ORIGINAL ARTICLE Food commodity pipeline management in transitional settings: challenges and lessons learned from the first

Efficient and reliable commodity transport is critical to effective food assistance in development settings as well as in emergency situations. Increasing the flexibility of U.S. government Title II food assistance program procurement regulations and more comprehensive contingency planning could improve the effectiveness of these programs in non-emergency settings with high food insecurity and political volatility. Despite decades of support for international food assistance programs by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Food for Peace, relatively little is known about the commodity pipeline and management issues these programs face in post-conflict and politically volatile settings. Based on an audit of the program’s commodity tracking system and interviews with 13 key program staff, this case study documents the experiences of organizations implementing the first USAID-funded non-emergency (development) food assistance program approved for Sudan and South Sudan. Key challenges and lessons learned in this experience about food commodity procurement, transport, and management may help improve the design and implementation of future development food assistance programs in a variety of complex, food-insecure settings around the world. Specifically, expanding shipping routes in complex political situations may facilitate reliable and timely commodity delivery. In addition, greater flexibility to procure commodities locally, rather than shipping U.S.-procured commodities, may avoid unnecessary shipping delays and reduce costs