Humanitarian Aid Distribution in East Africa: A Study in Supply Chain Volatility and Fragility

Abstract

This article examines supply chain operations in volatile and fragile environments. Salient existing literature can be divided into two broad groups: commercial vulnerability, when uncertainties in a business environment cause demand fluctuation, and noncommercial vulnerability, when uncertainties are dramatic and are derived from an external shock such as terrorism or natural events (e.g., earthquakes). The objective of this article is to examine the operation of aid supply chains in the extreme conditions that prevailed immediately following the Rwandan civil war and during the more stable period that followed. In particular the aim is to carry out an assessment of the effectiveness of the movement of emergency aid to and within Rwanda in the post-Rwandan civil war period (1994 to 1996), with specific reference to road-based logistics and port operations in Kenya, the workings of Tanzania railways, and the role of other service providers in and around Rwanda. Internal and external barriers to distribution, which are both physical and nonphysical, are highlighted.