Rwanda has been ranked in the first position in logistics performance according to the east African logistics performance surveys with a score of 3.52, followed by Uganda in second place with a score of 3.07.
Tanzania comes in third with an average score of 2.89 while Kenya and Burundi are ranked at position 4and 5, with scores of 2.82 and 2.78 respectively.
Some of the indicators on which Rwanda ranks best include timely delivery of shipments, competence and quality of logistics services, percentage of shipment physically inspected, transparency in conducting customs valuations, manner in which trade disputes are handled and incidence of corruption and rent-seeking.
Rwanda also performed very well in areas such as security of cargo while in transit, communicating information when trade regulations change and quality of transport and ICT infrastructure....
...And in nearby South Sudan, clashes between rebel groups led by its former vice president, Riek Machar, who opposes President Salva Kiir, have persisted almost since the country achieved autonomy in 2011. The oil-rich country of 3.8 million faces a myriad of problems, including potential famine.
“We are definitely stretched,” said Chris Palusky, senior director of humanitarian and emergency affairs for World Vision USA, one of many organizations responding to all Level 3 emergencies that concentrates on providing food, water and shelter to children and women.
“We all have a fear in the back of our minds. What if there’s a big earthquake?” he said. “It’s going to be hard to meet the needs of those that are affected by the disaster, because there is so much going on right now.”
Even without natural disasters, some experts note that finding qualified aid workers could become a problem if these simultaneous emergencies are long-lasting. “(Aid workers) can be there for a period of time, but they need to rotate out because it’s an intense environment and stress levels are high,” said Goentzel.
That is difficult to do given the limited pool of workers. “There is always a limited supply of people who are trained and experienced, and it’s not easy to train people overnight,” said Pinar Keskinocak, co-director of the Center for Health and Humanitarian Logistics at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
A potential shortfall of trained workers is only half of the problem. According to the U.N., all humanitarian plans are deeply underfunded...
Read more here: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2014/08/23/3815498_un-4-countries-face-humanitarian.html?sp=/99/101/235/&rh=1#storylink=cpy
...At the beginning of the day, I do a quick round to see that my UNICEF colleagues and partners are all set up and providing their various services to the displaced people gathering to register for food from the World Food Programme (WFP). All seems fine and on track, bar a couple of minor tweaks here and there – the children are irritated and crying from having their upper left arm being used AGAIN, this time for measurement to see if they are showing symptoms of malnutrition, just moments after being vaccinated for measles in the same upper arm....
A long-delayed east African rapid reaction force - meant to help stamp out unrest from the Seychelles to Rwanda - will be up and running in December, senior regional officials said on Friday.
The idea of a joint force for the region - home to some of the continent's most promising economies, but also some of its least stable countries, including Somalia - was first mooted in 2004, but has been beset by delays and funding shortfalls.
The Eastern Africa Standby Force (EASF), with 5,000 soldiers from 10 nations, will help the region deal with its own rebellions, civil wars and coups, and reduce its reliance on foreign troops, officials at a meeting of defence minister said....
Sealed Air’s new CSR project aims to improve hygiene conditions in poor communities while supporting the local population by providing a means of livelihood.
Impoverished communities in countries such as Cambodia, Indonesia, and Kenya are benefiting from improved personal hygiene due to a collaboration between hotels and Sealed Air.
The cleaning and sanitation solutions provider launched the Soap for Hope campaign in October 2013 to recycle used hotel guest soap and distribute it to underprivileged families living in slums in Asia.
Food-specific logistics remain a core component of a UAE logistics industry anticipated to reach Dh99 billion in 2015, while Dubai Multi Commodities Centre figures show the UAE currently re-exports nearly 50 per cent of its imported food products to other GCC countries, Russia, India, Pakistan and East Africa. One of the world’s biggest re-exporters of goods such as coffee, tea, sugar and rice, the UAE was responsible for approximately 90 per cent of global rice re-exports in 2010....
