Humanitarian Operations and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Besiou, Maria; Pedraza‐Martinez, Alfonso J.; Wassenhove, Luk N. Van

doi:10.1111/poms.13579

Cited by 35 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…However, they may not consider the long-term consequences for the affected region. The focus on cost-effective procurement for long-term development goals may also hinder sustainable initiatives [16,17]. Insufficient planning and organization can lead to the distribution of unnecessary supplies, further depleting natural resources.…”

Section: Operational Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strengthening medical outreach: enhancing healthcare access in developing countries

Saidu¹,

Orimabuyaku²,

Ademola³

et al. 2023

Int. J. Sci. Res. Arch.

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The establishment, definition, and adequate funding of systems supporting medical outreach are crucial in addressing current and emerging healthcare issues in developing countries. This study examines the impact of a strategically planned and comprehensive outreach program conducted by Living Stone Explorer (LSE) in Majidadi, Nigeria, to address various aspects of community development, including healthcare, education, counselling, and humanitarian assistance. The research highlights the importance of a holistic approach to fostering sustainable change in underprivileged communities. It underscores the significance of effective communication and cultural sensitivity in delivering these services. The LSE program’s success is a model for future initiatives in similar settings, offering valuable insights into the outreach efforts' planning, implementation, and evaluation. By providing a better understanding of the intricacies and complexities of delivering essential services in resource-limited environments, this study contributes to the knowledge base. It has the potential to inspire and inform the development of more effective and impactful outreach programs worldwide.

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Section: Operational Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strengthening medical outreach: enhancing healthcare access in developing countries

Saidu¹,

Orimabuyaku²,

Ademola³

et al. 2023

Int. J. Sci. Res. Arch.

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“…NGOs usually operate on a tight budget. As Besiou et al (2021) Following this literature, our paper develops optimization models to improve both access and access equity in allocating a limited resource. However, the extant humanitarian OM literature typically treats the local communities solely as recipients of the services instead of active agents.…”

Section: Community Involvement In Humanitarian Operations Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving drinking water access and equity in rural Sub‐Saharan Africa

Zhai

Bretthauer

Mejía

et al. 2023

Production and Operations Management

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In 2021, access to clean drinking water was still a luxury for millions of people worldwide. Building new water projects, such as handpumps and small piped systems, is the primary operational response by many nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to bring people their first access to clean water in rural areas of developing countries. Based on knowledge gained from our collaboration with a local NGO and an international NGO and field research in Ethiopia, our research studies where to build new water projects optimally. We first develop a decentralized water project location optimization model based on current practice of a decentralized decision‐making and project management system and an equal per‐beneficiary budget. We further propose three new models to improve both water access and equity: a minimax model, an equitable budget model, and a centralized model that leverages the existing community involvement. Through numerical studies, we compare the model solutions and generate recommendations for NGOs. Lastly, motivated by the current civil war in Ethiopia, we develop a stochastic model to study how to improve drinking water access while mitigating the negative impact of water project supply shocks such as war. Our work studies the previously overlooked problem of drinking water access in rural areas of developing countries. It provides a generalizable and scalable methodology and managerial insights to NGOs building new water projects by combining large geo‐coded datasets and field data.

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“…There is an inherent tension between the notion of sustainability and the urgency involved in disaster response, but humanitarian operations span the entire DMC, as Besiou et al. (2021) point out. The way humanitarian organizations (HOs) operate within each phase of the DMC can be more or less sustainable.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainable humanitarian operations: An integrated perspective

Corbett

Pedraza‐Martinez

Wassenhove

2022

Production and Operations Management

Self Cite

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The immediate response to disasters, while well intended, sometimes causes avoidable humanitarian challenges later on. Drinking water may be essential, but it is not necessary to provide it in small plastic bottles. Injections may save lives, but inappropriately discarded syringes are hazardous. Can humanitarian relief be made more sustainable? This paper summarizes a 1‐day workshop on this topic, held at INSEAD in 2019 in connection with Luk Van Wassenhove's transition to emeritus professor. This workshop involved over 100 academics and practitioners. Five areas were discussed in detail: material convergence, coordination between humanitarian organizations (HOs), logistics, partnerships with industry, and health. The discussions demonstrate the possibility of better integrating sustainability with humanitarian operations despite the inherent tension between the immediate need to save lives and the longer term perspective associated with sustainability. This requires that various stakeholders, including HOs, donors, and watchdog organizations, think differently about the balance between short‐term and long‐term interventions, the metrics and incentives they apply, and the role of local versus global organizations. Leading practitioners and scholars in humanitarian operations are well aware of these challenges and opportunities in each domain separately; this paper aims to introduce these issues to a broader audience in a single more integrated overview, based on the themes that were discussed at the workshop.

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Humanitarian Operations and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Cited by 35 publications

References 22 publications

Strengthening medical outreach: enhancing healthcare access in developing countries

Strengthening medical outreach: enhancing healthcare access in developing countries

Improving drinking water access and equity in rural Sub‐Saharan Africa

Sustainable humanitarian operations: An integrated perspective

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