Identifying challenges

in humanitarian logistics
Gyongyi Kovacs
Department of Marketing, HANKEN School of Economics,
Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Research Institute,
Helsinki, Finland, and
Karen Spens
Department of Marketing, HANKEN School of Economics, Helsinki, Finland
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the challenges of humanitarian logisticians with
respect to different types of disasters, phases of disaster relief and the type of humanitarian
organization. A conceptual model is constructed that serves as a basis to identify these challenges.
Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on a country as a case, namely Ghana.
Structured and unstructured data are collected in a workshop with humanitarian logisticians, and
complemented with presentations of humanitarian logisticians, as they perceive their challenges.
Disaster statistics and country proles are used as secondary data.
Findings The paper shows that some disasters defy a categorization between natural and man-made
causes. Challenges of humanitarian logisticians depend not only on the disaster at hand, but also on the
local presence of their organization. The most emphasized challenge is the coordination of logistical
activities. Challenges can be managed better if attributing them to different stakeholder environments.
Research limitations/implications Applying stakeholder theory to logistics, this paper
provides a greater understanding for the challenges of humanitarian logisticians.
Practical implications Astakeholder categorization of the challenges of humanitarian logisticians
helps to nd potential collaboration partners as well as to mitigate these challenges.
Originality/value Humanitarian logistics is a rather new eld in logistics literature. What is more,
there is a lack of empirical cases in the eld. This paper proposes a conceptual model based on an
actual empirical case.
Keywords Aid agencies, Distasters, Stakeholder analysis, Ghana
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Logistics research and practice has been very much focused on its application in a
business context. A different application area of logistics is in the context of
humanitarian aid, which has been only recently embraced by research. Whilst there
were onlya handful of articles onhumanitarian logistics uptill 2005 (as the two literature
reviews by Kovacs and Spens, 2007 and 2008 would indicate though more can be
found froman operations research perspective, Altay and Green, 2006). In these last two
years, humanitarian logistics was included as special tracks of the INFORMS; POMS,
LRN and NOFOMA conferences, and debated in many other platforms. This same
period also saw the formation of a number of research groups dedicated to the topic.
Based on a workshop with humanitarian organizations, Thomas and Mizushima
(2005, p. 60) dened humanitarian logistics as the process of planning, implementing
and controlling the efcient, cost-effective ow and storage of goods and materials, as
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
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International Journal of Physical
Distribution & Logistics Management
Vol. 39 No. 6, 2009
pp. 506-528
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0960-0035
DOI 10.1108/09600030910985848
well as related information, from point of origin to point of consumption for the
purpose of meeting the end beneciarys requirements. Except for its focus on the end
beneciary, this denition is largely comparable to any denition of business logistics.
Balcik and Beamon (2008, p. 102) summarize crucial characteristics of humanitarian
logistics (as different from business logistics) to consist of the:
.
unpredictability of demand, in terms of timing, location, type, and size;
.
suddenness of the occurrence of demand in large amounts but with short lead
times for a wide variety of supplies;
.
high stakes associated with the timeliness of deliveries; and
.
lack of resources in terms of supply, people, technology, transportation capacity,
and money.
There are several reasons why humanitarian logistics is of interest to researchers.
First, in its broader context, humanitarian supply chains have been argued to be most
agile (Oloruntoba and Gray, 2006). Thus, their core competence is to deal with different
types of disasters, they are very responsive when it comes to disruptions. Second,
supply chain risk management literature includes the question of disruptions due to
natural disasters and terrorist attacks as well as operational disruptions (Norrman and
Jansson, 2004). Humanitarian supply chains are specialized in managing large-scale
risks, but also supply chains operating in a business context are more and more
interested in their management, as a disaster anywhere on the globe can interrupt
supplies or demolish markets (Wallace and Webber, 2004). What is more, humanitarian
aid has a signicant economic importance (Thomas and Fritz, 2006), and ofcial
development assistance alone accounted for USI$ 103.7 billion in 2007[1] (OECD, 2008),
not including private donors.
The global relevance of humanitarian supply chains is highlighted by the fact of all
governments being involved in humanitarian aid as either donors or recipients, not to
speak of the number of commercial organizations involved in humanitarian supply
chains as product suppliers and third party logistics providers (Kovacs and Spens,
2007). Also, there is a myriad of humanitarian organizations that need to co-ordinate
their efforts in every disaster. At the same time, the number of disasters is growing;
with number of reported large-scale disasters having risen from 50 to over 400 yearly
in 30 years Emergency Events Database (Emergency Events Database EM-DAT,
2008). Interestingly, about 80 percent of costs related to humanitarian aid can be
assigned to material plus delivery costs, and are therefore labeled logistical costs
(van Wassenhove, 2006).
The very characteristics of humanitarian logistics, the unpredictability of demand,
suddenness of its occurrence, the high stakes associated with the timeliness of
deliveries, and a lack of resources (Balcik and Beamon, 2008) are also indicative of the
challenges faced by humanitarian logisticians. What is more, the actual challenges
faced in a disaster depend on the type of the disaster as well as the region the disaster
occurs in. The purpose of this paper is therefore to identify the challenges of
humanitarian logisticians with respect to different types of disasters, phases of disaster
relief, and types of humanitarian organizations. Based on a study of humanitarian
organizations in Ghana, a conceptual model is constructed that serves as a basis to
identify such challenges.
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The paper is structured as follows: it commences with a discussions of disaster
categorizations, phases of disaster relief, and types of humanitarian organizations.
Particular attention is paid to the regional context of disaster relief, that is, regional
disaster proles as well as pre-existing infrastructure that assists to prepare for
disasters. Next, the design of the study is introduced before turning to its ndings, and
the presentation of the conceptual model to identify challenges of humanitarian
logisticians. The paper ends with suggestions for further research.
