WHE Global Emergency Roster - Health Logistics Operations Officer at World Health Organization

Purpose of the Position

• In line with the WHO Health Emergencies Programme (WHE) mandate and in the context of the deployment of qualified emergency personnel to support response teams during health emergencies, the purpose of this vacancy announcement is to identify suitable candidates for the WHO emergency Operations Support and Logistics (OSL) roster.

The Health Logistics Operations Officer (OPS Officer) provides overarching logistics management capability and field support to WHO and partner’s response teams . This includes all required activities to ensure the timely establishment of suitable accommodation, functional and secure working spaces, critical equipment and supplies, communications capabilities, safe staff transport and effective fleet management as per WHO and international standards. It also includes supporting the other functions of the OSL team providing them with the adequate infrastructure and means to ensure adequate supply management and health logistics capabilities.

The incumbent has acquired demonstrated qualifications, expertise, and experience to provide support to WHO Incident Management Teams in any, or all of the following emergency work areas:

• Office and living accommodations management
• Vehicles Fleet management
• Telecommunication equipment and network
• Air-Transport (team transport management)
• Office network and Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs)
• Energy production and supply Management

As a member of the WHO OSL roster, the incumbent will be deployed to contribute to emergency operations when required in a position, at a rank, and for the roles compatible with her/his expertise and experience. 

Objectives of the Programme and of the immediate Strategic Objective

• The mission of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme is to strengthen emergency technical and organisational capacities of countries, and to act as a backstop to coordinate international action, to prevent, prepare for, detect, rapidly respond to, and recover from outbreaks and emergencies.

Organizational context

• Under the supervision of the OSL Lead and/or the Incident Manager, guided by the Head of WHO Country Office, working closely with relevant counterparts including WHO, partners, and national personnel, the incumbent acts as the Logistics Specialist to provide support to the WHO emergency response team, response partners and to the Ministry of Health of the host country. Activities involve regular contact and information sharing with relevant WHO responders as well as with a broad range of actors from the Ministry of Health (MOH), to provide emergency technical support and to contribute to the development and implementation of logistics plans of action pertaining to health emergencies priority actions agreed upon with the emergency response leadership, partners and recipients.

Summary of Assigned Duties

• During deployment, the duty station may change, and duties may be modified, based upon the technical needs of the Programme, which is determined by the nature and scale of the emergencies in which the Programme is being involved. The incumbent will perform all or part of the following:

Generic OSL duties:

• Design and set up required logistics operations and supply chain capacities to ensure WHO and its partners have adequate and efficient tactical means required for a timely and safe implementation of the response plan
• Identify and propose proactively solutions to improve logistics and operations
• Share adequate information, tools and knowledge with colleagues, relevant partners, and recipients; as well as contribute to situation reports, activity dashboards and other communication products
• Contribute to the performance of emergency procurement activities with relevant actors
• Coordinate activities with partners and recipients whenever relevant and possible
• Prioritize sustainable activities with capacity building and transfer of knowledge to national actors and partners, whenever possible
• Apply and demonstrate WHO emergency competencies (cf. WHE learning strategy-companion document competency framework)
• In line with UN charters, promote diversity, gender equity, environmentally friendly solutions and humanitarian localisation principles whenever possible
• Beyond deployment initial terms of reference, be flexible and perform other related OSL incident-specific duties, as required by the evolution of the emergency context, and as expected by the functional supervisor
• Know and apply UN principles for Duty of Care of personnel, SPHERE standards, WHO Charter and values, as well as UN policies for the prevention sexual abuse and exploitation

Specific duties:

• In line with WHE OSL guidance and tools, perform regular field need/gap assessments in relevant operations and logistics areas and provide inputs to OSL concept of operations
• Contribute to response plans development by facilitating the quantification and forecasting of supply needs and of services required, in close collaboration with relevant emergency personnel including Health Operations technical leads, UN partners (UNCT, Health Cluster, WFP and Logistics cluster), MoH relevant technical operatives
• Establish a regular feedback loop to monitor on the ground the effectiveness of operations, the fulfilment of requests and needs, as well as the satisfaction of recipients. Identify gaps and challenges, improvement areas and propose remedial actions
• In close cooperation with the Field Security Officer ensure that appropriate and safe living and working conditions (offices, EOCs, fleet and movement) are provided to WHO responders
• Streamline the sourcing, transportation, appropriate storage, management, and timely delivery of quality supplies, equipment and consumables for health emergency operations scheduled recipients
• Manage WHO warehouses and inventories, implement stock control mechanisms and optimization as per WHO rules and regulations
• Maintain required stockpiles of essential emergency equipment, e.g. vehicles, personnel deployment material and kits, VHF/UHF, telephones, VSAT, IT equipment, equipment to provide energy, and other critical assets and supplies required by operations and level of risks
• Manage the WHE fleet, including contracting, planning, effective implementation and monitoring of fleet movements for emergency activities, oversee the maintenance of vehicles and fuel supply
• Oversee and coordinate air transportation of personnel with management teams. Collaborate with OSL and Health Operations teams to streamline medical cargo and biological agents’ transportation
• Oversee construction, installation, equipment and/or provision of services towards improving and/or setting up emergency response facilities/offices, including Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs)
• Install and support office quality IT network, telecommunication, and energy sources
• Prepare for and be ready to implement Medevac of personnel with relevant actors

Competencies

• Teamwork
• Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences
• Communication
• Producing results
• Moving forward in a changing environment
• Ensuring the effective use of resources

Functional Knowledge and Skills

• Demonstrated knowledge of operations and logistics management in an emergency context, with proven ability to identify and solve technical problems in difficult circumstances
• Excellent analytical and organizational skills
• Proven ability to share information and knowledge, and to strengthen recipients’ capacities
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work and collaborate under pressure.  
• Proven ability to promote cohesive action, teamwork and to convince with tact and diplomacy

Education 

Essential
P3 level: A first level degree in public health or business administration, logistic management, logistics, engineering, pharmacy, or related field from an accredited/recognized institute. 
*Additional years of experience can be considered in lieu of university degrees.
P4 Level: A master’s degree in public health or business administration, logistic management, logistics, engineering, pharmacy, or related field from an accredited/recognized institute

Desirable

• Professional certification/qualification/training in areas such as:  ground and air transportation, distribution, and supply chain management.
• Certification or training in information management and application to monitoring and reporting

Experience

P3 level:  A minimum of 5 years of extensive experience in managing emergency logistics operations and supply operations at national and international levels, with a significant portion being dedicated to providing field support for emergency humanitarian operations.
*Candidates without a first level university degree can apply if they can demonstrate at least 8 years of professional experience in relevant activities.
P4 level: A minimum of 7 years of extensive experience in managing emergency logistics operations and supply operations at national and international levels, with a significant portion being dedicated to providing field support for emergency humanitarian operations.

Desirable

• Related experience with WHO, the UN system, health cluster partners, recognized humanitarian organizations or international nongovernmental organization work in the field of outbreaks and/or health emergency response

Use of Language Skills

• Excellent knowledge of English and/or French (depending on the country of assignment)
• Working knowledge of another WHO official language (Arabic, Spanish, Russian, Chinese) would be an asset
• Working knowledge of Hindi, Portuguese, and Swahili also an asset

Other Skills

• Strong knowledge of Microsoft Office applications
• Demonstrated computer skills with emphasis on database management tools to manage inventory, and operations forecast needs
• Demonstrated skills in using equipment such as radio and satellite phones, fleet tracking devices and software