Background
Insecurity and damaged road infrastructure in northeast Nigeria place a significant strain on logistics capacities and constrain access to affected populations for humanitarian organisations. In order to mitigate these challenges and ensure the continued and timely delivery of humanitarian relief, humanitarian organisations and the Nigerian Armed Forces (NAF) agreed to a notification process for planned cargo movements. Since November 2016, in support of the Civil-Military Coordination function led by OCHA, the Logistics Sector Nigeria has been consolidating cargo movement notifications and coordinating escorts upon request of humanitarian partners.
Objective
To facilitate the scale-up of the humanitarian response in northeast Nigeria and maintain the delivery of humanitarian relief items to the affected population. This is done by consolidating cargo movement notifications and escorts requirements in a streamlined and coordinated process; by producing Standard Operating Procedures and access maps; and by strengthening principled liaison with the Nigerian Armed Forces on cargo-related issues on behalf of partners and in coordination with the OCHA-led UNCMCoord.
Outcome
Effectively coordinating humanitarian cargo movements has enhanced the timeliness and flexibility of the movements. The time needed to prepare and submit cargo notifications to the NAF has been reduced, and the limited number of escorts have been utilized as best as possible. This means that relief items have been dispatched more rapidly and ultimately more assistance has reached those who need it. An emergency notification procedure has also been established, allowing for expedited notification clearances by the NAF in response to emergency cases and unforeseen critical needs.
Original source and full report: World Food Programme, Logistics Cluster.
Published on 13 November 2017
