About 50 aid workers gathered at a hotel for a group photograph, but instead of “cheese” or “smile”, the prompt was “waybill!”.
Logisticians working in emergency operations in Africa are in Nairobi for the first Humanitarian Logistics Association (HLA) General Assembly in Africa, backed by the Kuehne Foundation.
George Fenton, the chairman, said it was the first professional association in the international aid sector. The 622-member HLA, registered in 2009 as an NGO in the UK, is being held up as a model by those looking at other areas of professionalization, he said.
Given the growing scale, scope and frequency of disasters, he said there was a “huge need” to professionalize the aid sector, particularly with regard to logistics. As an association of individuals, the HLA was separate from organizational politics, he added.
Its purpose is to make up a global community of practice, which will improve effectiveness and foster innovation and eventually improve the lives and dignity of beneficiaries, Fenton said. Its board includes both practitioners and academics.
Delivering success
The “bottom line”, Secretary-General Abbas Gullet of the Kenya Red Cross Society, told the gathering, is that logistics “are what will deliver that success you are looking for”.
The HLA seeks to raise the profile of logistics. Mitsuko Mizushima of the Kuehne Foundation referred to the critical role of logistics and “lean” supply chain excellence in the private sector.
Participants disagreed on how far behind the private sector the aid agency logistics were in their practices and weightiness; some said between 10 and 20 years. Logistics used to be kept in the background, stereotyped as “dirty-fingernailed” people in warehouses, Mizushima said, but now are found in boardrooms and senior executive functions.
Aid workers specializing in logistics can earn a professional qualification. The first certification programme was launched in 2006, backed by the Fritz Institute and the UK Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport. Some 950 people have started the various courses on offer, most taking the Certification in Humanitarian Logistics, and 195 have completed the part-time distance-learning courses. Scholarships are available.
The initiative also offers more specialist courses in supply chain and medical logistics. The UN World Food Programme, UN Refugee Agency, International Committee of the Red Cross and UN Children’s Fund have sent the most candidates. Course graduates report better performance, greater confidence and recognition and career progression, organizers said.
Raising standards
As well as discussing the practical complexities of logistics, the group was briefed by training coordinator Kerry Schneider on an initiative, Ethical Cargo, hosted at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Ethical Cargo is a service established to help aid agencies review air cargo carriers and aircraft for their safety records and links to illicit activities. Standards in ethical procurement are rising, he said.
The EC’s humanitarian aid department, ECHO, for example, has published a draft update of its procurement guidelines, which puts the onus on humanitarian agencies to establish whether a company is involved in any illegal activities.
The draft ECHO guidelines state that as well as respecting UN and EU embargoes and sanctions, “the supplier shall not engage in the sale or transport of arms or conflict-sensitive supplies to governments which systematically violate the human rights of their citizens; or where there is internal armed conflict or major tensions; or where the sale of arms may jeopardize regional peace”.
However, while welcoming the initiative and the principle of reasonable due diligence, when working in very insecure areas, such as Somalia, where there are few operators, one participant summed up the ethical dilemma by saying, “You can only choose when you have choices”.
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Logisticians working in emergency operations in Africa are in Nairobi for the first Humanitarian Logistics Association (HLA) General Assembly in Africa, backed by the Kuehne Foundation.
George Fenton, the chairman, said it was the first professional association in the international aid sector. The 622-member HLA, registered in 2009 as an NGO in the UK, is being held up as a model by those looking at other areas of professionalization, he said.
Given the growing scale, scope and frequency of disasters, he said there was a “huge need” to professionalize the aid sector, particularly with regard to logistics. As an association of individuals, the HLA was separate from organizational politics, he added.
Its purpose is to make up a global community of practice, which will improve effectiveness and foster innovation and eventually improve the lives and dignity of beneficiaries, Fenton said. Its board includes both practitioners and academics.
Delivering success
The “bottom line”, Secretary-General Abbas Gullet of the Kenya Red Cross Society, told the gathering, is that logistics “are what will deliver that success you are looking for”.
The HLA seeks to raise the profile of logistics. Mitsuko Mizushima of the Kuehne Foundation referred to the critical role of logistics and “lean” supply chain excellence in the private sector.
Participants disagreed on how far behind the private sector the aid agency logistics were in their practices and weightiness; some said between 10 and 20 years. Logistics used to be kept in the background, stereotyped as “dirty-fingernailed” people in warehouses, Mizushima said, but now are found in boardrooms and senior executive functions.
Aid workers specializing in logistics can earn a professional qualification. The first certification programme was launched in 2006, backed by the Fritz Institute and the UK Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport. Some 950 people have started the various courses on offer, most taking the Certification in Humanitarian Logistics, and 195 have completed the part-time distance-learning courses. Scholarships are available.
The initiative also offers more specialist courses in supply chain and medical logistics. The UN World Food Programme, UN Refugee Agency, International Committee of the Red Cross and UN Children’s Fund have sent the most candidates. Course graduates report better performance, greater confidence and recognition and career progression, organizers said.
Raising standards
As well as discussing the practical complexities of logistics, the group was briefed by training coordinator Kerry Schneider on an initiative, Ethical Cargo, hosted at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Ethical Cargo is a service established to help aid agencies review air cargo carriers and aircraft for their safety records and links to illicit activities. Standards in ethical procurement are rising, he said.
The EC’s humanitarian aid department, ECHO, for example, has published a draft update of its procurement guidelines, which puts the onus on humanitarian agencies to establish whether a company is involved in any illegal activities.
The draft ECHO guidelines state that as well as respecting UN and EU embargoes and sanctions, “the supplier shall not engage in the sale or transport of arms or conflict-sensitive supplies to governments which systematically violate the human rights of their citizens; or where there is internal armed conflict or major tensions; or where the sale of arms may jeopardize regional peace”.
However, while welcoming the initiative and the principle of reasonable due diligence, when working in very insecure areas, such as Somalia, where there are few operators, one participant summed up the ethical dilemma by saying, “You can only choose when you have choices”.
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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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