Background Description of Emergency / Justification for Request
At 06:30 on the morning of 7 October 2023, Hamas launched “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood” with more than 5,000 rockets reportedly fired towards Israel from multiple locations in Gaza, as well as ground operations into Israel. In response to this attack, Israeli authorities declared that the country is in a state of war and called up military reservists. At 12:00 noon, the Israeli Forces launched operation‘Iron Sword’ with strikes on the Gaza strip by air, land and sea. Exchanges of fire in the towns and
communities in Israel surrounding Gaza continued for the second consecutive day following the infiltration of members of Palestinian armed groups into Israel. Palestinian armed groups in Gaza continued rocket fire into Israel. Simultaneously, Israel continued air, naval and land strikes throughout the night and morning. While tensions between Israel and Palestinian militants have been increasing over the past few years, this military escalation marks a significant departure from previous conflicts.
● In the evening of 7 October, Israeli authorities ceased supplying electricity to the Gaza strip, reducing the hours of electricity to 3-4 per day. The Gaza Power Plant is currently the only source of power and could run out of fuel within days. This has devastating consequences on the functioning of health facilities which need to rely on generator fuel which is expected to run out within a few days. The Israeli authorities have continued to impose multiple movement restrictions, including the closure of several checkpoints and entrances to towns and cities in the West Bank.
● Declaration of a complete siege in Gaza and closure of all crossings creates severe shortages of electricity, food, water, and fuel. Drugs, medical supplies and fuel are only expected to last a few days. Gaza’s 13 hospitals and health facilities are only partially functioning. Prior to the escalation there were stockouts of 48% of essential medical supplies in Gaza, including 20 items crucial for maternity and pediatric services. WHO has documented 37 health attacks since 7 October resulting in casualties among healthcare workers and damage to 13 healthcare facilities and at least 15 ambulances. This further impedes access to life-saving SRH services including emergency obstetric and newborn care. Strict closures in the West Bank and potential settler attacks have disrupted service delivery at mobile clinics and health facilities and significantly limited population movement and access to services.
● WHO has documented 62 attacks on health care affecting 29 health care facilities (including 19 hospitals damaged) and 23 ambulances. Seven hospitals, including four in northern Gaza (Beit Hanoun, Hamad Rehabilitation, Al Karama, and Ad Dura) either sustained damage or had to be evacuated and are no longer operational.
● As of 22 October, 2023 Mass internal displacement including following the Israeli evacuation order of 13 October 2023 has reached about 1.4 million internally displaced people (IDPs), with nearly 580,000 sheltering in 150 UNRWA-designated emergency shelters (DES).As of 22 October, the Palestinian MOH reported 4,651 deaths and 14,245 injured in Gaza and 91 deaths and 1,734 injured in the West Bank.
● Critical concerns for UNFPA programme beneficiaries include
○ Shortage of drugs and medical disposables; 48% of items reported as out-of-stock, including 20 items for maternity and pediatric services
○ Continued attacks against Gaza; Declaration of a siege against Gaza with all crossing closed
and no electricity, food, water, fuel into Gaza and supplies estimated to last up to Sunday at best.
○ West Bank, strict closures and potential settler attacks have disrupted functioning of mobile clinics and health facilities. Urgent measures needed to improve access to primary healthcare services, including integrated SRH care and GBV services through mobile clinics to address health needs of most vulnerable populations in Area C.
○ Opening of the borders to Gaza for access to humanitarian assistance.
○ Staffing remains a critical concern including potential evacuation.
● One of the key objectives will be to ensure the continuity of essential sexual and reproductive health services, including safe delivery, pregnancy care, and family planning. Key protection priorities include providing psychosocial support (PSS) for affected families, dignity kits for women and men, cash assistance for the host community and protection cases, as well as emergency referral pathways for GBV. These priorities need to be translated within the context of medical logistics to ensure adequate needs assessments and supply chain management to get urgently needed supplies into Gaza and West Bank to respond to the needs.
