The rationale behind the Basics is to define the minimum technical quality required at project level and to provide a common language for logisticians across all missions.
The idea is that the Basics prioritize the standards to be met. They take the form of short documents providing a concise description of priorities per category, with links to policies, guidelines and tools. Once the Basics are implemented, the Log will be able to ensure the safety and the security of people and goods in their project.
After the Basics are put in place, the rest of the technical policies should be implemented according to the mission’s priorities.



On MyMSF, you can find different documents related to the BASICS:

           (if needed, you can log in as LOG.OCP@paris.msf.org / password: Ruby2018) Microsoft Teams

    • « 1. Introduction to the Log Basics » explains how the BASICS integrate with policies, standards, procedures and guidelines, and defines these different concepts.
    • « 2. All the Basics » lists the BASICS and more precisely the best practices, monitoring, benefits, common mistakes and the roles/responsibilities associated with each of them.
    • « 3. Evaluation of the Basics » is an Excel file which allows to evaluate the correct implementation of the BASICS on a given project.


The BLOG (Basics LOG) e-learning courses on Tembo allow you to learn and implement the different Basics Log.


It is very important to check the correct implementation of the BASICS on each project, hence the importance of scheduling an evaluation of the BASICS regularly.


Basics assessment policy

  1. BASICS monitoring is carried out on all project structures/locations and for all logistic technical families.  
  2. The BASICS assessment is mandatory for all projects and must be entered in MEMO.  
  3. The minimum frequency of BASICS evaluation is :  
    1. Twice a year, as a priority, for medical facilities.   

Before the PCOLS and operational commissions (between July and September) + 6 months later (between January and March).  

    1. Once a year for non-medical facilities.    
      Before the PCOLS and operational commissions (between July and September).  
  1. The BASICS assessment is carried out for each location in the project, not for the project as a whole. Each medical facility has its own assessment. Non-medical structures are assessed individually or grouped together depending on the organization and size of the project


Roles and Responsibilities

It is the Colog's responsibility to plan the BASICS assessments of their projects, and it is the log manager/LTL of each project who organizes their team to carry out the BASICS assessment.


A BASICS assessment is not a grade, but should lead to discussions at different levels in order to understand the points to be improved, list them, prioritize them, plan to improve them in the short/medium/long term in order to anticipate the future resources needed and define an action plan.  


link to FAQ BASICS