2. Humanitarian logistics literature
Humanitarian logistics deals with disasters which range from earthquakes, tsunamis,
hurricanes, epidemics, droughts, famines, terrorist attacks, and war situations to a
combination of several disasters which may occur simultaneously. Ludema (2000)
categorizes humanitarian relief operations into emergency relief as immediate response
to a disaster, elementary or subsistence relief, rehabilitation relief to restore everyday
life, and development relief aimed to improve a system. Yet this differentiation is
unclear as to the causes of disasters and the timing of humanitarian assistance. The
causes, effects and scale of disasters vary largely; so do the organizations that are
involved in mitigating them and/or in delivering aid as well as the challenges they
pose for humanitarian logisticians. For example, earthquakes and wars affect the
physical infrastructure of a region, leading to special routing problems and planning of
delivery systems (Barabasoglu et al.; 2002; O

zdamar et al., 2004, Tzeng et al., 2007; Yi

and O

zdamar, 2007). Similarly, security questions related to complex emergencies, for

example natural disasters or famines during war situations, in particular regions affect
questions of inventory control (Beamon and Kotleba, 2006a, b). Thus, different types of
disasters pose particular challenges for humanitarian logisticians.
2.1 Challenges related to different types of disasters
A general denition of disasters is given by the International Strategy for Disaster
Reduction (UN/ISDR, 2004, p.3) a disaster is:
[. . .] a serious disruption of the functioning of society, posing a signicant, widespread threat
to human life, health, property or the environment, whether caused by accident, nature or
human activity, and whether developing suddenly or as a result of complex, long-term
processes.
Another broad denition is a disaster being a disruption that physically affects a
system as a whole and threatens its priorities and goals (van Wassenhove, 2006,
p. 476). Importantly, as long as a system, or nation, has the capabilities to cope with the
effects of an event, it is not perceived as a major disaster (Kovacs et al., 2007; Long and
Wood, 1995; UN CHINA, 2001). To be included in the UN/ISDR linked database
EM-DAT, a disaster must fulll the criterion of a declaration of state of emergency and
a call for international assistance. These criteria are, however, disputed in disasters
such as the Myanmar oods or the cholera epidemics in Zimbabwe, both in 2008.
Different types of disasters can be distinguished according to origin of a disaster being
natural or man-made, and its warning time being slow vs rapid, or sudden-onset
disasters (Pettit and Beresford, 2006; van Wassenhove, 2006) (Table I).
Similarly, the EM-DAT database[2] aggregates disasters in the natural vs
technological categories. Anatural disaster is a potentially damaging natural event or
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the probability that such an event will occur within a given time period and area (UN
CHINA, 2001). However, complex emergencies show elements of both man-made
(armed conict) and natural disasters (e.g. famine). Thus, the emergency at hand can
involve a number of different types of disasters at the same time.
The causes of specic disasters will often provide insight into post-disaster
humanitarian logistics challenges. Generally, the predictability of a disaster plays a role
in the possibilities of responding to it and the occurrence of particular types of disasters
can be tied to specic geographical areas (Chang et al., 2007). For instance, Iceland,
Japan and New Zealand are prone to earthquakes, whereas avalanches are specic to
snowy mountainous areas. On the African continent, on the other hand, one can see a
pattern of slow-onset disasters. Many of these are categorized as complex emergencies
as they are the results of armed conicts. However, it is the Asia Pacic region that
accounts for over 60 percent of worlds disaster events. Many countries in the region are
frequently hit by serious earthquakes, the entire region suffers from seasonal typhoons
and oods which kill thousands of people and cause billions of dollars worth of damage
and cause severe hardship for millions of people. Each of the disasters has a different
impact in each of the different sub-regions, depending on geography, demography and
socio-economic status. The situation is unfortunately also expected to get worse in the
future due to the effects of climate change. (International Federation of Red Cross
IFRC, 2008).
Sudden-onset disasters have a strong negative impact on the physical infrastructure
of the region, destroying transport infrastructure such as bridges and air elds,
electricity networks and communication infrastructure (Barabasoglu et al., 2002).
Thus, an important challenge of humanitarian logisticians is to determine bottlenecks
and the usability of infrastructure. A long-term view on assuring the accessibility of
disaster-struck regions is through the mapping and even construction of transport
infrastructure as part of humanitarian logistics projects, such as UNJLCs road
constructions in South Sudan. Such infrastructure projects are of strategic relevance to
humanitarian logistics (Altay et al., 2009).
Forecasting, even planning, is possible in the case of slow-onset disasters. For
example, agricultural production can be monitored, and refugee camps constructed in
advance. What is new to humanitarian logistics is the emphasis of such planning
and preparedness in also sudden-onset disasters (Jahre and Heigh, 2008). In this case
the challenge of logisticians consists of prepositioning items out of the reach of the
potential demolishing impact of a disaster while at the same time close enough
to the disaster as to deliver aid quickly and effectively (Balcik and Beamon, 2008).
Natural Man-made
Sudden-onset Earthquake
Hurricane
Tornadoes
Terrorist attack
Coup d Etat
Chemical leak
Slow-onset Famine
Drought
Poverty
Political crisis
Refugee crisis
Source: van Wassenhove (2006, p. 476)
Table I.
Categorizing disasters
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Moreover, as Oloruntoba and Gray (2006) argue, responding to a sudden-onset disaster
calls for agile supply chains, thus focusing on response times, while the planning
horizon for slow-onset disasters enables logisticians to focus on cost efciencies.
The natural vs man-made divide also bears implications for humanitarian logisticians.
Preparedness is also possible for cyclical disasters such as cyclones, hurricanes or
snow-related oods. Others, such as earthquakes and avalanches, are region-specic.
Affected populations can be trained to respond rapidly, or even avoid being affected by a
disaster. But while natural disasters can be prepared for, man-made disasters might be
prevented. However, logisticians facing man-made disasters with elements of armed
conict and political crises need to tackle increased security and safety-related challenges
(Pettit and Beresford, 2006). Indications for such security-related challenges are recent
abductions and killings of humanitarian staff in complex emergencies.
2.2 Challenges related to disaster relief phases
Humanitarian logistics literature distinguishes between different phases of disaster
relief. The minimal distinction is between preparation and post-event phases (Long,
1997; van Wassenhove, 2006). On a more detailed level, Ludema (2000) differentiates
between emergency relief, rehabilitation and development; Safran (2003) between
prevention, transition and recovery; Pettit and Beresford (2006) between preparedness,
response and recovery; Altay and Green (2006) between mitigation, preparedness,
response and recovery; and Kovacs and Spens (2007) between preparation,
immediate response and reconstruction. In this, Ludemas (2000) emergency relief
phase can be equaled with Safrans (2003) transition, Pettit and Beresfords (2006) as
well as Altay and Greens (2006)response and Kovacs and Spens (2007) immediate
response. In the case of predictable disasters such as hurricanes, Altay et al. further
distinguish between a pre-event and a post-event response.
