GBLCAREERS

Save the Children is a federation of child-focused, independent humanitarian and development International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGO) engaged in supporting child well-Being in emergencies and longer-term development contexts globaly.

Save the Children began work in Ethiopia in the 1930s, and has had a continual presence since 1964.In support of the Government of Ethiopia, it has made significant and tangible Contributions to the overall development of the country by improving the well-being of millions of Ethiopians and their families. Its current Country Program has wide support from 12 Save the Children members and is actively operating in all Regions and two City Administrations of Ethiopia.

Background

Save the Children in Ethiopia currently has a health and nutrition portfolio of approximately $30m USD. In 2016 the country processed around $3.8m USD of medical procurement, of which $1.3m was for pharmaceuticals. Significant challenges were experienced in lead times for these procurements, with 80% failing to meet required delivery times. Due to restrictions from the government placed on importation of medical supplies Save the Children Ethiopia is currently procuring medicines and medical devices through national distributors/wholesalers and the Pharmaceutical Fund and supply Agency (PFSA), a government’s pharmaceutical procurement and distribution agency. Save the Children International, policy states that all procurement of pharmaceuticals must be conducted through pre-qualified suppliers, who must be compliant with Good Distribution and Good Storage Practices. The most recent pharmaceutical supply assessment was conducted by QUAMED in November 2013. This was not a full assessment but has been used to guide procurement in the national market. Unfortunately, this assessment does not cover all suppliers being utilized by SCI in Ethiopia, ex-Merlin assessments have been used to supplement these suppliers but approvals using this information, along with the QUAMED data, have now expired.

Due to the points above, as well as the challenges listed below, Save the Children Ethiopia proposes to conduct a medical supply chain assessment to analyze the best options for strengthening our medical programming.

Challenges:

• Our current pharmaceutical suppliers are repeatedly unable to source all items required by our country programmes;
• Suppliers do not hold sufficient and sustainable stock meaning we wait for long periods to receive orders which leads to underspending, negatively affecting timely project implementation as well as creating noncompliance issues with donor and government agreements;
• For some items the cost of medicine becomes higher than estimates which reduces the quantity of medicine reach to beneficiary;
• Some items are only held by Pharmaceutical Fund and supply Agency (PFSA), the governments pharmaceutical procurement and distribution agency, although at times some items are not available even from here and can be rationed below levels required by SCI;
• There is increasing pressure of the government health office to procure from PFSA but to date this supplier has not been approved by SCI and we lack information regarding quality assurance of this supplier;
• We should no longer use Merlin or QUAMED assessments as these are out-of-date.

Purpose and Objectives of the Consultancy

The objective of this assessment is to provide a detailed presentation of the best available options for strengthening the medical supply chain for Save the Children Ethiopia. It is expected that these options will include:

• Registration as a ‘Medical NGO’ in order to allow international procurement;
• Continuation of national procurement using independent suppliers only, with identification of national suppliers for quality assurance assessments;
• Continuation of supply using national suppliers and PFSA, with guidance on how quality assurance could be assessed;
• Other identified options and/or a combination of the previous points.

These options should be presented with clear costings; capacity requirements; and risk assessments (programmatic, financial, quality etc.).

Scope of the Consultancy

This assessment should consider the overall medical supply chain of SC Ethiopia including:

• A review of the current status including practices around:
• Country programs health needs
• Selection, Quantification, procurement procedure;
• Warehouse and transportation procedures;
• Inventory management and consumption reporting;
• Distribution management and documentation issues;
• Disposal of expired, damaged unwanted pharmaceuticals;
• Goods in kind (GIK) management for Pharmaceuticals
• The legal framework and governmental practice on medicine and medical device importation for donor funded programs (Nongovernmental organization)
• Identification of appropriate national and international supply options, taking into consideration SCI procurement policy and quality assurance. This should include identification of national suppliers for future GMP/GDP assessment if required.

Ahead of this work the Ethiopia Country Office will complete the following in order to support this assessment:

• Development of formularies for each active and pipeline health programme, collated to provide a Country Office Formulary;
• Accurate forecasting for health programme procurement needs, based on the above.

The specific results are:

Key Tasks

This assessment should consider the overall medical supply chain of SC Ethiopia including:

• A review of the current status including practices around:
• Review of the Country programs health needs
• Selection, Quantification, procurement procedure;
• Warehouse and transportation procedures;
• Inventory management and consumption reporting;
• Distribution management and documentation issues;
• Disposal of expired, damaged unwanted pharmaceuticals;
• Goods in kind (GIK) management for Pharmaceuticals
• The legal framework and governmental practice on medicine and medical device importation for donor funded programs (Nongovernmental organization)
• Identification of appropriate national and international supply options, taking into consideration SCI procurement policy and quality assurance. This should include identification of national suppliers for future GMP/GDP assessment if required.

Key Deliverables

At end of this piece of the expected deliverables are:

• Baseline report of current supply chain status detailing:
• Pipeline & planning processes;
• Frequency and extent of stock outs;
• Levels of medical waste;
• Existence and quality of procedures;
• Levels of procurement planning vs. ad hoc ordering;
• Qualitative experience of key stakeholders relating to current medical supply chain.
• Current SC relationship with MoH;
• Assessment of national medical importation procedures, regulations and challenges with related process map;
• National and International Supply Options mapping (based on quality, price, availability, lead times);
• Final report detailing fully costed options analysis and recommendation for next steps.

Duration of the Consultancy

The activities in this proposal should be completed within two months total,1 week preparation, 6 weeks in country (desk-based research and supplier visiting), and 1 week report writing and presentation.

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Desirable

• Degree in pharmacy and/or public health
• Qualification(s) in logistics and supply chain management of health & nutrition commodities or equivalent.
• 5-10 years experience in Pharmaceutical environment;
• Project Management qualification, particularly in relation to Medical programming;
• Familiarity with Save the Children’s programming and operating model.

Essential

• Minimum 7-10 years experience in logistics and supply chain management of health & nutrition commodities;
• Good knowledge/understanding of the supply chain management system of health & nutrition commodities in Ethiopia;
• Fluency in written and spoken English, including ability to write technical reports;
• Demonstrable research skills including writing of technical reports;
• Budget development experience.
• Amharic language skills.

Submitting expressions of interest (maximum 5 pages)

Interested individuals must submit a technical and financial proposal of a maximum of five (5) pages

including:

• A cover letter introducing the consultant and how the skills and competencies above are met, with concrete examples as appropriate.
• An expression of interest including proposed methodology, time schedule and work plan for
• carrying out the consultancy.
• A CV detailing relevant skills and experience, including 3 contactable referees
• Proven record of experience in child rights, child protection and economic justice.
• Reasonable budget breakdown and cost consideration commensurate to expected deliverables.

Applications should be submitted to:

Save the Children East and Southern Africa Regional Office by August 11th 2017