A Humourless Lot» Logistics for health and aid: A Humourless Lot. Tag page for USA

Humourless Links for June 13, 2010

Michael Keizer — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 12:17:25 +0000

Remember my post on how to get patients and health care together? It turns out that I had forgotten one major factor: legal bickering. At least, in Australia.
Yet another idea to combat counterfeit medicine. Not a bad one as things go, but again missing the poorest. Not that I would know how to do better.
The UNDP has put out an RFP for ‘the Provision of Services to Strengthen the National Supply Chains for HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria Programmes in Northern Sudan’. Section 8 can lead to some interesting issues.
This year’s Aid & International Development Forum seems to have a lot of logistics subjects, starting with the first session: “Transport – How to achieve effective transport with smaller NGOs”. Could be very interesting if you are anywhere near. If you do go there, please post some feedback here.
Fast Company showcases eleven designs for when disaster strikes. Unsurprisingly, logistics figures prominently.
The International Transport Journal writes about aid logistics. It paints an overly rosy picture, but overall it is not a bad introduction into international emergency aid logistics.

[Image: Liquid Links by Desirae; some rights reserved.]

Latest job opportunities (June 11, 2010)

Michael Keizer — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 06:19:00 +0000

Crown Agents are looking for senior procurement specialists for their office in Arlington VA (USA) and Malawi; procurement specialists for Mongolia and Malawi; an ARV logistics officer for Botswana; a procurement consultant for Tanzania; a supply chain operations manager for Malawi; an SCMS deputy country director for Rwanda; a logistics assistant for their office in London (UK); public procurement advisors for several countries; and a team leader for Malawi
Save the Children is looking for an operations director, a senior procurement specialist and two roving logistics specialists for Haiti; a senior manager procurement, contracts and compliance for the West Bank/Gaza; and two senior logistics specialists to be based in Washington DC (USA).
Maxwell Stamp is looking for a project costing and procurement specialist for Laos
UNICEF is looking for a procurement assistant for their office in Geneva (Switzerland), a contracts officer for their office in Copenhagen (Denmark), and a supply and logistics specialist for North Korea. Sorry, no links, they still hide their vacancies behind a registration process.
DanChurchAid is looking for a field logistics officer for Katanga (Congo DRC).
Merlin is looking for deputy logistics coordinators for Côte d’Ivoire and Congo (DRC); a logistician for Congo (DRC); logistics managers for South Sudan, Kenya, Pakistan, Congo (DRC), and the Central African Republic; a logistics/administration officer for Gode (Ethiopia); senior logisticians for Grand Kru and Montserado (Liberia); and a surge logistics officer for South Sudan.
JSI is looking for a deputy chief of party SCMS for Nigeria.
Concern Worldwide is looking for a transport manager for Haiti; an assistant country director systems for Afghanistan; and a general systems manager and a logistics and administration coordinator for Zambia.
The IRC is looking for logistics managers for Congo (DRC) and Haiti.
The IFRC is looking for a trainee logistics delegate for based in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), an operation coordinator for Guatemala, a head of support services based in Panama City (Panama), a procurement delegate for Haiti, and a senior procurement officer based in Geneva (Switzerland).
MSH are looking for a senior program associate – supply planning/MIS/M&E for Bangladesh.

[Image: Job opportunities by Coffeechica. Some rights reserved.]

Latest job opportunities (May 12, 2010)

