ABH Partners Plc is a leading consultancy and human resources sourcing firm in Ethiopia with about 15 years of experience in supporting the implementation of development programs and projects. ABH exists to fuel synergistic societal growth by harnessing local knowledge and international standard. Dedicated to the betterment of societal development, technical assistance, and knowledge management, ABH has gained credibility and industry experience in the development sector in general.
ABH partners would like to invite applicants who meet the below requirements to apply for the position of Supply Chain Officer- Pipeline monitoring

Title: Supply Chain Officer- Pipeline monitoring
Number of Posts:1(One)
Duty Station: EPSS head office, Addis Ababa Ethiopia
Duration:12 months
Reporting to: Technical – EPSS Contract management directorate.
Administrative -UNICEF PSS Logistics Lead. This is a local position; it is open to Ethiopian Nationals only.

Background

The Ethiopian Pharmaceuticals Supply Service/EPSS/, formerly known as ‘Ethiopian Pharmaceuticals Supply Agency/EPSA\’ is the only public health commodities procurement and distribution organization mandated to procure and distribute regular and health program supplies to the society.

Central to addressing newborn and child mortality, outlined in the health sector transformation plan of the country/HSTP -II/, the public organization receives and distributes vaccines, donations, and other program commodities to the community in need on a timely manner. It manages to receive of vaccines and other commodities from the port of destination, transports, stores, and distributes to end users as per the standard procedure.

UNICEF and EPSS have been intensively cooperating in a number of areas of common interest. As part of this strategic partnership, UNICEF and EPSS have been working collaboratively in the areas of cold supply chain management and health supply chain system strengthening specifically in the warehouse operation improvement, emergency supply chain management and other related aspects.

Like wise to vaccines supply chain integration into EPSS’s supply chain years before, UNICEF Ethiopia Country Office along with EPSS, FMOH, and relevant partners decided to move forward with implementation of the integration of all UNICEF-managed child health commodities into the government supply chain system.

As part of this initiative, and following a thorough discussion with EPSS and development partners,UNICEF Ethiopia decided to integrate all child health commodities(emergency and non emergency)into EPSS’s supply chain.

In the proposed approach, UNICEF-procured commodities will instead be cleared by EPSS, stored centrally by EPSS, distributed down to EPSS hubs, and then distributed further downstream by EPSS, just as all other health commodities that flow through the Ethiopian Government supply chain system. This will not only sustainability strengthen EPSS’s capacity, but also allow it to greatly increase its scale of delivery.

In order to achieve this mission of integrating UNICEF-procurred commodities into EPSS’s supply chain, building the capacity of EPSS in all the supply chain aspects is of paramount importance so that the product integration happens as per the plan of 2021-2023. With this regard, hiring a senior technical advisor who supports in pipeline monitoring and warehouse utilization for commodities procurred by UNICEF and delivered to EPSS warehouses has been one of the recommendations of the assessment done by UNICEF team as part of improving the pipeline monitory and reporting of EPSS.

The technical advisor will use the established performance monitoring system of EPSS as one of the monitory tools and  supports leveraging the existing pipeline monitory system so that the operatioins advaces to an improved status. The technical advisor will work towards a performance targets for successful transfer of knowledge that best contributes to improved capacity in EPSS in the area.

Purpose

The Supply Chain Officer -technical advisor will take the lead in routine analysis of the commodities on pipeline. 

Furthermore, the technical advisor will work cooperatively with relevant EPSS personnel for proactive  analysis of warehouse space  for timely clearance and delivery of the commodities of interest to EPSS warehouses for proper storage. 

Scope

The Supply Chain Officer -technical advisor is limited to the support on the pipeline monitory and respective EPSS warehouses space availability analysis for Commodities procured by UNICEF and delivered to EPSS.

Objectives

As a strategic partner, UNICEF is proposing to support EPSS in the proactive analysis and reporting of commodities on Pipeline noted above and associated warehouse space availability by hiring a senior technical advisor. 

The support will be part of the capacity building to EPSS that will in turn contribute to the seamless integration of UNICEF-procured child health commodities in the three years UNICEF SISTER program me. 

The technical assistance will have the following key and associated benefits.

• Contributes to a standard way of supply chain pipeline monitoring by developing appropriate  pipeline monitoring tool at EPSS.
• Leverages the existing EPSS pipeline monitoring and warehouse space utilization metrics for better decision-making. 
• Transfer of knowledge to EPSS team on the area and pave the way for the upcoming UNICEF-procured child health commodities integration into EPSS supply chain. 
• Contributes for a proactive decision making in terms of customs clearance, transportation and storage at the right EPSS warehouse
  Contributes to the reduction of storage and demurrhage cost incurred by EPSS due to suprprise shipments and delayed clearance 
  EPSS gets the benefit from the retained capacity in the technical assistance provided

Key function, accountabilities and related duties/tasks

Under the direct supervision of EPSS Procurement contract management director, the Supply Chain Officer - the technical advisor will be responsible for proactive analysis of shipments for the right clearance and storage at the EPSS warehouse. The technical assistant is expected to, but is not limited to, the following:

• Creates reporting formats that will show overall information of the goods on shipment and effective warehouse utilizations
  Proactively communicates with the relevant UNICEF country office team for shipment information and use of the information for relevant preparation by EPSS team. 
• Proactively communicates with the EPSS clearance, transportation, and warehouse team for the right preparation upon arrival of the items. 
• Leverages on an existing EPSS pipeline monitoring/warehouse utilization or develops a new metrics(dashboard, electronic monitory tool, KPIs…etc) for a standard tracking and tracing of the commodities on pipeline Applies all the supply chain knowledge related to the subject for an effective knowledge transfer and contribution for an increased capacity in the area.
• Develop and implement training programs to strengthen capacity/Provide on-job training to the EPSS shipment follow-up team for capability development and transfer of knowledge in the area that best supports the seamless integration of the UNICEF-procured commodities.
• Provides a daily update on the shipment status of the commodities to the relevant team at EPSS
• Develop Weekly reports,a monthly report, and a final report at the end of the contract, to demonstrate the level of performance improvement and the capacity building achieved.
• Works closely with the UNICEF shipment follow-up team for the relevant information related to the work.