Humanitarian Logistics

Explore how supply chain management concepts and methods can be applied within dynamic, resource-constrained contexts. In this course, you will learn how to professionally plan emergency operations that deliver essential goods and services to people affected by natural disaster, epidemic, pandemic, famine, armed conflict, complex emergency, and other humanitarian crises. Course topics are also foundational for understanding how international and economic development efforts support market resilience in meeting community needs during crisis.

You will apply fundamental principles and analytical models to create timely, effective, and efficient supply chain plans. You will learn about the nature of humanitarian contexts and the structure of emergency response systems in order to professionally communicate plans and coordinate operations. Principles and models in this course are adapted to apply to different planning phases: disaster preparedness, emergency response, and protracted crisis.

There is growing demand for humanitarian logistics professionals given increasing climate change, conflict, social vulnerability, and supply chain complexity.

This course is designed to accommodate students from various backgrounds, including those with limited supply chain or humanitarian experience. It can be an avenue into:

• Social impact – humanitarian action makes direct impact through tangible operations
• Professional engagement – course knowledge enables you to professionally interact with humanitarian organizations such as the Red Cross, Doctors without Borders, Oxfam, Mercy Corps, and World Vision; United Nations agencies such as World Food Program (WFP), World Health Organization (WHO), and UNICEF; and national, regional, or local government emergency management agencies (e.g. FEMA), ministries or departments of public health and human services, and Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
• New careers – the course credential can open career opportunities in humanitarian roles such as operations/program analyst, supply chain manager, emergency manager, emergency planner, emergency program director, procurement assistant/officer, logistics assistant/officer, program assistant/officer

Experienced and mid-career supply chain professionals will enjoy learning how crisis contexts challenge your instincts in applying your skills toward humanitarian causes. Humanitarian response and emergency management professionals will gain a deeper understanding of how logistics systems work and learn how to collaborate with supply chain professionals in planning a more effective response.

This course is created by the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics, which houses the #1 ranked MIT Supply Chain Management Master’s program, and which also offers the global MITx MicroMasters credential program in Supply Chain Management.

Specific topics include:

• Natural Hazards, Crisis Management Risks, Community Vulnerability, Humanitarian Principles, Humanitarian Standards
• Emergency Management Systems, Logistics Systems, Supply Chain Processes and Flows
• Demand Forecasting, Needs Assessment, Demand Planning
• Procurement, Donations, Stockpile, Inventory, and Replenishment Planning
• Transportation, Warehousing, and Distribution Planning