The food supply chain resilience and networks capabilities responding to disruptions: The food aid in Finland

Description

The global pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus affected humans’ life around the globe in many ways. People who have
faced difficulties already before the COVID-19 pandemic struck were disproportionally caught in a hopeless situation. In this
regard, the case of Finland is due to its characteristic fragmentation of the food aid system and the absence of food banks’
federation, as observed in several other European countries, particularly interesting to study. Food aid distributors represent a
major supply chain subject in the food aid sector distributing donated and purchased groceries to people in need. The case study
by primary data gained through interviews with food aid distributors operating in several regions in Finland (Helsinki, Espoo,
and Tampere) revealed strengths and weaknesses centred on a growing number of people in need of food aid due to the pandemic when new groups appeared. The COVID-19 pandemic brought new challenges and difficulties to every single actor in the food aid system. With the purpose to analyse the network’s role in the food supply chain, the network dynamic capability was analysed in their ability to meet disruptions and for improving resilience. One main conclusion of this study concerns the food aid distributors that had to deal with the high numbers of customers, lower volume of food, or fear that they will be forced to shut their activities down in case of the virus occurrence.

Period	11.12.2021
Event title	2021 EURO HOpe mini-conference: Financial, Cash and Voucher Assistance in Humanitarian Supply Chains
Event type	Conference
Conference number	2021
Location	Helsinki, FinlandShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International