Haiti: Is Your Money Going Where It’s Supposed To?

The amount of money heading to (or already in) Haiti is staggering. Just take a look at the Huffington Post’s list of corporate donations from the USA! In fact, Reuters reported that the USA plans to give more to Haiti than to the tsunami disaster victims, amounting to a cool USD519 mill on 27 Jan 2010. In Malaysia, L’Oreal, Air Asia and a few other corporations and nonprofits, notably Mercy Malaysia, have gone all out to help out with collecting donations for the disaster-stricken country. Read more

L’Oreal Does Its Part To Help Haiti Earthquake Victims

L’Oreal Malaysia recently began a fundraising drive for the Haiti earthquake victims. The campaign, themed Rebuilding Lives in Haiti, was organised by the Humanitarian Organisation Islamic Relief Malaysia (IRM), with support from the Malaysia National News Agency (Bernama) and 21 other corporate partners. Read more

Motorola Provides More Than USD2 Mill In Aid Of Haiti

Motorola, the Motorola Foundation and Motorola employees have provided more than USD2 million in cash and in-kind products to support earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. Read more

Mercy Malaysia launches website for Haiti

Mercy Malaysia launched a website recently to collect donations in aid of Haiti’s recent earthquake victims. The www.malaysiaforhaiti.org website provides updates from Haiti, by way of collaboration with Merlin, a UK charitable organisation, which is currently in Haiti for relief work. Read more

The Haiti crisis: INSEAD faculty tracks humanitarian response

Courtesy of INSEAD Knowledge

INSEAD Professor Luk Van Wassenhove, head of INSEAD’s Social Innovation Centre, and Programme Director Rolando Tomasini, have been monitoring the crisis in Haiti since the 7.1 earthquake struck, including being in touch with relevant NGOs, companies and governments, who are providing aid and support to the victims and the country. Read more

Humanitarian Logistics

By Brian Lariche

Humanitarian logistics is an increasingly popular term that is being bandied about in the nonprofit world as a result of the many disasters the world has been experiencing and the coverage these disasters have been getting. Humanitarian logistics can be defined as the delivery and warehousing of supplies during natural disasters or complex emergencies to people in an affected area.

Although initially viewed as a commercial interest, logistics is now one of the most important tools in disaster relief operations.  In fact,  the way resources are chosen and handled, the method of storing, the method of tracking the items, and the involvement of teams before, during and after a disaster all play an essential part in delivering aid. The book,  Humanitarian Logistics by Tomasini and Wassenhove,  gives an overview into the world of disaster management and the essential tools needed to deal with it.

Rolando Tomasini is Research Associate/Humanitarian Program Coordinator at INSEAD whilst Luk Van Wassenhove holds the Henry Ford Chair in Manufacturing at INSEAD. They both got involved in the world of disaster management via their research and evaluation of the supply chain performance and disaster management of humanitarian operations. Their close relationship to this world gives them a unique insight into humanitarian management.

The book is divided into seven chapters,  the first dealing with logistics and supply chain management. It starts with an overview of the issue of logistics within a humanitarian framework. It highlights the various unique points found within the humanitarian ‘industry’ that are  so different from commercial logistics,  but at the same time sheds light on the similarities.

The second chapter addresses the issue of humanitarianism and its three main principles:  Humanity, impartiality and neutrality.   It gives a good illustration of the complexities involved in such work using the example of Bosnia and the decision to suspend all UNHCR activities despite mass opposition by the then UN High Commissioner for refugees, Sadako Ogata. It points out that only those with close proximity to any humanitarian effort can understand the nuances involved it.

Chapters three and four  go on to discuss the importance of preparedness and coordination when faced with disasters.  They highlight that logistical preparation is essential and that past lessons should serve to ensure agencies are prepared  with the necessary tools and systems to quickly enter a disaster area. It is then essential that the coordination between all the parties involved is managed properly for most efficient mobilisation of aid.

The next two chapters deal with information and how to process it for the use of the team involved in the logistics management  so that teams can be prepared and coordinated.  The book highlights the similar issues faced by the humanitarian organisations as per commercial ones with reluctance to share information due to the fear of those who give up the information becoming irrelevant when the information is shared. It also highlights that information is only as good as the people who process it into knowledge useful for all to use. It reiterates the earlier chapters that the human capital required in humanitarian logistics is tremendous, and sadly there are not enough of such people to go around.

The final chapter deals with corporate involvement in disaster management and specifically with the logistics issue. The chapter discusses the excellent partnership between Dutch logistics company, TNT, and the WFP (World Food Program). It highlights the foresight of such company CEOs and the effort required to create a viable working partnership. It does not explain the partnership through rose-coloured lenses but rather examines the realities associated with it.

The book does give a good first look into the world of humanitarian logistics and seeks to inform the reader of the many players and issues involved. I found the book informative and useful though a little too academic in form for the man on the street with interest in the issue but no NGO background.

I also appreciated the use of many cases studies which made some of the issues clear but for some like the issue on obstacles faced in page 84/85, a more in-depth example with actual examples of costing would have given greater insight into the issues at hand. It does leave the reader without a complete sense of the situation.

In conclusion, I would recommend this book for those who want to get a better insight into the issue of disaster management and the many layers involved. It goes beyond the issue of logistics  to include an overview into the multifaceted world of non-profits.  However, the greatest value of the book will be for those with some knowledge and background in the NGO world or in the field of disaster management.◊

Brian Lariche is the Executive Director of the Liaison Combination Sdn Bhd.

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