: Supply Chain Coordinator

Programme: Democratic Republic Of Congo (DRC)
Responsible To: DRC Logistics Coordinator (LogCo)
Location: Goma with travel to various field sites in Nord Kivu / Maniema Province
Starting Date: ASAP
Contract Duration: 9 Months
Salary: £28,350 to £29,480 per annum (dependant on relevant experience) inclusive of annual Cost of Living allowance.
Benefits: Insurance cover, accommodation, free return flights, annual loyalty bonus and 24 days annual leave.

Only short-listed applicants will be contacted. Due to the urgency of this position, applications will be short listed on a regular basis and we may offer this post before the closing date.

Please note that this is an unaccompanied position.

Merlin International Profile
Merlin specialises in health, saving lives in times of crisis and helping to rebuild shattered health services. Each year, Merlin helps more than 15 million people in up to 20 countries.

Context and Background
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (formerly Zaire) is the third largest country in Africa and one of the poorest. Decades of dictatorship and an ongoing, unresolved civil war has left much of the national infrastructure destroyed.
Merlin has been operational in DRC since 1997. Activities include: emergency response, primary health support and supply, secondary health support and supply, reproductive health, institutional capacity building, nutrition, wat/san, rehabilitation of health facilities.
• Merlin is the sole source of essential medical support for over 200 primary & secondary health facilities, providing health care to over 1,800,000 beneficiaries.
• In Maniema Province, Merlin is implementing a DFID (British government) funded 3 years free health care project throughout 10 health zones.
• In North Kivu, Merlin implements CERF, Pooled Fund, OFDA and ECHO funded primary healthcare projects in Kayna, Lubero, Rutshuru, Binza and Birambizo Health Zones with emergency support to internally displaced persons (IDPs) within the province.

Critical to the success of all of these projects is the procurement, import, storage, and reliable and timely distribution of large quantities of a very wide range of drugs and medical equipment. In 2011 Merlin DRC will spend £5.3m on medical supplies.

Main purpose of the Role
The Supply Chain Coordinator (SCC)’s objective is to optimize Merlin DRC’s medical supply chain performance and to ensure that all internal and external partners are aware of progress made against targets set. He/she is responsible for the strategic direction and day-to-day management of the supply chain, management of the supply chain team, and the continuous improvement of Merlin DRC’s medical supply chain.. He/she will provide specialist advice and guidance to the LogCo, to other members of the logistic team, and to the CMT. He/she sits alongside the Deputy Logistics Co-ordinators and reports to the LogCo, with a technical oversight link to the Merlin global supply chain manager in head office; but is expected to work independently, and has wide powers of discretion in the design and implementation of supply chain systems. The SCC monitors the medical supply chain through weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual reports illustrating adherence to key performance indicators (KPIs) in availability and supplier fulfilment.

Overall Objectives (scope)
Working with internal and external supply chain partners, the SCC ensures relevant and necessary inventory moves through DRC supply chain in a timely and cost-effective manner. The SCC leads on all improvements necessary to optimise the operations and effectiveness of the supply chain. The SCC creates and manages systems to monitor and improve Merlin DRC supply chain, using KPIs to illustrate performance and development. The SCC will coordinate colleagues in field offices to ensure information is received in good time and that KPIs are understood, used and contributed to by the field offices. The SCC will work with external partners such as warehouse, customs and transport providers to ensure the flow of goods down the pipeline and information up the pipeline. They will ensure key issues with partners are dealt with quickly and thoroughly, and that root-cause analysis is undertaken and recorded for all instances. The SCC will also ensure that external partners such as donors and Ministry of Health (MOH) officials understand the efforts to optimize performance and the results. Explanatory KPIs will be published to the CMT and modified versions to internal / external partners. These reports should be actively explained so that Health and Programmes understand them, use them and contribute to them. The SCC is responsible for creating transparency in all medical procurement areas through audits and other formats. The SCC is responsible for the strategic direction and overview of Merlin DRCs supply chain and procurement activities, in tandem with the LogCo.

Responsibilities

Administration
• Supervises:
o Procurement Transparency:
? All orders,
o Availability
? Procurement schedules,
? Supply plans
? Availability reports
o Inventory Tracking
? Pipeline reports and analysis
? Provincial warehouse reports
? CMM reports

Health and Programmes
• Work with Health and Programmes to ensure that average monthly consumption (consumption moyen mensual, or CMM) figures are accurate and appropriate; and that relevant medical orders are placed in good time and that beneficiaries’ needs are accurately represented in the supply chain monitoring system.
• Understand the differing levels of importance for each medical line and work to ensure all essential lines are continually in stock and their rates of utilization are understood and accounted for.
• Co-ordinate the compilation and understanding of all medical demand data.
• Provide detailed and accurate costings of medical supplies to assist with the compilation of programme budgets.

