Agility and leanness : humanitarian supply chain management and logistics for the Syrian refugee response in Lebanon -

Abstract

To optimize humanitarian operations, which are 80percent logistics and supply chain activities, limitations in capacity must be overcome (Cozzolino, 2012). Two separate yet coinciding characteristics, agility and leanness, have been identified as key factors that help to sustain resilient and beneficial humanitarian operations. This study, with the purposes of exploring HSCM-HL in slow onset, man-made emergencies, focuses on studying UNHCR’s Syrian Refugee Response system for distribution of non-food items to beneficiaries within Lebanon. This study poses three research questions. First, what is the standard supply chain and logistic design for the organizations operating under the non-food item working group? Second, what factors affect the supply chain and logistic system’s agility and leanness? Third, to what extent does the design of this system, which operates in response to a slow onset man made emergency, reflect contemporary supply chain and logistic models? To address these questions, data was collected from interviews with seventeen professionals who work the sub-sector of non-food item distribution (NFIs) in UNHCR’s Syrian refugee response system in Lebanon. Findings are divided into three thematic categories: influencers, HSCM-HL design, and HSCM-HL characteristics. Based on these findings, this thesis also proposes a conceptual framework for the design and operations of humanitarian systems that respond to slow onset man-made emergencies.