...The region’s largest-ever trade show debut, Gulfood Manufacturing will feature more than 1,000 global food manufacturers, suppliers and service providers, including a world-class line-up of international brands including Iffco, Cargill Europe BVBA, Markel Bakery Group, Multivac, TNA Packing Solutions, Ishida Europe, Dohler Middle East and CSM Deutschland.
The industry heavyweights will participate in themed sectors or within more than 24 national pavilions including Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Iran, Switzerland, Taiwan, China, Thailand, India, Italy, Austria, France, the US, the UK and Germany — also the show’s official country partner.
In addition to the core exhibitions, Gulfood Manufacturing will host a Food Safety Conference highlighting issues related to regional food safety. A host of internationally-acclaimed speakers and key industry figures will be confirmed in coming weeks.
....Throughout the world, just by virtue of creating accessibility and opportunity, roads and highways have generated pockets of vulnerability in regions formerly too isolated to support the level or recurrent social interactions common in more central, more densely populated areas. Wherever humans go, we bring our unique stockpile of microbes – both pathogenic and commensal – seeding and disseminating our own brand of microorganisms like pollen from a blown dandelion...
Robin Landis's insight:
Nothing new here at all (in fact, the sources are old), but perhaps it is being re-hashed in light of the Ebola outbreak as a reminder of how mobile microbes can change the course of history.
Check out North Star Alliance www.northstar-alliance.org for an innovative response to communicable and non-communicable diseases affecting mobile populations in Africa.
A cloud of mistrust hangs over relations between business and the humanitarian community, the result of decades of mutual suspicion. Aid workers stereotype the private sector as profiteering and unscrupulous; business people write off international agencies as bloated and inefficient.
Even where both sides sense they might have something to gain by working with each other, a series of studies by the Humanitarian Policy Group at London's Overseas Development Institute, the ODI, shows that all too often they have no idea how to approach each other, no forum where they can meet and very little common language.
The ODI's Steven Zyck, who worked on the project, says the private sector is in reality deeply involved in emergency humanitarian response. “Businesses are often among the first responders to any crisis, opening their stores, opening their warehouses, volunteering their trucks and equipment and machinery to clear roads and get supplies into affected areas. And in a world where agencies are increasingly relying on cash transfer programmes to reach disaster affected populations, simply helping to get markets in a far-flung community up and running again is a key part of the humanitarian enterprise....
....For their country studies, the group looked for places with a flourishing private sector - KENYA, Indonesia, Jordan and Haiti....
....One of the agencies which has gone the furthest in formulating its policy for partnering with the private sector is Oxfam. Sandrine Laroche, who worked on their policy study of this, told IRIN: “If we want to set up a specific partnership with the private sector, we have to do an ethical check, and have special authorization from headquarters and our regional centre. We need to know that the company is in line with our human rights policy, that it is not involved with the manufacture of weapons, cigarettes or alcohol or in any other sectors where Oxfam is running campaigns.”
The international organizations that are the first to act when disaster strikes were called out last week by the UK branch of Doctors Without Borders. One group spared the criticism is the private sector. That is because, until recently, they were not really thought of as an important player.
That is changing. Companies like Ikea, Coca-Cola and Google are now a contributing to relief efforts following a crisis, and making a profit while at it. They are not only working with the relief groups on the ground, but on their own and with small businesses in different countries.
The involvement of business in humanitarian assistance is not all that new. Local businesses will sell food, water and other supplies in the wake of a disaster. However, nobody really knows how much the private sector is contributing. There is no comprehensive accounting in what happens, just case studies and anecdotes....
...The two researchers published a report this week that sought to answer what the private sector is doing, how it is contributing to humanitarian responses and what it means going forward. They find that not only is the private sector is a key player, but it can compliment the activities undertaken by governments, NGOs and international bodies, like the UN and the US. Humanitarian crises, emergency preparedness and response: the role of business and the privatesector uses the consultation of 203 stakeholders, from donors to the private sector to the Red Cross, and other research to determine just how the private sector acts following and preceding a disaster.
Cases from Jordan, KENYA, Indonesia, and Haiti illustrate the many ways that the private sector is contributing.....
