Senior Base Pharmacist

Country Office: Ethiopia

Work Base: Gambella

Availability: As Soon As Possible 

Salary Scale: EMS – 07

Salary: 696 USD

Insurance - (Life, Group Personal Accident, and Medical Insurance are covered by the organization's policies).

                                        Female candidates are highly encouraged to apply for this position.

About Action Against Hunger

Action Against Hunger-USA is a global humanitarian organization that takes decisive action against the causes and effects of hunger. We save the lives of malnourished children and we enable entire communities to be free from hunger. With more than 8,000 staff in over 50 countries, our programs reached 17 million people in 2019.

About the Country Program in Ethiopia 

Action Against Hunger has been operational in Ethiopia since 1984 responding to both chronic and acute needs through a multi-sectoral strategy where nutrition, Food Security and Livelihoods, WASH, and Mental Health and Psychosocial Support activities are integrated to have a meaningful impact on people’s resilience. Action Against Hunger currently operates in 5 different regions (Oromia, Somali, Amhara, Benishangul Gumuz, and Gambella) with a portfolio of 20m USD/year of emergency, resilience building, research, and innovation programs. We have a country team of around 600 staff in 17 regional and satellite offices. Our main donors in Ethiopia in 2020/2021 are BHA, ECHO, Euro paid, UNHCR, UNICEF, GFFO, BPRM, SIDA, EHF, WFP, CIAA, and others.

Summary of position

The Senior Pharmacist under the direct administrative and technical supervision of the logistics manager and Senior Nutrition and Health Program Manager respectively will ensure access; proper management and use of a quality pharmaceutical management system that is in line with the Action Against Hunger logistics procedure. Inputs at service delivery points for emergency nutrition and health response. She/ he will be responsible to the monitor and ensuring proper utilization of medical supplies (e.g. Emergency Drugs Kits), and compliance with quality standards pertaining to drug management at static health facilities, Mobile Health and Nutrition Teams (MHNT), and refugee camps in Gambella base in close coordination with nutrition and health as well as logistics team.  She/he will provide technical support and strengthen the capacity of project and government staff on efficient and effective pharmaceutical management practices in line with international standards, Action Against hunger's SOPs for pharmaceutical Management practices, MoH as well as donor rules and guidelines. She/he is responsible for the timely request of medical supplies and replenishment for ongoing nutrition and health programs in Gambella in close consultation with the capital-based mission senior pharmacist, nutrition and health program managers, and logistics team. The senior pharmacist will be in charge of producing, sharing, and updating regularly stock balance, weekly, and monthly drug consumption as well as pharmaceutical-related reports as per Action Against Hunger reporting procedures. She/he will participate in donor proposal writing by providing inputs for the estimation of nutrition commodities, medical supplies, and drugs as well as estimating indicative budgets for the same. She/he will spend at least 50% of the time in the field and depending on the need and humanitarian response it could be up to 75%. The Senior pharmacists are expected to closely collaborate with the nutrition and health program team as well as support department colleagues in capital and base for a functional and viable programmatic coordination and integration between different departments. The position will be managed under the logistics department to fully discharge its mandates and responsibilities while maintaining its functional linkage with the Nutrition and Health Department.

The role’s purpose, engagement, and delivery are:

Purpose (The substantive focus of the job encompassing scope, depth, and difficulty of work both conceptual and applied)

• S/he will ensure the full application of the pharmaceutical and nutrition supplies management system in line with Action Against Hunger and Donors standards, procedures, and requirements.

• Ensure a functional and workable linkage between the program and logistics department through the application, support, and promotion of existing SOPs, Systems such as LINK, standards, and codes of conduct pertaining to the pharmaceutical management system.  

• S/he will foster analyses of pharmaceutical and nutrition supplies data to identify needs, and gaps, and contribute to informed decision-making and planning exercises. 

Engagement: (The focus of interaction both internally and externally needed to deliver a service seek collaboration and build effective partnerships)

• Collaborates with the Action Against Hunger staff and partners at the base level such as RHB, UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, and other humanitarian actors to amplify our work in tackling acute malnutrition and hunger.

• Building synergies with other like-minded humanitarian partners and UN Agencies to promote and advocate for sustained allocation of essential pharmaceutical and nutrition supplies as well as resources for continued nutrition and health interventions in Gambella.

Delivery: (The focus on the execution of the work and the role of the team in supporting business/operational functions in terms of timeliness and quality)

• Leads/monitor the day-to-day pharmaceutical and nutrition supplies management activities in host and refugee camps, provides technical oversight from a pharmaceutical point of view to the nutrition and health response, undertakes regular supportive supervision to warehouse and druggists, ensures proper application of pharmaceutical management practices and quality in accordance with the existing procedures, standards, and system. S/he will further strive to meet the development of quality and standard reports that are related to Action Against Hunger, donors, and other stakeholders. Supports the pharmaceutical operational and coordination aspects at various levels, and ensures the beneficiaries have the right service with the right quantity.

