UNICEF recruits a Consultant in Nutrition Supply Chain Consultant for both – Uganda
Description :
UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.
Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.
And we never give up.
For every child, a fair chance :
Uganda is one of the over 190 countries and territories around the world where we work to overcome the obstacles that poverty, violence, disease, and discrimination place in a child’s path. Together with the Government of Uganda and partners we work towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, the objectives of the Uganda National Development Plan, and the planned outcomes of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework.
Visit this link for more information on Uganda Country Office https://www.unicef.org/uganda/
How can you make a difference :
Under the supervision of the Principal Nutritionist and the UNICEF Nutrition Manager, the consultant will provide day-to-day technical support to the MoH in all aspects of nutrition supply chain management under the guidance of a relevant government representative of the MoH to drive the initiative. Contribute to improving the nutritional status of children and women in Uganda by supporting the MoH with integrating and strengthening nutrition supply chains for improved nutrition service delivery. To provide technical assistance to the MoH in coordinating and managing the integration of the nutrition supply chain within NMS, performing their duties and responsibilities in the integration process and building the capacity of relevant health staff in all aspects of supply chain management. The integration process goes beyond the handover of logistics functions to NMS and encompasses upstream components such as governance, planning, financing and performance management. Additionally, working with the District Health Teams in Karamoja, the consultant will provide technical assistance in setting up a pilot design for strengthened integration of the nutrition supply chain.
Background :
Undernutrition remains an important contributor of poor maternal, new-born and child survival and development in Uganda. While prevalence of stunting has decreased from 33 per cent to 29 per cent between 2011 and 2016, there are estimated 1,850,000 stunted children in the country. During the same period, wasting has been mostly stagnant with a decline from 5 per cent to 4 per cent. There is significant variation among regions in Uganda, whereby wasting is the highest in the regions with emergencies or chronic and cyclical drought.
To support the Government of Uganda with the improvement of health and nutrition service delivery, UNICEF Uganda is focusing its efforts on system strengthening at both national and district levels. UNICEF also provides the Government of Uganda with system support inputs, which include the procurement of nutrition supplies such as therapeutic supplies for the treatment of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) (i.e., ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF), F-100, F-75 and ReSoMal), Vitamin A, deworming tablets, iron and folic acid and anthropometric equipment. For provision of SAM treatment supplies, UNICEF is a main partner to the Ministry of Health (MoH), supporting the forecasting, procurement, storage, delivery and monitoring of these supplies. In 2018, a total of 46,820 children under 5 years of age affected by SAM were admitted to treatment nationally.
UNICEF currently runs a parallel supply chain for the SAM treatment supplies – i.e., the supplies procured by UNICEF are stored in a UNICEF warehouse and distributed by UNICEF to stores of focus districts and Regional Referral Hospitals. Last-mile deliveries from district stores to health facilities are handled by districts with UNICEF support. On the other hand, there is a national supply chain system for essential medicines and health supplies managed by National Medical Stores (NMS) in the country, in which NMS delivers supplies from its central warehouse to health facilities on a monthly or bimonthly basis depending on a supply. Vitamin A supplies are distributed through this mechanism.
In 2016, an assessment on the current nutrition supply chain demonstrated that integration of nutrition supplies into the national supply chain system is feasible and can be implemented in a short to medium term (approximately 18 months) with a relatively low investment. UNICEF and WFP launched the Karamoja Nutrition Programme, a 3.5-year programme (2018-2021) aiming to reduce child and maternal undernutrition and anaemia through a system strengthening approach, with financial support from the UK Department for International Development (DFID). One of the focus areas of the KNP is the strengthening and integration of nutrition supply chain at national and district levels. In this context, in December 2018, a stakeholder meeting on the nutrition supply chain integration was convened in which key stakeholders, including the MoH and NMS, showed their commitments to the integration process. A key agreement from the consensus meeting was the development of a costed implementation plan for the integration of nutrition supplies within the national supply chain system.
