WFP always ensures that, in an emergency, food assistance is delivered as quickly as possible. Our role as lead agency for logistics in humanitarian emergencies helps us do that efficiently and effectively. Here are some of the tools and strategies we use to accelerate the response:

Emergency logistics team ALITE

ALITE, the Augmented Logistics Intervention Team for Emergencies, is the WFP Logistics' unit tasked with providing rapid and effective emergency services to support the Programme's field operations. The unit works with logistics staff in the field to provide them with urgently-needed personnel, equipment and high-energy food.

ALITE really comes into its own when it's important to coordinate the use of military and civil defence assets in humanitarian operations. ALITE will also step in to assist the country office when WFP Logistics needs help to overcome logistical bottlenecks.

'Virtual' food stocks

From the moment food aid is collected from donor countries, it can take four months to reach the mouths of the hungry. But in times of crisis, WFP can call on a number of quicker solutions.

• Development Stocks: WFP can draw on food stocks set up for development projects all over the world.
• Stocks Afloat: with WFP Logistics chartering between 200-250 ships each year, it can divert food aid shipments to meet crisis needs.
• In-Country Borrowing: thanks to bilateral agreements with recipient countries, WFP Logistics is often able to draw on in-country food reserves to meet emergency needs.

Standby arrangements

Donor countries and NGOs provide WFP with logistics experts able to help WFP staff to run port and railway operations; repair roads, bridges and airstrips; organise airlifts of food; manage fleets of WFP trucks; communicate in the field; or repair a generator. These are Standby personnel and support teams.

Standby Partners may provide base camps that are set up near the scene of a disaster or services such as mine clearance.

UNHRD

The UN Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) is a WFP logistics network that serves both WFP and the broader humanitarian community. The network allows WFP to pre-position emergency supplies and support equipment at strategically placed 'hubs'. These hubs are located in Ghana, UAE, Malaysia, Panama and Italy.

When emergencies strike, relief items can be delivered to the affected areas anywhere in the world within 24 to 48 hours.