The phases of disaster relief can be seen in terms of a cycle that links recovery back
to the preparedness phase (Pettit and Beresford, 2006; Safran, 2003). Thus, ideally,
rehabilitation and reconstruction includes a learning element for further disasters to
come. This is the basis for the installation of tsunami warning systems (Beresford and
Pettit, 2007) or disaster awareness in education programs. Contrary to this cyclical
view, reconstruction and rehabilitation can be seen as the start of development aid.
Therefore, in the following, preparedness will be used to refer to preparation and
prevention, immediate response for emergency relief or transition, and
reconstruction for activities related to recovery, rehabilitation, and development.
Further details can be added to these phases. For example, Safran (2003) separates
two elements of the immediate response phase, namely the disaster and the emergency
elements. Tatham and Kovacs (2007) investigated the change from disaster and
emergency elements towards recovery and found that:
(1) the response of national and international humanitarian organizations
depended on these elements, as to say, search and rescue operations and
national disaster relief activities ongoing in the disaster element, while
international aid agencies would arrive in the emergency element only; and
(2) the primary transportation modes between these elements and phases differed.
In specic, a modal shift from air to road transportation taking place between the
emergency element and the recovery phase of disaster relief. In conclusion, both the
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activation of organizations and the challenges of humanitarian logistics depend upon
the phase of disaster relief.
The mandate of a humanitarian organization also determines which phase of
disaster relief the organization can be involved in, for example. World Food Programme
(WFP) focusing on immediate response, whereas Food and Agricultural Organization
(FAO) is in charge of development aid when it comes to food aid. Another
mandate-based divide can be seen between natural and man-made disasters. For
example, IFRC focuses on disaster relief in (mostly) sudden-onset natural disasters,
while International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) responds to political and armed
conicts, leading to the presence of both in complex emergencies. Thus, the activities as
well as challenges of a humanitarian logistician depend on the presence and mandate of
her/his own organization, and of the presence of other organizations in the eld.
2.3 Challenges related to different types of humanitarian organizations
Related to the challenges of humanitarian logisticians is the involvement of different
organizations in the response. Humanitarian organizations take many different forms:
from supranational aid agencies (e.g. UN agencies) and governmental organizations
(GOs) to big international non-governmental organizations (BINGOs) and one-man
non-governmental organizations (NGOs). They differ in local presence, size, and
mandate. Whilst IFRC and many faith-based organizations have a loose coupling
between national chapters and an international coordinating body, UN agencies have
no national presence per denition. This difference in organizational structure affects
the response times of these organizations. National chapters are thus involved in the
rst wave of relief in the immediate response phase, Safrans (2003) disaster element,
while agencies with no presence in the affected country need to wait to be ofcially
invited in order to enter the country.
The size of an organization effectively delimits its operational possibilities. On the
one hand, small humanitarian NGOs can focus on niche markets and disasters that
are particularly prevalent in a region (Spens et al., 2007). On the other hand, even
BINGOs are specialized on particular items and sometimes, groups of beneciaries, etc.
Community-based BINGOs further specialize on some international activities in each
community. For example, the Norwegian and Finnish Red Cross supply eld hospitals
in international missions while the Canadian and Danish Red Cross provide logistical
support.
The mandate of a humanitarian organization denes its operational boundaries,
including:
.
the items it delivers, for example Oxfam focusing on water and sanitation, United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and IFRC on shelter, WFP on food;
.
which beneciaries it focuses on, such as the children and their families focus of
both UNICEF and Save the Children;
.
the types of disasters it is concerned with (see IFRC vs ICRC);
.
which phase of disaster relief it focuses on (see WFP vs FAO) and even; and
.
which partners it can or cannot collaborate with.
Here, particular attention is paid to civil-military collaboration (Pettit and Beresford,
2006).
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The humanitarian aid supply network consists of more than just humanitarian
organizations. Kovacs and Spens (2008) list donors, aid agencies, NGOs, governments,
the military, and logistics service providers, and suppliers as actors involved in a
humanitarian aid supply network. Oloruntoba and Gray (2006) add aid recipients
(beneciaries) to the list, while stressing the distinction between international and
national, including community-based organizations. van Wassenhove (2006) adds the
media as a stakeholder of disaster relief. Which organizations are encompassed in these
lists depends on whether or not a study looks at the organizations actively involved in
delivering relief, the actors, or at all organizations with an interest in disaster relief,
the stakeholders (Tatham and Kovacs, 2007). The presence of such a myriad of actors
in disaster relief has led to a number of articles discussing the coordination of their
activities (Kaatrud et al., 2003; Oloruntoba and Gray, 2006; Pettit and Beresford, 2006;
Tatham and Kovacs, 2007; Thomas and Fritz, 2006; van Wassenhove, 2006).
A challenge to humanitarian logisticians is to determine which organizations she/he
can effectively collaborate with for which purpose. Logisticians are torn between the
front ofce media exposure of the organization, leading to the requirement to be rst on
site, which in its turn triggers donations to the organization, and the back ofce
logistical operation that ideally puts the needs of beneciaries rst. This front ofce
back ofce indicates that humanitarian organizations do, indeed, regard each others as
competitors, be it for the same funding resources or for media attention, while at the
same time collaborators in the effective delivery of relief. Nonetheless, coordination
mechanisms have of late been put in place, such as the UNs cluster approach and the
establishment of an agency that serves the purpose of coordinating relief efforts,
namely UNJLC[3] (Kaatrud et al., 2003).
Yet the mere knowledge of which other humanitarian organizations are present in a
region poses a challenge to humanitarian logisticians. Regional maps of organizational
presence have been developed for development aid, but who will respond to a particular
sudden-onset disaster is less clear. Humanitarian logisticians need to nd counterparts
in other organizations, both in the eld as well as between the headquarters of each
organization involved. Relating back to the phases of disaster relief, the question in the
humanitarian aid supply network is not only which other organizations are present, but
also in which of the phases of relief they are present. As Tatham and Kovacs (2007)
pointed out, the very rst response to a disaster is conducted by national organizations.
