Humanitarian procurement ecosystem mapping

Name of the actor: Global Logistics Cluster

Webpage: https://logcluster.org/en

What do they do ?: The Logistics Cluster is part of the Cluster system that was established by the Inter Agency Standing Committee (IASC). Due to its expertise in the field of humanitarian logistics, the IASC has designated the World Food Programme (WFP) as the Logistics Cluster global lead agency. As such, WFP hosts the Global Logistics Cluster Support Team (GLC ST) in its headquarters in Rome. 
 When activated locally, the Logistics Cluster bears responsibility in three areas: Coordination, Information management & Access to common services. Each context is specific and activation will trigger activities of the Logistics Cluster depending on the actual needs in this specific context.

What do they do specifically on procurement ?: Logistics Cluster mandate doesn't include procurement. It is however a key Supply Chain actor in emergencies and discussions often reach procurement related topics. Important role as part of Logistics preparedness actor, together with local authorities, which includes procurement subject. Logistics Cluster is an important voice of the sector and is, as such, an important stakeholder of advocacy

Who is member ?: Over 1000 partners in 2024 - Any humanitarian organisation

Name of the actor: CPAG - Common Procurement Activities Group

Webpage: https://www.ungeneva.org/en/about/coordination-support/procurement/CPAG

What do they do ?: The Common Procurement Activities Group (CPAG) is a voluntary inter-agency procurement network of UN entities and international organisations based in Geneva. CPAG is focused on advancing and refining procurement processes by harnessing the collective expertise, experience, and best practices of its members

What do they do specifically on procurement ?: 

Joint procurement initiatives with Geneva based organisation

Who is member ?

Gavi Alliance, Global Fund International Bureau of Education (IBE-UNESCO), International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), International Labour Organisation (ILO), International Organisation for Migration (IOM), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), International Trade Centre (ITC), Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), United Nations International Computing Centre (UNICC), United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG), United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), World Health Organisation (WHO), World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), World Trade Organisation (WTO)

Additional information: 

A   forum  for  local   procurement  cooperation  between   Geneva-based  UN  organisations.  200 queries circulated among members. This robust exchange of information, experiences, contracts, best practices, and policies underscores the invaluable collaborative ethos within the CPAG network

Name of the actor: HLCM-PN - High Level Committee on Management - Procurement Network

Webpage: https://unsceb.org/pn

What do they do ?: 

The Procurement Network (PN) was established in April 2007. The Network’s mandate is to promote the strategic role of Procurement and Supply Chain Management in programme and service delivery in a transparent and accountable manner.
 The overall procurement volume (goods and services combined) of UN organisations in 2023 was $24.9 billion.
 Several working groups are created : 
 - Sustainable procurement working group
 - Strategic Vendor management working group
 - Harmonisation Working Group
 - Professional development working group
 - Cognitive procurement working group

What do they do specifically on procureme?

The Network’s programme of work focuses on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the procurement function within the UN System, through collaborative arrangements, simplification and harmonisation of procurement practices and by fostering professionalism amongst the staff responsible for procurement. It also promotes business opportunities for potential suppliers from developing countries, as well as those from countries with economies in transition. 

Who is member ?41 organisations, United Nations Agencies or affiliates

Additional information: 

As of June 2025 : 
     Chair: Anne-Claire Howard (Procurement Network, and Director, Procurement Group, UNOPS)
     Vice-Chair: Neris Mercedes Baez Garcia de Mazzora (Director Procurement Division, UN Secretariat)
     Advisory Chair: Angela Kastner (Director Procurement and Supply Services, WHO)
     Second Advisory Chair: Frederic Farschi (Chief, Procurement, ICC)
     Secretariat: Gabriella Budai (UNDP)
     Reporting: to High-Level Committee on Management
     Meeting frequency: twice a year
 Meeting reports : https://unsceb.org/reports?field_mechanism%5B104%5D=104

Name of the actor: IAPG - Inter Agency Procurement Group

Webpage: http://www.iapg.org.uk

IAPG is an informal network of International NGOs, represented by their procurement director, existing for almost 30 years, composed of 37 members. It has one of its member present in 108 countries.
 Cumulated financial turnover in 2023 of all members is 9,5 billion euros
 It serves as a discussion forum for all topics related to procurement, from sourcing to suppliers' engagement, including sustainability dissemination as part of procurement process. 

