This article describes gradual but visible slowdown in development assistance provided by advanced countries for developing and transitional economies during the 1980s and 1990s. The anticipated peace dividend has not been replaced by the increase of ODA and the other forms of aid after the cold...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an introduction of the two parts of the Special Edition of the journal devoted to the challenges of humanitarian aid logistics. To achieve this, an overview of the humanitarian logistic field is provided focussing on a number of key areas in...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of agility in the context of supply chains of humanitarian aid (HA) organizations, particularly non‐government organizations (NGOs). This responds to the increasing pressure on NGOs to use their resources more strategically if...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to further the understanding of opportunities involved in horizontal cooperation in disaster relief logistics. The potential and realized benefits of horizontal cooperation in disaster relief logistics, as well as related impediments are investigated....

Purpose – In the field of humanitarianism, cluster thinking has been suggested as a solution to the lack of coordinated disaster response. Clusters for diverse functions, including sheltering, logistics and water and sanitation, can be viewed as an effort to achieve functional coordination....

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a supply chain process modelling method adapted to the requirements of humanitarian organisations. Design/methodology/approach – Empirical research was conducted to identify the state of practice of supply chain management (SCM) in...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present an operations research (OR) model for planning water distribution tours in disaster relief. Especially in situations after a disaster occurrence, characterized by instability and the immediate need of help, high‐quality decisions have to be...

Purpose – By constantly working in environments with high degree of uncertainty, humanitarian organizations end up becoming specialists in the implementation of agile systems. Their counterparts in profit‐making organizations have a lot to learn from them in this domain. Volatility of...