Project Officer - Health System Supply Chain Capacity Strengthening in Sub-Saharan Africa

Consultancy opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa and other locations

Are you a Health System Supply Chain specialist and interested in humanitarian work?

If yes, this opportunity is for you!

We are looking for candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian principles. We select our candidates on a competitive basis, and we are committed to promoting diversity and gender balance.

Currently, we are looking for a candidate to support us in Sub-Saharan Africa, but we are also building a roster of candidates for other upcoming opportunities.

ABOUT WFP

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the largest humanitarian organisation delivering food assistance to over 90 million beneficiaries in 80 countries on a yearly basis. With over 5000 trucks, 50 ships and close to 100 planes on the move every single day, WFP, together with its partners, operates a global network to deliver life-saving food assistance to the most hard-to reach places.

This year, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize 2020 to the World Food Programme for its efforts to combat hunger and its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas.

Click here to watch a short video about WFP

HEALTH SUPPLY CHAIN IN WFP

In recent years, WFP’s expertise and footprint were increasingly leveraged to tackle health supply chain challenges. WFP works with governments and health partners in a range of countries both to respond to emergencies (e.g. Ebola, Covid-19) and to structurally strengthen local supply chain capacities, with the goal to make public health systems more performant and shock-resilient.

As COVID-19 caused a reduction in commercial capacity and disrupted supply routes, WFP stepped up to fill the gaps by giving the humanitarian community access to its logistics expertise and transport network. The common services were put in place, to ensure the delivery of humanitarian cargo during the pandemic and support the global pandemic response. To date, the common services have delivered cargo to 171 countries across the world.

Building on experiences gained, WFP is launching a multi-year global initiative to provide supply chain technical assistance to national public health actors in countries where specific needs and opportunities are identified. In line with national health strategies, WFP will avail and transfer its knowledge and know-how in core supply chain areas and in the field of emergency preparedness.

JOB PURPOSE

The Project Officer (PO) will support the design, launch and implementation of country activities in support of national health partners and strategies. In this role, the PO will work collaboratively with WFP’s country offices and corporate expert teams, client structures and partners as needed, to create high quality technical assistances approaches leading to transformative and scalable change and ultimately, to lasting supply chain improvements.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

As Project Officer - Health System Supply Chain Capacity Strengthening, you will be responsible for the following key duties:

• Assess country public health supply chain needs and priorities
• Design high value-add health supply chain technical assistance activities
• Design and maintain activity plans, measuring progress against
• Activate internal and external expertise to deliver activities
• Coordinate the implementation of technical assistance activities
• Act as a health supply chain technical advisor to national counterparts
• Directly contribute to technical work and deliverables
• Direct supervision of project in country staff where relevant
• Liaise with WFP country offices’ services for specific support to activities
• Ensure quality of services meets WFP’s and our clients’ standards
• Build strong relationships with government, partners and donors
• Monitor and measure outputs and outcomes of activities
• Identify project risks and implement timely mitigation measures
• Promote WFP’s activities through internal and external communications
• Ensure regular alignment of activities with WFP country offices’ strategy and priorities
• Contribute to WFP’s advocacy and fund raising in the health space
• Any other duty as required

STANDARD MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

Education

You have a Master’s degree in Logistics / Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, Engineering or related fields

Experience

You have:

• Minimum of five (5) years of relevant professional experience working in logistics and supply chain in challenging environments, ideally in the Sub-Saharan African region
• Proven experience in a range of supply chain areas (planning, WH, transport, etc.)
• Proven experience in supply chain capacity building / improvement initiatives
• Experience in public health / pharma supply chains is considered an advantage
• Experience in humanitarian emergencies is considered an advantage
• Understanding of WFP’s logistics practices is considered an advantage

Language

You have:

• You are Fluent in oral and written English
• It is highly desirable if you are Fluent in oral and written French
• Intermediate knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish) or Portuguese (one of WFP’s working languages) is desirable

DESIRED SKILLS AND ABILITIES

• Solid understanding of end to end supply chain management
• Demonstrated in depth technical expertise in supply chain areas (planning, WH, transport, etc.)
• Understanding of public health distribution systems and related challenges
• Understanding of logistics networks and challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Excellent analytical, conceptual and writing skills
• Ability to rapidly understand complex operations and quickly focus on priorities
• Ability to plan ahead, anticipate challenges and work on activities in parallel
• Extremely result oriented and capable of working under considerable pressure
• Showcase a can-do attitude in an area of work very new for the WFP
• Ability to explain complex concepts / plans / solutions in simple terms
• Ability to facilitate strategic/technical conversations and drive stakeholders’ consensus
• Customer service-oriented mind-set and excellent communication skills
• Ability to create and maintain strong relationships with key counterparts
• Team player and ability to deal with evolving contexts and priorities
• Fully committed to the objectives, mandate and code of ethics of the WFP

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

WFP offers a competitive compensation package which will be determined by the contract type and selected candidate’s qualifications and experience.

Please visit the following websites for detailed information on working with WFP:

http://www.wfp.org Click on: “Our work” and “Countries” to learn more about WFP’s operations.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

Application deadline: 03 February 2021 (midnight Rome time)

Your CV must be submitted in English

Women applicants and qualified applicants from developing countries are especially encouraged to apply. WFP has zero tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status. No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.