Management Sciences for Health DRC Country Director

The Partnership for Supply Chain Management (PFSCM) is implementing the Supply Chain Management System (SCMS) contract for USAID as part of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). SCMS will strengthen or establish secure, reliable, cost-effective, and sustainable supply chains capable of meeting the care and treatment needs of people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS. In coordination with in-country and international partners, we will: assist programs to enhance their supply-chain capacity; ensure that accurate supply-chain information is collected, shared, and used; and provide quality, affordable, health care products to those who need them. SCMS will offer services in focus countries identified by the USG team, with SCMS field offices established in selected countries as required by the scope of work in the country.

Overall Responsibilities:

The Country Director (CD) leads and manages the SCMS project in the DRC. S/he is accountable for overall project strategy and success, including delivering on key project results. The CD has full accountability and authority for the development, execution, and monitoring of the SCMS project in country, including (1) vision and development of technical strategy, work plans and performance management plans; (2) overall project management, including ensuring that the field office follows standard SCMS and MSH administrative and financial procedures; (3) documentation and communications and; (4) development and management of productive relationships with client(s) and stakeholder(s) relationship. The CD represents SCMS and MSH to US Government agencies, the Ministry of Health (MOH), other governmental agencies and cooperating partners within the DRC. S/he promotes collaboration and best practices in strategic planning and coordination of supply chain activities, including forecasting, procurement, storage, distribution, and information management for ARVs, HIV tests, lab commodities and other related HIV/AIDS commodities.

The emphasis of the SCMS project in the DRC is to support the MOH in establishing and managing a sustainable procurement and supply management system for HIV/AIDS and related commodities. SCMS has recently established an interim presence in DRC and is now seeking to establish a permanent presence. The CD will lead development of new initiatives and activities, coordinate expanded health systems strengthening work with current partners and ensure that the office is adequately resourced to manage operations. To this end, s/he will both organize and provide in-country technical assistance as needed.

Specific Responsibilities:

Project Management and Leadership 1. Along with the SCMS Project Management Office (PMO) and MSH HQ, participate in office start-up and project expansion. 2. Liaise with DELIVER, SIAPS, IHP and other MSH projects in country and with the Country Operations Management Unit (COMU) as needed to ensure coordination of technical activities and optimal operational support. 3. Supervise field office staff by ensuring they have updated, relevant job descriptions; ensuring they have work plans specific to their roles; conducting performance reviews at least once annually; providing on-going mentoring and coaching; managing all personnel issues and liaising with PMO and MSH HQ when needed. 4. Participate in staff recruitment as needed. 5. Ensure that staff follow SCMS and MSH SOPs, work instructions and directives.

Client Relations 1. Build and maintain strong working relations with key SCMS internal and external stakeholders, beneficiaries, suppliers and partners. Provide effective and timely responses to inquiries and concerns. 2. Create and sustain a culture of commitment and accountability to SCMS clients and project stakeholders through: • Proactively and continuously consulting with clients at all stages of development and implementation of work plans via various communication methods; • Ensuring that project targets and deliverables are developed based on client expectations and needs; • Ensuring that clients are clearly identified in the projects’ strategic document and work plans and that client needs and expectations are articulated; • Ensuring that the field office has a clear strategy for communicating with clients (i.e. monthly updates and/or meetings, regular joint planning sessions, submission of reports, etc.) • Actively monitoring client satisfaction through discussions and other means. 3. Meet client expectations by realizing or exceeding expected project targets and deliverables on time and within budget

Project Implementation and Monitoring 1. Support the MOH and USG teams to define and implement supply chain-related strategic priorities and desired outcomes to be achieved through the provision of technical assistance. Work closely with the MOH, the USG team (USAID, CDC), PEPFAR and USG Implementing Partners and others in an ongoing way to achieve these 2. Manage the development and execution of SCMS strategic plans that address these priorities and outcomes. 3. Develop, manage and maintain the annual project work plans; effectively translate strategic vision into a set of discreet activities. 4. Ensure field office staffing is adequate to effectively carry out annual work plans. 5. Manage technical activities and build sustainable local systems to facilitate smooth HIV/AIDS commodity forecasting and quantification; monitoring of supplier order fulfillment; order tracking; customs clearance and freight forwarding; storage and distribution of products in-country; and logistics management information systems.

