Supply and Logistics Assistant

The United Nations General Assembly has entrusted UNICEF with the mandate to promote the protection of children’s rights, help meet their basic needs, and expand the opportunities available to them so that they can reach their full potential. UNICEF is guided by the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and strives to ensure that these rights become enduring ethical principles and international standards of conduct toward children. UNICEF reaffirms that the survival, protection, and development of children are universal development imperatives and an integral part of humanity’s progress. UNICEF mobilizes political will and material resources to help countries—particularly developing countries—ensure that children have priority access to resources, and to build the capacity to establish appropriate policies and provide services for children and their families. UNICEF is committed to ensuring that special protection is provided to the most vulnerable children: victims of war, disasters, extreme poverty, all forms of violence and exploitation, and children with disabilities. UNICEF responds to emergencies by protecting children’s rights. In coordination with United Nations partners and humanitarian agencies, UNICEF makes its unique rapid-response services available to collaborating organizations to alleviate the suffering of children and their caregivers. UNICEF is a non-partisan organization, and its assistance is non-discriminatory; in all its work, priority is given to the most disadvantaged children and the countries most in need. Through its country programs, UNICEF aims to promote equal rights for women and girls and to support their full participation in the political, social, and economic development of their communities.

In response to operational needs and with the aim of strengthening the office’s procurement unit, there is a need to recruit a United Nations Volunteer (UNV) to serve as a Supply and Logistics Assistant. This assignment is driven by the need to ensure the timely and efficient implementation of the 2026 procurement plan, as well as to provide technical support in the design and implementation of the local supply strategy. Furthermore, this role will be essential for conducting a comprehensive market survey, which will enable the creation and maintenance of an up-to-date, strategic database of suppliers, thereby optimizing the identification of key products and services to respond quickly and transparently to the office’s needs.