The magnitude of the disaster does not in itself justify a call for international aid; rather,
the ability of a region to cope with a disaster determines whether this call is issued.
Considering a regional proneness to particular disasters, national humanitarian
organizations may play an important role as they can specialize on the types of disasters
that occur in their region.
In summary, challenges of humanitarian logisticians may arise from a regional
context as well as particular disaster types, the actual phase of disaster relief, and even
the type of organization the logisticians work for. Therefore, the following study has
been designed to focus on a particular region, Africa, and more specically, Ghana.
3. Research design
The study started out with an extensive literature review of academic literature on
humanitarian supply chains while also assembling data from disaster management
databases, in order to identify the types of disasters which are prevalent within
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a particular geographic area. Statistical data on the occurrence and magnitude of
different disasters was available from the EM-DAT. This sequential literature review
was subsequently narrowed down to challenges in Africa. Augmenting the literature
review, secondary data on 12 challenges related to humanitarian logistics in Africa was
analyzed in this paper. These challenges can be summarized to consist of (Fritz
Institute, 2004):
.
a lack of standards and indicators;
.
inadequate training;
.
lack of collaboration;
.
(low) recognition of logistics; and
.
inadequate infrastructure.
While the SPHERE international standards for humanitarian aid items and services
have developed, their implementation by smaller, regional organizations is limited.
Inadequate training in humanitarian logistics has also been highlighted in literature
(Thomas and Kopczak, 2005; Perry, 2007). This has led to the development of
certications and even MBA programs for humanitarian logisticians. That said, neither
the lack of collaboration across humanitarian organizations nor the lack of recognition
of logistics in the humanitarian context is unique to Africa. Yet the low recognition of
logistics is surprising given the large share of logistical costs in humanitarian aid (van
Wassenhove, 2006). Inadequate infrastructure is also a common problem of developing
countries (Bookbinder and Tan, 2003; Pedersen, 2003); though disasters themselves also
impact negatively on the physical infrastructure of a region (O

zdamar et al., 2004). Just

how these challenges manifest themselves was therefore the topic of a two-day
workshop with humanitarian logisticians in Ghana in August 2007.
Invitations to the workshop were sent directly to humanitarian organizations, but
the workshop was also announced in newspapers. This was important as to make sure
that all organizations that are involved in the humanitarian supply chain would indeed
be reached. While there are over 4,000 humanitarian organizations present in the
country, most of these are related to small religious congregations focusing on their
particular community and therefore lack their own logistical operations. In essence, the
sampling strategy for the workshop was to invite participants with logistical expertise
in humanitarian aid. Eventually, the over forty participants of the workshop
represented the largest humanitarian organizations in Ghana: United Nations
Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD), World Vision, Adventist Development and
Relief Agency (ADRA), CARE, the National Disaster Management Organization
(NADMO), the Ghanaian armed forces, re service, national ambulance service (NAS),
etc. In other words, workshop attendees represented international aid agencies,
Ghanaian governmental agencies, international and national non-governmental
agencies, as well as the Ghanaian armed forces.
In this study, Ghana as a country is treated as a case. Though geographically bound
case studies are rare in business logistics, examples of such cases can be found in
Campbell et al.s (2001) city as a case, and Bookbinder and Tans (2003) comparison of
the logistical systems of different regions. Also, transport geography literature often
discusses regions, or countries, as cases (Hesse and Rodrigue, 2004).
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The workshop used Baks (2005) blended technique for data collection, combining
structured with experimental elements. A key structured element of the workshop was
the development of a survey instrument that served as a topical guide for the workshop
and took up the topics identied in the reviewof humanitarian supply chain literature to
ensure the link to this literature as proposed by Forza (2002). Moreover, the instrument
was discussed in a group of ve people consisting of local and international workshop
organizers and the NADMOprior to the workshop to ensure its topical relevance as well
as the understandability of the questions. This increased the construct validity of the
study (Voss et al., 2002). The instrument was introduced during a presentation on
the rst day, thus establishing a common conceptual understanding. This was
particularly important due to the variety of organizations represented at the workshop.
Furthermore, some of the organizations were also asked to prepare a presentation on the
challenges they face in their humanitarian supply chain (see the Notes section for the list
of these presentations), which were debated among all workshop participants. Panel
discussions were also included as another debate element of the workshop.
Data from the workshop was collected from multiple sources, to increase the depth
of the study and thus, its external validity (Meredith, 1998) as well as to increase its
construct validity (Ellram, 1996). The data were comprised of:
.
presentations of the organizations;
.
(student) eld notes from the debates and panel discussions; and
.
each participant handing in their own individual answers and written reections
on the survey instrument.
The survey is not reported as the ndings in this paper result not from the survey itself
but from presentations, the subsequent discussions, individual presentations and
open-ended answers of participants. The survey had two main functions in this study:
establishing a common conceptual understanding, and guiding the discussion.
Emerging themes from the presentations were summarized in a tabular manner to
facilitate the analysis of re-occurring themes across different organizations.
4. Findings
The workshop revealed a list of challenges of humanitarian logisticians in Ghana. All
challenges that were noted by the Africa conference of the Fritz Institute in 2004 have
been identied also in Ghana. However, not all of these challenges affected all
humanitarian organizations the same way (see the Appendix for a complete list).
Therefore, in the following, we will discuss them in relation to different types of
disasters, phases of disaster relief, and humanitarian organizations.
4.1 Challenges related to different types of disasters
In Ghana, many disasters such as oods and droughts, soil erosion can have both
natural and man-made causes. Others, depending on their cause, can be seen as sudden-
or slow-onset disasters such as insect infestations. About 85 percent of the disasters in
Ghana are human induced and/or due to human activity and negligence (Obiri-Buahin,
2007). While this is substantial, the gure is rather lowin an international comparison
van Wassenhove (2006) sets the gures to 97 percent of disasters being man-made
globally. The different disasters Ghana is prone to can be illustrated by using the van
Wassenhove (2006) categorization (Figure 1).