“By developing services for low-income households, insurance companies such as ACA can help increase the financial inclusion of the poor as a way to build their resilience to shocks and reduce their vulnerability to risks,” say Zyck and Kent, in the report. Another area of note is the transfer of money. Cash transfers are sent through phones to people who enroll in drought insurance in Kenya.
Meanwhile, banks in Jordan are working with the WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME to allow Syrian refugees access distributed money. The UN food agency is also working with smaller businesses to accept electronic vouchers to be used while shopping for groceries and household supplies.
“The private sector has transformed cash transfers, telecommunications and logistics in humanitarian crises. Insurance companies in Asia and Africa are blunting the humanitarian consequences of droughts and cyclones, and banks are helping to rapidly transfer money to those affected by disasters. Businesses are also tackling sanitation and disaster preparedness...."
In December 2013, the SSATP and the Government of Senegal co-hosted in Dakar the first Africa Transport Policy Forum. Delegations from more than 30 African countries and from Regional Economic Communities joined representatives from the private sector, civil society and multilateral institutions in this memorable continent-wide event. The SSATP's General Assembly took place immediately after it, building on its momentum and innovative ideas.
The Forum unfolded across three thematic pillars: sustainability, road safety and urban mobility. Governance and data management cut across all three topics and were integrated into the broader discussions.
As more than 50 percent of South Sudanese live below the poverty line, only wealthy individuals can access safe and nutritious food which is largely imported from East Africa, Ethiopia and Sudan. The majority of people cannot.
Food sellers complain that they are forced to charge high costs for their wares due to duty charges and the expense of moving food along difficult routes....
...Hardest hit are the states far from Juba, where transportation costs are high due to risk of violence and poor roads. South Sudan’s application to join the East African community is still pending. Many hope that taxation on goods from East Africa will be eliminated if the country joins the community...
...For South Sudan to stop importing food it first needs to increase its food production, according to a USAID report on agriculture in South Sudan. It shows that South Sudan has vast amounts of uncultivated, arable land. With more than 230,000 square miles of potential farming land, only five percent is being cultivated, according to South Sudan’s Ministry of Agriculture....
...The FAO and other organisations have stepped up efforts to increase productivity and expand the area under cultivation. USAID has agriculture as one of its main focus of assistance to South Sudan and seeks to transform agricultural practices by training local famers in modern farming skills....
...Given that the conflict has impeded the transportation of food, food organisations like the World Food Program (WFP) have started air dropping food to tens of thousands of internally displaced people.
BRINDISI – New humanitarian response facilities were inaugurated today at the former US military base at San Vito dei Normanni (near Brindisi), in the presence of the the Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), Ertharin Cousin, the Director of the Italian Development Cooperation, Giampaolo Cantini, and several national and local authorities.
The new facilities, made available by the Italian Government, will allow the United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) in Brindisi to strengthen its effectiveness and provide more operational tools to respond to humanitarian emergencies....
The UNHRD Network is a rapid response mechanism able to dispatch relief items anywhere in the world within 48 hours. The Network focuses on strategic stockpiling of relief items, and provision of comprehensive supply chain solutions (procurement, transport, etc.) and capacity building of national/regional entities. It currently has 59 humanitarian partners, including UN agencies, NGOs and Governments......
[Editor's Note: Current plans do not include Africa]
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the international courier company Deutsche Post DHL, met yesterday at the UNDP headquarters to reaffirm their commitment to their public-private partnership in support of disaster preparedness and response.
The tripartite partnership, which includes the Get Airports Ready for Disaster (GARD) programme and Disaster Response Teams (DRTs), has been boosting the capacity of airports and national partners to better coordinate and distribute aid and relief when humanitarian disasters strike. The new agreement will see support continue for a further three years....
....After training more than 430 people in Armenia, Bangladesh, El Salvador, Indonesia, Lebanon, Nepal, Panama, Peru, the Philippines and Turkey, UNDP and DHL will now help to prepare airports in three countries per year through the new agreement. Plans are currently underway for training of airport staff in Jordan, to begin in September 2014.
Logistics Learning Alliance (LLA), one of the UK’s leading logistics and supply chain management training companies, has introduced a new humanitarian essential logistics module (HELM) for new entrants into the sector.
