Supply Chain Expert – HERNES Project (R)

Job Title: Supply Chain Expert – HERNES Project (R)

Duty station: Erbil, Iraq (with mission travels to North East Syria depending on security clearance from EF)

Duration of assignment: 5 months

Contract type: Consultant contract

Starting date: 1/03/2020

Expertise France (EF) is a public agency created on 1^st January 2015 and merging 6 French public agencies under the supervision of the French Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Economy and Finance with a strong inter-ministerial vocation. EF offers programme engineering and technical assistance by developing and implementing international cooperation actions worldwide. EF operates in various fields of development and institutional cooperation including safety and security reform, post-crisis/ stability, public health, human rights, strengthening of institutions and NGOs and governance. Carrying out large-scale, multi-stakeholder programmes, EF can ensure the cooperation between individuals, teams and institutions with very different statuses, cultures and specialties. Besides, EF has acquired a sound experience in administrative and financial management of large-scale international programmes. www.expertisefrance.fr

1. Programme background

Context

Following the territorial collapse of the Islamic State (IS) in north-eastern Syria, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) took control of quarter of the Syrian territory. The significant support provided by the international coalition led to the military defeat of IS. However, in the absence of sufficient efforts and investment by the international community in rehabilitation and development within a comprehensive stabilization strategy for post-IS territories, escalation is likely to re-emerge.

In that context, and capitalizing on the achievements of programmes implemented by Expertise France in Syria since 2013, the Health Recovery in North-East Syria (HERNES) programme aims at improving access to health by supporting the recovery of medical services in areas recently liberated from Islamic State in the north east of Syria.

Programme

The project aims at:

1. Rehabilitating and operating Primary Health Care Centres
2. Opening and running a Mother and Child units with a focus on neo-natal care.
3. Opening and running a dialysis unit

4. Open and developing several medical training centres

5. Job Description / Assignment

Overall purpose of the role:

Working under the management of the Program Manager of Expertise France in Iraq, the Supply Chain Expert will be in charge of evaluate the quality of all the supply line steps and of the quality of the central and facilities’ pharmacy. He/She will also be in charge of, following up the medication consumption for the purchase of medications and consumables and of, contributing to raising the medical capacity of the local partner.

NES health providers side and in coordination with the Whole of Syria

• Overall Situation analysis of the Supply Chain line in the NES
  • Desk review of the supply line in the NES including entry points, and availability of suppliers

• Evaluation of EF NES partners Supply Chain Management and pharmaceutical management capacity

  • Desk review of NES partners’ supply chain and pharmaceutical management policies and procedures
  • Desk review of the partner’s supply chain and pharmaceutical management monitoring tools including: consumption report, forecasting tools and procurement plan; and identify the missing tools to align with the SCM and pharmaceutical monitoring standard
  • Development/adjustment of the SCM and pharmaceutical toolbox considering the NES context; including standard operating procedures and monitoring tools for the following:
  • A practical format of relevant standards for procurement, warehouse management, transport and asset management including cold-chain management;
  • Practical tools for (1) tracking medications and consumables consumptions, (2) forecasting and (3) preparing orders for new procurement

• The SCM will provides technical and operational support and would be responsible for managing the supply chains operations supporting the Health Working Group and NES partners for planning, procurement, contracting, customs clearance, warehousing, in NES transport and distribution planning.

• He/ She will also support monitoring of supplies, services and construction works which main responsibility is to ensure the rapid delivery of vaccine and associated supplies/equipment for NES-COVID-19 response.

Coordinate COVAX cold chain / logistics and in-NES supply chain readiness and support the implementation of COVAX supply chain related activities in NES with all relevant internal and external stakeholders.

HERNES implementing partner and in coordination with HERNES Health facilities

• Evaluation of HERNES implementing partner Supply Chain Management and pharmaceutical management capacity

  • Desk review of HERNES supply chain and pharmaceutical management policies and procedures identification of the missing policies and procedures
  • Desk review of HERNES partner’s supply chain and pharmaceutical management monitoring tools including: consumption report, forecasting tools and procurement plan and confront it to the standard drugs lists and identification of the missing policies and procedures

• Ensure EF supervision of HERNES’ procurement done by the partner

  • Review of the consumption report, forecasting tools and procurement plan and confront it to the standard drugs lists
  • Report and recommend on gaps in terms of policies, procedures, tools and equipment, etc… needed to align with the standards and develop missing Supply Chain and pharmaceutical management monitoring tools

Reporting

• Deliverable 1:

  • 1 overall situation analysis report on the NES’s supply chain situation including:
  • Analysis of the overall supply line, entry points and availability suppliers and their origin
  • NES partners’ Supply Chain and pharmaceutical management capacity in terms of policies, procedures and monitoring tools
  • 1 toolbox including:
  • Concrete recommendations, with policies, procedures and monitoring tools adapted to the NES context to be aligned with the international standards
  • A practical format of relevant standards for procurement, warehouse management, transport and asset management
  • Practical tools for (1) tracking medications and consumables consumptions, (2) forecasting and (3) preparing orders for new procurement

• Deliverable 2:

  • 1 situation report on the HERNES partner’s supply chain situation including:
  • Analysis of their supply line, entry points and list of suppliers and their origin
  • HERNES partner’ Supply Chain and pharmaceutical management capacity in terms of policies, procedures and monitoring tools
  • 1 toolbox including:
  • Concrete recommendations, with policies, procedures and monitoring tools adapted to the NES context to be aligned with the international standards
  • A practical format of relevant standards for procurement, warehouse management, transport and asset management
  • Practical tools for (1) tracking medications and consumables consumptions, (2) forecasting and (3) preparing orders for new procurement

• Deliverable 3:

  • Weekly updates and inputs with PM on the supervision including status of the procurement, progress, alerts, delays, etc…
  • Technical inputs on reports, alerts and recommendations

  Qualifications & Preferred Skills

• Technical Skills, Experience & Knowledge

Education level

• A University degree is required in Business Administration, Management, Economics, Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Procurement, International Development, Health or related social science field.

Qualifications

• A minimum 4 years of relevant experience, at the national and international levels, in supply, logistics, procurement, contracting, administration and/or other directly related technical fields is required.
• Experience in warehouse management and cold-chain management with UNDP, MSF and other vaccine delivery partners required.
• Fluency in (French and English) in oral is required. Knowledge of Arabic is considered an asset.
• Proven experience within health or civil society support sectors
• Experience in humanitarian, stabilisation and/or post-crisis settings with NGOs, INGOs or development organisations
• Experience in remote management desirable;
• Good computer skills: MS Windows and MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook).
• Good communication, writing and reporting skills;

Personal qualities

• Proactive, results-oriented and service-oriented.
• Ability to work with diplomacy, tact and sensitivity and experience in working within different cultural contexts requiring cultural sensitivity;
• Well-developed interpersonal and team skills and proven ability to be flexible in demanding situations and ability to work under pressure and in response to changing needs;