Logistics network design in Africa

Around 60 years after decolonisation first began, the now independent states of sub-Saharan Africa face a multitude of sustained and profound challenges. Besides a series of economic, demographic, geographical, ecological, socio-cultural or political obstacles to development, this book identifies logistics as a central issue. It examines to which extent logistics technologies in the wider sense can be used to improve the population’s access to basic supplies. Based on this explorative research a systematic approach for the configuration of logistics networks for supplying the population of sub-Saharan Africa is developed. In order to test the practicality of the proposed framework, an optimised model for food distribution in Tanzania is developed. This academic discourse is aimed at decision-makers in aid agencies, logistics service providers, government organisations as an application-based guide for the design of networks in humanitarian logistics. Furthermore, the work is also aimed at students and interested parties with a background in logistics.