SUMA Lumba! :    UNICEF supports the implementation of an integral system for humanitarian assistance in Africa

29 oct. - 1 nov. 2002

With a beautiful choir of African voices singing SUMA Lumba an end was given to the SUMA course held in Gambia, West-Africa, during the II Regional Workshop on Logistics and Emergencies/Supply Management organized by UNICEF from 27^th October until 1^st November 2002. In the workshop participated UNICEF representatives from 25 African countries, delegates from UNICEF Copenhagen (Denmark) and WHO delegates from the Regional Office for Africa.

The objective of the workshop was to review and discuss the logistical procedures of UNICEF in emergency situations and to get to know the information management tool SUMA as well as other logistic systems that are used in emergencies by UNICEF and GTZ, the development cooperation agency from Germany, with the aim to exchange information and experiences on those information systems.

In order to assess the SUMA system for a possible application in the onsite work of UNICEF, UNICEF invited some experts from FUNDESUMA and WHO to give training in the SUMA methodology. This interagency collaboration in Logistics is a result of the recent initiative “LSS Global” of various United Nations agencies (including WHO, PAHO, OCHA, WFP and UNICEF) with the aim to establish at global level a platform for information exchange between the different existing Logistical Support Systems (LSS) and to develop a standard tool for the common classification of emergency supplies.  

To show their gratefulness to the SUMA instructors, the course participants intonated spontaneously the song SUMA Lumba, which in Congolese means “SUMA will triumph” or “SUMA’s victory”, evidencing the success of this inter-institutional exchange organized by UNICEF.

In general, the group’s final recommendations indicated that SUMA is a tool that, with some modifications, could be fully applicable to UNICEF’s needs and onsite logistics in the West-African region, especially the Warehouse Module, which could serve for inventory control and warehouse management. Although they recommended testing the applicability of the Central Module and the Field Unit Module in complex emergencies and in situations of armed conflicts in Africa to verify their adaptability to a reality other than natural disasters, common for this region of the Americas in which SUMA predominantly has been implemented in the last 10 years.

Moreover, they recommended starting a process to train trainers in SUMA to expand it’s introduction and use in Africa, not only among the agencies and NGOs but also among the local authorities in the countries themselves.

On the other hand, this was the ideal scenario to test the recently launched SUMA version 5.2, in it’s French and English versions, two of the four idioms in which the SUMA software is actually available (also in Spanish and Portuguese), as this group of users was not acquainted with the tool; thus they were more critical of its benefits and drawbacks. This opportunity was very important because the participants have a great deal of experience in highly demanding and complex emergencies and logistics, such as those taking place in Africa.

It was very interesting and useful to be able to exchange experiences on the use of the different logistical systems available together with the UNICEF employees and those from other agencies. This experience will serve very much to give more input to the interagency initiative on Logistical Support Systems.

For more information: Dr.PH. Isis Pluut, WHO/EHA, pluute@who.ch

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