Purpose of the Position

In line with the WHO Health Emergencies Programme (WHE) mandate and in the context of the deployment of qualified emergency personnel to support response teams during health emergencies, the purpose of this vacancy announcement is to identify suitable candidates for the WHO emergency Operations Support and Logistics (OSL) roster.

The role of the WHO Operations and Logistics Emergency Supply chain (OSL SCM) Unit is to ensure the delivery of health emergency commodities to enable adequate response to health emergencies. The OSL SCM Unit coordinates and leads supply activities to ensure effective planning, implementation and operations of the WHO Emergency Supply Chains in compliance with Organizational objectives and policies as well a Good Supply practices.

The Health Logistics Supply Officer has acquired demonstrated qualifications, expertise, and experience to provide support to WHO Incident Management Teams with any, or all emergency activities dedicated to end-to-end supply chain, that are organized as described below:

• Needs forecast, Supply planning
• Demand/ request management
• Emergency procurement
• Shipping and customs clearance
• Stock management and warehousing
• Transport and distribution
• Supply data management and monitoring

As a member of the WHO OSL roster, the incumbent will be deployed to contribute to emergency operations when required in a position, at a rank, and for the roles compatible with her/his expertise and experience to be confirmed through an in-depth validation process of credentials, references, and experiences, and including testing of knowledge and competencies.

Objectives of the Programme and of the immediate Strategic Objective

The mission of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme is to strengthen emergency technical and organisational capacities of countries, and to act as a backstop to coordinate international action, to prevent, prepare for, detect, rapidly respond to, and recover from outbreaks and emergencies.

Organizational context

Under the supervision of the OSL Lead and/or the Incident Manager, guided by the Head of WHO Country Office, working closely with relevant counterparts including WHO, partners, and national personnel, the incumbent acts as the Supply Specialist to provide support to the WHO emergency response team, response partners and to the Ministry of Health of the host country. Activities involve regular contact and information sharing with relevant WHO responders as well as with a broad range of actors from the Ministry of Health (MOH), to provide emergency technical support and to contribute to the development and implementation of logistics plans of action pertaining to health emergencies priority actions agreed upon with the emergency response leadership, partners and recipients.

Summary of Assigned Duties

During deployment, the duty station may change, and duties may be modified, based upon the technical needs of the Programme, which is determined by the nature and scale of the emergencies in which the Programme is being involved. The incumbent will perform all or part of the following duties:

Generic OSL duties:

• Design and set up required logistics operations and supply chain capacities to provide WHO and its partner with adequate and efficient tactical means required for a timely and safe implementation of the response plan
• Identify and propose proactively solutions to improve end to end supply chain
• Share adequate information, tools and knowledge with colleagues, relevant partners, and recipients, and contribute to situation reports, activity dashboards and other communication products
• Contribute to the performance of emergency procurement activities with relevant actors
• Coordinate activities with partners and recipients whenever relevant and possible
• Prioritize sustainable activities with capacity building and transfer of knowledge to national actors and partners, whenever possible
• Apply and demonstrate WHO emergency competencies (cf. WHE learning strategy-companion document on competency framework)
• In line with UN charters, promote diversity, gender equity, environmentally friendly solutions, and humanitarian localisation principles whenever possible
• Beyond deployment initial terms of reference, to be flexible and perform other related OSL incident-specific duties, as required by the evolution of the emergency context, and as expected by the functional supervisor
• Know and apply UN principles for Duty of Care of personnel, SPHERE standards, WHO Charter and values, as well as UN policies for the prevention sexual abuse and exploitation

Specific duties:

• Engage and plan emergency activities and supplies required by response teams with all relevant actors, including WHO health operations teams, partners, and recipients
• Define an emergency supply chain strategy aligned with the response priority, advise, support and train designated personnel to deliver appropriate supply management set-up, processes and outputs, within the time frame required
• Manage and monitor supplies need forecast, supply requests, procurement, and delivery of planned goods and services through the most appropriate channels to expedite sourcing, contracting, and effective delivery to meet operations’ deadlines, objectives and requirements, in compliance with WHO emergency standards operations procedures and principles
• Manage and document risks as per WHO emergency rules and mitigating principles including WHE “No regret policy” to ensure expected quality and performance of supply operations for critical life-saving activities, while optimizing resources
• Monitor shipment of goods and streamline transit, customs clearance, transportation, warehousing, dispatching and distribution of emergency goods to their designated recipients, as timely as possible
• Manage secure and adequate warehousing facilities and stocks as per operations requirements by setting up systemic inventory management and reporting tools
• Document confirmation of payments and transfer of supplies and assets to recipients with relevant actors to establish audit trail
• Constantly monitor supplies activities and data, share information and reports with relevant teams and partners

