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INSEAD The United Nations Joint Logistics Centre (UNJLC): The Genesis of a Humanitarian Relief Coordination Platform INSPECTIONNot For Reproduction COPY 04/2003-5093 This case was written by Ramina Samii, Research Associate and Luk N. Van Wassenhove, the Henry Ford Chaired Professor of Manufacturing at INSEAD. It is intended to be used as a basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Fritz Institute. Copyright © 2003 INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France. N.B. PLEASE NOTE THAT DETAILS OF ORDERING INSEAD CASES ARE FOUND ON THE BACK COVER. COPIES MAY NOT BE MADE WITHOUT PERMISSION. INSPECTIONNot For Reproduction COPY INSEAD 1 5093 Introduction Between 4 February and 5 April 2000, Mozambique was hit by a quick succession of four devastating cyclones. The worst floods in living memory swamped the southern part of the country. Whilst tourists and businessmen stayed away from the area, Maputo’s hotels, bars and restaurants were filled with foreign aid workers1 and journalists. Television cameras were there to document both the devastation and the efforts of humanitarian organisations.2. As the footage of baby Rosita’s birth on a tree travelled around the world, humanitarian organisations were confronted with a pressing problem: accessing the affected populations withoutNot a supporting For Reproduction infrastructure network. With airstrips, roads, and bridges under water, INSPECTIONrescuing the victims and delivering COPY basic relief items such as food, shelter, and medicine were extremely difficult. The logistical constraints imposed by the floods made airlifts the only viable means of transportation. It was also the most expensive method. Given the great demand for air assets, there was a pressing need to enhance the efficiency (in terms of lives saved and immediate assistance) and cost-effectiveness of the overall humanitarian relief effort. But which humanitarian UN Agency or NGO was to coordinate the use of the available air assets? Who was to decide on how to prioritise between transporting food, typically a low-value high-bulk item, and non-food, high-value low-bulk items? On the government’s invitation, the OCHA’s UNDAC3 team reached the disaster area on 12 February, a week after the first cyclone had hit Mozambique. The team assisted the government in preparing a consolidated appeal to mobilise funds from the donor community. Among other things, it set up the Cell for Logistics Coordination, hosted by the National Institute for Disaster Management (Instituto Nacional de Gestao de Calamidades, INGC),4 with the mandate to coordinate assessment and relief activities. Was OCHA the most adequate body to carry out the logistics coordination task? Or was an agency like the WFP,5 designated in 1999 as the lead coordinating agency for disaster management in Mozambique, a better choice? 1 2,500 UN and NGO aid workers were mobilised for the disaster. 2 See Appendix A for a short description of all the actors on the humanitarian intervention scene appearing in this case. 3 The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance’s (OCHA) Disaster Assessment Coordination team (UNDAC), deployed for “sudden onset of natural disaster”, prepared consolidated appeals on behalf of the concerned government and UN humanitarian organisations for donor funding. 4 At the time of the floods it had only initiated the contingency planning exercise. 5 The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) with the mission to fight against global hunger was the biggest supply mover with the most developed logistics competencies within the humanitarian community. Not For Reproduction Copyright © 2003 INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France. INSPECTION COPY INSEAD 2 5093 The 2000 Mozambique Floods Cyclone Connie hit the southeast coast of Mozambique on 4 February 2000, severely affecting three of the country’s provinces. The rapid rise in the water level resulted in widespread flooding of the major river basins.6 The cyclone continued inland causing substantial damage to four other neighbouring southern African countries (Exhibit 1). The opening of dams upstream (especially in Zimbabwe and Zambia) worsened the situation. The capital’s water and electricity supplies were the first to be severely affected. In a matter of hours, road and rail links to the bordering countries of South Africa and Swaziland were cut, railway services between Maputo and Zimbabwe were impeded, airfields were under water,7 property and thousands of acres of land was destroyed, water purification plants, boreholes, wells were damaged and 100,000 people were homeless or stranded on “islands” of rooftops INSPECTIONand trees.Not For Reproduction COPY The severe floods were aggravated by a second cyclone, Eline that struck the eastern coast of Mozambique on 21 February and moved inland producing heavy rains and strong winds for three consecutive days. By the end of February, the worst and most extensive floods the country had known for 150 years had affected over 900,000 people, forcing 