Bensolomon Baraka: Contextualizing Humanitarian Assistance: Sub-Saharan Africa's Food Supply Chains

The number of food insecure people globally has been on the rise with most of those affected being from sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). To reduce food insecurity in this region, a variety of assistance programs have been implemented by humanitarian organizations (HOs) and local governments. However, not all these assistance programs are contextualized to capture the nuances of complex humanitarian environments. This oversight negatively influences outcomes such as reduction of food insecurity. Through a mixed method approach we analyze data from a complex humanitarian environment. Specifically, we look at how such extreme operational contexts influence actor interactions in the SSA food supply chain. The results show that extreme operational contexts can at times condition the formation of beneficial complex interactions among actors. Further, these results also highlight the importance of contextualizing quantitative data with qualitative data in extreme humanitarian environments. This will allow a holistic integration of operational insights in decision making by HOs and local governments.

Bensolo Baraka started his PhD at Kühne Logistics University in September 2022. His research focuses on improving the performance of food supply chains in developing regions with particular interest on interactions between humanitarian organizations and beneficiary communities in sub-Saharan Africa. He has a specific interest in using contingency and institutional theories in understanding these interactions.