Marco Polo Declaration
In a groundbreaking moment at Humanitarian Logistics Conference 2005, participants created and signed the Marco Polo Declaration forming a professional humanitarian logistics association. Marco Polo Declaration signatories committed to establish an association which would serve as a catalyst to enhance the professionalization of humanitarian logistics and the recognition of its strategic role in the effective delivery of relief during humanitarian crises.
- Download the Marco Polo Declaration.
- See the original text :
We the undersigned commit to establish an association of humanitarian logistics professionals. As the founding members, we wish to enhance the level of support provided to humanitarian programmes in order to improve the lives of beneficiaries by :
- collaborating and communicating effectively with each other
- sharing knowledge, best practice and experiences
- improving skills and training opportunities
- seeking efficiency and effectiveness in our operations
- improving accountability and transparency
- leveraging public-private partnership
- working with and extracting the best learning from academia
- soliciting donors support for effective logistics operations
- increasing the profile and promoting awareness of the value of humanitarian logistics
- supporting our fellow professionals in the field
- setting common standards
- promoting appropriate use of new technology and information systems
- fostering innovation in humanitarian logistics practices
- respecting humanitarian principles
- training all resources (national and international)
The founding members also wish to strongly emphasize the key role of field logistics practitioners in the successful planning and provision of humanitarian relief and programming.