Essential Duties:

• Supporting the Nut and Health team and Logistics department in managing pharmaceutical supplies procurement and acquisition procedures.

• Supporting the base Nutrition and Health program and Logistics department in dealing with pharmaceuticals, including medical supplies procurement, acquisition, and transportation. 

• Supporting the Nutrition and Health team in assessing pharmaceutical and nutrition supplies needs, requirements, and budget and sharing standard lists of items for effective project implementation.

• Supporting coordination in defining procedures and processes for procurement and acquisition of pharmaceutical and nutrition supplies for timely humanitarian response in the base.

• Supporting the Nutrition and Health team and Log department in regularly evaluating the local market, and collecting information about suppliers.

• Facilitating sourcing activities during procurement (selection of sources, etc.) of essential pharmaceutical supplies in consultation with capital-based mission pharmacist and log team.

• Ensure the follow-up of Nutrition and health commodities procurement and/ or acquisition requests and backorders.

• Assess the national and regional market of drugs and medical supplies, share the latest market prices with a standard list of items for program staff, and analyze price trends for basic pharmaceutical supplies and nutrition commodities.

• Participate and support the periodic market assessments as per specific periods and needs.   

• Maintain the list of HQ-validated suppliers, available drugs, and medical supplies at the base level for quick reference and utilization.

• Facilitate the timely request of Emergency medical and Reproductive Health Kits in close consultation with capital and base colleagues.

• Ensure the availability and preparedness of warehouses before the reception or acquisition of pharmaceutical and nutrition supplies.

• Improving quality in the management and utilization of pharmaceutical and nutrition supplies

• Ensuring/analyzing data collection (stock, consumption) from the operational sites and entering the data into the SFU Med or other Excel file at the base level.

• Analyzing the stock, consumption, and related data in order to optimize the management of drugs/medicines and medical equipment (needs assessment, cold chain, expiry dates, stock surplus/shortage, etc.)

• Ensuring the regular and appropriate use of management documents (stock sheets, delivery notes, computer tools, etc.) by project staff assigned in MHNT and static health facilities in host and refugee camps.

• Working closely with the Nut and Health program manager and log manager to verify stock and consumption status against program data (primary healthcare or service delivery database) and assess the appropriateness of prescriptions.

• Organize and provide reliable stock data, consumption, and use of drugs/medicines and nutrition products for each project.  

• Raise alerts on near-to-expire drugs and nutrition supplies for timely action.

• Support the field teams in the donation of drugs and nutrition supplies in good time (e.g. overstock, near expiry, etc.)

• Backing up all computer data at least once a month to ensure the pharmaceutical records are safely kept and managed properly.

• Participating in the acceptance of orders at the base, including Quantitative acceptance (number of cardboard boxes, number of products, etc.) and Qualitative acceptance (the integrity of the products delivered, compliance with storage conditions, etc.)

• Ensuring that the Action Against Hunger's procedures and tools are used by the MHNT and coordination program.

• Conduct other activities as per Action Against Hunger logistics management procedure and SOPs.

• Maintaining the physical integrity of pharmacy stores and warehouses at the base level.

• Ensure the standards and compliances with regards to Good Storage Practices for medical products and nutrition supplies are intact and implemented and apply additional required procedures.

• The physical integrity of the warehouse and store premises: security-protected entrances, no water damage, no cracks in the roof or walls, no rodents, etc and apply additional required procedures.

• Hygiene of the warehouse and store premises: regular cleaning of floors and shelves, refrigerator maintenance, no food or sugary drinks, etc., and applying additional required procedures.

• Ensure the proper temperature checks for warehouses and stores: Twice-daily monitoring of temperature and humidity during working days and apply additional required procedures.

• Ensuring that everything possible is done to combat factors leading to the damage of medical products and pharmaceutical and nutrition supplies and apply additional required procedures.

• Classification of products according to the rules recommended by AAH, WHO, and Donor requirements  

• Ensuring compliance with special storage conditions required for certain specific products (vaccines across the cold chain and products considered to be narcotics).

• Ensure that all persons in the supply team are aware of the specifics of the medical items they handle through training and coaching on quality, sensitivity, specificity, and the various products’ storage conditions.

• Undertake technical supervision of storage warehouses (MHNT, refugee camps stores, and district health offices Pharmacy) in order to analyze the project staff, specifically the district health office pharmacist compliance with Good Storage Practices

• Providing recommendations

• Monitoring the compliance of these recommendations

• Supervise the stock/pharmacy management of end-user units in all project implementation areas.

• Conduct other activities as per Action Against Hunger logistics management procedure and SOPs.

• Improving the technical capacity of AAH  and project-supported static health facility government staff:

• Regularly assess the capacity needs and gaps at the field level in collaboration with Nut and Health Team

• Providing technical support through internal training on stock management, rationale use of medical and nutrition supplies, and critical analysis of consumption data.

• Supporting RHB, district health offices, and Primary Health Care Units in setting up relevant training based on needs and gaps in the field.

