Job Description

The Global Health Supply Chain – Procurement and Supply Management Ethiopia

Background

The purpose of the Global Health Supply Chain– Procurement and Supply Management (GHSCPSM) Program is to ensure uninterrupted supplies of health commodities in support of United States Government (USG)-funded public health initiatives around the world. The project provides direct procurement and supply chain management support to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) and Population and Reproductive Health. In supporting USG-funded global health activities, GHSC-PSM will develop and manage a wide array of services for health commodity procurement and related systems strengthening technical assistance encompassing different elements of a comprehensive supply chain.

At the country level, GHSC-PSM supports country strategies and priorities that fall under the following three project objectives: 

• Global Commodity Procurement and Logistics
• Systems Strengthening Technical Assistance
• Global collaboration to improve long-term availability of health commodities 

Purpose

Access to medicines and health technologies is contingent upon well-functioning supply chain management systems that move products to the end users. Due to increasing attentions given by government and development partners, the availability of priority health program commodities in the country has shown improvement at public health facilities. However, the improvement registered in availability of these products is not yet up-to the required level and often lacks consistency and continuity that stockouts are being reported from health facilities.

Through funding from USAID, GHSC-PSM is supporting the Ministry of Health (MOH), Ethiopian Pharmaceutical Supply Agency (EPSA), regional health bureaus (RHBs), and health facilities to improve the availability of these vital drugs through various interventions including forecasting, procurement, distribution, and promotion of proper use of these medicines. As part of the support provided to the government of Ethiopia in improving the availability of HIV, malaria, TB, family planning, FP/RH and MNCH commodities, the project has planned to develop a long term stockout reduction strategy to optimize USAID investments with the goal of significantly reducing stockout rates at health facilities in Ethiopia over the next 2-3 years. In line with this, we are currently seeking a short-term lead consultant with a prior experience of coordinating strategic document development through series of stakeholders consultation and analyzing end-to-end supply chain management data to diagnose root causes of stockouts and prioritizing short, medium- and long-term interventions and investments to address the challenges.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

• The main objective of this assignment is to develop a stock out reduction strategy/investment plan to guide USAID FY22 and FY23 investments and align priorities with different stakeholders and partners. 

Specific objectives of the assignment

• Establish stock out performance historical baselines and define targets for predefined commodities for HIV, malaria, TB, FP and MNCH
• Conduct evidence based stock out root causes identification through engaging key informants
• Refine solution set and build longer term investment portfolio aimed at continued and accelerated stockout reduction
• Design performance management infrastructure to oversee stockout reduction activities and two-year plan
• Coordinate stakeholders’ consultation process along the strategy development process in close collaboration with Health Programs Director and the senior leadership team of GHSC-PSM Ethiopia Field Office 

Duties and responsibilities

• Organize a discussion forum with MOH, EPSA, USAID, PMI and stakeholder partners to develop a refined set of supply chain challenges/risks and root causes with broader supporting evidence and quantitative analysis
• Organize discussion forum with MOH, EPSA, USAID, PMI and other partners to establish a clear, evidence-based view on historic stock out performance over the past three years (a “performance baseline”) and set targets for future stock out reduction activities relative to this baseline.
• Conduct broader ministry and partner interviews and consultation, including technical leadership and operational staff at each level of the supply chain to obtain evidence on stock outs, root cases and recommended solutions
• Compile and rank list of challenges and root causes that drive current stock outs and propose refined short-term activities for prioritizing investments with strongest connection to these root causes and expected impact on near-term stock out reduction
• Conduct robust partner landscaping and further engagement with supply chain partners and ministry stakeholders to sharpen understanding of areas best suited for USAID to make cross-cutting and specific investments on Malaria, HIV, FP/RH, MNCH and TB commodities stockout reduction
• Develop performance measures infrastructure for the investment plan and work with stakeholders to strengthen existing governance processes and put into place a structure for regular review and discussion of performance related to stockout reductions including:
• Identification of governing/oversight bodies to involve for stockout performance reviews
• Devising of the approach to the performance reviews
• Defining key performance indicators
• Designing and implementation of reporting systems to support decision-making
• Produce the final investment plan which addresses both cross-cutting as well as  program specific interventions through an iterative feedback solicitation process   

Supervision

•  The short-term consultant will report to Health Program Director and works closely with Malaria, HIV, RMNCH and TB program advisors. 

Job Requirements

Education:

• Master’s degree in health commodities procurement and supply management, pharmacy, public health, business administration or related

Job Qualifications

• Minimum 7-10 years of proven work experience in the procurement and supply chain management with minimum of five years professional experience in pharmaceutical procurement and supply chain management, preferably developing strategies and prioritized investment plans
• Work experience in forecasting and supply planning, procurement, warehousing and inventory management, distribution of pharmaceuticals
• Work experience in situational analysis, processing different types of data and its application to the development or revision of pharmaceuticals policy, strategy and supply chain systems
• Proven capacity to synthesize and share essential information from document desk reviews, consultations, and interviews
• Proven experience in working under high-pressure environments
• Ability to come up with new and useful ideas to solve supply chain related problems
• Great attention to details is required
• Written and spoken English fluency required.
• Experience of working on priority public health program commodities procurement and supply chain management is an asset 

How to Apply

To apply, please reply to this e-mail PSMEthiopiaRecruit@ghsc-psm.org Please specify the position title as the subject line in your application or your application will be denied. Please submit no later than December 26, 2020. No telephone inquiries, please. Finalists will be contacted. Chemonics is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in its selection and employment practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, or other non-merit factors