What do they do specifically on procurement ?

Activities can be aggregated along 3 workstreams: 
 

1. IAPG Networking
    Fostering efficiency through knowledge & experience sharing amongst humanitarian procurement leaders
    
    
2. IAPG Project :
    Leverage our knowledge to share it with the humanitarian community
    
    
3. IAPG Advocacy
    Raising our voice as one on procurement

Who is member ?: 37 members - Full list available on IAPG Website

Name of the actor: HLA - Humanitarian Logistics Association

Webpage: https://www.humanitarianlogistics.org/

What do they do ?

HLA is a membership organisation, empowering logisticians to deliver humanitarian aid and development assistance more effectively. Globally enabled local aid, public & private partnerships and knowledge sharing that drive true system building & change

What do they do specifically on procurement ?

Connecting in a more efficient way beneficiaries & suppliers through strengthened procurement teams (knowledge sharing, network enablers).LPLP (Local Procurement Learning Partnership) hosted by HLA

Who is member?

Mixed up of practitioners & professional from private sector

Focus: Specific focus on procurement as part of global activities

Name of the actor: QSE - Quality, Social and Environmental Procurement Working Group

Webpage:  Not available for the moment

What do they do ?

Formed in 2010. Working on interagency standards. Its long-term purpose is to optimise quality management performance, its main objectives are to harmonise quality management processes, technical specifications of core relief items, ensure inter-agency coordination, sharing of information and resources and to develop synergies concerning market intelligence, sourcing, and tenders, between others. The group exchanges experiences, collaborated on technical specifications of the major relief items, and works to improve the quality and reduce the negative social and environmental impacts of core relief item procurements. One of the intended outcomes is to define common specifications for the main non-food relief items (emergency household items), kind of setting up the product standard across the sector, and via that harmonisation, to explore joint procurement among humanitarian organisations leveraging in economies of scale (not only getting better prices, but now more and more having more influence in engaging with manufacturers to offer ‘greener products’ and manufacturing companies to get also ‘greener’.

What do they do specifically on procurement?

Developed a supplier audit, including a supplier sustainability questionnaire. Looking into international vs local procurement questions raised by sustainability Looking into possibility to share manufacturer's audit report Exchange information about procurement of the 8 major relief products, about quality and all aspects of the procurement (RSE)

Who is member?

ICRC, IFRC, IOM, MSF, UNHCR, UNICEF, USAID

Additional information:

The group organised a two day conference in June 2024, in New York City, to share its work with a broader network of organisation. It was a mix of plenary keynotes, panel discussions and break out workshop sessions. Conference report available here : https://blogs.icrc.org/logistics/wp-content/uploads/sites/117/2024/09/QSE-conference-2024.pdf. No funding, voluntary contributory work from members

Name of the actor: HULO - Humanitarian Logistics

Webpage: https://hulo.coop

What do they do?

Humanitarian logistics cooperative. Connect logistics stakeholders to improve the efficiency of humanitarian aid and reduce our environmental impact by pooling resources, optimising supply chain management, and developing new Digital Solutions for today’s challenging world

What do they do specifically on procurement?

Joint Procurement Initiatives, both globally and locally (present in Burkina Faso, CAR, Chad, Colombia, DRC, Middle East).
 Developed a Joint Procurement Toolkit.
 Market intelligence based on data analysis / forecast of needs based on previous procurement.
 Embedding sustainability in procurement processes managed by HULO (ESG Procurement criteria implemented).

Who is member?

15 members (Acted, ACF, Bioport, CRF, Fleet Forum, Handicap International, Intersos, IRC, MDM, NRC, Oxfam Intermon, Plan International, PUI,  Solidarités International, WHH) + local participations from interested implementing partners (more than 60 has participated over 2024)

Additional information: 

IAPG & Hulo are complementary : where IAPG has a broader representativity with its 35 members to date, hulo has a broader geographical anchorage with global and field operations in 6 countries and a broader field of operations where IAPG focuses on procurement only. However the procurement related topics the network both treat are closely discussed. 

Name of the actor: REH - Procurement WG- Réseau Environnement Humanitaire - Sustainable procurement working group

Webpage: https://www.environnementhumanitaire.org

What do they do?

Dedicated working group on sustainable procurement aimed at supporting member organisations to integrate sustainable procurement concepts within their supply chain

What do they do specifically on procurement?