Building on LLA’s experience in delivering the Humanitarian Certification in Humanitarian Logistics, the flagship programme for logisticians working for all humanitarian aid agencies, this introductory level course covers all main aspects of a humanitarian logistics operation. It provides an initial guide on the key subject areas – including humanitarian supply chains, warehousing and stock management...
The East African Community (EAC)’s rail freight tariffs are high compared to other regions of the world, a survey released on Thursday said.
According to the 2014 East Africa Logistics Performance Survey, the main reason is due to lack of effective concession agreements as well as inability by operators to invest to improve efficiency...
The United Nations says that about 200 vehicles are stranded on a key road in Lakes State of South Sudan owing to poor road conditions. This obstructs the delivery of humanitarian supplies to northwestern areas of the country....
...The UN reported that the Mvolo Culvert on the Juba-Rumbek route was washed away which has resulted in a significant increase in travel time from Juba to Rumbek...
..A map published by the Logistics Cluster on 15 August advised that it would take vehicles four to five days to cross the Mvolo Culvert area. According to the map, sandbags and timber are needed in order for vehicles to cross..
KENYA ranks poorly among East African countries in terms of cargo handling and movement from the Mombasa port, a new survey shows.
The survey ranks Kenya fourth out of five countries in the region in terms of efficiency in cargo clearance and movement. Rwanda comes first followed by Uganda and Tanzania, while Burundi is fifth.
The findings were released at the launch of the third edition of the logistics survey by the Shippers Council of East Africa.
KENYA ranks poorly among East African countries in terms of cargo handling and movement from the Mombasa port, a new survey shows.
The survey ranks Kenya fourth out of five countries in the region in terms of efficiency in cargo clearance and movement. Rwanda comes first followed by Uganda and Tanzania, while Burundi is fifth.
The findings were released at the launch of the third edition of the logistics survey by the Shippers Council of East Africa.
Both India and China are forging a range of business alliances. While China’s presence is huge, India can be a game-changer
The drastic increase in trade volumes over the last few years is an impressive testament to the new Indian pivot to Sub-Saharan Africa (countries that lie to the south of the Sahara desert); trade between India and Sub-Saharan Africa stood at $60 billion in 2012.
Still, trade volumes in the same year were markedly eclipsed by those of the EU ($567.2 billion), the US ($446.7 billion), and China ($220 billion). Nevertheless, India’s engagement shows a successful new focus on the region where it has implemented specific programmes in the economic, political, and, especially, pan-African sphere....
South Sudan is on the brink of catastrophe. The country has fallen into a bloody civil war divided by its two largest ethnic groups, the Dinka and Nuer. Fighting and heavy rains have critically impacted access to food. AJ+ asks Challiss McDonough from the World Food Programme - East Africa, about what’s happening in the world’s youngest country.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta launched Friday a construction deal for the first berths in a proposed multi-billion dollar port, the day after ordering vast tracts of "stolen" land be repossessed. The planned $24 billion (18 billion euro) Lamu port project, due to be finished by 2030, is intended to serve much of east Africa, with oil pipelines to South Sudan and railways to Ethiopia and Uganda from the Indian Ocean coast...
...The project, known as LAPSSET - the Lamu Port South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor - includes not only a giant seaport to complement Kenya's hugely overstretched main port in Mombasa, but also a railway, airport and refinery project....
More than 650 people have caught the disease cholera in Upper Nile State of South Sudan, with 17 deaths confirmed. The state remains cut off by river and road from relief supplies from elsewhere in the country, and is only accessible by air. Approximately 179,000 people are displaced within Upper Nile State, according to the UN, while tens of thousands more have fled from the state into Ethiopia or Sudan....
....Food barges hired by the World Food Programme to travel upriver to the area from Juba have been delayed. According to the UN Logistics Cluster, two barges that departed Juba on 29 June have halted in Mangella while another two are still at Juba port awaiting repair of the pusher’s engine. OCHA said aid agencies are responding to cholera in Wau Shilluk by providing medical treatment, distributing water purification and rehydration tablets, buckets and soap, and constructing handwashing stations....
