A. Program Requirements Based on Ration Size

Once the size of individual food rations and total needs for all beneficiaries are determined, a detailed plan must be developed to dispatch food from warehouses to distribution sites. The plan should take into consideration how much food is to be sent to each center and how often deliveries must be made. See Food Receipt and Dispatch for basic information on distribution plans and how warehouse managers and storekeepers should keep track of dispatches.

All planning must take into account seasons during a year (e.g., rainy seasons) when regular transport to project sites will be delayed or suspended. In these cases, extra time must be allotted for deliveries or additional food prepositioned at project sites (where there is storage capacity).

Once the total biweekly requirement per project participant is known, the individual requirements for each food distribution site for biweekly deliveries can be calculated. For example, Site 1 in the table below has 100 participants enrolled who will need 240 kg of peas and 240 kgs of wheat/soy every two weeks (the “delivery cycle”). The distribution plan for peas for individual project sites may look something like this. A similar plan would be done for WSB.

Distribution Plan for Peas for MCH Project

Site Name/ID #	Region	# of Project Participants	# of Feeding Days in Delivery Cycle	Total Food Requirement for Delivery Cycle*	Total Requirement minus excess stock**
Site 1	1	100	12	240 kgs or 4.8 bags	240 kgs or 4.8 bags
Site 2	1	150	12	360 kgs or 7.2 bags	360 kgs or 7.2 bags
Site 3	2	125	12	300 kgs or 6 bags	300 kgs or 6 bags
Site 4	3	150	12	360 kgs or 7.2 bags	360 kgs or 7.2 bags
etc...	etc.....

* Another calculation to obtain the food required for the delivery cycle for Site 1 is
200g/person x 12 days x 100 persons = 240,000g/1000 = 240 kgs/50kgs = 4.8 bags

**If there is any excess stock at the site, based on site reports, the amount on hand should be subtracted from the total food requirement.

B. Program Requirements Based on Pipeline Analyses

As with call forwards and transfers of food between warehouses, pipeline analyses should be used to determine current project site needs, taking into account food inventories at project site warehouses or stores. The format in Call Forward and Procurement can be adapted for internal pipeline analyses.

Depending on the nature and scope of the project, pipeline analyses for movements of food from warehouses to distribution sites may be prepared daily, weekly or quarterly. Knowledge about actual stock balances at distribution sites will most accurately inform managers about how much must be moved. However, when there are distance and communication problems between warehouses and distribution sites, managers will likely have to use their best estimates of stock levels to do their analysis.

C. Turn-Around Time (TAT)

If there is only a fixed number of transport vehicles, trucks go to distribution sites and return to warehouses to pick up food for their next trip. CARE or counterpart staff must determine the amount of time it will take trucks to load food, go to one or more sites, and come back to load for their next trip. This is known as the Turn-Around Time (TAT).

Factors to consider in TAT are:

· Distance to the distribution site
· Condition of the roads and bridges, especially during rainy season
· Speed of vehicles
· Loading time at the source
· Unloading time at the destination.

For multiple deliveries TAT should be calculated for each destination.

The example program delivers food to three regions with sites at various distances from the warehouse. Some distribution sites are located within 10 km (Region 3) whereas others are as far as 200 km (Region 1) from the warehouse.

Region 1:

The distance from the warehouse to the distribution sites ranges from 140 to 200 kilometers. Because of the very poor condition of the roads, each truck averages approximately 15 to 20 kph. A half hour is required to load the truck and another half hour required for the unloading at each of the delivery points. It takes between ten and twelve hours to reach a destination and complete unloading at sites in Region 1. It takes another day for the truck to return to the warehouse. The TAT for Region 1 is thus two days.

Region 2:

The distance to the sites from the warehouse is 80-140 kilometers and the roads are in better repair. Trucks can travel at an average speed of 45 kph. Including loading and unloading times, between three and five hours are needed to reach distribution sites. The TAT for Region 2 is thus one day.

Region 3:

The distance is relatively small (10-80 kilometers) and because the sites are closer to urban areas, the roads are in fairly good condition. Trucks are able to travel at an average speed of 50 kph. Sites also tend to be closer together, with fewer numbers of project participants per site. Loading and unloading times are half that of the other regions. The TAT for Region 3 is thus only half a day.

D. Number of Trips

Once the TAT is calculated the next step is to determine the number of trips that can be made during the two week delivery period. In the example, transporters work every day except for Sunday. The number of working days per delivery cycle is 12 (6 days x 2 weeks).

For each destination, divide the number of working days by the Turn-Around-Time.

In the example, the number of feasible trips by region is:

Region 1: 12 operating days ÷ 2 days (TAT) = 6 trips
Region 2: 12 operating days ÷ 1 day (TAT) = 12 trips
Region 3: 12 operating days ÷ .5 day (TAT) = 24 trips.

E. Transport Capacity Required

The following table shows how many MTs per day must be delivered to project sites if all sites are to receive food. For each region divide the total MT by the Trips per Service Cycle to get the Daily Transport Capacity.

Biweekly Distribution Plan for MCH Program

Region	Beneficiaries	Peas (MT)	WSB (MT)	Total MT	TAT	Days/ Service Cycle	Trips/ Service Cycle	Daily Transport Capacity Requirement
1	50,000	120	120	240	2 days	12	6	40 MT
2	40,000	96	96	192	1 day	12	12	16 MT
3	10,000	24	24	48	.5 day	12	24	2 MT
Total	100,000	240	240	480				58 MT

The vehicle type and capacity will vary depending on in-country availability.

In this example, the country office subcontracts commercial vehicles. Because many of the sites are located in remote areas, short-haul trucks with a capacity of 8 MT will make the majority of the deliveries. Thus for deliveries to Region 1, six short-haul trucks will be needed daily to complete distributions from warehouses to the sites over a two-week period.

F. Number of Sites and Amount of Food That Can be Delivered

Finally, plans must include how much food can be carried and how many sites each truck can reach for each trip.

First determine how many tons of food a truck can carry and how many tons each site needs for a delivery cycle. In this case, the trucks have a capacity of 8 MT, but one MT is subtracted due to poor road conditions. If an average site requires 300 kg of peas and 300 kg of WSB every two weeks, divide the truck’s capacity by the average weight required for each site, e.g., 7 MT capacity divided by 0.6 MT (600kgs) per site = 12 sites. Therefore, a truck can deliver food to 12 sites on average.

Second translate tonnage into bags, and assume donors package pulses and grains into 50 kg bags, and blended foods, such as WSB, into 25 kg. bags. A biweekly requirement of 300 kg of peas and 300 kg of WSB is then 6 bags of peas and 12 bags of WSB for a site. Since each truck can service 12 sites per trip, it will carry 144 bags of WSB and 72 bags of peas per trip.

The distribution plan for one delivery could look something like this:

Date	Site	Peas (kgs)	Bags	WSB kgs	Bags	Totals
Jan 14	1	300 kgs	6 bags	300 kgs	12 bags
	2
	3
	ß	ß	ß	ß	ß
	12
Totals			72 bags		144 bags	7 MT

Distributions are scheduled so that each delivery arrives at least two weeks before their site-level stocks are expected to end. The distribution schedule is staggered between regions so that all sites do not run out of food at once.

Thus, for example, the distribution cycle for the three regions could be:

· Region 1 receives food on or before January 14 (stocks expected to end on February 1)
· Region 2 receives food on or before February 1 (stocks expected to end on February 15)
· Region 3 receives food on or before February 15 (stocks expected to end on March 1).