● The OPT Flash Appeal was initiated on October 12, 2023, and seeks to secure US$294 million to address the most pressing requirements of 1,260,000 individuals in Gaza and the occupied West Bank over a three-month period. Within the framework of this inter-agency flash appeal, UNFPA’s financial requirements amount to US$6.9 million as follows: Sexual and Reproductive Health US$3.6 million Gender-Based Violence US$3.3 million
Security Situation Summary in country and main threats: (i.e armed conflict, terrorism, crime, social unrest, hazard)
The security situation in Jerusalem and the West Bank continues to be tightly linked to the humanitarian and security situation in Gaza. The higher the level of security unpredictability in Gaza, the more likely security incidents will occur in Jerusalem and the West Bank. Direct and indirect security threats affecting UN personnel, assets (including premises), and programmes persist in Jerusalem and the West Bank as per the below threat categories:
Armed Conflict: While the epicenter of the current military operations continues to be Gaza, rockets targeting Jerusalem have been intercepted. Clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces in Jerusalem and the West Bank continue to be reported. UN personnel, assets (including premises), and programmes are not directly targeted. However, collateral damage cannot be ruled out.
Civil Unrest: Outbreaks of rioting and demonstrations occur in Jerusalem, usually concerning internal issues such as security and military operations. In the West Bank, civil unrest incidents are primarily organized in retaliation to armed escalations, search-and-arrest operations, or denounce military escalation in Gaza. These incidents do not directly impact UN personnel. However, civil unrest incidents planned to be peaceful can turn violent with little to no prior notice.
Terrorism: While several terrorist-affiliated groups operate in the duty station, the UN has not been directly affected by terror-related activities.
Crime: Opportunistic crime in the form of armed robbery, vandalism, and verbal assaults occur in Jerusalem and the West Bank. UN personnel and assets have been targeted by crime-related incidents in Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Role Description:
Under the general supervision of the UNFPA CO Representative and under the direct supervision of
the CO Operations Manager, the Medical Logistician will be part of the UNFPA Humanitarian Response Team and collaborate closely with the SRH Team Leader in Jerusalem and the Humanitarian Logistician based in Cairo. The Medical Logistician will provide guidance on coordination, implementation, monitoring and reporting of humanitarian health and pharmaceutical supply chains activities.
The incumbent will provide direct support to the Palestine CO affected by the current escalation of conflict in the acute response phase and, in consultation with the Representative and Assistant Representative and the Programme Team Leads, will closely work with national authorities, humanitarian agencies, civil society and local counterparts to provide humanitarian assistance to the crisis affected communities in a manner consistent with the methodology outlined in the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Cluster system and Humanitarian Programme Cycle https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/programme-cycle
MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
The incumbent is responsible for, but not limited to, the following assigned duties:
Logistics Deliverables:
● Lead and coordinate overall logistics for UNFPA supplies within Gaza in close collaboration with Humanitarian Logisticians based in Cairo, OM, and procurement officer in Gaza.
● Work with the Humanitarian logistician to develop and maintain the Concept of a Operations for logistics including the flow such as importation channels, movement of goods (corridors),
storage (hubs) and distribution network within Gaza.
● Work with the Humanitarian Logistician in Egypt to process movements of supplies from Egypt to Gaza, conduct receipt and inspection of goods and process storage, and onward dispatch to service delivery points.
● Engage with humanitarian partners (WFP, WHO, UNICEF, ICRC, MSF and others) to optimize UNFPAs supply chain in Gaza and coordinate with health sector partners and UN
agencies in terms of planning and development of the health supply chain for a response.
● Coordinate with the Logistics Cluster and the Health Cluster, as needed, to ensure gaps and needs are raised, and to leverage logistics cluster facilitated services and information for UNFPAs operation.
● In coordination with technical teams and pharmacists, maintain visibility on the procurement plan based on forecasted needs and response plan of UNFPA.
● At the request of the OM support in any local procurement, PSI and other aspects of local procurement in Gaza .
● Coordinate and monitor incoming procurement of medical supplies in close coordination of the Humanitarian Logistician, UNFPA country office procurement team, RO and HQ team.
● In line with requirements, ensure proper compliance with importation procedures and processes into Gaza as defined by national authorities, OCHA or UNCT.
