Policy-making and promotion of humanitarian action in crises; Study of student groups active in the COVID 19 pandemic

Although governments are primarily responsible for major crises and epidemics, they need the humanitarian and humanitarian assistance of their citizens or international groups. One of the groups active in the COVID-19 outbreak was the participation of student groups in humanitarian activities. The purpose of this study is to discover and analyze their perception and experience of promoting such actions in crises. The study is a qualitative study based on the framework analysis with 27 participants who are the leaders of student groups and activists in the first and second waves of the corona in the city of Yazd. Data were collected through 26 semi-structured interviews. In total, 40 concepts, 12 categories and 4 main themes were explored. The results of the research showed that the practical suggestions of the participants are to push the crisis policies towards a kind of neutrality. Four final themes emerged: neutrality, selective-scientific institutionalization, dialogue and tolerance, sociability, altruism, and responsibility. Framework model showed that there is a divergence withween culture and politics spheres in this crisis. As a result, it can be said that the country's policymakers should make more use of the capacity of student groups in crises, while their main approach is to free crisis intervention from political views. Also, culturally, society needs to promote public culture in order to be more responsible and a culture of dialogue and tolerance, especially in crises. Student groups also need crisis-specific institutionalization that has an organizational and scientific character.