversight processes and procedures including ERC/ERBs and other less centralized mechanisms for ensuring ethical research and MEAL. We will then break into small groups to discuss challenges and successful approaches for conducting ethics reviews for humanitarian research and monitoring. Topics for small-group discussion will include research ethics during COVID-19, balancing local and international IRB approval timelines and the humanitarian imperative for rapid implementation, the pros and cons of in-house ethics reviews, and a selection of other topics proposed by participants during registration.
Related Content
Publication
Ethical Considerations for Evidence Generation Involving Children on the COVID-19 Pandemic
This paper identifies key ethical considerations when undertaking evidence generation involving children during the mitigation stage of the pandemic (emergency phase), on subject matter relating to COVID-19 once the pandemic has been contained, and once containment policy measures, including lockdowns, have been lifted (post-emergency phase).
While the COVID-19 pandemic is undoubtedly a global crisis, with evidence generation activities raising critical ethical issues that have been captured in the literature and relevant guidelines, there are specificities relating to this emergency that must be considered when unpacking potential ethical issues.
Hence while ethical issues pertaining to evidence generation involving children in emergencies and humanitarian contexts are relevant and should be considered, there are factors that define this ‘special case’ that must be considered from the outset. These will inform the core ethical considerations that need to be addressed.
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Project
Ethical research and children
UNICEF is committed to ensuring that all research, evaluation and data collection processes undertaken by UNICEF and its partners are ethical. To this end, procedures and guidelines have been created to embed ethical principles and practices in all our evidence generation programmes.
UNICEF recognizes the critical importance of children’s voice in evidence generation and is developing tools to support and advocate for ethical evidence generation involving children.
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Project
Ethical research for children
UNICEF is committed to ensuring that all research, evaluation and data collection processes undertaken by UNICEF and its partners are ethical.
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Blog Post
New Technologies: Rich Source of Data or Ethical Minefield for Researchers?
Social media and geospatial technology offer access to huge amounts of data, but vast ethical implications are often ignored. In this blog post the author highlights advantages and risks of using these technologies to gather data about children. She also provide useful guidance for researchers – especially those unfamiliar with technology – on the questions they should be asking in order to protect children’s rights.
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Blog Post
Ethical collection of data from children during the COVID-19 pandemic
Our need to understand, quantify, forecast, track and unpack the COVID-19 pandemic fuels an insatiable need for data. We need to ensure that this quickly doesn’t overshadow the basic principle of “do no harm.” We need to do so with a critical lens on our belief that we will do good through the data collection.
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