An optimization model for the World Food Programme's "protracted relief and recovery operations" in Chad

Abstract

This thesis presents an optimization model for the World Food Programme's policy in Chad-Protracted Relief and Recovery Operations (PRRO). Chad is a landlocked country in Central Africa and around 87 percent of population lives below the poverty line. The World Food Programme(WFP) runs several operations in Chad to help refugees, displaced people, and other poor communities. The goal of PRRO policy is to build resilience, protect livelihoods and reduce malnutrition of refugee, returnees and other vulnerable people. The PRRO policy aims to enhance the capacity of the vulnerable population to respond to shocks more efficiently by supporting the development and integration of local markets--using a food voucher program. This thesis analyzes the WFP's PRRO policy and builds a mathematical model using mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) techniques. It is a location-allocation (LA) problem. The model determines the optimal number of facilities to be placed such that the distance between beneficiaries and warehouses is minimized. Moreover, this model also determines what portion of the PRRO budget should be allocated for food supplies, food voucher, warehouse operational cost, and transportation cost, whilst minimizing the total cost.