Sustainable supply chain strategies and performance of World food programme in South Sudan

Abstract

Sustainable supply chain strategies are of paramount importance among humanitarian organizations for several reasons. The World Food Programme in South Sudan has adopted four key supply chain strategies, namely supplier relationship management, green procurement, reverse logistics, and transportation optimization. These strategies are employed not only to uphold World Food Program's mission of saving lives and changing lives for the better in South Sudan but also to enhance its operational efficiency, achieve cost reduction, and improve the overall effectiveness of its aid delivery. It however remains scantily explored in the South Sudanese body of knowledge, how these sustainable supply chain strategies have influence performance therefore, warranting the present study. Against this backdrop, this study set out to assess the effect of sustainable supply chain strategies on performance of World Food Program in South Sudan. More specifically, the study sought to establish the effect of supplier relationship management on performance of World Food Program in South Sudan; determine the effect of green procurement on performance of World Food Program in South Sudan; examine the effect of reverse logistics on performance of World Food Program in South Sudan; and assess the effect of transportation optimization on performance of World Food Program in South Sudan. The study adopted the descriptive design as it sought to collect data by survey tools, from which to give an accurate account of the effect of sustainable supply chain strategies on performance of World Food Program in South Sudan. The study relied on a mixedmethod approach, whereby both quantitative and qualitative primary data were sought. While quantitative data were sourced from local suppliers that provide goods and services to World Food Program in South Sudan and members of the beneficiary communities through a structured questionnaire, in-depth key informant interviews were used to collect qualitative data from senior World Food Program staff involved in supply chain management, logistics, and procurement in South Sudan. The study furtherer employed a mixed-methods approach in data analysis, whereby both quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques were used. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data obtained from the in-depth key informant interviews. Both descriptive and inferential analysis were on the other hand be used to analyze the quantitative data obtained from structured questionnaires. The regression analysis results indicate that transportation optimization has the highest standardized coefficient (β = 0.523, p < 0.001), followed by green procurement (β = 0.159, p = 0.011) and reverse logistics (β = 0.167, p = 0.026), while supplier relationship management shows a non-significant effect (β = 0.008, p = 0.890). These results suggest that transportation optimization, green procurement, and reverse logistics significantly contribute to enhancing the performance of WFP in South Sudan, emphasizing the importance of these factors in humanitarian supply chain management.