Delivering Aid in Crisis

Granting refugees access to crucial resources — from shelter and clean water to the Internet — involves a wide variety of complex supply chains.

Since the Syrian Civil War began in 2011, more than half of the nation’s 22 million residents have either died or fled the country. Of those who managed to escape, most have sought shelter in neighboring countries: Turkey currently hosts the largest number of Syrian refugees, followed by Jordan, then Lebanon, where refugees now make up close to 25% of the population. All in all, the Syrian conflict alone has yielded over 13 million refugees in the past six years, and many more who have been displaced from their homes but have been unable to leave the country.

Of course, the refugee crisis does not end at the Syrian border. At the end of 2015, there were more than 60 million refugees worldwide. Over a million of these refugees have arrived in Europe since 2015, most of them by sea. Globally, nearly one in 200 children is a refugee, and more than half of the Syrian refugee population is under the age of 18.

Dealing with this huge displacement of people will take years (perhaps even decades), but in the short-term, there is an immediate need for rapid and efficient delivery of essential goods and services to those affected. Executing on that delivery is no easy task — moving supplies across borders, coordinating international humanitarian efforts, and passing safely through war zones are just a few of the unique challenges faced by those who take part in the global refugee camp supply chain.

Worldwide Supply Shortages

Host countries across the Middle East and Europe have responded to the Syrian crisis by establishing refugee camps, but with the arrival of unprecedented numbers of refugees and limited resources with which to accommodate them, these camps face enormous logistical challenges.

First, there’s rarely enough food to go around — camps tend to distribute around 75% of each refugee’s recommended calorie count, and food shortages have led to infighting for rations and, in several tragic cases, death. Worse yet, chronic malnutrition makes people susceptible to diseases like cholera and polio, especially when confined in close quarters with other malnourished people. Although some camps allow refugees to tend to small personal gardens, worldwide droughts and desert climates make this impossible for the majority of Syrian refugees.

The refugee’s struggle for adequate nourishment differs largely by location: one German camp’s cafeteria-style excess is a separate world from Lebanese camps that can only allot a meager $13 per person each month for rations. For the most part, food is supplied via contributions from UN agencies, private organizations, and other NGOs or nonprofits.

Refugee camps also struggle to provide access to clean water. According to UNHCR estimates, more than half of global refugee camps are unable to supply the recommended minimum of two liters of water per person per day. If clean water is not provided, refugees may attempt to drink from impure sources, which can contribute to the spread of cholera, diarrhea, and similar illnesses.

Additionally, many camps do not feature conveniently located water taps. That means that a simple trip to stock up on water can consume a huge fraction of an already malnourished refugee’s daily calorie count. As a result, water is often the focal point of efforts to optimize a refugee camp’s operations. In Chad’s Ab Gadam camp, for instance, UNHCR performed substantial research in order to find and source clean water. Methods included trucking it in from a nearby lake, collecting it during storms, and even constructing a treatment plant.