The Feinstein International Center is a research and teaching center based at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. The Center’s mission is to promote the use of evidence and learning in operational and policy responses to protect and strengthen the lives, livelihoods, and dignity of people affected by or at risk of humanitarian crises.

The Center aims to take a practical, solution-oriented approach to research and teaching to address current and future global humanitarian challenges. The research is conducted in partnership with international agencies, local communities and a range of research organizations. The goal is to use existing knowledge and develop new evidence to inform and influence those who advocate for and create change, and in so doing, to improve policy and practice in the humanitarian field.

Like many academic centers, Feinstein supports a variety of grant-funded projects, each of which has a solid rationale and focus. With the hiring of a new executive director in 2017, the existential question facing Feinstein was, to what do these various projects add up? We worked with Feinstein over the course of 2018 to develop a rationale and boundary rules for the Center’s work and a value proposition for partners and donors. The core of the strategy is a focus on elevating the work of the Center as a bridge between the world of academic research and the world of practitioners in the humanitarian field.