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Looking at the different categories of disaster, sudden-onset natural disasters include
earthquakes and landslides as well as oods, droughts, insect infestations, etc. Ghana
has an earthquake history that repeats itself in a sixty-ve (65)-year cycle with the latest
earthquake disaster occurring in 1939. Based on statistical data from EM-DAT, oods
are the most prevalent disasters both in terms of people affected as well as in terms of
monetary loss[4]. Floods are caused by intense rainfall run-offs, dam-bursts and tidal
waves. In Ghana, the potential burst of the Weija dam that is located over faults of three
tectonic plates as a threat to the capital was for example seen as serious threat
(Asante-Mensah, 2007). Therefore, the case of dam bursts is categorized as a manmade
disaster. In other words, just looking at the disaster itself, as in the van Wassenhove,
2006 categorization, does not determine its causes per se; rather, the same effect (oods)
can have different causes.
Ghana also experiences acute drought when the rains fail but drought can also be
caused by human activities such as bushres for agriculture leading to deforestation
and a lack of rainfall. Thus, arguably, Ghana experiences a man-made climate change
(Wireko-Brobbey, 2007). This has lead to a severe energy crisis due to a lack of rainfall
due to the fact that Ghana is largely dependent on hydropower. Pests and insects can
also cause disasters such as famines and epidemics. Ghana is particularly prone to
epidemics such as yellow fever, malaria, as well as seasonally bound epidemics such as
cholera in the rainy season.
The most prevalent slow-onset natural disasters are related to soil erosion. Soil
erosion is mostly prevalent in areas where the vegetative cover has been removed.
Coastal erosion is severe along the coastal stretch and has resulted in the construction of
the Keta sea defence walls. Expansive clays and soil can be found in areas with clay
deposits. Many disasters related to soil erosion are, however, man-made and relate to
the use of lands that were originally rainforests and are now used for agriculture.
One of the most prominent sudden-onset man-made disasters is the occurrence of
bush res. However, other res occur with frequency: industrial res in fuel depots,
mines and factories that are typically caused by the mismanagement of electrical and
gas appliances. Apart from res, pollution-related disasters are also man-made. For
example, the mismanagement of water supplies leads to frequent typhoid epidemics.
Slow-onset man-made disasters concern mostly the inux of refugees from conict
areas, which cause lack of food and other supplies in the areas close to conict areas.
Figure 1.
Categorizing
disasters in Ghana
Slow-onset
Sudden-onset
Natural Man-made
Influx of refugees
returnees
Coastal erosion
Bush fire
Industrial fire
Water pollution
Earthquake
Landslide
Pests/Insects
Soil erosion
Drought
Flood
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The causes of disasters are, however, not always clear-cut. Floods, for example, can
be natural due to the rainy season, man-mad1e as a result of dams being constructed on
tectonic fault lines, or primarily natural but with a man-made component as a result of
deforestation. Therefore, many of the listed disasters defy a clear-cut categorization.
Yet exactly this problem with the categorization of disasters helps to pinpoint some of
the challenges of humanitarian logisticians, as man-made causes for disasters can be
counteracted and thus alter the focus of relief programs. In Ghana, measures to prevent
such disasters could include the reconsideration of future infrastructure decisions, e.g.
dam location, or educational measures for the population to counteract deforestation
and soil erosion. As for the latter, international NGOs have started to award
communities that did not set traditional yearly bush res, in order to reduce their
effects on deforestation. Also, knowing the causes for a disaster helps in setting early
warning indicators, mitigate the disaster, and prepare for its occurrence.
4.2 Challenges related to the phases of disaster relief
The challenges of humanitarian logistics do not only depend on the types of disasters,
but also on the activities related to different phases of disaster relief. Immediate
response from international aid agencies depends on a call for international assistance.
Such a call is issued when a system or country is not able to cope with a disaster (van
Wassenhove, 2006). In other words, the Ghanaian Government must declare a state of
emergency before international humanitarian organizations can respond to a disaster.
However, this is rarely the case in Ghana. There is a general feeling among the Ghanaian
population of Ghana being safe and that disasters are unlikely to occur (Okoampa,
2007). This affects the Ghanaian level of preparation. Whilst risk maps do exist for
different disasters such as for the potential burst of the Weija dam, the national level of
preparedness is rather low. Not even the NADMO has any pre-positioned stock of relief
items. International humanitarian organizations, on the other hand, struggle in the
preparedness phase with customs procedures here, a lack of exemptions from
customs duties on imports of relief items leads to the absence of in-country warehouses
(Asante-Mensah, 2007). As an example, World Vision distributes all of its relief items
immediately upon arrival, with no means for keeping pre-positioned inventory in the
country (Okoampa, 2007). This is contrary to the suggestion in literature and the
strategy employed by international humanitarian organizations to pre-position
inventory to prepare for disasters (Balcik and Beamon, 2008). Furthermore, imports
often relate to delays of supplies (Asante-Mensah, 2007). However, as customs
procedures differ for UN agencies, there is a clear differentiation between challenges
faced by international NGOs and UN agencies, the latter having a regional warehouse
for entire West Africa based in Ghana (Ndianabo, 2007). What UNagencies do share as a
challenge with the other national and international humanitarian organizations in
Ghana relates to the accessibility of beneciaries in different parts of the country.
A challenge particularly striking during the reconstruction phase is that of aid
dependency. This issue does not only relate to beneciaries becoming dependent but
also local authorities depending on donors and NGOs to solve issues instead of acting
themselves (Asante-Mensah, 2007). Generally, however, development and
reconstruction projects are rare. In a West African comparison, Ghana is after all
seen as a country with a rather well-developed transport infrastructure (Pedersen,
2003). Thus, contrary to an idea of a potential learning loop between reconstruction and
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preparedness, such a link is not to be seen in Ghana, neither on the national level nor
within humanitarian organizations.
4.3 Challenges related to different types of humanitarian organizations
International humanitarian organizations in Ghana are dependent on the Ghanaian
Government to declare a state of emergency and call for international assistance. This
leaves national humanitarian organizations to be the rst responders to disasters.
