Job Title:            Global Advisor Humanitarian Pharmacy

Reports to:         Head of Health Support

Liaises with:      Logistics Team and Concern Health Teams (Dublin and Country Offices)

Job Location:     Dublin/Flexible location

Pay Band:           Global Banding Framework grade 6 (GBF6) €54,500 - €62,286pa

Contract:            Two-year, fixed term, with possibility for extension

Concern Worldwide works to develop and scale up effective, evidence-based interventions to promote optimum health, particularly among people living in extreme poverty and crisis-affected populations. The organisation actively supports Health programmes in 21 countries (including nutrition/WASH), as well as working in Livelihoods and Education sectors.

Concern sources and manages Health and Nutrition Products (pharmacy items, medical supplies, and equipment), through direct procurement or as donations in kind, across several country health programmes where there are gaps in the national pharmacy supply chain or if there is no supply chain in place, such as in conflict/humanitarian settings.  Concern procurement of Health and Nutrition Products is focused on life saving supplies for use in primary care settings and as such must be compliant with the WHO Essential Medicines List, donor procurement requirements and National Pharmaceutical Standards.  Concern liaises closely with the relevant Ministry of Health on distribution of pharmacy in country to ensure adherence to national standards and legislation where available. At health facility level Concern aims to ensure that pharmacy storage and dispensing is in line with acceptable minimum Ministry of Health (MoH)/Concern standards.  Concern also is committed to ensuring that patient safety and good standards of pharmacy management are central components to its work in medical supply chain.

The Job:

The Global Pharmacy Advisor will sit within the Health Technical Team, with a close working relationship with the Procurement Lead for Health and Nutrition Products and the Concern Head of Logistics in Dublin.   The Global Pharmacy Advisor will ensure that Concern as an organisation is maintaining all components of Pharmacy Good Distribution Practise and is adherent to relevant legislation and minimum standards in relation to pharmacy supply chain.  They will also be responsible for ensuring that medical supplies and equipment provided by Concern in country programmes will be of a minimum standard.  

They will be expected to provide technical support to Concern’s health programmes which manage pharmaceutical products to ensure that Concern’s minimum standards on pharmacy distribution management and administration are being adhered to as well as ensuring that we are compliant with any relevant in country legislation. The role supports Concerns overall health objectives by ensuring that essential medical supplies are available and used appropriately to meet the needs of the communities which Concern supports.

The Global Humanitarian Pharmacy Advisor will be expected to travel with up to 30% international travel anticipated for this position.

Key Responsibilities:

Developing Standards and Systems:

• Develop a specific set of global Pharmaceutical Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) based on Concern’s Procurement regulations around pharmacy supply chain management
• Develop a Concern Pharmacy Good Distribution Policy which outlines Concern’s parameters on pharmacy procurement and distribution with a specific focus on end point delivery to the patient
• Provide technical advice to the procurement team during pharmaceutical procurement processes
• Review Concerns Catalogue of Health and Nutrition Products and ensure this list continues to link in with the new Concern procurement app and future ERP
• Ensure that Concern is compliant with all relevant legislation/donor standards in relation to pharmacy supply chain procurement and distribution at a global level as well as across countries of operation  
• Support Concern to progress toward obtaining pharmaceutical licensing as relevant
• Liaise with relevant partner organisations and attend technical learning events hosted by Quamed and other organisations as required to ensure that Concern standards are in line with international best practice.

Quality Oversight:

• Ensure that Concern’s Pharmaceutical SOPs are being used in country programmes which manage pharmaceuticals, medical supplies and equipment and support any local adaptations required to ensure we are adherent to relevant national MoH Standards
• Across Country Programmes work with MoH medical supply management systems where available and work to strengthen such systems where possible
• Work as part of the wider Concern Team to provide technical support for country health Programmes with a focus on pharmacy supply chain management, appropriate storage, distribution practices and rational pharmaceutical use
• Ensure country programmes with large pharmacy components are undertaking monthly inventories, have appropriate stock management tools in place and that pharmacy orders are based on previous consumption or other objective assessment of needs
• Conduct Annual Pharmacy Audits on selected countries with high pharmacy procurement to ensure that Concern minimum standards are in place
• Support the roll out of Saga Stock Software (pharmacy management tool) where relevant across Country Programmes
• Analyse pharmaceutical consumption data in accordance with country clinical protocols and support the measurement and follow up on key performance indicators related to pharmacy stock management
• Along with Health Team ensure systems are in place at country level to ensure rational drug use-compliance with national Treatment Protocols
• In conjunction with relevant Concern Health Advisor review and validate pharmacy orders from Country Programmes ensuring appropriateness of order and compliance with relevant internal standards and external donor/national guidelines

