WINCHESTER, Mass. — The Armenian International Women’s Association (AIWA) will hold its Annual Meeting on Sunday, May 15, at the Armenian Cultural Foundation, in Arlington.
Anaïde Nahikian, of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, will describe her first-hand experiences in visiting several trouble spots in the world in a presentation titled “Challenges and Opportunities of Humanitarian Efforts in the Face of International Conflict.”
AIWA is marking its 25th anniversary this year, and the annual meeting will serve as a prelude to a major celebration planned for next October 30 to November 2 at the Charles Hotel in Harvard Square, Cambridge. The three-day celebration, around the theme “Inspiring Our Future, Honoring Our Past,” will bring together women from around the world for a series of workshops, presentations, and discussions, and will feature a Gala Dinner on Saturday evening, Oct 1.
Nahikian is program manager for Harvard University’s Institutional Partnerships for Learning and Development and its Advanced Training Program on Humanitarian Action. She has conducted extensive field research on the responses and rehabilitation of refugees in the Syrian crisis, forced migration, and human trafficking.
Nahikian has headed field research and implemented workshops across the Middle East/North Africa, East Africa, Southeast Asia, and Europe.
A member of the faculty at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Kennedy School of Government, Nahikian has for several years led the research and curriculum design of an intensive field-based course on strategic humanitarian engagement. She is an Adjunct Lecturer at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University and an Affiliate at the Middle East Initiative at the Kennedy School of Government. She holds a degree in Sociology from Brandeis and an MSc in Human Rights from the London School of Economics and Political Science.