Among these, the NADMO is supposed to coordinate relief efforts in Ghana
(Osei-Akom, 2007). However, the absence of clear mandates and legislation to stipulate
the operation of national (governmental) organizations leads to their incapacitation. As
a result, a lack of coordination among humanitarian organizations was seen as a big
challenge. The coordination of GOs is further hampered by their lack of knowledge
about each other (Kaba, 2007; Osei-Akom, 2007). There is a general absence of
communication among these organizations, defying NADMOs coordinating role
(Osei-Akom, 2007). There are no strategic partnerships among humanitarian
organizations in Ghana (Okoampa, 2007); NGO consortia for disaster relief only exist
on an ad hoc basis (Asante-Mensah, 2007).
NADMO is unable to enforce standards of procedures in other GOs or product
standards for suppliers, even though international standards for humanitarian relief
items and relief procedures have been in place for over ten years due to the SPHERE
project, and were shown to have positive effects on both cost and time efciencies in
disaster relief (Weerawat, 2007). There are no vehicle standards, either (Pedersen,
2003). In Ghana, not even the use of sirens is regulated. This has lead to a disrespect of
the NAS and creates additional logistical problems due to false alarms. In NAS case,
the absence of clear mandates leads to lengthy referrals between hospitals, using NAS
for referrals instead of emergencies, and in hospitals refusing to take in patients or
insisting to take the trolleys of the ambulances, leaving these without stretchers.
National and international humanitarian organizations struggle with nding
qualied humanitarian logisticians in Ghana. A lack of logistical training of
humanitarian staff is evident as in other regions as well (Perry, 2007). From the
perspective of logisticians, the problem is the in-availability of in-country training and
education possibilities (Asante-Mensah, 2007). At the same time, GOs suffer from a
brain drain (Kaba, 2007). The combination of the lack of supplies, lack of training, and
absence of mandates leads to situations such as NADMOs personnel being equipped
with life vests for oods but not having been trained to swim, while navy personnel
having sufcient training but no life vests to distribute to beneciaries. Related to the
lack of supplies is the issue of funding, humanitarian organizations struggling with
culturally inappropriate in-kind supplies, and donors being interested in particular
regions only (Okoampa, 2007). In-kind donations are often used to counteract the
fungibility of monetary donations, yet come with particular problems. As Hellenius and
Rudbeck (2003) note, these donations often consist of inadequate, second-rate products,
and create extra logistical costs of transportation and of maintaining the donations.
During the workshop, access to beneciaries was revealed to be particularly
difcult for both national and international organizations. While Ghana is seen as
a country with a rather well-developed transport infrastructure in the West African
comparison (Pedersen, 2003), the state of the road network with an abundance of
unpaved roads leads to frequent vehicle breakdowns and accidents. This adds to the
Challenges in
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logistics
517
liabilities and transportation costs of humanitarian organizations when working with
transportation service providers (Asante-Mensah, 2007; Okoampa, 2007). Interestingly,
the World Banks Logistics Performance Index rates Ghanas transport infrastructure
as better developed than the Sub-Saharan average, while its customs clearance and
overall LPI are lacking behind (World Bank, 2007).
Few organizations have their own eet but rather use local transportation providers
to distribute their aid items (Asante-Mensah, 2007). Thus, local transportation service
providers are important actors in the humanitarian aid supply network in Ghana.
Transportation costs are also high due to the requirement of special materials handling
equipment, and the lack of access to remote areas (Asante-Mensah, 2007) remoteness
and isolation being highlighted as challenges also by Altay et al.. In essence, the high,
particularly road, transportation costs in the country are related to both infrastructural
as well as managerial questions (Pedersen, 2001). Furthermore, in many regions there
are no street signs and names, adding to the complexity of an efcient response to re
and medical emergencies. The lack of support equipment extends beyond
transportation-related assets to Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
infrastructure (Kaba, 2007; Osei-Akom, 2007).
Evidently, some challenges are more pronounced for national (in Ghana mostly
governmental) organizations than international humanitarian organizations. When it
comes to GOs, the lack of supplies (including equipment and funding), legislation and
communication are salient. Also, all participants in the study agreed that one of the most
striking challenges is the insufcient clarity of the mandates of different GOs. At the same
time, import-related issues such as delays in receiving materials, customs duties, etc. are
more pronounced challenges faced by international humanitarian organizations, leading
to an absence of in-country preparation, including supplies and their pre-positioning.
4.4 A matter of coordination
Whilst humanitarian logisticians in Ghana face a number of challenges ranging from
customs clearance procedures hampering a potential pre-positioning of relief items to a
lack of access to training, the most important challenge is the lack of coordination.
Logistical coordination is needed both in between humanitarian organizations as well
as in the humanitarian supply chain (Altay et al., 2009; van Wassenhove, 2006;
Oloruntoba and Gray, 2006). Relief items can be pre-positioned jointly in the case of
using UNHRD which is indeed located in Accra, Ghana, and even humanitarian
logistics training can be offered in a joint effort.
To be able to mitigate the challenges of humanitarian logisticians in Ghana,
stakeholder theory was used to identify the origin of these challenges in terms of
coming from an input/output environment, i.e. the supply chain, the competitive
environment, here composed of other humanitarian organizations, regulatory
environment, or internal stakeholders (Achrol et al., 1983; Carter and Ellram, 1998).
In logistics literature, stakeholder theory has been used in sustainable supply chain
management and in closed-loop supply chain management (Carter and Ellram, 1998;
Handeld et al., 1997). Like humanitarian logistics, both these elds are categorized by
a larger societal embeddedness. In other words, stakeholder theory is used in logistics
primarily in questions that extend beyond the prot-seeking aim of organizations.
A categorization of challenges related to stakeholder environment is useful when
determining different strategies for stakeholder negotiations. Logisticians from
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particular types of humanitarian organizations face challenges that arise from
particular stakeholder environments. Thus, we will further examine the challenges of
humanitarian logisticians related to international NGOs and aid agencies vs those
related to GOs, as originating fromdifferent stakeholder environments (Table II). In this
categorization, infrastructure-related questions were included in the regulatory
environment, as the transport infrastructure of a region adds to its capability to receive
extra-regional support in the rst place (Ndianabo, 2007).
This categorization is needed in order not only to identify different challenges, but
also to understand which other organizations are involved in their potential mitigation.
