Introduction
Iraq was identified by Logistics Cluster partners as a disaster-prone country based on risk / threat indices (natural or man-made) and national level supply chain capacity and performance indicators. The Logistics Cluster, led by the World Food Programme (WFP), was activated in 2014 as a response to severe infrastructure damage caused by military operations. The Logistics Cluster assisted the humanitarian community in delivering lifesaving assistance to the affected areas.
Additionally, Iraq witnessed severe flooding in 2018 mainly in the north-west region, resulting in access constraints, which impacted the delivery of humanitarian cargo to the affected areas. The Logistics Cluster advocated for the rapid implementation of emergency access and successfully facilitated the delivery of over 200 trucks in five days. Furthermore, Iraq is under persistent threat of flooding, both in the northern and southern regions and logistics preparedness planning and actions are not yet well-defined or established.
The Logistics Cluster Preparedness Project aims to enable local governments, national and international NGOs, UN agencies, development partners and the private sector to have a coordinated approach towards improving local supply chain resilience and to ensure humanitarian actors are able to conduct a joint logistics response. A key output of the Preparedness project is the formation of a National Logistics Preparedness Network, which brings stakeholders together before an emergency to identify potential bottlenecks and solutions, plan effective responses, draft a joint action plan and establish an operational team environment