Ernest Mugoni
Humanitarian organisations such as Directorate of Disaster Risk Management (DDRM) play a significant role in meeting the basic needs of people in need of humanitarian aids. Much time of the humanitarian organisation’s operations is spent on logistics and Supply Chain Management (SCM) activities. Supply chain challenges faced and therefore, worsen humanitarian operations by creating a lot of uncertainty among humanitarian organisations. This study was carried out to identify the challenges facing the humanitarian supply chain during a disaster situation, the perceived readiness during disaster preparedness and practices that can be adapted to overcome the challenges. The study adopted a quantitative approach supported by a survey to determine the challenges experienced and readiness of the DDRM. Data was successfully collected through questionnaires from 31 employees who were selected through random sampling techniques. From the findings, challenges facing DDRM as a humanitarian organisation were grouped into organisational challenges, financial challenges and deployment-related challenges. With organisational challenges, DDRM employees agreed that the organisation is facing challenges such as the role of the humanitarian supply chain not being recognised as well as the lack of assets and cumbersome administration procedures slowing down the supply chain. The participants also agreed that the stringent donor rules and guidelines inhibit efficient and effective supply chain management. The financial challenges identified were that there is a lack capital that is being invested in the supply chain preparedness activities by the Namibian government and even though these funds are available from international organisations this fund cannot be accessed for preparedness activities. This is because funds to procure items are only released after the disaster has occurred. In addition, the study identified that lack of preparedness has a direct impact on deployment of both personnel and materials. The findings from this study have also indicated that when it comes to deployment, DDRM employees are very positive and demonstrated high level preparedness. The employees are always prepared for deployment during an emergency, and as they believe that their families and friends support their participation in the deployment. However, the staff believes that there is a possibility of getting support from community members to assist with disaster management although this community members need to be identified and trained.