Historique

Instructions to Applicants: Click on the "Apply now" button. Input your information in the appropriate Sections: personal information, language proficiency, education, resume and motivation. Upon completion of the first page, please hit "submit application" tab at the end of the page. Please ensure that CV or P11 and the Cover letter are combined in one file.

The following documents shall be required from the applicants:

1. Personal CV or P11, indicating all past positions held and their main underlying functions, their durations (month/year), the qualifications, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate, and at least three (3) the most recent professional references of previous supervisors. References may also include peers.
2. A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) indicating why the candidate considers him-/herself to be suitable for the position.
3. Managers may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as  reports, presentations, publications, campaigns or other materials.

Travel:  

a) UNDP will cover the cost of travel of the individual to the duty station, as well as their return to their home upon completion of their services. Travel costs are covered only in the event that the function will be undertaken physically in the duty station and excludes working from home arrangements.

b) official travel is expected to NatPharm branchs with in the country

Office/Unit/Project Description 

UNDP is a key partner to the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS (The Global Fund) and is the UN agency assuming the role of Principal Recipient of the Global Fund HIV grant in Zimbabwe. In its role as Principal Recipient, UNDP ensures quality financial management, timely procurement of supplies, and efficient monitoring and service delivery.

UNDPs’ management role includes implementation of the grant, through Sub-Recipients (SRs), oversight and capacity strengthening of these SRs.

Procurement and Supply Management of medicines, other health products and medical supplies represent a major portion of the budget and expenditure of the Global Fund grants. Compliance with Global Fund and UNDP policies for the procurement and supppy management of health products, adherence to accountability and transparency, and risk management principles to contribute to programmatic objectives, are the overall responsibility of UNDP in its role as Principal Recipient and working in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Child Care.

UNDP has contracted the National Pharmaceutical Company (NatPharm) as a sub-recipient (SR) for the receipt, storage and distribution to delivery end points of all Globsl Fund grant funded health products in the country. NatPharm has in the past few years undergone extensive reviews/assessments, audits of its core functions in relation to storage, inventory management, distribution and record keeping. An recent assessment of the storage space of NatPharm was conducted in the first half of 2021 to determine the actual space needs of NatPharm to efficiently store and distribute health products in the next 20-30 years. The findings and recommendations of all these reviews and assessments have been consolidated in a time bound costed action plan that is regularly updated. In addition, in view of storage space constraints at the NatPharm Harare warehouse, an optimization assessment was conducted in the last quarter of 2017 and recommendations made for short-term improvement of storage space at the current warehouse, whilst construction of a new central warehouse in Harare is planned to be completed in 2022.

Health Product Supply Chain Management System in Zimbabwe

In the last decade, UNDP/Global Fund, USAID and other health partners have made significant contributions to strengthen the management of the supply chain of health products of the Republic of Zimbabwe. Several assessments were conducted in the recent years by UNDP, the Global Fund and other Health Development Partners, where several issues relating to deficiencies of the Supply Chain, inventory management, and storage of health products were noted.  In October 2017, the USAID supported GHSC-PSM Project conducted an inventory optimization assessment of NatPharm in Harare.   The inventory optimization review identified short, medium and long-term strategies to decongest the warehouse, optimize space utilization and improve efficiency and implement fully computer based inventory management. The increasing number and volume of shipments from cooperating partners requires the warehouse to efficiently utilize space in the receiving and storage areas. The recommendations were presented to and agreed with NatPharm management to decongest Harare Warehouse, fully utilize current warehouse capacity and increase effectiveness of receiving, storage, pick, pack and dispatch operations at the NatPharm Harare Regional warehouse

In addition, in collaboration with MOHCC, NatPharm and other partners, UNDP commissioned in July 2019, an assessment of the NatPharm inventory management system to investigate the underlying causes of the recurring observations, and develop an action plan to address the identified issue. The overall goal of the inventory optimization assessment was to use  the findings of the assessment to improve the operational efficiency and robustness of the health commodity supply chain in Zimbabwe with focus on the NatPharm Harare warehousing practices.

The  supply chain assessments have helped to define areas of NatPharm’s operations  that require to be improved  with the development of a costed action plan (the Master Action Plan ) .  The Plan to strengthen the supply chain system included, supply of trucks, for example, cold chain trucks to support transportation of health products from the central warehouse to health facilities; support to  strengthen  the electronic Warehouse Management System (Navision); human capacity development, including a mentorship of program for staff, enrolment of PSM officers at MoHCC and NatPharm in international post-graduate course in Global Health PSM; construction of warehouses and renovation/construction of storages spaces at selected health facilities to improve storage spaces and conditions, development of a national waste management guidelines, and installation of cold rooms, among others. Currently, there is an ongoing effort to roll out an Electronic Logistics Management System through MoHCC, to all health facilities, to be linked and integrated into the Navision system at NatPharm, to support enhanced inventory management and ensure accountability of health products stored at all levels of the supply chain system. 

