Welthungerhilfe wins Lynn C. Fritz Medal for Excellence in Humanitarian Logistics 2025
The international award recognizes the Bonn-based humanitarian organization for its pioneering project “Emergency Supplies Prepositioning Strategy (ESUPS),” which has been running since 2019 and improves national strategies for prepositioning relief items in disaster regions. At the heart of the project is the digital platform STOCKHOLM (STOCK of Humanitarian Organisation Logistics Mapping). It enables logistics experts worldwide to record and analyze stocks of various relief supplies and make precise recommendations as to which items should be kept in which quantities at which locations.
The impact is tangible: ESUPS ensures greater visibility and easier cooperation between governments, humanitarian organizations, and United Nations agencies to shorten response times, make operations more efficient, and reduce the costs of warehousing and disposing of surplus goods. This is particularly significant for localization where many local partners, such as national disaster relief organizations, can use this platform to visualize stock data and get an overview of what they have nationally. At the same time, they know what is available regionally and internationally.
A three-person team from WHH is running the project. The steering group includes representatives from Action Contre la Faim, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Save the Children International, the United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD), Welthungerhilfe (WHH), and World Vision. The mathematical model for the inventory analyses was developed by international scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Penn State University, among others.
The project has benefited from a diverse funding base to ensure its sustainability. When the original donor, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) was no longer available, WHH placed ESUPS on three new financial pillars: Firstly, WHH contributes funds from its own donations. Secondly, funds are provided by the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), the European Commission's humanitarian aid organization, and a private donor. Currently, funding for the project is secured until June 2027.
