Remote Consultancy: Business Case Development for Human Resources for Supply Chain Management, People that Deliver (PtD), SD - Cph, Denmark

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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.

BACKGROUND:

People that Deliver (PtD) was established in 2011 to advocate for a systematic approach to human resources (HR) for health supply chain management (SCM). PtD is a global coalition of 26 organizations focused on technical leadership in HR for SCM. Its unique feature is that member countries and organizations are expected to be the vehicles for the provision of services and funding. It builds on the experiences of coalition members to advocate for change at a global and country-level. This results in stronger and more sustainable systems for developing, recruiting, and retaining a qualified health supply chain workforce.

PtD promotes stewardship and leadership at the national level to address the health supply chain workforce needs and advocates for the development of a competent, supported supply chain workforce deployed across the public and private sectors within the health system. PtD not only understands the current HR for health SCM landscape globally and locally, it also identifies, builds, and strengthens the tools and resources needed to support capacity building in country.

Please visit www.peoplethatdeliver.org for a complete overview of our vision and goal, as well as access to materials and resources related to our work.

PURPOSE:

Well-performing supply chains are essential for ensuring access to health supplies and meeting the goal of universal health coverage, however, the burden on health supply chains has increased significantly and will continue to increase due to increasing volumes of supplies, the introduction of new health products, changing disease profiles, and efforts to achieve Universal Access to Health. Decision-makers in developing countries must continually cope with limited resources hence often having to choose between different investments to build modern and effective supply chains.

Among health supply chain investments, investing in human resources for supply chain is not often considered obvious compared to commodities purchase, infrastructure investment, system design and operational procedures. PtD advocates for the need to make appropriate policy changes to support the institutionalization of competent supply chain managers as a key component of human resources for health. With the significant health supply chain strengthening investments being made by international donors such as USAID, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and Gavi it is evident that a generic business case that will demonstrate the value of investing in human resource systems in relation to other competing health supply chain priorities is necessary. It can be used as a blueprint by supply chain leaders to convince decision makers and stewards of health supply chains in-country to make the appropriate investments and allocate a fair and relevant part of their health supply chain investments to the appropriate workforce.

The purpose of this consultancy will be to work with PtD and donor organizations (BMGF, Gavi, Global Fund, UNFPA and USAID) to develop a business case that will demonstrate the value of investing in human resources for health supply chain management. This business case will provide evidence to support the investment and convince decision makers in-country to make appropriate investments by demonstrating a direct link between investing in the health supply chain workforce and improvement of commodity availability and access. It supports the logic behind the PtD Building Human Resources for Supply Chain Management Theory of Change that when work performance is optimized, commodities are available at service delivery points to meet needs in the most effective way possible.

To advocate for the value of investing in human resources for supply chain management, we must first understand what those investments are and have been. To initiate this work, it is necessary to quantify and categorize the dollar value and types of investments made in this area by these donors to date. USAID has begun this work and, in so doing, developed a methodology to be replicated by the other donor agencies. Discussions have taken place and are ongoing how the approach taken by USAID can be applied by the other donors to position PtD to aggregate data and map trends.

More specifically, we envision that this project will analyze quantitative and qualitative data from donor agency projects to determine the current trends supporting human resources. The project will look at the data through a human resource perspective, using the Building Human Resources for Supply Chain Management Theory of Change (the ToC) as a guide. The project will use the four pathways (as defined in the ToC) to analyze the data and explore how the investments can be classified at the sub-pathway level, i.e. funding to support skills development through training and supportive supervision for example.

The project will utilize budgetary data to inform a definition of ‘human capital and workforce development’ that can be used across donors. As part of the next phase of this project, the consultant will identify criteria to select a sample of several countries for a deep dive into country context and type of investments. The consultant will then investigate the types of analyses (i.e. cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit for example) that can be performed on the data set, develop different hypotheses and scenarios of the business case, and a blueprint with fixed and variable parameters that supply chain leaders can adapt to their own country needs.