Through discussions and the sharing of experiences, this working group aims to help member organisations to integrate the concepts of responsible and sustainable purchasing into the supply chain. The group was created due to the desire of the following NGOs to develop shared purchasing criteria. Working on updating SPCD, supplier sustainability checklist, connecting REH WG members' staff at local level (Countries in 2025 to be confirmed), on developing contract's management tool to ensure sustainability implementation by suppliers

Who is member?

ACF, HI, MDM France, CRF, PUI, Bioforce, Triangle Génération Humanitaire, Solidarités International, Acted

Additional information:

No funding, voluntary contributory work from members

Name of the actor: WREC Coalition - Sustainable Procurement Working Group (WREC)

Webpage: https://logcluster.org/en/wrec/green-logistics

What do they do?

Coordinated by the Global Logistics Cluster, the Environmental Sustainability Team, WREC Coalition is a coalition of humanitarian organisations - the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Save the Children International and the World Food Programme of the United Nations - with input from all Logistics Cluster partners, other humanitarian clusters, the private sector, and academic partners.

What do they do specifically on procurement?

Technical advisor on sustainable procurement is part of the team : Paola Roberts

Who is member?

Any humanitarian organisation

Name of the actor: CAA - Climate Action Accelerator

Webpage: https://climateactionaccelerator.org

What do they do?

The Climate Action Accelerator, a not-for-profit association, aims to mobilise a critical mass of community organisations in order to scale up climate solutions, contain global warming below 2°C and avoid the risk of dangerous runaway climate change.
 Humanitarian procurement is one of the subject they explore.

What do they do specifically on procurement?

Thematic toolkit on procurement: https://climateactionaccelerator.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Toolkit-Procurement.pdf

Additional information: 

Dedicated section on procurement as a solution to emissions reductions : https://climateactionaccelerator.org/solution-areas/procurement/

Name of the actor: SSCA - Sustainable Supply Chain Alliance

Webpage: https://blogs.icrc.org/logistics/sustainable-supply-chain/

What do they do?

In September 2020, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) initiated the Sustainable Supply Chain Alliance (SSCA).The objective of SSCA is to embed three pillars of sustainability: environmental (planet), social (people) and economic (performance) in the supply chain activities of the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, led by the ICRC. They have worked on a comprehensive list of initiatives. Regular newsletters. All available here: https://blogs.icrc.org/logistics/sustainable-supply-chain/

What do they do specifically on procurement?

Standard product catalogue (revision of product specifications to make it greener). Supplier code of conduct inter alia

Who is member?

ICRC & IFRC until end of 2024. ICRC now

Name of the actor: HHS - Humanitarian Health Supplies Working Group

Webpage: Work in progress - Planned to be released in 2025/p>

What do they do? 

HHS aims to contribute to more effective procurement, logistics, management & utilisation of health supplies in emergencies
 1. Supporting the development / adaptation of key tools & resources
 2. Work to address common challenges related to procuring and managing emergency health kits at the global & field level
 3. Support countries in the two nexus points between humanitarian and development: in preparedness and in the transition away from emergency health kits to stable bulk procurement
 4. Facilitate information sharing and coordination between partners at the global and field level

What do they do specifically on procurement?

2025 work plan to come

Who is member?

 Action Contre la Faim, International Medical Corps, Save the Children, Atlas Logistique, Humanité & Inclusion, International Rescue Committee, BHA USAID, UNHRD / TSL, CARE, John Snow (JSI), UNDP, Danish Refugee Commission, Kuehne Foundation/HELP Logistics, UNFPA, Emergency NGO,  UNHCR, European Commission ECHO, MdM Spain, FCDO UK, MEDAIR, UNICEF, Global Health Cluster, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Netherlands, UNOPS, Global Logistics Cluster, MSF, We Are Light/Alight, Premiere Urgence Internationale, WFP, IAWG Logistics Working Group, QUAMED, Logistics Cluster WREC Project, ICRC, WHO, Relief International (RI/GLOBAL), IMPACCT Working Group, Rescue

Additional information: 

No dedicated funding, voluntary coordinator from UNFPA. Website planned to be released in 2025

Name of the actor: Bioport

Webpage: http://www.bioport-logistique.com

What do they do?

