Pan-american health organization’s humanitarian supply management system: de-politicization of the humanitarian supply chain by creating accountability
| Pages | 437-449 |
| Published date | 01 March 2004 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JOPP-04-03-2004-B005 |
| Date | 01 March 2004 |
| Author | Rolando M. Tomasini,Luk N. Van Wassenhove |
| Subject Matter | Public policy & environmental management,Politics,Public adminstration & management,Government,Economics,Public Finance/economics,Texation/public revenue |
JOURNAL OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT, VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3, 437-449 2004
PAN-AMERICAN HEALTH ORGANIZATION’S
HUMANITARIAN SUPPLY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM:
DE-POLITICIZATION OF THE HUMANITARIAN SUPPLY CHAIN
BY CREATING ACCOUNTABILITY
Rolando M. Tomasini and Luk N. Van Wassenhove*
ABSTRACT. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has developed a
humanitarian supply management system (SUMA) that records, tracks and
reports the flow of donations and purchased goods into a disaster area. While a
lot of the received goods are in-kind donations, there is a procurement process
triggered by the cash funds to meet specific needs. This procurement process
also needs to comply with the humanitarian principles, and is therefore
susceptible to manipulations from different stakeholders. SUMA has
contributed to all the different deployments with the ability to build transparency
and accountability in complex operations. These two contributions help to
isolate the political factors from the supply chain and protect the humanitarian
principles and space.
INTRODUCTION
Procurement in humanitarian operations faces different challenges
than those experienced in the private sector. The nature of most disasters
demand that a supply chain be designed and deployed immediately with
limited knowledge of resources available, needs in the field, quantities
required, and a large amount of suppliers (whose involvement and
contribution is somewhat unpredictable).
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* Rolando M. Tomasini (Venezuela), is a Research Associate at INSEAD
(France) and lecturer on Humanitarian Operations at the Copenhagen Business
School (Denmark). His research interests are humanitarian operations, and
public-private relations. Luk N. Van Wassenhove (Belgium), Ph.D., is the Henry
Ford Chaired Professor of Manufacturing at INSEAD (France). His research
interest is in supply chain management.
Copyright © 2004 by PrAcademics Press
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