Position Title: Supply Chain Officer (1 position)

Reports to: Facility Coordinator

Employment Type: Full-time

Job Location: Mwanza

Travel: Up to 70% in intervention districts outside of job location

Overall Job Function:

The Supply Chain Officer is responsible to strengthen supply chain activities to ensure timely and accurate forecasting, ordering, and distribution of HIV commodities needed in facility and community sites. S/he will be responsible for strengthening and logistics management of HIV commodities and supply chain issues in all ICAP supported districts and sites in the region. The Supply Chain Officer will provide direct technical assistance to the region, councils, facilities, and community sites to ensure that the appropriate resources are available in all sites to maintain the standards of quality HIV care. This position also collaborates and liaises with regional medical store department (MSD), regional pharmacist, regional laboratory teams and other key stakeholders to ensure availability of HIV commodities and supplies for uninterrupted services.

Specific Responsibilities and Duties:

• Provide support to health facilities to establish and improve implementation of medicine therapeutic committee as per national standards
• Provide technical leadership to districts through pharmacists and ICAP staff to establish network of facilities for back up support during stock out
• Provide technical support to district pharmacists to apply national standards on commodity management practices and infrastructure support
• Provide technical assistance to CHMT to mentor their facilities in their districts on supply chain management issues identified during supportive supervision
• Provide technical assistance in designing improved supply chain systems, processes and procedures for sites in collaboration with supply chain management stakeholders
• Lead development of capacity building plan on supply chain and logistic system for ICAP and district staff
• Develop interventions/solutions for addressing Supply Chain bottlenecks such as using trends and peer-to-peer benchmarking to improve accountability.
• Support the development and execution of effective management of HIV/AIDS commodity changes and demand management strategies, procurement plans, storage, distribution, and monitoring of activities gearing to improving the availability of commodities.
• Provide technical expertise in weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual stock quantification exercises and ensure quantification as well performance reports are written timely.
• Update and monitor stock databases to ensure optimal supply of commodities.
• Liaise with laboratory contact persons to further develop the logistic system component of HSS
• Monitor commodities shelf life, prepare and follow through with action plans to avoid expiry of products in storage facilities.

• Represent ICAP on logistics and supply chain management issues to the sub grantees, ministry and other stakeholders in the region and participate in implementing partners meetings and national drug management working groups
• Actively involved in planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluation of ART and other relevant commodities for HIV programs at the national, regional and district levels
• Coordinate and support districts to implement the agreed supply chain improvement proposed activities to ensure the program and national agreed targets are achieved
• Provide support to the district pharmacists to effectively provide ongoing technical guidance to health care providers working within the supply chain and facilitate the coordination of supply chain activities including use of logistics management information systems (LMIS)
• Promote and monitor the implementation of supply chain logistic management information system (LMIS) involving ICAP as well as regional and district pharmacists.
• Conduct targeted supply chain mentorship visits, routine commodity audits, support the forecasting, ordering, distribution and redistribution of commodities
• Perform any other relevant duties as assigned by supervisor.

Qualifications, Knowledge, and Skills:

• Required Education: Bachelor’s Degree or higher in pharmacy or related field from a recognized academic institution.
• Required Technical Experience: Minimum 3 years working experience supply chain management issues supporting health facilities through a donor-funded organization, preferably on a PEPFAR-funded project through CDC.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with fluency in English required.
• Strong computer skills (MS Excel, Access, Word, and PowerPoint at minimum; preferred proficiency with statistical Software such as SAS and SPSS).
• Ability to provide high quality technical assistance to regional offices.
• Ability to lead and work with a diverse team.
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision and strong problem-solving skills.
• Flexibility to work after normal working hours and on weekends with significant travel outside of duty station.
• Familiarity with Tanzanian context; fluency in Kiswahili preferred.