External VA: Procurement Services Officer, NOB/Fixed-Term, Bishkek. Open to nationals of Kyrgyzstan only

Contract

This is a NO-2 contract. This kind of contract is known as National Professional Officers. It is normally only for nationals. It's a staff contract. More about NO-2 contracts.

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, care and love

The Procurement Service Officer reports to Immunization Specialist (NOC) as per the Country Office set-up for supervision and guidance. The Kyrgyzstan County Office has utilized procurement services as a platform to support the national procurement and supply chain system strengthening and to increase access to strategic and essential medical and other supplies for children, including immunization. The Ministry of Health is the national partner working with UNICEF on procurement services activities. The County Office will play a leading role in the entire process from forecasting to support in final dispatch of immunization and other health supplies. The Procurement Service officer provides technical and operational support as per the Country Office (CO) set-up, and is responsible for managing the supply chains of a small sized country office, or elements of the supply chains of a larger supply operation. The supply chain operations include forecasting, planning, support in in-country logistics, and warehousing as well as monitoring of supplies and services. The incumbent supports management collaboration with programme partners in defining supply interventions to meet programmatic needs and achieve results for children, and provides technical and advisory support to governments, national systems and partners on supply chain management. As part of strengthening of supply chain and health system, it is expected that the incumbent will be closely involved in leading the programme on cold chain capacity strengthening and programme management and implementation.

How can you make a difference?

1. Supply chain service delivery and emergency response:

• In consultation with supervisor, provide input to the Country Programme Action Planning and advice on Supply requirements for the Plan of Operations in consultation with Government. Provides technical support to government partners in planning, forecasting implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the supply chain operations.
• Acts as a member of the working group on strengthening of supply chain and interacts with stakeholders from government, development organizations, NGOs if applicable.
• Coordinates and provides technical support to the Government in in-country logistics of supplies
• Analyze supply dashboards, implementation rates of key performance indicators and supply information/data from various systems and conduct root cause analysis of supply chain bottlenecks and challenges, with a view to drive improvements and ensure efficient and effective supply chains for children.
• Build strong working relations with Regional Health and Supply teams as well as Supply Division, to align with global and regional approaches and initiatives in supply chain management.

2. Collaboration with programme partners and donors:

• In collaboration with supervisor, develops close collaboration with programme partners through involvement in immunization programme design, planning, and preparation for implementation of supply components as well as monitoring and evaluation. Establish accountability framework with programmes, for delivery of results for children.
• Prepare supply documentation to facilitate input to donor dialogue, and support development of immunization/health supply components of proposals to donors including budgeting.
• Participate in events/meetings that build partnerships and collaborative relations with Government, UN organizations and bilateral counterparts in supply and logistics activities including harmonized and collaborative procurement.
• Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises and annual sectoral reviews with government and other counterparts to assess and to report on required action/interventions at the higher level of management.
• Conduct regular programme field visits and surveys and share information with partners and stakeholders to assess progress and provide technical support and/or refer to relevant officials for resolution. Report on critical issues, bottlenecks and potential problems for timely action to achieve results.
• Provide technical and operational support to government counterparts, NGO partners, UN system partners, and other country office partners/donors on the application and understanding of UNICEF policies, strategies, processes, and best practices on health-related issues to support programme implementation, operations and delivery of results.
• Provide technical capacity building to government counterparts on planning, forecasting, and budgeting, in the context of essential health supply priorities.
• Support MOH in the deployment and successful implementation of COVID-19 vaccination program. Advocate/ensure all COVAX vaccines’ legal documents (indemnity agreements, side letters, etc.) are processed timely in order to avoid delays with the supplies of COVID-19 vaccines.

3. Technical and advisory support to government/national systems:

• Provide input to promoting of supply chain strengthening and change management initiatives with governments and partners, to ensure efficient and effective supply chains for children.
• Provide input to capacity development initiatives in the area of supply chains for children, in close collaboration with supervisor and programme colleagues. Support supply components of health systems strengthening as might be relevant in the country context.
• Prepare relevant supply reports to facilitate advisory support to Governments/national systems in defining and determining supply solutions, such as use of procurement services; supply financing solutions;
• Build and sustain effective close working partnerships with health sector government counterparts and national stakeholders, including Ministry of Finance, through active sharing of information and knowledge to enhance programme implementation and build capacity of stakeholders to deliver concrete and sustainable results.
• Draft communication and information materials for CO programme advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnerships/alliances, and support fund raising for health programmes.
• Participate in appropriate inter-agency (UNCT) programmes to collaborate with inter-agency partners/colleagues on operational planning and preparation of programmes/projects, and to integrate and harmonize UNICEF’s position and strategies with the UN development and planning process.
• Leading the group on cold chain strengthening and immunization supply chain strengthening which includes vaccine logistics and other health products as per UNICEF guidelines
• Advise the MOH on global best practice in supply and logistics for essential supplies with support from SD.

4. Innovation, products and markets:

• Contribute to pilots and support the actual roll-out of new products and services, in close collaboration with supervisor and Supply Division.
• Support initiatives for promote critical thinking, innovative approaches and good practices on supply chain management within the organization as well as with externals to ensure effective and efficient supply chains for children.
• Further to analysis of supply spend and related procurement strategies, support initiatives to ensure local market development where relevant.
• Coordinate and support in implementation of Vaccine Logistics Management Information System (VLMIS) and other digitalization activities in health programme
• As new, complex projects materialize, the post will contribute to the coordination and organization around the identification, planning and execution of such projects.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• A university degree is required in Business Administration, Management, Economics, Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Procurement, Contract/Commercial Law, International Development, Health or related social science field.
• A minimum of two (2) years of relevant experience, at the national and international levels, in supply, logistics, administration and/or other directly related technical fields is required.
• Understanding of development and humanitarian work.
• Experience working in supply chain or health system strengthening.
• Emergency experience an advantage.
• Fluency in English and Russian is required. Knowledge of Kyrgyz language is a considerable asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability (CRITA) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: https://uni.cf/UNICEFValues

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (1)
• Works Collaboratively with others (1)
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (1)
• Innovates and Embraces Change (1)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (1)
• Drive to achieve impactful results (1)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. 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 is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

REMARKS:

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.

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments are also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.