Within the framework of delegated authority and under the supervision of the Operations Officer and/or their designated representative, the UN Volunteer will perform the following tasks: Procurement/contracting: - Provide input to the annual Supply Plan. Conduct data review and analysis for category management and assist in the development of procurement strategies. Support market research in relevant areas for UNICEF and assist in gathering evidence on the best approaches to sustainable and best value for money procurement. - Where relevant, support product innovation and market shaping initiatives for specific categories of supplies and services providing relevant data. - Liaise with colleagues from respective programme sections in planning procurement and contracting initiatives, supporting development of relevant specifications, terms of reference, and logistics arrangements and timelines. From lessons learnt, contribute with good practices to strengthen sustainability of supply chains. - Prepares documentation for the establishment of Long Term Arrangements (LTAs) and act on specific procurement requisitions as might be required. Prepare and process Request for Quotations (RFQs), Invitations to Bid (ITBs) and Requests for Proposals (RFPs), as might be requested by the Supervisor. Assists with bid openings, and technical and financial analysis of offers as might be required. Conduct clarifications with suppliers. - Prepare requests for award including submissions to Contract Review Committee. Prepare purchase orders and contracts in SAP (ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning system), and submit for relevant approvals, ensuring completeness of documentation in UNICEF systems. - Keep stakeholders/partners informed on the progress of procurement processes. Liaise with suppliers, ensuring timely follow-up on delivery schedules Implement appropriate vendor management practices e.g. supply performance reviews. - Regularly monitor dashboard reports and coordinate to ensure necessary supply action is taken in a timely manner in support of UNICEF Programmes. - Regularly extract reports on the status of the existing LTAs, contracts, Purchase Orders (POs) and take necessary action in coordination with the relevant Programme. - Conduct local market surveys on ongoing and regular basis for identification of potential suppliers to procure the goods and services at competitive costs. In-country logistics: - Provide input on the logistics component of the supply plan, including advising on infrastructure constraints (e.g. customs clearance, port capacity, transport options and warehousing capacity) and different delivery mechanisms. Keep track of demurrages and detention charges. Negotiate with Airport/Port/Shipping Line for waiver of demurrage/detention charges whenever required. Calculate budget requirements for various delivery modalities and ensure establishment of budget with the colleagues from the respective programme sections. - Liaise with supply colleagues as well as colleagues from respective programme sections, use supply dashboards to ensure pipeline monitoring establishment of appropriate logistics capacity. Monitor progress of offshore and/or regional procurement and take action to ensure timely customs clearance of supplies entering the country. Perform research, collect data and conduct analysis, produce reports and ensure information accuracy in corporate systems to enable informed decision-making. - Provide support in logistics, following standard processes and contributing, directly or indirectly, to the effective delivery of programme supplies. Liaise with internal and external stakeholders to support logistics operations management and contribute to effective service delivery. - Review needs for contracting of logistics third party services (e.g. customs clearance, warehousing, transport, distribution) and transmit all supporting information for contracting of such service providers including establishment of KPIs and performance monitoring mechanisms. - Maintain and process documentation for execution of logistics operations (e.g. customs clearance, invoice verification), and take appropriate actions to resolve operational issues, escalating complex issues to the supervisor. Warehousing and inventory management: - Following UNICEF policies and procedures, assess warehousing capacity including facilities, conditions of equipment, manpower, and processes. Propose corrective actions to supervisor. Assess new warehouse facilities when required. If necessary, assists the implementation of new warehouse facilities which may include installation and assembly of temporary warehouse structures (e.g. Wiik-Halls/Rub Halls type structures). - Support to the maintenance of appropriate warehousing and inventory management processes in support of the country programme implementation. Ensure accurate and complete accounting, reporting and internal control systems are in place, and relevant records are properly maintained. - Assess availability of space and prepare stacking and storage plans to ensure appropriate storage and optimize use of space. - Supervise receipt of consignments and dispatch of supplies. - Prepare stock reports. Monitor inventory to track trends and account for the inventory status from source to beneficiary. Carry out regular physical counts of inventory in the warehouse. Prepare documentation for commodity disposal through Property Survey Board committee. Keep track of near to expiry supplies ensuring FIFO (First In, First Out) and FEFO (First Expired, First Out) approaches. Alternative delivery mechanisms and procurement services: - Ensures continuous availability of data related to procurement, including forecasting, requisitions received, orders placed, incoming goods, actual delivery schedules. Prepares periodic reports, and ad-hoc reports as needed. - Support assessment of and collaboration with implementing partners including civil society, for establishment of Programme Cooperation Agreements (PCAs), and monitoring of supply components under Harmonized Approach to Cash Transfers (HACT). - Assist in activities that lead to building partnerships and collaborative relations with UN organizations to support harmonized and collaborative procurement and logistics arrangements. - Support Procurement Services (PS) transactions and projects in collaboration with programme sections and UNICEF Supply Division (SD). As appropriate, support partners on forecasting and costing of PS-channel supplies. Monitor the submission of requests, PS cost estimates, Purchase Orders (POs) and/or Copenhagen Warehouse Stock Transfer Orders on PS Sales Orders. Follow up with SD and UNICEF freight forwarders as needed on timely delivery/shipment of PS orders. Support communications and follow up with programme colleagues and partners regarding partnership requests and negotiations as required. - Maintain up-to-date files for all Procurement Service transactions, including a system for monitoring the various stages of each transaction. - Monitor the incoming pipeline of PS shipments. If required based on the division of responsibilities agreed in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Cost Estimate (CE), assist the arrival, customs clearance, storage, packing and in-country distribution of PS commodities to the agreed delivery point. Other duties/responsibilities: - In collaboration with supervisor, Supply Division, Regional Office and the global supply community, provide input to help ensure knowledge exchange and learning is prioritized to continuously build capacity of individuals and the team. Develop and facilitate training of newcomers, provide inputs towards establishment of processes or manuals to support effective workflows.