● Identify suitable warehousing structures and transporters to store and manage medical supplies.
● Establish a stock management system including but not limited to physical movement, warehouse access rules, stock cards, bin cards, shelf-life, recording of movements both in
hard documents and software.
● Ensure proper record keeping as per organizations policies and procedures.
● In close coordination with the programme team, ensure distribution plan is clear and implemented for medical supplies in Gaza.
● Oversee / implement assessment of health facilities to ensure they are able to maintain the quality of goods. If needed, raise potential procurement needs for infrastructure, propose mitigation measures or conduct capacity building for staff at health facilities.
● Provide technical inputs to financial proposals including lead-time for medical commodities,
correct financial value for products, shipping, clearance and to budget additional cost for management of supplies.
● Establish a monitoring and reporting system to disseminate timely information to key
stakeholders.
For Pharmacy Supply Chain Deliverables:
● To advise and support the forecasting and quantification of pharmaceutical supply for UNFPA operation in close collaboration with the relevant country office units and relevant health stakeholders.
● Work with facilities supported by UNFPA supplies to ensure data collection on consumption and reporting to UNFPA, to inform future supply provision. To consolidate top priority needs
on a regular basis and as related to tracking mechanisms of the health cluster and SRH WG
● To provide technical support and inputs on planning and proposals.
● To support and advise emergency response coordinator and OM on updating and maintaining the supply plan.
● To provide technical advice on pharmaceutical management in accordance with the WHO
policies (GSP/GDP and the MQAS) as well as the national policy framework and support the update of national guidelines.
● To lead and coordinate, on the job training for the warehouse staff on the WHO Good Storage and Distribution practices with a particular focus on the handling of cold chain medicines.
● To facilitate the coordination between the stakeholders national and international partners and
the UN agencies in the field of pharmaceuticals, essential medicines supply chain.
● Support the OM to ensure that the CO meets quality assurance requirements for all locally procured supplies under the Fast Track Procedures (FTP).
● Draft specifications for medical logistics and pharmacy equipment based on the needs as requested
Qualifications and Skills Required:
Pharma & Health Qualifications & Experience (Essential)
● Undergraduate degree or Postgraduate qualification in Humanitarian Medical Logistics and Supply Chain related fields plus 3 years post-qualification professional experience working humanitarian health and pharmaceutical supply chains, for NGOs or country MOH, with a focus on procurement, inventory management and transport.
● Experience implementing logistics for medical supplies in complex environments and implementing mitigation measures to ensure quality of supplies is maintained
Pharma & Health Qualifications & Experience (Desirable)
● Undergraduate degree or Postgraduate qualification in Commercial Supply chain related
fields.
● Experience in the continuous quality improvement of the medical supply chain in humanitarian operations and assessing compliance with universally endorsed guidelines, protocols and standards for pharmaceutical management in all country programs.
● Knowledge of compliance and standards of implementation in line with WHO/national drug
guidelines, protocols and standards and drug purchasing best practices and guidelines.
● Experience in management/accountability mechanism for medical supply management to ensure coherence between global, regional and national health policies and strategies.
● Knowledge of a broad range of international humanitarian organizations and understanding of
the work they do and the practical reality of humanitarian operations.
Capacity Building (Essential)
● Experience in designing and delivering face-to-face training courses for humanitarian
organizations program medical, logistic and operations staff, focusing on adult learning principles and using participatory approaches and interactive learning to a diverse audience.
● Proven ability to take complex concepts and make them accessible to a range of audiences.
● Experience leading classroom training and comfortable interacting with all levels of
participants.
Capacity Building (Desirable)
● Extensive experience in curriculum design and training delivery.
● Experience developing or adapting training modules in line with organizational and contextual needs.
Other Requirements (Essential)
● Fluency in spoken and written English language necessary with preferred proficiency in spoken and written Arabic
● Strong customer service orientation with excellent oral and written communication skills.
● Flexible and adaptable attitude to work combined with a positive approach to problem-
solving.
● Personal attributes of courtesy, tact, discretion and respect with the ability to observe confidentiality and behave in an ethical manner at all times.
● Available for short-term assignments on a regular basis.