Reference no: EM133279645

Case: In recent years, the World Food Programme (WFP) has managed complex emergencies, natural disasters, epidemics, and pandemics. Emergency preparedness and response is rooted within WFP policies and is crosscutting within all levels of the organization at country, regional, and global level. Emergencies are described as "urgent situations in which there is clear evidence that an event, or series of events, has occurred which causes human suffering or imminently threatens lives or livelihoods, and which the government concerned has not the means to remedy; and it is a demonstrably abnormal event, or series of events, which produces dislocation in the life of a community on an exceptional scale." For more than 50 years, the World Food Programme (WFP) has provided emergency food assistance, often in conflict, post-conflict or disaster situations. To this day, the organisation continues to assist millions of people displaced, rendered homeless or deprived of basic resources by cataclysmic events, whether man-made or natural, avoidable or not. Through decades of crises and countless interventions, it has developed a unique body of expertise in addressing emergencies. Sourcing food from close to 93 countries, moving goods to more than 100 and delivering cash assistance to over 60, in an average year the World Food Programme (WFP)'s supply chain reaches more than 85 million people in need. Given the complexities of running such a huge operation, good planning is essential to ensure that it can help even more people with the same resources and manage on-time deliveries. As one of the supply chain management consultants you have been invited by the Executive Director of WFP David Bearney to their annual supply chain conference in Geneva entitled "Driving towards supply chain excellence during disaster relief operations". You have been requested to make a series of presentations to the delegates addressing various issues relating to supply chain excellence as guided by the theme of the conference. Your presentations will be in the form of reports that should respond to the problems that are currently being faced by the organisation and should provide insights and recommendations on the strategies to be adopted. You have been given the following guidelines. 

Question 1

Provide a detailed report to the delegates discussing supply chain management in the context of the World Food Programme and highlighting the supply chain complexities faced by the organisation during disaster relief operations.