The Position:

The Regional Supply Chain Management Specialist is located in the Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Office (LACRO). You report directly to the Head of Country Support and Monitoring in Supply Chain Management Unit (SCMU) in Copenhagen with a dotted reporting line to the International Operations Manager in the Regional Office. You will work closely with the colleagues in SCMU, the Technical Division/ Commodity Security Branch, the UNFPA Supplies Partnership, the Humanitarian Office, RHCS regional advisor, LACRO’s humanitarian response team and the Country Offices in the region.

You are tasked with supporting the Head of Country Support and Monitoring on regional efforts to strengthen national forecasting/quantification, procurement planning, introduction of new products, and potential suppliers and strengthening downstream supply chain management, ensuring “end-to-end” visibility and effective distribution of UNFPA donated commodities, and identifying, troubleshooting, and providing follow-up and technical assistance for the implementation of Last Mile Assurance (LMA) process recommendations for the countries in the Region. You will apply an integrated, coordinated, and systems-strengthening approach to support country offices to respond to governments and other implementing partners’ needs, which is fundamental to UNFPA’s overall strategy of building a ready, responsive, and resilient supply chain required for sustained and equitable access to and delivery of Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) commodities and emergency supplies.

How you can make a difference:

UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled. UNFPA’s strategic plan (2022-2025), reaffirms the relevance of the current strategic direction of UNFPA and focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices. These results capture our strategic commitments on accelerating progress towards realizing the ICPD and SDGs in the Decade of Action leading up to 2030. Our strategic plan calls upon UN Member States, organizations and individuals to “build forward better”, while addressing the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on women’s and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, recover lost gains and realize our goals.

In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff, who embody these international norms and standards, and who will defend them courageously and with full conviction.

UNFPA is seeking candidates that transform, inspire and deliver high impact and sustained results; we need staff who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them and who commit to deliver excellence in programme results.

UNFPA occupies a unique position in the Reproductive Health Commodity ecosystem as a critical player in supply chain management, a leading public procurer of reproductive health commodities, a trusted partner to national governments, and one of the few organizations with the scale and partnerships necessary to build accountability for last mile delivery. Additionally, in humanitarian settings, UNFPA is responsible for ensuring the availability of lifesaving sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence prevention and response commodities to those hardest to reach, and commodities to enable operational programme implementation in the hardest to operate settings.

The Supply Chain Management Unit, which was established in January 2022, ensures that UNFPA can support the delivery of life-saving reproductive health products and other programme supplies effectively and efficiently to the end user when and where they are needed. To do so, it provides enabling services to Regional Offices and Country Offices and ensures coordination, end-to-end visibility, and accountability on all supply-chain-management related activities, across all UNFPA Programmes.

Job Purpose:

As Regional Supply Chain Management Specialist, you will support the Head of Country Support and Monitoring on regional efforts on oversight for sexual and reproductive health supply chain initiatives in the Region, providing advice and support to ensure that UNFPA Country Offices lead the access to quality assured contraceptives, essential, lifesaving maternal health commodities, and other related core reproductive health commodities. You will support the provision of technical and programmatic guidance to Country Offices to develop and implement supply chain management strategies applicable in development and humanitarian settings, and to ensure programme supplies are effectively managed and safeguarded in accordance with the applicable supply-chain management and procurement policies, procedures, and related guidelines.

In the broadest definition, this role is multi-sectoral and crosscutting, engaging in all issues affecting commodity security, health system strengthening, supply management and quality assurance, as well as promoting availability, accessibility, and sustainability of SRH commodities. The role will also contribute to relevant data collection and consolidation processes, developing guidelines and tools, and ensuring interagency coordination and maintaining relevant partnerships and facilitating/monitoring compliance with policies. You will support the provision of relevant advice and capacity building in the forecasting/quantification as well as development and validation of national supply plans, procurement plans for countries in the Region, and guidance on distribution, inventory, and warehouse management, in line with good storage and distribution practices for health products.

You will work in close collaboration with the Technical Division, UNFPA Supplies Partnership, Supply Chain Management Unit, Humanitarian Office, RHCS regional advisor, LACRO’s humanitarian response team and Country Offices in the Region, Third-Party-Procurement clients and Donors, ensuring timeliness, adequacy, relevance and quality of substantive outputs.

Qualifications and Experience:

Education:

Advanced university degree required. An advanced degree in Supply Chain Management, Business Administration, Logistics, Operations Management or equivalent field is an added advantage. Medical sciences or Pharmacy certifications would be an asset. A professional Supply Chain Management certification such as CIPS at Level 4 Advanced Diploma and/or CILT at any of the Level 4 qualifications and/or Supply Chain Operation Reference Professional (ASCM SCOR) would be an additional asset.

Knowledge and Experience:

• A minimum of five years of relevant progressively responsible professional experience, including management experience of managing people and/or health projects at the international level, with ideally at least two years spent in low-resource or humanitarian settings.
• Demonstrated expertise in humanitarian preparedness and prepositioning.
• At least 5 years of knowledge and experience of supply chain operations in LAC countries.
• Experience in developing analytical tools for management reporting and performance metrics in supply chain.
• Basic knowledge of the principles and operational aspects of integrated SRH health care in the global development and humanitarian settings is an additional asset.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills to identify and address supply chain issues and opportunities in the region.
• Working knowledge of global supply chain dynamics and international trade regulations.
• Ability to analyze and interpret data to drive improvements.
• Professional written and spoken presentation skills, including for the development of reports, presentations, and the ability to synthesize complex technical documents for both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong interpersonal skills and capability to develop and maintain broad diversified partnerships.
• Familiarity with UN agencies procurement and supply chain management policies, and guidelines is an asset.

Languages:

Fluency in English and Spanish is required. Working knowledge of French is an asset.