SUMA in Latin America

ECHO Supports South American NGOs in SUMA Management

Every day, the amount of humanitarian assistance handled through the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is greater, hence the need to coordinate and use tools such as SUMA that allow countries to manage and distribute this aid more effectively.

PAHO, with financial support from the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO), initiated between 1998-2000 a project "Strengthening Humanitarian Assistance Management Systems", directed mainly at NGOs, which is geared to: training technical disaster personnel, strengthening the national humanitarian assistance management systems, and improving storage and distribution systems of goods.

Initially, eight countries in South America were targeted: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. Several NGOs have installed SUMA independently in order to facilitate their own supply management and to keep other NGOs and the Government informed.

The results obtained clearly indicate that an exchange of information decreases duplicity of effort, provides more detailed information on existing resources and their location, improves the ability to monitor donations and fosters closer institutional relations and coordination which are vital for emergency management. The use of the SUMA System during the El Niño emergencies in Ecuador and Peru and the earthquake in Peru (June 2001) were excellent examples of the importance of coordination among NGOs that collaborate and make donations, and government agencies that handle emergencies. And SUMA was considered to be an effective instrument to increase transparency in the management of the donations.

Experience has shown that in complex disasters, every agency or NGO faces the same problem: how to manage the flow of information on supplies in order to optimize the use of resources and report transparently to all parties involved (donors, the public, and the beneficiaries). In the absence of a methodology and local tools, each NGO in Bosnia had to improvise their own system. Once an individual or unique routine is established (at a high cost), it becomes very difficult to electronically exchange information among agencies. Also lost is coordination and receptiveness to the idea of a common methodology.

Therefore, it has resulted very positive that in the South American region various countries have adopted presently SUMA as it's official national supply management system. Thanks to the many trainings given in the application of the SUMA methodology and on logistics in general, there exists now a greater local capacity in supply management and more decentralization.

All these organizational and management improvements in the local NGO´s and institutions, like an increased transparency and accountability, have augmented the donor confidence in the supply management of the countries in the aftermath of an emergency.

Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)

World Health Organization (WHO)

Organización Panamericana de la Salud (OPS)

Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS)

Humanitarian Supply Management System

Sistema de Manejo Suministros Humanitarios