Humanitarian Supply Chain Management in Kenya

Abstract

Every year there are about 500 disasters killing about 75,000 people and affecting some 200 million people. Humanitarian organizations play a big role in meeting the basic needs of millions of people in need of humanitarian aid. In recent years, humanitarians have come under immense pressure from the donors, pledging millions in aid and goods, to prove that they are meeting their objectives in the most efficient and effective way. Eighty percent of humanitarian organization’s operations is spent on logistics and Supply Chain Management (SCM). Supply chain challenges faced therefore worsen humanitarian operations creating a lot of uncertainty among humanitarian organizations. This study was carried out to identify the challenges facing humanitarian supply chain during disaster situation, the effect of the challenges and practices that can be adopted to overcome the challenges. The study had three objectives; to identify supply chain practices adopted by humanitarian organizations, identify supply chain challenges facing humanitarian organizations in emergencies and identify SCM practices that can be adopted to overcome the challenges. The study adopted a case study approach with a focus on three organizations namely Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS), United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Data was successfully collected from supply chain managers of the three organizations, analyzed using Statistic Package for Social Science (SPSS) and presented using means scores and standard deviation in form of tables. From the findings, challenges facing humanitarian organizations were grouped into management related challenges, financial related challenges and operating environment related challenges. The effects of supply chain challenges on performance were identified as delay in delivery, uncertainty in demand, poor quality and quantity of goods and services delivered. Strategies recommended to be adopted to overcome these challenges were improved tendering process, adoption of technology, training of staff and demand analysis