Abstract
All the efforts over the last 20 years, by both the International Federation of Operations Research Societies and The Association of European Operational Research Societies (EURO), to promote operations research in Africa have not delivered the desired results. Of the 54 countries in Africa only four are at present members of IFORS with another five that are associated with a formal operations research society. Nevertheless, Africa remains a fertile ground for operations research in many respects. The discipline is ideally suited for addressing many of the multitudes of complex problems facing the continent. In addition, there are countries where academic institutions are offering operations research courses in their curriculum resulting in a growing number of graduates that are familiar with operations research. It should thus be feasible for these graduates and the academics, in the respective countries, to establish operations research societies. This paper endeavours to get a sense of what the current state is of operations research in the continent. From this it is possible to identify countries where there are more than enough activities to justify the establishment of formal professional operations research societies. It is concluded that the current four IFORS member societies can be extended to twenty over the next 3–5 years. The recent establishment of the African Federation of Operational Research Societies has been a major step towards achieving this goal and growth as well as promoting the use of operations research.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Caulkins JP, Eelman E, Ratnatunga M, Schaarsmith D (2005) O.R. Africa recent programs, future potential. OR/MS Today, October 2005. https://www.orms-today.org/orms-10-05/africa.html
Cherlesly M, Rancourt M-E, Smilowitz K (2018) Using OR to design a community healthcare network in underserved areas of liberia. IFORS News 12(2):7
Clayson JE (1980) How relevant is operational research to development? The case of Kenyan industry. J Oper Res Soc 31:293–299
Datta S (2000) Applications of operational research to the transportation problems in developing countries: a review. Glob Bus Rev 1(1):113–132
Degila J (2018) OR techniques and applications School for Africa (ORTASA). IFORS News 12(2):22
El Sherif H (1990) Managing institutionalization of strategic decision support for the Egyptian cabinet. Interfaces 20(1):97–114
Evans D (2011) ORSSA journeys on to the 2011 conference. IFORS News 5(1):6
Evans D, Lesaoana M, Nyamugure P, Sigauke C (2011) Operations research comes to Zimbabwe in a big way—the ORSSA 2011 conference at Victoria Falls. OR/MS Today, 1 June 2011
Geldenhuys G, Rudolph G (1997) A brief history of the beginnings of operations research in South Africa. www.orssa.org.za. Accessed 15 Sept 2018
Habte AG, Yohannes AM, Kassa DF, Negash EO, Manna ZG (2003) Eritrean students: their views and impressions of OR and ORSSA. Direct Connection to Developing Countries 11(2):8
Hadj-Alouane AB (2017) MobiDoc initiative in Tunisia. OR/MS Today, August 2017, 50–53
Haouari M, M’hallah R (2005) Operations research in Tunisia. Direct Connection to Developing Countries 13(2):4
IORMS (2017) Workshop on OR/MS: an insight into IORMS as a professional body. College Health Technology, Calabar. https://iorms.com/Workshop%20on%20OR-MS%20-%20AN%20INSIGHT%20INTO%20IORMS%20AS%20A%20PROFESSIONAL%20BODY2.pps. Accessed 15 Aug 2018
Ittmann HW (2013) IFORS supports urban transport planning conference in Senegal. IFORS News 7(4):7
Ittmann HW (2018) A South African perspective on OR/MS education. In: Ittmann HW, Pato MV, Berlien J, Laumanns M, Teixeira AP, de Miranda JL (eds) Advances in operations research education. Springer, Berlin
Ittmann HW, Yadavalli VSS (2010) The operations research society of South Africa. In: Cochran JJ (ed) Wiley encyclopaedia of operations research and management science. Wiley, New York, pp 1–4
Kebedow KG, Oppen J (2018) A mixed integer programming model for cargo composition problem including containers with dangerous goods. In: 1st AFROS conference proceedings, 2–4 July 2018, Tunis, Tunisia
Kemball-Cook D, Wright DJ (1981) The search for appropriate O.R.: a review of operational research in developing countries. J Opr Res Soc 32:1021–1037
Kerrigan K, Kennedy CE, Cheng AS, Sandison SJ, Fonner VA, Holtgrave DR, Brahmbhatt H (2015) Advancing the strategic use of HIV operations research to strengthen local policies and programmes: the research to prevention project. J Int AIDS Soc 18(1):20029
Khumbah N, Cochran J (2013) IFORS brings operations research to Cameroon. IFORS News 7(2):3
