Country: Congo
Closing date: 04 Nov 2018
Background
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world's largest humanitarian organization, with 191 member National Societies. As part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, our work is guided by seven fundamental principles; humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity and universality.
Organizational Context
Ebola is endemic to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In May 2018, the DRC Ministry of Health (MoH) officially declared the 9th epidemic of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Equateur province. This was the ninth Ebola outbreak in the country, and the first in the province. The humanitarian community, including the Red Cross and Red Cross Crescent partners, quickly mobilized resources to face this new EVD outbreak and on 25 July the outbreak was officially declared over. This epidemic caused a total of 33 deaths for 54 cases reported (38 confirmed and 16 probable) in three affected Health zones of Wangata (Mbandaka), Bikoro and Itipo. One of the key Red Cross response during the active outbreak phase was SDBs. Over 100 RC volunteers were trained in SDB and teams responded to over 80 SDB alerts. On the 1st August the MoH officially declared a new EVD outbreak in Mabalako Health Zone, Beni territory. Following an alert from the North Kivu Provincial Health authority about a cluster of cases in Mangina end of July 2018, four samples out of six tested positive for EVD. On 6 August 2018, the Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale (INRB) confirmed by genetic sequencing that this latest outbreak is caused by the Zaire ebolavirus species and is not connected to the recent outbreak in Equateur Province. As of 21 August, a total of 103 EVD cases have been reported in the region, 76 of which have been confirmed and 27 which are probable. Confirmed or probable cases are localized to five Health zones in North Kivu, and one neighboring Health zone in Ituri Province. The IFRC issued on August 21st 2018 a second revision of the One International Appeal (OIA) to enable the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to support the Democratic Republic of the Congo Red Cross (DRC RC) and International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (Movement) partners to respond to the ongoing Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in North Kivu/Ituri, while continuing to support the DRC RC in reinforcing its organizational epidemic preparedness to deal with a potential new EVD outbreak in Equateur.
Job Purpose
In close cooperation with the Health team, the Logistics Health Delegate is responsible for managing medical supplies, carrying out procurement, distribution management, and inventory control. The incumbent is also responsible for ensuring that medical stocks are maintained and kept in adequate storage conditions.
Job Duties and Responsibilities
- Participate in the assessment and planning of health programmes and provide technical advice;
- Plan the resource required for providing logistical support to health programmes;
- Plan, organise and maintain/store the medical warehouse containing Federation medical stock, to Federation standards, providing timely stock report and replenish requirements to Health Coordinator;
- Ensure that the medical warehouse is set up and managed according to Federation’s procedures, and ensure that stock is properly rotated, and the required paper trail implemented;
- Ensure efficient receipt, storage, picking and packing and dispatch of supplies, and best practices are implemented in all stages of the process;
- Ensure proper storage practices are applied to dangerous goods as well as drugs under international control, in accordance with National and International drug legislation;
- Ensure cold chain is properly established and maintained, and cold chain items are correctly dispatched;
- Ensure the correct disposal of expired/unusable medical supplies according to local legislation;
- Organise the transportation of dispatches from the warehouse to health services (if applicable), ensuring accurate and complete documents are prepared for all dispatches;
- Monitor drug consumption in the programme, and ensure that proper guidelines on storing, dispensing, use and disposal of medical supplies are understood and implemented. Visit health facilities and provide technical advice if required;
- Supervise, support, train and develop local staff and volunteers;
- Cooperate with Logistics in the preparation of any special documentation for the importation of drugs, including import permit for narcotics, ensuring compliance with national and international legislation;
- Brief Health staff on how the supply chain is managed, products availability and lead time for procurement of medical supplies;
- Cooperate with the Health team and if required, provide support in setting up system and storage facilities;
- Disseminate the importance of quality assurance and issues related to problems and dangers of domestic purchases;
- Provide technical support to logisticians and other departments on medical logistics issues and orders, both at the national and international level;
- Liaise with international, government and non-government agencies and collaborate with them as appropriate;
- Assist the DRCRC to develop capacities for managing and distributing emergency medical supplies in anticipation of future needs;
- Carry out other task within his/her area of responsibility as requested.
Education
Professional qualification and/or training in health (pharmacy) or logistics
Basic Delegates Training Course or equivalent knowledge
Experience
At least 3 years’ experience in the control, usage, storage and movement of drugs
Experience of staff training, management and development
Previous humanitarian aid missions
Experience of working for a humanitarian aid organisation in a developing country (preferred)
Experience in providing medical logistics support to an emergency operation (preferred)
Proven ability to develop, implement and support adequate logistics systems, including planning, managing, procurement, fleet stock and asset management (preferred)
Experience of working for the Red Cross/Red Crescent (preferred)
Knowledge, skills and languages
Self-supporting in computers (Windows, spreadsheets, word processing)
Valid international driving licence (manual gears)
Skills in training and developing staff
Fluently spoken and written French
Fluently spoken and written English (preferred)
Comments
The Federation is an equal opportunity employer.
How to apply:
Interested applicants are invited to submit their applications on the following website:
http://www.ifrc.org/en/who-we-are/working-with-us/current-vacancies/job-description/?id=16035