Challenges related to the input/output environment need to be discussed with suppliers
and customers which in the case of humanitarian logistics primarily relate to nancial
and material suppliers. Special to the competitive environment in humanitarian
logistics is an absence of anti-trust regulations, rather, humanitarian organizations are
encouraged to coordinate their efforts (Kaatrud et al., 2003). On the other hand, many
humanitarian organizations are specialized in different types of disasters, relief phases,
or items they deliver. Such a specialization and differentiation is usually seen as a
facilitator of coordination in disaster relief (Kaatrud et al., 2003). While many of the
challenges related to the regulatory environment are bound to the case of Ghana, one
challenge in particular the dependence on governments declaring a state of
emergency is shared across all geographical regions.
Based on these ndings, some conclusions can be drawn for humanitarian
organizations operating in Ghana. Whilst there are some externalities that need
long-term solutions such as the transport infrastructure of the country, some issues are
more managerial in nature. First, it is of utmost importance that all humanitarian
logisticians and their organizations in the country establish a common knowledge of
Source of
challenge
Input/output
environment
Competitive
environment Regulatory environment
Internal
stakeholders
Perspective
International
humanitarian
organization
perspective
Delays
Lack of funding
Inappropriate
donations
Limits in use of
funding
Aid dependency
Lack of
coordination
Dependence on
government declaring
state of emergency
Lack of transport
infrastructure
Duties
Lack of early warning
systems
Lack of governance
Lack of trained
logisticians
Lack of vehicles
Lack of warehouse
Governmental
organization
perspective
Lack of supplies
Lack of equipment
Lack of funding
Inappropriate
donations
Lack of access to
water
Difculties in
enforcing standards
Lack of
communication
Lack of
knowledge of
humanitarian
organizations
Absence of legislation
Lack of funding
Streets have no name
Security problems
Difculties in enforcing
standards
Lack of trained
logisticians
Brain drain
Lack of vehicles
Lack of supplies
Lack of equipment
Lack of ICT
Table II.
Categorizing challenges
by stakeholder
environment
Challenges in
humanitarian
logistics
519
each other including the other organizations mandates and focus. Without this
knowledge, coordinating relief efforts is rendered impossible, even though a call for such
coordination has long been established. Only on this basis can further information
sharing and closer collaboration be developed. Second, it would aid all organizations in
the country to establish the in-country training of logisticians. Having identied this
challenge, the organizations in the workshop in fact agreed to participate in the
establishment of common logistics education in cooperation with the Chartered Institute
of Logistics and Transport and a technical university, Kwame Nkrumah University of
Science and Technology. Finally, there is much to do on the national level; creating an
awareness for disaster proneness and educating the population, as well as establishing
national plans for disaster management that include knowledge on existing stocks and
stock levels in the country.
As a general conclusion, a conceptual model is constructed to identify the challenges
of humanitarian logisticians with respect to different types of disasters, phases of
disaster relief and the type of humanitarian organization.
5. Model presentation and conclusions
The purpose of this paper is to identify the challenges of humanitarian logisticians with
respect to different types of disasters, phases of disaster relief, and types of
humanitarian organizations. Challenges of humanitarian logisticians have been
identied based on an exploratory case study of a country (Ghana) as a case. The
analysis of the study led to the development of a conceptual model that serves as a basis
to identify challenges of humanitarian logisticians (Figure 2).
Humanitarian logisticians can use this conceptual model at the beginning of their
mission to identify the challenges they face. The model can also be used on a program
level, identifying the potential challenges of program implementation. Looking into the
causes of different disasters enables humanitarian logisticians to even redirect a
Figure 2.
Conceptual model to
identify challenges of
humanitarian logisticians
Identify challenges
based on
Disaster types
Focus and location of
the humanitarian
organization
Stakeholder
environment
- Internal vs. external challenges
- Mandate related to phase of
relief
- Disaster cause (natural/man-
made)
- Warning time (onset)
- Probability of disaster in the
region
- Regional presence
- Dependence on declartion of
state of emergency
- Relevant other organizations
Dimensions
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program, if it turns out that a natural disaster shows potential man-made causes that
could be prevented in the long run. Our discussion of disaster types highlighted that
van Wassenhoves (2006) disaster categorization is not to be seen as exclusive, as the
same disaster can have different causes, e.g. oods having man-made or natural causes.
It is these causes that need to be investigated in order to be able to mitigate them.
Another important issue related to disaster types is their warning time. As Altay
et al. (2009) pinpoint, the pre-warning of even sudden-onset disasters can leave time
enough for a pre-event response, such as evacuations, and the establishment of
evacuation centers in a hurricane.
Not only are the types of disasters relevant (van Wassenhove, 2006) but also the
probability of their occurrence and effects (Norrman and Jansson, 2004). Looking at the
probability of the occurrence of particular disasters in a region (or EM-DATs country
disaster proles) enables national humanitarian organizations to focus on the most
typical disasters they face. The geographical context of a disaster also plays a role in the
potential preparedness for disaster relief; not only in terms of the actual preparedness
measures of pre-positioning relief items, but also related to the pre-disaster
infrastructure (potential road network, access points, electrical grid, medical centers)
in the region.
The mandate of a humanitarian organization determines its focus in terms of the
relief phase it primarily operates in, the items it delivers, and even its pre-disaster
presence in a region. Humanitarian logisticians are conned by the mandate of their
organization, even when it comes to seeking potential collaboration partners. Being
conned to particular types of disasters and phases of relief also brings the challenge of
handing over projects to other organizations at the end of a relief phase. Humanitarian
logisticians thus not only need to identify their potential partners at the time of their
own presence in a region but also partners who will take care of future operations. This
is particularly difcult as contracts in the humanitarian area are typically short-term.
The location and regional presence of a humanitarian organization determines its
role in disaster relief as much as its mandate. At which point in time an organization can
start delivering relief depends on its local role. However, even aid agencies that depend
on the declaration of a state of emergency can plan their activities immediately upon the
occurrence of a disaster. What is more, international humanitarian organizations with
local chapters can channel relief through these. Yet local presence is crucial for capacity
building in terms of education and the pre-positioning of relief items. Capacity building
is particularly important in order to overcome the problem of aid dependence.