• Supporting the Nutrition and Health team in undertaking pharmacy supervision as an integral component of the continuous supportive supervision of service delivery area and quality assurance exercise. 

• Capacitate and orient AHH Nut and Health team, frontline health workers as well as pharmacists on IPLS and effective commodity management practices through face-to-face and on-the-job training, and field monitoring visits.

• Supporting the Nut/Health team in proposal writing and donor reporting

• Providing technical support to the base and capital Nut/Health team in defining, quantifying, and evaluating pharmaceutical and nutrition supplies needs and their lists for proposed projects.

• Contributing to the preparation of donor reports specifically with respect to the information relating to drugs/medicines on the mission.

• Support in budget management of assigned commodity supply portfolios for Nutrition and health programs or assigned consortia projects.

• Foster External coordination, representation, and communication in the field of pharmaceutical management, systems, and practices.  

• Participate in Regulator, professional forums, and partner coordination meetings at the base level and  provide the necessary inputs in the development of guidelines and SOPs pertaining to pharmaceutical

• Communicate major action points of the coordination platforms to the nutrition and health program manager, log department, and other concerned parties for timely action.

Supervisory Responsibilities

•  Acts as the direct technical supervisor for storekeepers or druggists in host communities and refugee camps.

Gender Equality Commitments  

• Foster an environment that supports the values of women and men, and equal access to information.

• Provides and collaborates with a work environment where women and men must be evaluated and promoted based on their skills and performance.

• Respect beneficiaries’ women, men, and children (boys and girls) regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion, race, color, ancestry, national origin, age, or marital status. 

• Value and respect all cultures. 

Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA):

• Beware of the minimum operating standards of SEA.

• Protect and prevent others from SEA.

• Report SEA.

• Strictly comply with AAH child protection and SEA policies.

Fiscal Responsibility

• Ensure timely procurement and/or acquisition of pharmaceuticals, including medical supplies in liaison with the nutrition and health program managers, finance, logistics, and field coordinator within the agreed timeline while ensuring compliance with quality standards.  

• Ensure standard pharmaceutical applications within the logistics management procedure.

• Provide regular follow and support to nutrition and health program staff on ways to efficiently and timely utilize project resources, including the project-committed budget for procurement, acquisition, and transportation of medical supplies and pharmaceuticals without compromising the quality of expected deliverables.

Physical Demands

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is required to sit for an extended period to concentrate on work, including typing, and turn out heavy volumes of work accurately, within short time frames under stressful situations in the context of humanitarian response.

• Must be able to proofread own work accurately so that only minor corrections are needed on an infrequent basis.

• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

Working Conditions, Travel, and Environment

• The duties of the job require regular job attendance at least five days per week. Must be available to work outside normal office hours or on the weekends as required.

• Must be able to travel to the field frequently and as required.

• While performing the duties of this job in the field, the employee may be exposed to precarious settings under high-security risks and/or very basic living conditions and outside weather conditions, as well as to infectious diseases. 

Job Requirements

Required Qualifications and Professional Experience

• A master’s degree from an accredited college or university in pharmacy, public health, logistics, and supply chain management system and the related field of study and with more than three (3) years of relevant experience in pharmaceutical and nutrition commodities management in humanitarian and development programs in host and refugee camps.

• or a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in pharmacy, pharmaceutical industry, and the related field of study and a minimum of seven Five (5)  years of relevant experience in pharmaceutical and nutrition commodities management in humanitarian and development programs in host and refugee camps.

• Good knowledge of drugs and medical supplies management with practical exposure to Integrated Pharmaceutical Logistics and Supply Management Systems (IPLS).

• Having a better understanding and exposure to the national pharmaceutical management protocols, guidelines, and SOPs as well as Primary Health Care Service provision modalities.

• Practical exposure to, participation in national and sub-national pharmacy coordination platforms, and Technical Working Groups (TWGs).

• Having practical experience in NGOs and working in a humanitarian setting is preferable.

Required Skills & Competencies 

• Strong communication, networking, and representation skill.

• Good strategic and analytical abilities.

• Embracing Diversity, Self-Awareness, and Self-Regulation, good experience in staff management and capacity building.

• Desirable project pharmaceutical management skills.

• Quality report writing skills and capable of working in a team.

• Ability to take initiative and prioritize multiple tasks with minimum supervision.

• Well-developed interpersonal, organizational, strong communication skills and documentation habits.

• Knowledge and skill of MS Office Suite and other statistical software (Epi Info 7, ENA for SMART, and SPSS) are required, and comfortable working with computers with minimal IT support.

• Good command of English (essential) and knowledge of one or more local languages is desirable, including the language of refugees.  

• Possess strong documentation habits and attention to detail.

• Genuine interest in and commitment to the mission and principles of Action Against Hunger.

How to Apply

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Register using this link THIS LINK

N.B: Only shortlisted applicants will be communicated and the selection process includes a technical test and an interview.