While the country was hit by the Covid pandemic in the first quarter of 2020 with country wide lockdowns and major logistics constraints, there have been major achievements over the last 12 months in the implementation of the NatPharm optimization plan with the leadership of NatPharm senior management and the technical assistance provided by UNDP, Global Fund and the partners.  The clean-up and decongestion of the inside of the Harare warehouse is complete and most 3rd Party products have been distributed. The rented Logistica warehouse is fully fulfilling its role as the National Receiving & Transit warehouse.  In addition to the regular arrivals of health products for national programs, NatPharm was able to manage the constant influx of consignments of products arriving in Zimbabwe to respond to the Covid-19 crisis. In total, this meant constant pressure throughout the period on order and transfer processing, and on transport requirements.

In spite of the progress made in the strengthening of the national supply chain system with ongoing financial and technical assistants and the demonstrated resilience, remaining  challenges require continued interventions and sustenance of the gains already made: to address bottlenecks in storage spaces at all levels-fire protection;  ensure real time data visibility on health products throughout the supply chain and limited analytical management of stocks; proper accountability for health products stored and distributed; effective nationally coordinated supply planning impacting inventory and PSM management; timely disposal of expired health products which are impacting severly on the storage space.

Inventory of internal governance documents and regulations is completed. However, this work has expanded, to establish a comprehensive Document Registry. The NatPharm Internal Audit will serve as the custodian of the Registry and all the documentation. With the completion of the optimization at Harare warehouse, further optimization at peripheral/regional suply levels have been planned and will be supported by this TA. Some initial visits were made by the current TA to five NatPharm branches in Q4 2020 to assess the storage optimization need.

The next steps of the warehouse optimization project are to establish closer and dynamic coordination with the MOHCC Logistics Unit, stronger supply chain analytics capacities, continuous improvement of the stock management process,  with an expansion of the optimization work to all regional branches and sustaining the gains already made in improving warehouse inventory management at Harare warehouse.

Institutional Arrangement

Under direct supervision of UNDP PSM Specialist, the consultant will work directly with the NatPharm management team

• The incumbent must be able to travel and work in the country.
• The Contractor is subject to national and UN restrictions related to COVID-19
• UNDP will provide transport and support logistics for all field/branch work

Devoirs et responsabilités

Scope of Work

Under the overall guidance and direct supervision of the PSM Specialist of the UNDP PMU and the leadership of NatPharm Management team, the incumbent is responsible for providing technical and project management support to NatPharm on  the following specific activities:

1. Support to General Operations Management of Natpharm

• Provide continuous technical support on Human Resources training , including Ccpacity building and mentoring on inventory management  activities; and
• Provide technical support on development of new SOPs and improvement of  existing  inventory/warehouse   SOPs
• Support  development, analysis and reconciliation on  monthly inventory   management reports  both  for Natpharm  management   and  supply chain stakeholder  requirements .
• Suppervise UNDP PSM Analyst  assigned to Natpharm to support  inventory management reporting.

1. Lead  the Warehouse  Optimisation exercise  of all Natpharm warehouses

• Manage the implementation of the Warehouse Optimization Master Action Plan
• Support improved inventory and warehouse management practices at all Branches, including work flow, operating procedures and documentation management
• Support  the warehouse optimization of  all  Natpharm   branches, including work flow, operating procedures and documentation management, in particular:
  • Support implementation of continuous stock-takes, conduct adjustments and investigation of variances.
  • Provide support in implementation of FEFO stock management principle.
  • Avail advice and technical support in disposal of expired health commodities.  
  • Support the development of the specification  and advise on the national and international  qualified suppliers  of mechanical handling equipment from partners.
  • Provide expert support for efficient implementation of stock ordering processes and approved distribution programs such as ZAPS
• Provide inputs into the appropriate fixtures, fittings, mechanical handling equipment and facilities needed for the new NatPharm warehouses.

1. Support improved use  of ICT systems  to support effective  inventory  management

• Propose improvements and support implementation  of the use of the ERP system to timely, accurately and correctly manage the inventory activities, including planning transfers to branches
• Support the the national stock take exercises as representative of UNDP,

1. Coordinatipon of steering committee meetings and stakeholders  engagement

• Participate and provide technical  support and  Steering Committee, PSM TWG and other fora in which NatPharm participates
• Work with the NatPharm focal person to organize regular Steering Committee meeting, to monitor progress made of the road map, agree on proposed actions, present challenges and proposed mitigation actions. S/He will prepare the meeting agenda and objectives, and relevant documents to be discussed and the meeting report with outcomes and agreed actions.
• Provide Support  and advise on   Natpharm Strategic Planning, Business Model  and  Sustainability activities
• Collaborate  with other Technical Consultants (e.g. Supply Chain Analyst, Space Assessment Consultant, etc.) to  support the improvement of Natpharm  systems .
• Engage in Health Development Partner initiatives with NatPharm, including Governance and Transparency
• Coordination and implementation of the Master invenoty management action Plan (see annex 1-1 and Annex 1-2),

Compétences

Professionalism:  Shows pride in work and achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations. Takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work.

Communication: Speaks and writes clearly and effectively; Listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately; Asks questions to clarify and exhibits interest in having two-way communication; Tailors language, tone, style and format to match the audience; Demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.

Client Orientation: Considers all those to whom services are provided to be "clients " and seeks to see things from clients' point of view; Establishes and maintains productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect; Identifies clients' needs and matches them to appropriate solutions; Monitors ongoing developments inside and outside the clients' environment to keep informed and anticipate problems; Keeps clients informed of progress or setbacks in projects; Meets timeline for delivery of products or services to client.

Qualifications et expériences requises