Humanitarian logistics
is a branch of logistics which
specializes in organizing the delivery and warehousing of supplies during
natural disasters or complex emergencies to the affected area and people.
Although they have been mostly utilized in commercial supply chain, logistics is one of the most important
tools now in disaster relief operations. Type and quantity of the resources,
way of procurement and storage of the supplies, tools of tracking and means
transportation to the stricken area, specialization of teams participating in
the operation and plan of cooperation between these teams, are some important
issues that are connected directly to humanitarian logistics.
The main purpose of
humanitarian logistics is to provide assistance to people affected by disaster
or for organizations that manage disaster response. Provision of assistance
must comply with the requirements, appropriate and controlled, to avoid misuse
and waste.
The basic task of
humanitarian logistics comprises acquiring and delivering requested supplies and services, at the places and
times they are needed, whilst ensuring best value for money. In the immediate aftermath of any disaster,
these supplies include items that are vital for survival, such as food, water,
temporary shelter and medicine, among others.
Procurement
Procurement
is a key activity in the supply chain. The procurement involves the sourcing,
purchasing and covers all activities from identifying potential suppliers of
relief items and services that are needed to meet the needs of the
beneficiaries. There are three important principles of humanitarian
procurement:
- Transparency: all phases in the procurement process are fair and accurately documented.
- Accountability: accountability to donors who may require certain rules to be followed when using the fund/money that they have provided.
- Efficiency and cost effectiveness: meeting the six rights of supply: right price, right time, right quantity, right quality, delivery to the required places and from the most cost effective source.
The
procurement function must guard and mitigate against risk, understand the
market, build a trust relationship with suppliers, meet the needs in a timely
manner, and constantly monitor performance to improve service provision.
Transport
In
the humanitarian context, transport can be defined as the physical movement of
relief items/goods from suppliers or point of origin to internal customers (in
this case mainly is warehouse of humanitarian organization) or directly
to the beneficiaries. The transport component in the supply chain therefore is
critical in connecting supply to demand. The aim of transport in humanitarian
context is to physically move the relief items/goods in a reliable and safe
manner, on time, cost effectively and efficiently to its destination.
Transport
mode will depend on several factors including:
- The type and volume of items/goods to be transported.
- The urgency that items/goods are required.
- The availability of different transport routes as well as different types of transport.
- The destination to which the items/goods to be transported.
- The cost of transportation.
- The terrain through which the items/goods need to be transported.
Warehousing
and Inventory
The
third main component is warehousing and inventory. Recently, some of the
experts said that in the perfect supply chain we do not need warehouses in
order to reduce costs. In the humanitarian context, clearly there are reasons
why items/goods have to be stored and why we need warehouses. In the
humanitarian supply chain, there are types of responsibility to manage
warehouses, e.g. supplier warehouses, donor warehouses, humanitarian
organizations warehouses.
Developing logistics warehousing to
store all essential goods is one of the tools utilized in disaster response planning.
Warehouses should be designed by taking
precautions for contamination or waste of materials and organized in order to
facilitate deliveries to the desired area at the desired time and quantities.
Successful humanitarian operations also presuppose that distribution centers
are located in the correct area, which is obviously near the region that tends
to be hit by a disaster and can be indicated through software or mathematical models.
The responsible authorities aim at maximization of response and minimization of
distribution time, money spent and number of distribution centers. Coordination
of the delivery of goods, organization of teams, supplies and equipment
movement is realized by mobilization centers, which are located near the
affected region. A way of taking precautions before a disaster occurs, is to organize emergency
response plans which will help preparation and consequently mobilization in the
time of the disaster.