DEVELOPMENT OF HUMANITARIAN SUPPLY CHAIN PERFORMANCE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK IN CREATING RESILIENT LOGISTICS NETWORK

Abstract

Humanitarian logistics which is precisely known as humanitarian supply chain (HSC) plays a major role in reducing the impact of disaster on human life and livelihood by providing humanitarian aid in the forms of food, water, medicine, shelter and other supplies. Unfortunately, anecdotal evidences indicated that relief chain tends to be unstable, unpredictable and unresponsive to the needs of disaster victims. The 2004 Asian tsunami highlighted the lack of coordination between the relief chain linkages that hampered effective supply of aid. This phenomenon was further evident in our own context during the 2014 flood devastation in Peninsular Malaysia. Floodwaters and subsequent landslides blocked major roads, limiting access to evacuation centres and impeding the delivery of emergency relief supplies. Hence, an effective humanitarian supply chain management (HSCM) should be able to be deployed rapidly enabling provision of aid to beneficiaries. Notwithstanding the frequency and impact of disasters, humanitarian organizations today are under continuous pressure of improving their logistics performance. Departing from this need, this study aims to examine the criteria that influence the humanitarian aid actors in their decision making while increasing transparency and accountability of relief operations. Therefore, it is imperative for humanitarian sector to quantify the efficiency and effectiveness of a particular relief operation using set of performance metrics. A mixed methods approach comprising qualitative and quantitative survey will be used. The study intended to identify and define the metrics that would determine successful operational performance of disaster relief. This research will contribute mainly in the development of a HSCM performance model that (i) informs decision makers at the strategic, tactical and operational level in tracking progress, (ii) facilitate a more open and transparent communication and cooperation between humanitarian actors, and (iii) improve the logistics of disaster management both at the government and at non-governmental level.