EFFECT OF STRATEGIC RESPONSES ON THE PERFORMANCE OF UNITED NATIONS WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME IN SOUTH SUDAN
Bambu Duku Banja Logwuru - Master of Business Administration (Strategic Management), Kenyatta University, Kenya
Dr. Esther Gitonga - Lecturer, Department of Business Administration, School of Business, Kenyatta University, Kenya
ABSTRACT
United Nations World Food Programme is operating in turbulent, insecure, complex, and rapidly changing external environments. For it to remain relevant and continue to deliver the most needed humanitarian assistance, World Food Programme South Sudan continues to innovate ways to perform and remain at the top of its contextual dynamics using specific strategies to respond to the emerging changes in the external environment. The purpose of this study was to establish the effect of strategic responses on the performance of the United Nations World Food Programme in South Sudan. The study sought to find out the effect of restructuring of activities, partnership and donor relations management, safety and security of personnel and assets and service to beneficiaries on the performance of UNWFP in South Sudan. The study reviews both theoretical and empirical literature. The study was conducted in Juba, South Sudan where World Food Programme has its headquarters and all the top managers are based and in the sub-offices and field offices. The independent variables are; restructuring, partnership and donor relation, safety and security of personnel and assets and beneficiary service. The target population was fifty-six professional employees in South Sudan. The Stratified sampling method was used in this study to obtain a sample size of fifty employees. For primary data collection, questionnaires were used. Quantitative and qualitative data were both collected from the respondents. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics analysis such as frequencies, mean scores, standard deviation and regression analysis. Qualitative data was analysed using content analysis. The basis of using descriptive approach was to give a basis for determining the weights of the variables under study. The findings are presented using tables, pie charts, and bar graphs for easier interpretation. It has been found that, there was a significant positive relationship between WFP responses and WFP performance. There was a strong positive correlation between partnership and donor relations and WFP performance which was statistically. The safety and security were the second variable with a positive correlation with WFP performance. Restructuring process has resulted into the realization of; staff efficiency, training and development. According to majority of the respondents, most jobs were redesigned, business process reengineering and outsourcing of some functions were also undertaken by World Food Programme, that has fundamentally changed the techniques things were done. The study also found that, cooperating partners field level agreements and donor relations management were properly implemented in World Food Programme South Sudan. The study concluded that, majority of respondents have agreed with measures undertaken by WFP security in maintaining access in high risk areas and ensuring personnel safety and security. The study established that, WFP South Sudan gives faster and friendly service to beneficiaries. The study recommends that more fixed-term positions to be created to ensure staff motivation, job security and avoid employees’ turnover. The efforts to attract and retain donors should be sustained by adhering to donor restrictions and reporting in addition to all-time donor visibility norm. It has also been recommended that all staff in the head office to be trained on fire management skills. Technology adoption, training for staff and partners to be promoted to improve efficiency and the deliveries of the humanitarian assistance to beneficiaries. The on-going efforts to boost beneficiary services and improve the performance of WFP should be sustained. This study recommends that further study should include respondents from; cooperating partners, donor community and beneficiaries especially the refugees. This is important to establish the effect of strategies employed by World Food Programme on its performance to deliver in the ever-changing external environment of South Sudan.
