Aru (Ituri)

SoCha

Health Supply Chain Specialist
USAID/DRC Mission Strategic Support Program
Short Term Assignment

MSSP Overview

SoCha, LLC is the implementing partner of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Strategic Support Program (MSSP) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (USAID/DRC). The objective of the MSSP is to provide technical and advisory services for monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) across the Mission's portfolio of activities in the DRC and the Central African region.

MSSP supports the mission by providing strategic data analysis, activity monitoring, evaluation and verification and facilitating organizational learning and collaboration among USAID implementing partners. The MSSP also works to strengthen the capacity of the mission and its implementing partners to use MEL to inform program design and achieve better activity outcomes.

SGHSC Project Overview

The USAID’s Global Health Supply Chain (GHSC) activity is a five-year project to provide health supply chain technical assistance to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and to select Francophone countries within the Central and West African region to improve the performance, efficiency, and sustainability of national health supply chains and to promote national and regional collaboration among supply chain stakeholders.

The project’s three-tiered mission is to 1) strengthen supply chain systems in select Francophone countries of Africa to ensure timely access to quality essential health products and services, 2) improve in-country and regional collaboration and coordination, and 3) support the global health security agenda. This three-tiered mission is supported by three objectives that serve as the project’s pillars and are supported by their respective intermediate results (IRs), which are the expected results of selected focused technical interventions, developed and conducted by the project.

Objective of the Consultancy

The consultant will be part of a SoCHA MSSP team tasked with conducting a field monitoring visit of the GHSC activities in the Ituri Province of the DRC on behalf of USAID. The activity is implemented by an international USAID implementing partner (IP) in conjunction with a number of other local actors. He/she is expected to travel to the field and will report to MSSP’s senior MEL officer.

Scope of Work

The Health Supply Chain Consultant will perform the following duties:

• Participate in a one-day orientation session on the Global Health Supply Chain (GHSC) activity and to understand the field monitoring task, the methodology, the data collection tools, research ethics and reporting requirements.
• Reach out to local authorities and other stakeholders in the field based on the introduction and/or guidance of the IP.
• Carry out verification and observations on the health commodities supply chain through the regional drug distribution centers, the central offices in the health zones of Nizi and Biringi and the health centers.
• Carry out data collection with beneficiaries of the GHSC Activity in the designated health facilities.
• Conduct interviews with Regional Distribution Center (CDR) staff, BCZS Staff, health centers staff, community relays, patients, etc.
• Perform data entry in tablets with the Kobocollect platform according to the adopted checklists and the types of respondents.
• Provide notes of other information deemed relevant based on personal observations in the field,
• Take quality photos of the evidence presented by the respondents or deemed useful according to the objectives of the visit,
• Keep in daily contact with the MSSP point of contact to update on the progress of collecting and/or reporting any other issues encountered during data collection.
• Write a summary report of 10-15 pages based on data collection, verification and observations made in the field according to the scope of the TPM visit.
• Provide and present a presentation of the key findings of the field visit to the client.

Minimum qualifications and experience:

• A University degree (BAC+5) in one of the following disciplines: Medical laboratory or pharmacy management, health or similar supply chain management, logistics, inventory management or equivalent.
• Minimum of 8 years of experience with a minimum of 5 years of field experience working in health supply chains for an international NGO or a public or private organization in the DRC or other Francophone African country, preferably with USAID-funded organizations.
• Ability to easily use multiple digital data collection tools such as Kobo, ODK, CommCare, SurveyCTO and the use of androids.
• Ability to speak and write fluently in French and speak national languages of the Eastern DRC. Ability to speak the local language of Ituri and speak and write English highly preferred.
• Proven ability to write a field report at the end of data collection in a clear and concise manner and to present the findings to a large audience.
• Knowledge of the "Do No Harm" principle, sensitivity to conflict, abuse and gender-based violence (AAP, AAMP, Safeguard).
• Ability and willingness to work in difficult conditions and fragile areas and deploy on short notice.
• Strong skills and ability to work independently and under short deadlines.

Deliverables:

The Consultant will produce the following deliverables:

• Forms completed and submitted on MSSP’s Kobo server through tablets (18-20 forms)
• GPS coordinates of the visited health facilities and communities
• Photos of interview visits, commodities, health supplies and others evidence observed and presented by respondents in the field
• Summary report reflecting data analysis and observations according to the scope of the monitoring and verification visit.

Location and supervision:

Selected candidates will be deployed in Ituri province with visits to the designated territories.
The local consultant supply chain specialist will be under the direct supervision of the SoCHA MSSP senior MEL Officer based in Goma.

How to apply:

Interested Consultants should submit their application which should contain:

• Cover letter (1 page) explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for this assignment.
• Updated CV to include qualifications/competencies.

To submit your application, please apply directly on our recruitment page on our website, using this link :

https://jobs.socha.net/health-supply-chain-specialist-usaid-drc-mission-strategic-support-program-short-term-assignment/08/14/2023/ 

Candidates will only be considered if they apply directly on our website. The deadline for submitting applications is August 27, 2023. Review of applications will be on a rolling basis.

Evaluation of applications:

Applications will be first screened and only candidates meeting the minimum criteria will progress to the pool for short listing. Shortlisted candidates will then be assessed and scored against the technical evaluation criteria and interviews will be conducted accordingly.