Communication & Information Sharing: 1. Review draft trip reports, technical reports, and other deliverables from STTA visits within the time frame provided in SOWs, provide internal approval and submit to USAID as appropriate. 2. Lead regularly scheduled communication with the PMO and home-office based country support teams via conference calls 3. Oversee the development and implementation of an SCMS performance management plan (PMP) to monitor and evaluate the achievement of priorities, outcomes, strategies and activities. 4. Develop innovative methods to capture and demonstrate project impact through evidence and project data. 5. Ensure effective communication with partners concerning supply chain management through regular sharing of data and related information. 6. Generate or oversee technical reports, monthly updates, quarterly reports and other documentation on field program progress and activities for submission to the local USAID Mission, USAID Washington, the PMO and home office. Adhere to reporting guidelines and deadlines.

Technical Assistance & Health Systems Strengthening: 1. Engage and coordinate with relevant stakeholders to build capacity of national staff so as to achieve effective and sustainable supply chains.
2. Identify and select strategies to build local human resource capacity that take into account existing and planned human resource capacity development activities. 3. Define scopes of work (SOW) for short-term technical assistance in collaboration with in country partners and the USG team. Obtain necessary approvals and modify SOWs as required. 4. Together with relevant program managers, organize, manage and evaluate short-term technical assistance (STTA) activities; monitor STTA deliverables and follow up.

Global Supply Chain & Product Procurement: 1. Oversee the development of commodity forecasts, annual supply plans and quarterly supply plan updates; submit plans on deadline and in accordance with SCMS SOPs. 2. Ensure that the SCMS procurement team manages price requests and quotations in a timely and efficient manner. 3. Ensure that the DRC office understands and adheres to SCMS policy and strategy on field office managed procurement (FOMP).

Project Financial Management: 1. Assume full accountability for and oversight of SCMS project funds in the DRC; supervise financial management team, including Program Assistant. 2. Ensure that financial systems, controls and oversight are in place to mitigate financial risk. 3. Approve all field office disbursement of funds (expenses and advances) and ensure that such disbursements are in compliance with USAID, MSH and SCMS policies; review field accounts prior to submission to MSH HQ; ensure finance and budgeting procedures are adhered to and ensure budgetary procedures are completed in a timely manner. 4. Determine level of effort for project activities and quantify the financial resources required to implement them. 5. Monitor budget implementation and expenditures on a quarterly basis and ensure that budget expenditures contribute to the accomplishment of work plan activities. Note when planned activities and associated budgets are not completed and develop response.

Qualifications: 1. Post graduate degree in public health, international health, business administration, project management, logistics, supply chain management or related field (MD, MPH, MBA, M Pharma, MHA, etc.); or equivalent experience. 2. Seven plus (7+) years of progressively increasing responsibility-related experience is required; Country Director or Deputy Country Director experience is preferred. 3. Demonstrated strategic planning and visioning skills. 4. Demonstrated subject matter expertise in technical content relevant to the project. 5. Demonstrated leadership and management abilities. 6. Demonstrated ability to build and maintain relationships with senior-level colleagues; particular competence interacting with Government agencies, NGOs, private sector groups, USAID CAs and donor organizations in a productive, proactive and comfortable manner. . 7. Experience in supply chain management, human resource development, organizational development or capacity building required. 8. Familiarity with USG procurement rules and regulations is a plus. 9. Proven ability to lead and work as part of a team in a diverse, multicultural setting; ability to self-manage own use of time. 10. Ability to manage multiple tasks within tight deadlines and prioritize effectively, while delivering high quality work. 11. Ability to prepare and deliver public presentations on project/program management, supply chain management and human resource capacity. 12. Experience with work planning and budgeting. 13. Strong organizational and analytical skills. 14. Capacity to work independently and take initiative on one’s own. 15. Excellent written and verbal English and French language skills. 16. Ability to work comfortably with Microsoft Office software, specifically Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Microsoft Project also very helpful. 17. Ability to travel for extended periods of time in-country to support technical activities. 18. Willingness and ability to travel internationally, including to the US.

Management Sciences for Health is an equal opportunity employer offering employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, citizenship, physical or mental handicap, or status as a disabled or Vietnam Era veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces.

How to apply:

To apply for this position, please submit a resume to https://jobs-msh.icims.com/jobs/5534/job. For more information about MSH, please visit our web site at www.msh.org. If you cannot apply online or have difficulty doing so, please email an explanation of your problem to iRecruiterproblem@msh.org.