 Skills you Will Bring:

Essential:

• Degree in Pharmacy, Pharmacist Technician or similar
• Knowledge of primary health care in humanitarian settings
• Minimum of 3-5 years’ experience in humanitarian pharmacy management in a variety of humanitarian health contexts
• Knowledge of WHOs Minimum norms and standards for Pharmaceuticals and medical supplies
• Understanding of the principles of Pharmacy Good Distribution Practice

Desirable:

• Previous experience of working in pharmacy at a regional or global level for an NGO
• Experience of being a Pharmacy ‘Responsible Person’ within the remit of relevant EU legislation
• Additional Language skills, French in particular
• Training and facilitation skills
• Experience of using Saga Stock or similar software packages for humanitarian pharmacy management an advantage

To apply:  CVs should be submitted through our website at https://jobs.concern.net by the closing date.

We encourage all eligible candidates, irrespective of gender, ethnicity and origin, disability, political beliefs, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or socio-economic status to apply to become a part of the organization. Concern is against all forms of discrimination and unequal power relations and is committed to promoting equality. 

If this role sounds right for you, please apply with your CV and cover letter. We will respond to every applicant. Please be aware we may offer positions before the closing date.

If you have any concerns about our recruitment process and need assistance - for example if you have a visual impairment or are neuro-divergent - please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate you. 

Concern has an organisational Code of Conduct (CCoC) with three Associated Policies; the Programme Participant Protection Policy (P4), the Child Safeguarding Policy and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Policy accessible here. These have been developed to ensure the maximum protection of programme participants from exploitation, and to clarify the responsibilities of Concern staff, consultants, visitors to the programme and partner organisation, and the standards of behaviour expected of them. In this context, staff have a responsibility to the organisation to strive for, and maintain, the highest standards in the day-to-day conduct in their workplace in accordance with Concern’s core values and mission. Any candidate offered a job with Concern Worldwide will be expected to sign the Concern Staff Code of Conduct and Associated Policies as an appendix to their contract of employment. By signing the Concern Code of Conduct, candidates acknowledge that they have understood the content of both the Concern Code of Conduct and the Associated Policies and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these policies. Additionally, Concern is committed to the safeguarding and protection of vulnerable adults and children in our work. We will do everything possible to ensure that only those who are suitable to work or volunteer with vulnerable adults and children are recruited by us for such roles. Subsequently, working or volunteering with Concern is subject to a range of vetting checks, including criminal background checking.

Your Personal Data

During this job application, you will provide Concern with your personal data. Concern takes its responsibilities towards this personal data very seriously and is committed to complying with all relevant data protection legislation.

Concern receives a substantial amount of funding from external donors each year.  Increasingly donors are introducing requirements whereby future funding is conditional on ensuring that the name of any employee or volunteer (existing or new), does not appear on terrorism lists generated by the European Union (List of person, groups and entities to which Regulation (EC No. 2580/2001 applies), the US Government (Office of Foreign Assets Control list of specially designated Nationals and Blocked Persons) and the United Nations (Consolidated List). 

Any offer of employment (either paid or voluntary) with Concern Worldwide will only be made following a successful clearance check being conducted on the applicant and such checks may be updated periodically during the course of the period of employment. 

By submitting a formal application for paid or voluntary employment to Concern, you agree to Concern carrying out a clearance check as outlined above and that Concern will not proceed to recruit you should your name appear on any of the aforementioned lists

In certain circumstances, donors may request that personal data relating to employees to work on the activities that they fund be provided directly to them - so that they can perform their own counter terrorism checks. This may involve transferring some basic personal data outside the EEA. It will be a condition of your employment contract that Concern be allowed to share this information with institutional donors for these purposes.

For additional information please consult our web site or contact the Human Resource Division in our Head Office.

You have certain rights under data protection legislation. For more information on how to exercise those rights please visit www.concern.net/about/privacy

Please only apply for this position if you are satisfied with the proposed processing of your personal data as outlined above.