A Scalable Blockchain Framework for Procurement Management in Humanitarian Supply Chains

Sunday Jatau Lamiri; Yusuf Musa Malgwi; Anagu Emmanuel John

doi:10.30871/jaic.v10i5.13791

Authors

Sunday Jatau Lamiri Department of Information System, Federal University Wukari, Taraba State, Nigeria
Yusuf Musa Malgwi Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Computing, Modibbo Adama University, Yola
Anagu Emmanuel John Department of Information System, Federal University Wukari, Taraba State, Nigeria

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30871/jaic.v10i5.13791

Keywords:

Blockchain, Humanitarian supply chain, Procurement management, Scalability, International Rescue Committee

Abstract

Humanitarian supply chains are structurally prone to procurement fraud, information asymmetry, and inter-organisational trust deficits, problems that directly impede the delivery of aid to over 300 million people requiring humanitarian assistance globally. Agencies such as the International Rescue Committee (IRC) report allocating a substantial share of operational budgets to procurement, yet conventional, paper-based procurement systems offer no reliable mechanism for real-time verification, tamper-proof documentation, or automated accountability. This study designs, develops, and evaluates through controlled simulation a blockchain-based procurement framework tailored to humanitarian logistics, using the International Rescue Committee's publicly documented procurement policies and process literature to inform a representative case scenario. A Design Science Research (DSR) methodology was employed. A hybrid blockchain architecture combining Hyperledger Fabric and Ethereum was developed, incorporating Solidity smart contracts, a ReactJS decentralised application (DApp), and a Polygon Layer-2 scaling solution. Performance was evaluated through controlled simulation using comparative analysis against baseline Ganache-deployed contracts across four metrics: transaction latency, throughput, cost efficiency, and reliability, under ten simulated load increments spanning 10% to 100% of peak test-network transaction volume. The framework achieved 100% tamper-detection accuracy against the simulated tampering scenarios tested, sub-50 ms transaction latency, near-linear scalability under the load levels tested, and complete audit trail documentation. Manual intervention was reduced by 60%, processing errors by 80%, and donor confidence improved by 40% based on survey metrics collected from simulated donor representatives. Zero successful security breaches were recorded across 1,000 simulated test scenarios. The proposed framework constitutes a simulation-validated proof-of-concept for blockchain adoption in humanitarian procurement, indicating that decentralised ledger technology can substantially improve transparency, auditability, and traceability, thereby reducing opportunities for fraud where data integrity and access governance are properly enforced, in alignment with Sustainable Development Goals in resource-constrained environments. Field validation using live operational data remains necessary before generalisable claims of real-world effectiveness can be made.

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