BIOPORT is a recognised non-profit actor in the field of solidarity and humanitarian logistics, working to help vulnerable populations by building skills and pooling resources in France and abroad. Their purpose is to provide logistic services tailored to the needs of humanitarian organisations through a pioneering, partnership-based and innovative approach.
They focuse on Transport organisation services (Finding the best freight forwarder : cost and service, Organisation of emergency response shipments: charter flight, packaging, grouping of NGOs freights, Documentation preparation, Shipment Follow up) Warehousing services (Stock management, Picking and kitting services, Emergency stock (available to be shipped worldwide on call), Qualitycontrol, Packaging) Supply Chain (Supply chain outsourcing, personal belongings shipment (for expatriate), Project management)

What do they do specifically on procurement?

Closely working with procurement & supply chain teams of INGOs

Name of the actor: ESUPS - Emergency Supply Prepositioning Strategy

Webpage: https://esups.org

What do they do?

The Emergency Supply Prepositioning Strategy (ESUPS) was created in 2016 as a working group by stakeholders committed to improving preparedness through strategic pre-positioning of relief items and stock. Moreover, it unites Member States, NGOs, academics, UN Agencies, and regional organisations that contribute in logistics preparedness and stock prepositioning at both strategic and operational levels.
One of ESUPS key piece of work is Stockholm Platform, which is a visual mapping and analysis tool for prepositioned relief stock,

What do they do specifically on procurement?

Working on automation of PR emission linked to minimum of stock alerts for stockpiling.

Support the localisation of procurement through integration of the private sector stock capacities

Active member of the UNHRD Task Force to identify core items and ceilings leading to an easier joint procurement

Who is member?

Steering group members: (ACF, IFRC, IOM, Save the Children, UNHRD, World Vision, and Welthungerhilfe), 125 agencies using Stokholm platform

Name of the actor: HELP Logistics

Webpage: https://www.help-logistics.org

What do they do?

HELP Logistics is a non-commercial, philanthropy based (Kühne Foundation) program. The HELP Logistics approach is to function as an organisation that actively contributes to long-lasting and sustainable impact within the humanitarian sector and more specifically in supply chain related topics. HELP Logistics has regional offices in Kenya, Senegal, Jordan,  Singapore and Germany and accounts for a team of about 30 supply chain experts. HELP Logistics offers free for user services in terms of supply chain analytics, talent development, and operational research services to humanitarian organisations and
governments seeking to enhance their supply chain management capabilities and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their logistics operations.

What do they do specifically on procurement?

Procurement optimisation services (sourcing strategy analysis and elaboration, sourcing analysis, sourcing planning analysis and improvements, Sourcing procedures analysis, strategic sourcing services, category management assessments, purchasing strategy review)

HELP Logistics created a Certified Humanitarian Procurement Professional training in cooperation with CIPS. Regular cohort opportunities are shared on their website. This training, providing a professional certification, can only be done through HELP and is at CIPS level 3. Additional free training content is also made available online for self paced learning.

Who is member?

HELP Logistics is a donor organisation and not a member organisation. Humanitarian and development actors can obtain access to the free for user services.

Name of the actor: IMPACCT - Importation and Custom Clearance Together

Webpage: https://vosocc.unocha.org/GetFile.aspx?xml=rss/5033i2la_l1.html&tid=5033&laid=1&sm=

What do they do?

The purpose  of  the IMPACCT  Working  Group is to share information  between government and humanitarian actors and to give advice. IMPACCT’s mission is to support its network of governmental    regulatory agencies, humanitarian organisations and private sector stakeholders. IMPACCT achieves its mission through initiatives ranging from high-level policy to country-specific  operational  preparedness, in  an advisory and  advocacy role,  ultimately with the goal to improve importation and customs clearance processes for disaster and crisis relief goods and equipment. The IMPACCT Working  Group aims to achieve this through working collaboratively and inclusively with the partners  mentioned above to make the cross-border  movement of disaster relief goods and equipment more efficient, transparent and predictable and reduce unnecessary delays and costs in the delivery of humanitarian aid to populations in need.

Who is member ?: Members of the steering committee: Help Logistics, Global Logistics Cluster, International Humanitarian City-Dubai, International Telecommunication Union (ITU),MSF-Belgium, Save the Children, UNCTAD, World Bank, World Customs Organisation, IFRC, UNOCHA