PRIVATE CORPORATIONS HELP AID GROUPS IMPROVE DELIVERY
by @Ivy Mungcal/Devex on 26 August 2011

 
The use of bar codes and electronic way bills, among others, has long been practiced by leading private corporations such as Wal-Mart and UPS. These companies are now transferring knowledge of these trade crafts to aid organizations like the World Food Program to help mobilize humanitarian aid faster and in a cheaper manner.
 
“If you bring company thinking and company skills to a place like WFP, you can really make an impact,” Peter Bakker, former head of the transportation firm TNT and now a U.N. ambassador against hunger, said, according to The Associated Press.
 
Bakker recently visited hunger sites in Kenya and Somalia with WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran, who shared that her agency is currently transitioning to a computerized delivery system that attaches bar codes to aid products and uses electronic way bills. Sheeran noted that various companies are donating the technology WFP needs to set up the system, allowing the agency to save millions of dollars.
 
“It’s another form of corporate responsibility that I think is really key,” she told AP. “Can you help us be as good as you are — in our world of savings lives and hunger — in all these efficiencies and controls?”
 
Among well-known companies that donate logistic support to aid organizations is UPS. A spokesperson for the company said UPS is sharing its logistic expertise for free to UNICEF, WFP, the Red Cross and Care USA.

Addition by @Antara - Similarly, ColaLife is in the process of developing a trial to test to what extent Coca-Cola's "last mile" distribution chain can improve access to essential medicines in rural, under-serviced parts of the developing world. The current trial will focus on improving access and utilization of ORs and zinc in rural Zambia. ORS/zinc is the globally recommended treatment for diarrhoea, a leading cause of mortality in children under 5.