When disaster strikes, hours and minutes count, at least where humanitarian aid groups are concerned. But in order to coordinate a speedy response, those agencies first have to know what relief supplies are available in the region and where those supplies are stored so they can arrange for delivery. And that information hasn’t always been easy to obtain.
That need for more transparency in this regard led the German humanitarian organization Welthungerhilfe (WHH) to launch a collaborative effort known as the “Emergency Supplies Prepositioning Strategy” (ESUPS) back in 2016. At the heart of the project, which has been up and running since 2019, is a digital platform that enables logistics experts worldwide to record and analyze stocks of various relief supplies and make precise recommendations as to which items should be kept in which quantities at which locations.
Those achievements have now earned the group a major industry award. In a ceremony in December, WHH will receive the Lynn C. Fritz Medal for Excellence in Humanitarian Logistics. The medal, which has been given out by the Logistics Hall of Fame since 2023, is sponsored by the U.S.-based Fritz Institute, a nonprofit that focuses on innovation and best practices in disaster relief.
“The impact [of ESUPS] is tangible,” the award committee said in a release announcing WHH’s selection. “ESUPS ensures greater visibility and easier cooperation between governments, humanitarian organizations, and United Nations agencies to shorten response times, make operations more efficient, and reduce the costs of warehousing and disposing of surplus goods.”
Founded in 1962, Welthungerhilfe is a Bonn-based nongovernmental organization (NGO) committed to fighting hunger and poverty. The group, whose motto is “Zero Hunger,” has 3,300 employees worldwide who have supported 12,777 projects abroad to date.