Competencies

• Teamwork
• Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences
• Communication
• Producing results
• Moving forward in a changing environment
• Ensuring the effective use of resources

Functional Knowledge and Skills

• Demonstrated knowledge of supply chain management and operations in emergency context, with proven ability to identify and solve technical problems in difficult circumstances
• Excellent analytical and organizational skills
• Proven ability to share information and knowledge, and to strengthen recipients’ capacities
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work and collaborate under pressure
• Proven ability to promote cohesive action, teamwork and to convince with tact and diplomacy

Education

Essential
P3 level: A first level degree in public health, logistics, business management, economics or other related fields from an accredited/recognized institute.
*Additional years of experience can be considered in lieu of university degrees.

P4 level: A masters level degree in in public health, logistics, business management, economics or other related fields from an accredited/recognized institute.

Desirable

• Professional certification/qualification/training in areas such as:  Supply management, Procurement, shipment management
• Certification or training in information management and application to monitoring and reporting

Experience

Essential
P3 level: A minimum of 5 years of diversified experience at national and international levels in supply operations, with a significant portion being dedicated to providing field support for emergency humanitarian operations.
*Candidates without a first level university degree can apply if they can demonstrate at least 8 years of professional experience in relevant activities.

Desirable 
Related experience with WHO, the UN system, health cluster partners, recognized humanitarian organizations or international nongovernmental organization work in the field of outbreaks and/or health emergency response.

P4 level: A minimum of 7 years of extensive experience in supply operations at national and international levels, with a significant portion being dedicated to providing field support for emergency humanitarian operations.

Use of Language Skills

• Excellent knowledge of English and/or French (depending on the country of assignment)
• Working knowledge of another WHO official language (Arabic, Russian, Spanish, Chinese) would be an asset.
• Working knowledge of Hindi, Portuguese, and Swahili would be an asset

Other Skills

• Strong knowledge of Microsoft Office applications
• Demonstrated IT skills with emphasis on database management tools to manage inventory and forecasting needs
• Demonstrated skills in using dashboarding tools and applications

Additional Information: 

•    This vacancy notice may be used to identify candidates for other similar consultancies at the same level.
•    Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.
•    A written test may be used as a form of screening.
•    If your candidature is retained for interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/certificate(s) required for this position. WHO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed through the link: http://www.whed.net/. Some professional certificates may not appear in the WHED and will require individual review.
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The WHO is committed to achieving gender parity and geographical diversity in its workforce. Women, persons with disabilities, and nationals of unrepresented and underrepresented Member States (https://www.who.int/careers/diversity-equity-and-inclusion) are strongly encouraged to apply for WHO jobs.
Persons with disabilities can request reasonable accommodations to enable participation in the recruitment process. Requests for reasonable accommodation should be sent through an email to  reasonableaccommodation@who.int
•    An impeccable record for integrity and professional ethical standards is essential. WHO prides itself on a workforce that adheres to the highest ethical and professional standards and that is committed to put the WHO Values Charter (https://www.who.int/about/who-we-are/our-values) into practice.
•    WHO has zero tolerance towards sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct (i.e., discrimination, abuse of authority and harassment). All members of the WHO workforce have a role to play in promoting a safe and respectful workplace and should report to WHO any actual or suspected cases of SEA, sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct. To ensure that individuals with a substantiated history of SEA, sexual harassment or other types of abusive conduct are not hired by the Organization, WHO will conduct a background verification of short-listed candidates.
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The purpose of this vacancy is to develop a list of qualified candidates for inclusion in the advertised roster. Successful candidates will be placed on the roster and subsequently may be selected for consultancy assignments; however, contracting of rostered candidates is not guaranteed.

This Vacancy Notice is open to external candidates, staff on temporary appointments, consultants and SSA holders who meet the minimum requirements of the position. 

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: No requirements