Key Tasks :
Coordination and management of the nutrition supply chain integration :
- Support the MoH with the functionalisation of a specialised taskforce for the nutrition supply chain integration. This tasforce will be comprised of key nutrition supply chain stakeholders, such as the MoH Nutrition Division and Pharmacy Department, NMS, USAID and UNICEF. The consultant will coordinate and facilitate taskforce meetings ;
- Coordinate the finalisation and implementation of a costed implementation plan for the integration process with a pilot design for Karamoja. The plan encompasses actions with specific and measurable milestones in a wide range of areas required for the nutrition supply chain integration, including but not limited to, forecasting and quantification, finance and resource mobilization, procurement, quality assurance, storage, distribution, governance and leadership, information management, human resources and performance management ;
- Coordinate with the District Health Offices for the planning and implementation of the pilot design in Karamoja ;
- Monitor and update the implementation plan for the integration of nutrition supplies on a monthly basis, with special focus on timelines for the implementation of agreed milestones ;
- Coordinate the organisation of workshops to periodically review the integration process, assess its milestones and address challenges with evidence-based recommendations ;
- Ensure that there is a continuation strategy by the MoH and DHO for the integration process before the end of her/his assignment.
Performance of the MoH’s duties and responsibilities in the nutrition supply chain integration process :
- Support stakeholders, including the taskforce itself, in performing their duties and responsibilities outlined and agreed upon in the implementation plan ;
- Assist the MoH Nutrition Division in its managerial role in the integration process ;
- Support the MoH with performing technical duties and responsibilities in the implementation plan, such as supply chain coordination, policy and regulatory tasks and financial planning ;
- Assist NMS in coordinating with the MoH Nutrition Division for nutrition supply needs, stock monitoring, costing of supplies and logistics in the annual MoH budget in a timely manner.
Strengthening of the MoH’s, Regional hospitals’ and the Karamoja DHOs’ capacity in supply chain management :
- Provide day-to-day technical assistance to the MoH in supply chain management including, but not limited to, planning, budgeting, stock monitoring, human resource development and information management ;
- Assess the capacity of the MoH Nutrition Division, regional nutritionists and the District Nutrition Focal Persons (DFNPs) on nutrition supply chain management, review and update existing training resources, and develop and implement the capacity development plan to fill gaps ;
- Implement the capacity development plan to enable the Nutrition Division to coordinate and manage supply-related activities in the integration and post-integration phases ;
- Coordinate with District Health Teams in operationalization of the whole integration process and document the progress and lessons learned.
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have :
- A university degree, preferably Master’s degree, in pharmacy, procurement, logistics, supply chain management, public health, health sciences, or similar fields ;
- At least 5-year professional experience in public health supply chain management or similar fields ;
- Experience in project management ;
- Experience of working with leadership and management spheres in public health programmes ;
- Experience in facilitating dialogue among different stakeholders ;
- Working experience with UNICEF, WFP, WHO or other UN agencies for supply or logistic management ;
- Working experience with the Ministry of Health or other governmental entities ;
- Experience in recommending and leading the implementation of interventions designed to strengthen government leadership and capacity to manage supply chains ;
- Experience in reviewing and updating important policies and service delivery guidelines to support enabling environments for supply chain management ;
- Experience in advocacy activities to support resource mobilisation to strengthen supply chains ;
- Experience and knowledge of supply chain management in the health sector in the region ;
- Excellent project management and coordination skills ;
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills; ability to interact and influence with senior-level decisionmakers at the ministerial level and across different organisation; and capacity to act with credibility, tact and diplomacy on sensitive issues
- Ability to build strong relationships with stakeholders including the Government and external partners ;
- Successful problem solving and critical thinking skills ;
- Ability to effectively communicate and present supply chain concepts ;
- Ability to stay focused and deliver results under pressure ;
- Effective organisational skills; high drive for results and commitments ;
- Strong teamwork skills .
For every Child, you demonstrate :
UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.
UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.
UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.
Remarks :
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.
Advertised : E. Africa Standard Time
Applications close : E. Africa Standard Time