Global Repository Technical Consultant, Kigali, Rwanda, 11.5 Months

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UNICEF - United Nations Children's Fund

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Application deadline 1 year ago: Tuesday 31 May 2022 at 21:55 UTC

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Contract

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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, Vaccines

To learn more about UNICEF work in Rwanda, please visit the country website https://unicef.sharepoint.com/sites/RWA/

How can you make a difference?

The objective of the assignment is to support the deployment of global repository solution in Rwanda to reduce the risk of falsified and counterfeit COVID-19 vaccines and other health products entering the national supply chains; and to establish a national level verification solution which is in alignment with global data storage capabilities. It is expected that this work would establish the foundation for full national level GS1-enabled track and trace capabilities. Technical expertise is needed at the regional and country level to implement and provide project management services.

Scope of Work:

As COVID-19 vaccine distribution ramps up worldwide, counterfeit vaccines have been found, presenting significant risks to the public health response and financial loss. The need for product quality verification and traceability extends beyond COVID-19 vaccines to all health products. Falsified vaccines and medicines cost low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) $30 billion/year and over $200 billion globally. Investments in verification and traceability can protect beneficiaries from counterfeit health products while strengthening digitally enabled supply chains for all public health use cases.

UNICEF plays a vital role globally as the COVAX procurement coordinator and agent. Likewise, at the regional and local levels, UNICEF contributes to response and recovery measures by providing health system strengthening support to local governments. In response to the COVID-19 health pandemic, health supply chains are being challenged to deliver more products to a larger number of beneficiaries under increasingly limited conditions. To support the temporary surge in supplies or maintain operations in response to reduced capacities, UNICEF will provide support to governments to manage their supply chains and build resilience in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reporting: Act as an honest broker for UNICEF, the government and partners in the identifying end-to-end commodity traceability solutions. Support UNICEF and government coordination efforts; report writing and result monitoring.

Impact of Results

Timely and quality expert analysis leads to actionable recommendations that efficiently and effectively resolve complex supply chain issues, removing barriers and bottlenecks in order to prevent falsification and diversion of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics with a medium to long-term vision of end-to-end commodity traceability.

  1. The highest level of integrity, standards and accountability is maintained by implementing sound, accurate supply chain advice in accordance with UNICEF procedures, including regular and accurate reporting.
  2. Technical leadership, support, coaching and training builds the capacity of UNICEF and government staff to replicate, expand, and improve on system strengthening and resilience efforts.

Effective collaboration with UNICEF, governments, and local partners maintains coordination, communication and networking, which reinforces strong working relationships.

Tasks/Milestone:

Subject Matter Expertise: Provide traceability technical leadership and advising on the implementation of national level verification solution to prevent falsifications and diversion of the COVID-19 vaccine and other health products.

  • Work closely with the government of Rwanda to finalize requirements and selection of the national verification solution which utilizes, at a minimum, GS1 barcoding on secondary packaging of COVID-19 vaccines and other health products.
  • Work closely with government of Rwanda to align the global repository and verification solution with the national supply chain and traceability system(s)/IT infrastructure and roadmap/plan.
  • Do not reinvent the wheel – build on what exists – work with partners to define opportunities.

Landscape & Roadmap: Work with National Regulatory Authorities to establish the necessary data repository; associated standard operation procedures (SOP); data privacy rules and regulations; administrative rights to national verification solution; and other tasks as needed.

  • Mapping of existing enabling environment (e.g., policy, strategy, governance, etc.)
  • Gather information on current traceability IT systems/infrastructure and capabilities
  • Draft an end-to-end traceability roadmap, for medium to long term vision of end-to-end commodity traceability.
  • Utilize the information from the LMIS mapping, and the efforts of partners (USAID, Global Fund and others) inform the roadmap

Project Management & Coordination: Provide project management services to develop workplans, and project materials in collaboration with Rwanda to implement the global repository tool. This includes:

  • Liaising with stakeholders such as project personnel, vendors, and end-users regarding project requirements.
  • Working closely with the government of Rwanda responsible entities to plan and oversee the preparations, project artifacts and project communications.
  • Working closely with GTR vendor, UNICEF RO, CO and SD at HQ (Supply chain strengthening center) to ensure timely delivery of project deliverables.
  • Implementing document control policies and documentation templates as outline by the Project Charter.
  • Monitoring project progress and implementing changes where necessary.
  • Ensuring compliance with objectives, organizational policies, procedures, and standards.
  • Work closely with the Verification & Traceability Initiative Project Management Unit (PMU) to compile project reports and informing management regarding progress or challenges.
  • Ensuring project complies with best practices, SOPs, government of Rwanda policies and other policies as stipulated by host country authorities.

Deliverables/Outputs:

The selected consultant will be expected to produce the following deliverables in collaboration with government of Rwanda, UNICEF and other key stakeholders.

  • Summary of the current state of the traceability enabling environment (e.g., vision/strategy, policy, governance, data/IT systems and infrastructure)
  • Rwanda global repository stakeholder mapping of traceability key partners, stakeholder groups, areas of expertise and assets
  • Requirements of National traceability system (track and trace) with increased supply chain visibility.
  • Rwanda global repository project schedule/workplan
  • Rwanda global repository budget/financial plan
  • Establish a weekly project meeting to coordinate team members from the government of Rwanda, UNICEF and other key stakeholders; develop meeting agendas and materials, track action items
  • Bi-weekly status updates/reports to the Rwanda Traceability Technical Working Group, the Verification & Traceability Initiative
  • Develop a training plan and budget for modality C of TRVST
  • Develop operations plans and SOPs, including data analysis, for modality C (Interface with National Product Catalog).
  • Help desk procedures in place.
  • Develop a sustainability plan including transition plan.
  • Activity completion report.

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

  • University Advanced degree is required, preferably in relevant field (e.g., supply chain management, IT, business, procurement, logistics, or other quantitative degree). Applicable work experience can substitute in cases where university degree is not aligned to a relevant field.
  • At least 8 years of experience in supply chain consulting or system strengthening.
  • At least 4 years work experience working in GS1 trace and trace systems and general supply chain management at country or global level
  • Technical aptitude in supply chain operations; track and trace technologies and solutions; medicine verification systems; traceability legislation; regulation and manufacturer labelling.
  • Strong experience on implementation of project management for electronic logistics Management Information System (eLMIS)
  • Knowledge of Rwanda health information systems and e-health architecture
  • Ability to train and educate staff on latest knowledge and skills related to health product traceability.
  • Strong analytical and communication skills with ability to translate technical, quantitative data into executive-level presentations with clear, actionable recommendations.
  • Experience supporting private sector engagement strategies with governments is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA).

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

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 be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. 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:

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. The candidate may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid).

Added 1 year ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: unicef.org