300,000 people to abandon their homes, washing away 1,600km of roads, and destroying cultivated land and numerous bridges connecting the provinces.8 The threat of water-borne diseases, such as cholera and malaria increased daily from the pools of stagnant water and unsanitary conditions. By early March, intermittent rainfall continued to affect parts of the country. In addition, a new cyclone, Gloria, was hovering in the Indian Ocean. Up until the end of March, the heavy rains continued to inhibit the distribution of relief items by road, as repaired roads were intermittently put out of use. The country’s main highway was opened to traffic on 26 March providing better access to the flood affected areas. The first trucks with supplies from Beira to the Gaza province were dispatched on 29 March. By the end of the month, an estimated 1.2 million people had been affected by the floods. Of those, 463,000 internally displaced people had received assistance from humanitarian organisations and were sheltered and fed in over 120 accommodation and feeding centres set up throughout the affected areas. On 5 April the last and relatively confined cyclone, Hudah, hit the Mozambique coast with limited displacement of people and loss of crops. By June, the official and revised figures of the disaster indicated that 5 million people had been affected by the flooding, with 544,000 of these being displaced (Exhibit 2).9 At the peak of operations out of Beira and Maputo, a total of 57 aircraft of several types belonging to different operators were involved in humanitarian relief activities. The combined humanitarian air operation of the disaster was among the largest ever: a total of 9,305 flight hours, transporting almost 30,400 passengers and 11,623 metric tonnes (MT) of food and non-food items (Exhibit 3). These results were possible 6 Nkomati, Limpopo, Save and Buzi river systems. 7 Over the four-day period (4-7 February), rainfall reached a record 454mm at Maputo International Airport 8 Source: Mozambique & Zimbabwe: Flood Rehabilitation, Appeal no. 4/2000, Situation Report no. 2, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent, 23 February 2000. 9 Source: UN Coordination in Mozambique Following the Devastating Floods, June 2000. Not For Reproduction Copyright © 2003 INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France. INSPECTION COPY INSEAD 3 5093 thanks to the activation of the UN’s Joint Logistics Operations Centre (JLOC); a coordination mechanism first developed in the Eastern Zaire 1996-1997 crisis. The Mozambique JLOC At the time of the disaster, the government of Mozambique only had two helicopters at its disposal, and one of these was grounded for repairs. Within days of the government’s first appeal for international assistance, the South African National Defence Force had provided a fleet of 10 aircraft. On 11 February the first South African military rescue helicopters arrived at the disaster site. Between 11 and 19 February, they choreographed the first wave of rescue operations.Not As For the Reproductionsituation stabilised, donors started to scale down their operations. The INSPECTIONOCHA's UNDAC mission COPYleft the country on 24 February after completing the first consolidated appeal. When the second wave of floods hit Mozambique between 26 and 27 February, no single organisation was prepared for its abruptness and magnitude. On 29 February the UNDAC team returned to the country to prepare the second appeal. Rescue operations resumed and reached their peak right after the second cyclone. Thousands of people, clinging to life in trees or on rooftops had to be rescued and given relief. It was the helicopter crews' hour of glory as rescue operations were often carried out at great personal risk. The pilots and the crew were real heroes working tirelessly and alone around the clock to save lives. For a week on a daily basis, an average of more than 2,000 victims were literally lifted from trees and rooftops, put on “islands” and kept alive with relief supplies provided by a host of humanitarian agencies. After the second cyclone hit, professional planning was required to obtain optimal utilisation of the 50 plus aircraft provided by 15 operators10 to support the victims (Exhibit 4). As the magnitude of the emergency was revealed and air activities evolved from straightforward rescue to transporting food and non-food items including shelter, medicine and water, the complexity of the logistics operations was compounded. On the initiative of a UNDAC team member,11 the Minister of Foreign Affairs requested that the Cell for Logistics Coordination be converted into a Joint Logistics Operations Center (JLOC) on 3 March 2000. This JLOC, hosted in the INGC building, reported to the Mozambique government and as such became an instrument of the government’s rescue and relief operations. While DFID temporarily appointed one of its officers to activate the JLOC, WFP, the mastermind behind the Joint Logistics Centre (UNJLC)12 concept back in 1996, was designated as the lead coordinating agency for logistics support and communications.