Leke A, Chironga M, Desvaux G (2018) Africa’s business revolution. Harvard Business Review Press, Boston
Lindner B, Misri H (2017) AFROS forges ahead. IFORS News 11(4):7
Luhandjula MK (2003) OR in the African Great Lake region. Direct Connection to Developing Countries 11(3):10
Mampassi B (2004) The organization of the first OR conference by the West and Central African network for operational research. Direct Connection to Developing Countries 12(1):15
Masmoudi Y (2015) Tunisian operational research society: a look into our newest member. IFORS News 9(1):16
Menou A, Wakrim M, Moudden A (2013) International symposium on operational research and applications. In: Conference proceedings, 8–10 May, Marrakech, Morocco
Merchant S (2016) Report of the IFORS VP at large and chair. Developing Countries Committee, IFORS News 10(2):7
Merchant S (2018) AFROS 2018 conference Tunis July 2nd–4th: driving forward OR in Africa. IFORS News 12(3):16–17
Mouchili I, Moukouop I (2004) Operational research in Cameroon: meeting the challenges. Direct Connection to Developing Countries 12(2):8–9
Okeibunor J, Ota M, Gasasira A (2015) Role of operational research in accelerating progress towards attainment of poliomyelitis targets in the African region. African Health Monitor, March 2015, pp 58–60
Oloo CM (2016) AFROS: Kenya hosts meet to form African regional OR federation. IFORS News 10(4):5
Omosigho SE (2003) OR growing in Nigeria. Direct Connection to Developing Countries 11(2):3
ORSEA (2018) Call for papers—the 14th international operations research of Eastern Africa conference, 8–9 November 2018, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. https://www.udbs.udsm.ac.tz/images/Docs/conferences/orsea/orsea_conference_2018_call.pdf
Ouorou A, Tossa J (2012) IFORS sponsors OR School in Africa. IFORS News 6(1):10
Rakotonirainy G, Van Vuuren JH (2018) Metaheuristic for rectangular strip packing problem. In: 47th annual ORSSA conference proceedings, 16–19 September 2018, Pretoria, South Africa
Rand GK, Smith DK (2003) Report on The first OR conference held in West Africa. Direct Connection to Developing Countries 11(1):7–8
Rand GK, Tsoukias A (2002) Developing OR in Africa: initiatives of IFORS and EURO. Presentation at the IFORS 2002 conference, Edinburgh, Scotland
Rand GK, Smith DK, Soubeiga E (2003) OR take-off in West Africa? OR Newsletter. https://www.euro-online.org/africanOR/ORNewsletter2003a
Rodriques T (2012) Participants learn problem structuring in IFORS workshop. IFORS News 6(4):8
Rönnqvist M (2017) Five finalists vie for IFORS prize at IFORS 2017. IFORS News 11(2):9
Salawu I (2014) Operations research practice in Nigeria. IFORS News 8(1):5
Silal S (2015) IFORS supports ORPA conference in Algeria. IFORS News 9(2):11
Smith DK (1987) Operational research in a developing country: the example of Jordan. J Oper Res Soc 38(7):577–584
Smith DK (2008) A bibliography of applications of operational research in West Africa. Int Trans Oper Res 15:121–150
Soubeiga E (2003) The African OR network website, www.euro-online.orgafricanOR. An interface for practitioners and researchers in Africa. Direct Connection to Developing Countries 11(2):2
Soubeiga E (2004) Report of the conference CARO in which the West and Centre African OR Network is born, article on Operational Research Practice in Africa website. http://www.orpa-group.org/articles.php
Speranza MG (2008) State of OR in Africa. IFORS News 2(4):2
Teghem J, Abdelaziz FB (2015) A historic first OR annual conference in Tunisia. IFORS News 9(4):6
Trick M (2016) Creating societies in Africa. IFORS News 10(4):1
Wainaina G (2017) Briefing on the operations research society of Eastern Africa. IFORS News 11(4):6
White L, Smith H, Currie C (2011) OR in developing countries: a review. Eur J Oper Res 208(1):1–11
Acknowledgements
The responses from many individuals that provided inputs to e-mails from someone they have never met and that they don’t know, are highly appreciated. There are close to 50 people that assisted in this process, people mainly from African countries but also from Europe and the USA. I would like to acknowledge their assistance and thank them all for their willingness to provide me with information from their respective countries as well as other sources. The comments from the two unknown reviewers are also gratefully acknowledged as it contributed to an improved paper.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ittmann, H.W. The current state of OR in Africa. Oper Res Int J 21, 1793–1825 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12351-019-00516-x
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12351-019-00516-x