Humanitarian Logistics Challenges, Innovations, and Future Directions

Humanitarian logistics (HL) is a logistics framework in a paradigm of extreme uncertainty (where the usual performance measures of commercial supply chain management are replaced by those of saving lives and reducing human suffering). By synthesizing extant literature using a rigorous qualitative research design, the article deconstructs the humanitarian logistics ecosystem to identify the “demand uncertainty paradox” and the “zero - lead time requirement” as ontological underpinnings. The study utilizes semi structured interviews and thematic coding to address the gap between the theoretical frameworks and the CSD level operational realities. The interview conducted three humanitarion logistics directors in Sudan. This work makes an important contribution to academic discourse by providing a nuanced understanding of the nature of the adaptation that humanitarian organizations can undertake, in processing geopolitical disruptions and cascading crisis in a rapidly changing global setting.