The proposed high-speed railway line from Mombasa to Kigali could activate what health experts see as new HIV hotspots, with the virus hitchhiking its way to new areas.
Health authorities and civil groups from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda are now planning a joint approach to fight the disease across their boundaries, and especially along the transport corridors.
The Mombasa-Kampala-Kigali-Bujumbura-Goma road network, otherwise known as the Northern corridor, has been partially blamed for the high rates of HIV in the region....
A broad cross-section of stakeholders from government and civil society met in Nairobi from 9-11 June as part of a country-level consultation to inform the development of regional priorities across the East African Community for its second strategic plan (2015-2020).
The Kenyan meeting was one in a series of five coordinated meetings to occur across the member-states of the EAC: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, the results for which aim to serve as the basis for a concept note for a regional grant from the Global Fund.
The EAC is one of more than 40 separate entities that submitted an expression of interest (EoI) to the Global Fund in May 2014, to access some of the $200 million that has been set aside for regional programs....
...Eight structural drivers of HIV in the region were identified at the Kenya meeting, four of which are related to mobility: conflict and other catalysts for displacement; human trafficking; a lack of harmonization of care and treatment protocols; and supply-chain management and procurement. Also identified were sexual and gender-based violence, low levels of education about health, substance abuse and the challenge of domestic co-financing....
Responding to the challenges posed by high mobility will have important positive consequences for all countries, which are all grappling with high rates of co-infection for HIV and tuberculosis, and are trying to manage the spread of multi-drug resistant TB. Each country has separately been asked to develop a national concept note for joint funding from the Global Fund for HIV/TB, and the need to integrate funds at a regional level has been noted by the architects of the EoI.
The region's burden of disease remains considerable. UNAIDS statistics compiled at the regional level in 2013 suggest that infection levels have remained stable at around 400,000 new infections per annum, heavily influenced by stable incidence in Tanzania and increased incidence in Uganda. A total 4.81 million people are living with HIV in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda (no statistics were included for Burundi), nearly two-thirds of whom are women. Anti-retroviral therapy coverage in those countries was tabulated at 1,225,293 people....
With all eyes set on the race for oil production between Uganda and Kenya, a development of a different sort is taking place some 200 miles to the south in Arusha, Tanzania. The East African Community (EAC) is conducting a plenary session to discuss trade policies with representatives from the five member states of Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in attendance....
...Unlike other African trade blocs such as SADC, COMESA and ECOWAS, the EAC’s goal is not purely economic: its ultimate vision is to become a political federation with a single currency. Despite some frictions between each country’s head of state, the EAC has prioritized regional integration at a pace unforeseen in Sub-Saharan Africa....
....While the EAC is home to a broad consumer base that demands a wide variety of goods from various industries, it also faces several challenges to doing business. Inconsistencies in customs valuations, export taxes and rules of origins abound, while the infrastructure is aging. Transport costs along the EAC’s two major corridors are some of Sub-Saharan Africa’s highest. The timeline for integration has not been kept. However, the EAC is addressing these challenges with new projects, investments and treaties. For example, one-stop border posts in select towns will ease bottlenecks associated with intra-regional trade, and the ongoing construction of the LAPSETT transport corridor will provide alternative routes to distribute goods in the wider region....
Regional integration is key to Sub-Saharan Africa’s economic growth and will continue to be pushed at the top of policy-makers’ agendas. Old boundaries will continue to break down in favor of highways, pipelines, railway lines and power grids that will redefine regional dynamics....
To get content containing either thought or leadership enter:
To get content containing both thought and leadership enter:
To get content containing the expression thought leadership enter:
You can enter several keywords and you can refine them whenever you want. Our suggestion engine uses more signals but entering a few keywords here will rapidly give you great content to curate.
Your new post is loading...
![When disaster strikes, the private sector plays a role too [WFP] | Humanitarian Supply Chain & Logistics | Scoop.it](https://img.scoop.it/TPtm5f6bYmFYUmek81dBujl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBVvK0kTmF0xjctABnaLJIm9)
