HHSCM Alumni Spotlight

I work in humanitarian logistics for the regional office of a UN agency working with refugees in the American continent. I am part of the supply unit; hence I am involved in tasks related to procurement, inventory, transportation, and asset management. Georgia Tech is a university known for its logistics department, when I heard about the opportunity to apply, I was eager to learn about the program’s topics and content. I felt that within my work we follow procedures and rules innate to the organization and I wanted to update my skills and learn about new tools and management techniques related to the humanitarian field occurring outside of my
organization. I now have a clearer view of the role I would like to fulfill in the future and technical areas to specialize in the field.

The certification was very helpful during my mission in Brazil. I read all the material beforehand since my duties were related to inventory management. Specifically in terms of forecasting, I was able to implement a dashboard for the country operation related to our monthly distribution and inventory depletion with the current inventory. It was beneficial for me to update my knowledge on the
tools being used by other UN Agencies, listen to other professionals from other organizations like the CDC, UNICEF, UNFPA, government agencies that have much more experience in the field and who work with other commodities like medicines, malaria prevention, food, etc.

The program was very helpful and gave me access to tools that are being used in the sector and studies developed by academics in the humanitarian sphere. I really had a chance to see how the work is carried out in the health sector and aspects that you have to consider that are unique to health supply chains, which was a topic totally new to me. I appreciate the opportunity to receive the scholarship and I hope many more professionals take the course and develop new and inventive tools.