Finance / Donor compliance
• Work closely with the Logistics Coordinator and the finance department in order to ensure compatibility between the procurement / ordering process and supply chain monitoring.
• Assure that procurements are harmonised with project funding cycles and project eligibility periods.
• Report on the costs of orders in the supply chain and the costs of facilitating the supply chain to work.
• Assure that supply chain management complies with donor requirements and standards
• Leads on creating total medical procurement transparency through publishing and monitoring cost estimates, order projections, PO costs, commitments paid and outstanding.
• Ensure all medical procurement is donor and Merlin process compliant.

Logistics

• Co-ordinates with all programmes, medical and logistics expats to ensure effective collation of information, good understanding of supply chain information and delivery of medical supplies.
• Create, manage and implement Merlin DRC’s supply chain strategy in the following areas:

o Procurement Transparency: Responsible for ensuring complete transparency of all procurement, through procurement committees, quarterly reports and CMT reports.
o Inventory Tracking: Responsible for total visibility of all movements in Merlin DRCs’ £5.3 million medical inventory.
o Availability: Leads on all supply planning, procurement scheduling, procurement and drug supply to ensure increase to 95% availability in medical supplies throughout DRC.
o Supply Chain Education: Responsible for knowledge building of all relevant logs, medical and programmatic teams on supply chain issues.
o Reporting: Leads on increasing and clarifying all medical / non-medical supply chain reporting.
o KPIs: Responsible for standardizing and publishing all supply chain KPIs in Merlin DRC
o Procedural Adherence: Responsible for standardizing Merlin DRC’s logistics procedures relating to supply chain and capacity building the logistics team through regular field visits.
• Represents Merlin with external partners including international suppliers of goods and services,
• Works with donors to inform them of progress made on supply chain improvements.
• Works with MOH officials to illustrate lessons learned in Merlin’s supply chain management and to inform them of progress made on supply chain improvements.
• Assists the LogCo and the rest of the CMT in ensuring that the Logistics department is fully aware of Merlin strategic goals and that logs activities fully complement and support these objectives.
• Responsible to the LogCo for the management, upkeep and functioning of the entire DRC supply chain.
• Develop a contingency plan and diversify the supply chain to be able to handle events such as the non-performance of supplier, the initiation of new emergency programmes etc.
• Create a system for tracking all orders and a checklist system to liaise with / managing supply partners to ensure all goods are handled, dispatched and transported properly in line with Merlin / Best Practise Standards.
• Work with warehousing, transport and customs partners to ensure Merlin stock is handled according to best methods in areas such as cold chain and high risk substances and that these practises are formalised in a process.
• Use cross-learnt best practise standards from humanitarian and commercial organizations to devise easy to use tools to enable staff to create an operationally effective supply chain.
• Use best KPI standards to illustrate issues to CMT and internal colleagues / external partners in a concise, informative manner and uses best formatting standards to illustrate this information clearly and consistently.

Human Resources
• Manages Supply Chain Team (currently a team of 8 in Goma and Kindu ).
• Responsible with HR to train and capacity build relevant members of the logistics and supply chain team (national and/or expat) in supply chain management.
• Builds knowledge and capacity of logistics and medical teams in the field bases, enabling them to have a clear overview on their monthly drug consumption rates, their buffer stocks and supply chain reporting.

Dimensions and Limits of Authority

The post holder has the responsibility to negotiate procurement contracts with suppliers on the supplier database sometimes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, where poor judgement on supplier selection has direct impact on the ability of Merlin to undertake its programmes effectively. The post holder has the authority to sign Purchase Orders and authorise payment of invoices up to a value of £80,000 with suppliers on behalf of the assigned country programmes ensuring correct procedures are followed.

Person Specification
Essential
Qualifications, experience and competences

• Specialist professional knowledge of:
o Procurement and supply chain management.
o Managing Third Parties in the supply chain.
o Order Tracking systems analysis.
• Some relevant or practical experience of logistics and/or supply chain in an international setting
• Excellent management and personnel skills to enable the motivation, encouragement and participation of a mainly national team.
• A high level of initiative and judgement.
• Advanced computer skills, particularly Excel.
• Strong team communicator and facilitator between the interests of different departments
• Strong capacity building skills.
• Understanding of both written and spoken French and fluency in English.
• Strong reporting skills.
• Ability and flexibility to understand the cultural and political environment and to work well with the local authorities.
• Ability to remain calm and to be diplomatic while capable to work under stressful conditions and in isolated areas.
• Commitment to Merlin’s values

Desirable

Qualifications, experience and competences
• Good experience of managing logistics within a medical NGO, particularly in reference to Cold Chain and Drug Management Experience.
• Work experience in the region / knowledge of DRC
• A degree or relevant qualification in Logistics or similar analytical discipline.

Data Protection
In accordance with the 1998 Data Protection Act Merlin will hold and use personal information that you have given for the purposes of recruitment and employment should an offer of employment be made. This information will be stored in manual and/or computer form. This information may also be disclosed to third parties in accordance with the Data Protection Act.
In cases where a job offer is conditional on ensuring that potential employees’ names do not appear on counter terrorism lists generated by the United Nations, European Union or the United States due to donor funding requirements, Merlin will use the information that you have given for checking that your name does not appear on these lists.