The consultant will work with specific focal points at each donor agency (BMGF, Gavi, Global Fund, UNFPA and USAID) to review and understand the data set, and meet with a PtD-donor group to discuss and review the hypotheses and scenarios. Throughout the project the consultant will report to the PtD Executive Manager on the following tasks:

DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENT:

Approach validation and data collection

• Collect data on donor investments in in human resources for health supply chain management over the period 2017-2020 (some of the data sets have been collected already and others will be collected through interaction with donor agency focal points)
  • Collect quantitative and qualitative data from project budgets, work plans and financial reports
  • Collect qualitative data on impact and outcomes through key informant interviews and other proposed methodologies
  • Sample countries for a deep dive into country context and type of investments
• Analyze the investment data
  • Identify a list of fields by which the data of the analysis can be organized, such as country/region, donor, year, and the Building Human Resources for Supply Chain Management Theory of Change pathway and sub-pathways
  • Timing: document the time between investments and impact realization
• Investigate the types of analyses (i.e. cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit for example) that can be performed on the data set and conduct such analyses to validate the value of the interventions (including a “do-nothing” scenario)

Building the generic business case

• Map the different alternatives of investing in human resources for supply chains and select 2-3 that will constitute the different scenarios of the business case
• For each scenario, develop a realistic sequence of interventions and expected consequences that would occur over several years, through a health labor market perspective

Developing actionable and persuasive outputs

• Utilize data visualization tools to communicate the findings of the analysis and support persuasive advocacy messages
• Write a report combining the business case and analysis to support the policy dialogue at the global level
• For each scenario of the business case, develop a blueprint with fixed and variable parameters that supply chain leaders can adapt to their own country needs
• Test the blueprints in 1 or 2 countries before refining and disseminating them

It is envisioned that this work will take place over 50 working days from July 19, 2021 until end of October 2021.

KEY DELIVERABLES:

#

Deliverable

Deadlines

1

Draft business case for investment in HR for SCM

September 3, 2021

2

Final business case for investment in HR for SCM

October 8, 2021

3

Blueprint (guidelines and planning tool) to invest in health supply chain cadres

October 8, 2021

Deliverables are expected to be submitted electronically.

Further specification on individual activities will be specified and agreed after contracted.

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

Education:

University degree is required, preferably in relevant field (e.g., public health, supply chain management, international development studies, business administration, or other quantitative degree). Applicable work experience can substitute in cases where university degree is not aligned to a relevant field.

Work Experience:

At least seven years working with high-level stakeholders to assess and analyze both qualitative and quantitative data. Experience in national supply chain systems strengthening and/or human resources for health, at the global, national, and local levels in developing-country settings. Experience working with UN agencies or multilateral agencies is required.

Competencies:

• Experience conducting cost benefit analyses and analysis of quantitative data is required
• Strong analytical skills
• Demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and meeting results
• Ability to use data analysis software such as PowerBI. Advanced knowledge of Excel is required; experience or familiarity with Tableau is a plus.
• Excellent written and verbal communication in English. Good judgment, initiative, high sense of responsibility, tact, and discretion
• Demonstrated cultural sensitivity and ability to establish harmonious working relations in a multicultural environment
• Demonstrated knowledge in the field of health supply chain management, human resource management, health systems strengthening, organizational development, and capacity strengthening is strongly desired.

Core Values:

• Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability

EVALUATION PROCESS:

1. Please complete your profile in UNICEF's e-Recruitment system. Please provide (attach) a Personal History Form (P-11) highlighting previous engagements which meet the qualification criteria described above. Personal History Form (P11) can be downloaded from: https://www.unicef.org/about/employ/index_consultancy_assignments.html. Please indicate your ability, availability, and daily/monthly rate (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference above. Applications submitted without a daily/monthly rate will not be considered.
2. Please share 3 references of your previous supervisors (email and mobile phone if possible)

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce and encourages qualified female, male, and non-binary candidates from all national, religious, and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization.

PAYMENT TERMS:

The consultant will produce the following deliverables aligned to the payment schedule indicated as a percentage:

Draft business case for investment in HR for SCM: 50%

Blueprint (guidelines and planning tool) to invest in health supply chain cadres: 50%

The above percentages are indicative, final payment schedule will be based on the financial proposal from the successful consultant, on the understanding that all payments will be against deliverables as outlined above. No advance payments are possible.

Before payment is made the deliverables will be evaluated according to the following indicators: timeliness (meeting deadlines), achievement of goals, and quality of work (approval of reports by People that Deliver (PtD) Executive Manager).

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are...

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

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:

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

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.