As the study in Ghana highlighted, the utmost challenge of humanitarian logisticians
is to nd collaboration partners. Therefore, we propose a categorization of challenges
according to their stakeholder environment. This helps to identify not only the challenge
at hand, but also, which other organizations share the same challenge, and which
collaboration partners would be needed to mitigate it. Generally, it is important to know
which other organizations are out there and what they are doing, in order to coordinate
relief and establish standard procedures. Most challenges are shared across logisticians
from similar types of organizations, thus strategic alliances will help to mitigate them.
5.1. Concluding remarks and avenues for further research
Humanitarian logistics is a growing eld of interest for logisticians. Not only is
humanitarian aid a growing area of concern due to an expected increase in the number
Challenges in
humanitarian
logistics
521
and effect of disasters in the coming decades, but humanitarian supply chains are also
an interesting research phenomenon being the most agile and exible supply chains to
be found (Oloruntoba and Gray, 2006). However, the eld is still in need of both
conceptual and empirical studies in order to improve humanitarian logistics. So far,
studies covering the eld have very much focused on Asia. This is understandable from
the background of Asia being the most disaster-prone region in the world. However,
considering the impact of the regional context on the effects of a disaster, studies on
other continents and also other disaster types have been called for.
The purpose of this paper is to identify the challenges of humanitarian
logisticians with respect to different types of disasters, phases of disaster relief,
and types of humanitarian organizations. While discussing each of these points on
the case of Ghana, the study concluded in presenting a conceptual model which
helps identify challenges in humanitarian logistics. Yet apart from the model itself,
some points of interest in the Ghana study also deserve interest of further research. One
is the lack of exemptions from customs leading to a lack of in-house warehouses of
humanitarian organizations. While the UN Logistics Cluster is working on developing
common customs procedures for all humanitarian organizations, it is for policy makers
to note that difculties in customs procedures translates to a lack of preparedness in the
country. The second point is the lack of clear mandates and legislation supporting
national humanitarian organizations. Considering a delay in the potential relief
coming from international organizations, further research would be needed on the topic
of policy support for national preparedness. Athird point raised in the study is the brain
drain and the lack of qualied in-country staff. This point calls for more educational
programs for local humanitarian logisticians or logisticians at large, as the
importance of local transportation service providers in humanitarian aid would
emphasize.
Although the conceptual model was contextualized by using Ghana as an example,
one could expect that it can also be used in other types of contexts, both on a regional as
well as interregional level. Yet, further research is needed to test the model in other
contexts, in regions with similar disaster patterns and organizational structures, as well
as in regions with substantial differences to the Ghana case. Furthermore, the model
could be tested on a number of humanitarian organizations operating in different
geographical environments.
Based on the difculties to attribute particular disasters to man-made vs natural
causes, further research is needed in developing more in-depth categorization schemes.
It can also be concluded natural disasters such as famines and oods can have
man-made elements (such as bush res leading to soil erosion and thus, famines; or
dams built on tectonic fault lines leading to oods) and thus, be mitigated via policies
inducing behavioral changes.
Although the model was developed to identify the logistical challenges of
humanitarian organizations, parallels can also be drawn to a business environment.
As in Norrman and Jansson (2004), business logistics treats large-scale disasters as a type
of risk, but risk mitigation models have insofar been focusing on operational
vulnerabilities. Yet to increase supply chain resilience, corporations also need to
investigate their vulnerabilities interms of disasters, andhowto respondto these (Wallace
and Webber, 2004). As a rst step, Aon Corporation (Aon Inc.) has developed a political
and economic risk map of different regions that it sells as a supply chain risk map.
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Business has started to acknowledge its vulnerabilities related to the geographical
locations of its suppliers and customers thus supply chain management literature has
a lot to gain from investigating organizations that are specialized in dealing with such
risks.
Notes
1. Of which humanitarian aid accounts for about 7 percent, the rest consisting of
development aid and debt relief. It needs to be noted that, e.g. transport infrastructure
projects are seen as general economic aid and not humanitarian aid in this statistics.
2. EM-DAT has been maintained by the WHO Collaborating Centre for Research on the
Epidemiology of Disasters since 1988. On their webpage, statistics and information on
disasters are given both in terms of their occurrence and the effects, both on human lives and
nancial effects. EM-DAT prepares and categorizes disasters according to (1) natural
disasters; (2) technological disasters; or (3) complex emergencies. In order for a disaster to be
entered into the database at least one of the following criteria has to be fullled (EM-DAT,
2008): (1) 10 or more people reported killed; (2) 100 people reported affected; (3) a call for
international assistance; and (4) declaration of a state of emergency. For more information on
categorization and glossary of disasters, refer to www.emdat.be/ExplanatoryNotes/
guidelines.html
3. Which has since merged into the Logistics Cluster.
4. Monetary loss is calculated by a specic formula used by EM-DAT as they argue that there
is no standard procedure to determine a global gure for economic impact.
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Table AI.
Challenges in
humanitarian
logistics
527
About the authors
Gyongyi Kovacs is an Assistant Professor in Supply Chain Management and Corporate
Geography at the HANKEN School of Economics, in Helsinki, Finland, where she also earned her
PhD. Amongst others, her publications have appeared in the International Journal of Physical
Distribution & Logistics Management and the Journal of Transport Geography. She is currently
the European Co-editor of the International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics
Management. Her current research interests include sustainable supply chain management,
supply chain collaboration, the abductive research approach, reverse logistics and humanitarian
logistics. She is the Co-ordinator of the HUMLOG Group, an international research network in
humanitarian logistics and the Director of the Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain
Research Institute (HUMLOG Institute). Gyongyi Kovacs is the corresponding author and can be
contacted at: kovacs@hanken.
Karen Spens earned her PhD from the HANKEN School of Economics in Helsinki, Finland
and is Professor of Supply Chain Management and Corporate Geography at the Department of
Marketing. She has published in the International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics
Management, International Journal of Logistics, International Journal of Integrated Supply
Management and others. She is currently the European Co-Editor of the International Journal of
Physical Distribution & Logistics Management. Her current research focuses on supply chain
management in the health care and service sectors, integration, humanitarian logistics and the
use of different research approaches in logistics and supply chain literature.
IJPDLM
39,6
528
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