Organizational Setting

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations is committed to supporting Member Countries and Partners in preparing for and responding to disasters and crises that threaten agriculture, food and nutrition security or food safety. FAO’s work in emergencies focuses on reducing people’s vulnerability to these hazards, including animal and plant diseases, before, during and after disasters through good emergency management practices, including risk assessment, risk reduction, emergency preparedness and response, and rehabilitation.

The Office of Emergencies and Resilience (OER) is responsible for ensuring FAO’s efforts to support countries and partners in preparing for and effectively responding to food and agricultural threats and crises. It is responsible for coordinating the development and maintenance of corporate tools and standards to enable Decentralized Offices to assist member countries to prepare for, and respond to emergencies. OER ensures humanitarian policy coordination and knowledge, liaison with the InterAgency Standing Committee (IASC) as well as with humanitarian resource partners, co-leadership with World Food Programme (WFP) of the global Food Security Cluster (FSC), organizational preparedness, surge capacity and response to large-scale emergencies. OER supports food and nutrition security assessment and early warning activities related to emergency and humanitarian analysis and responses. OER plays a major role in the development and leadership of the Organization’s programme to increase the resilience of livelihoods to food and agriculture threats and crises.

Reporting Lines

Under the administrative and operational guidance of the Office of Emergencies and Resilience and in close collaboration with the Logistics Unit (under establishment) in CSL, the Supply Chain / Logistics Consultant reports to the FAO Representative for country positions; regional, sub-regional or resilience hub lead for regional positions and Team Leader or Director for Head-quarters positions

Technical Focus

Supply Chain Management and Emergency Support at a global, regional, sub regional and/or country level.

Tasks and responsibilities

Depending on the dusty station and specific operations to be conducted, the Supply Chain / Logistics Consultant may lead and/or contribute to the following:

OPERATIONAL SUPPORT

• Logistics operations, transport and distribution planning in collaboration with programme and procurement unit;
• Warehousing management and activities (space management: Receive / Put-Away / Store / Pick / Check-Pack-Ship; Kitting; Cross-docking; Reverse logistics, Disposal);
• Facility management and maintenance of logistics assets (ensuring adequate conditions, safety, security);
• Inventory management (inbound and outbound stock movement and stock levels; In / Out / Pipeline / Disposed items) and monitor lot and expiry dates of inputs/inventory. Conduct physical verifications of inventory in all Office locations to verify the accuracy of the all inventory records;
• Maintain full accurate records for FAO inventory and share the applicable reports on a regular basis;
• Monitor and evaluate purchase orders’ deliveries and completeness (for internal logistics purposes as well as for distributed/deployed items)
• Fleet management, including armored vehicles;
• In collaboration with procurement, arrange and monitor shipping, including liaising with Freight Forwarders (FFW) and long-term agreements with local transport companies– especially in Level 3 scale-up contexts.
• Act as focal point and leads all reporting requirements in the case of loss or theft of any inventory / inputs or assets;
• Commodity tracking from warehouse to point of distribution with related documentation;
• Compliance with corporate accounting and internal control and record systems (documentation management and traceability);
• Liaise with other FAO units (programmes, procurement, accounting…) to ensure a good transfer of information;
• Liaise with service providers and implementing partners to ensure a safe and efficient execution of the operations;
• Liaise with custom authorities to ensure the movement of logistics and obtain the necessary authorizations;
• Logistics preparedness (contingency plans);
• Team and local staff training;
• Undertake travel and field missions as needed;
• Perform other related duties, as requested.

PROGRAMMING

• Establish and maintain an internal logistic dashboard and collaborate with the roll-out of the Global Inventory Management System (as required).
• Provide technical advice and identify opportunities for improvement and innovation;
• Provide information and data for reporting needs;
• Support the organization of knowledge sharing activities and the development of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs);
• Perform end-to-end supply chain analysis;
• Identify ongoing activities in order to build a comprehensive vision of the supply chain of the dusty station;
• Identify supply chain risks (upstream and downstream) and propose solutions.
• Support capacity development and training activities on supply chain and logistics, as needed

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• University degree or first level university degree (with additional relevant work experience) in engineering, business administration, logistics, supply chain management, finance or other relevant;
• At least 1 year (Category C), 5 years (Category B) or 12 years (Category A) experience in humanitarian, agricultural/rural development and public sectors including work experience with national and international NGOs, UN agencies, governments and donors;
• Working knowledge of English (level C) and limited knowledge (level B) of any other official language of the Organization (Arabic, Chinese, French, Spanish and Russian) for Consultants. Working knowledge of only one official language for PSAs.
• For French speaking countries working knowledge of French (level C) is required.

FAO Core Competencies

• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

• Work experience with an international humanitarian or development organization;
• Work experience in more than one location or area of work, particularly in field positions, is desirable;
• Extent and relevance of experience in logistics management, including transportations operations, risks and emergency logistics preparedness;
• Extent and relevance of experience in preparing and managing transport and project budgets;
• Data analysis;
• Good communication skills;
• Experience to manage a team;
• Ability to deliver outputs by agreed deadlines, sometimes at very short notice;
• Ability to establish effective working relations with persons of different national and cultural backgrounds;
• Familiarity with the humanitarian architecture and the areas of mandate of FAO is desirable.