Michael Keizer — Wed, 12 May 2010 09:01:00 +0000

Mary’s Meals are looking for a logistics manager for Malawi.
Oxfam GB is looking for a logistics coordinator and a procurement manager for Haiti; and an HSP supply and logistics coordinator (based in their HQ in England).
IMC is looking for a logistics manager for Haiti, an operations manager for Sudan, and a logistics coordinator for Congo (DRC).
UNICEF is looking for a logistics manager for Haiti.
MSH are looking for a technical deputy director for Bangladesh.
UNFPA is looking for a humanitarian logistics specialist, based in their HQ in New York (USA).
ACTED is looking for a country logistics manager for Sudan, country logistics & security managers for Chad and Iraq, a logistics intern for Chad, and a pharmaceutical procurement manager for their HQ in Paris (France).
JSI is looking for a deputy chief of party SCMS for Nigeria, and a supply chain advisor intern.
Solidarités are looking for a logistics coordinator for Kenya/Somalia; a logistics support officer and a logistician for Haiti; and a flying logistician based in their HQ in France.
Merlin is looking for a supply chain manager for Pakistan.
Creative Associates International is looking for a procurement manager for Sudan.
The British Red Cross is looking for logistics and procurement delegates for Bangladesh and Haiti.
PSI are looking for an associate procurement & logistics officer, a procurement & logistics officer, and a voluntary pooled procurement & logistics officer, all for their HQ in Washington, D.C. (USA)
The PNG Advisory Support Facility is looking for a procurement manager and operations advisor.

[Image: Job opportunities by Coffeechica. Some rights reserved.]

Latest job opportunities (May 4, 2010)

Michael Keizer — Mon, 03 May 2010 14:01:00 +0000

UNDP is looking for a supply chain management consultant and a procurement advisor, both based in their HQ in Copenhagen (Denmark); and for a procurement specialist for Sudan.
The Mine Advisory Group is looking for a support services manager for Iraq.
MERLIN is looking for a deputy logistics coordinator for Congo (DRC); logisticians for Haiti and Congo (DRC); and logistics managers for the Central African Republic, Pakistan, Haiti, and Congo (DRC).
Marie Stopes International is looking for a senior procurement and logistics manager for their HQ in London (UK).
Crown Agents are looking for a procurement coordinator and a procurement specialist for the USA; an ARV logistics officer for Botswana; a procurement specialist and a senior procurement specialist for Malawi; a procurement consultant for Tanzania; a supply chain operations manager for Malawi; and an SCMS deputy country director for Rwanda.
A non-specified global health charity is looking for a finance & operations director for the UK.
ShelterBox is looking for an operations manager for the UK.

[Image: Job opportunities by Coffeechica. Some rights reserved.]

The unkindest cut: why gifts in kind are often a bad idea

Michael Keizer — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 11:15:05 +0000

Over the last couple of months, a lot has been written about old shoes, a.k.a. gifts in kind (GiK). Most commenters seem to agree that they are only appropriate in a fairly limited number of narrowly defined situations. Over at Tales From the Hood, J. has come up with two preconditions for GiK to be acceptable: they should fit programme design (instead of vice versa) and they should directly address the needs in the field. Of course, J. is correct as ever, but I do think that in this case he is not exhaustive. I will use the five rights of logistics to add to the list.

The right goods

Both J.’s preconditions are linked to this one. Of course, they should fit the needs of the people we are trying to serve, and that implies that the programme should fit these needs and that the goods delivered in turn should fit the programme. Another issue to keep in mind here is that they should also fit the way your organisation works: if nobody knows how to work that donated doodad, it could fit your programme like a glove but it would still be utterly useless.

The right quantity

GiK hardly ever come in the quantities needed: either too much or too little. In the former case, the challenges of dealing with the surplus could more than negate the advantages of receiving the gifts. In any case, it would be a good idea not to accept more GiK than are needed for the programme^[1]. If the GiK are not sufficient to cover the full need of the programme, the extra cost having to buy and handle smaller amounts of goods from multiple sources need to be taken into account as well.

The right location

Often, there are local or regional sources of the same goods that are donated. Obviously, these goods will be available at the programme location much faster and much more cheaply than the donated goods ever can be.

The right time

For most programmes, timing is crucial. An item can be really needed at some stage, arrive in just the right quantity and be available at the right spot, but if it arrives too late it will be as useless as a recipe for lumbard mustard for McDonald’s. If it arrives too early, it will needlessly clog up storage space (which is an important consideration in many of our programmes). It is hardly ever possible to time GiK correctly.

The right price

GiK are, as the name implies, free.

Well, no, actually they aren’t. There are serious costs connected to GiK: costs when organising collection and reception, cost when handling and shipping, costs when using. Good examples are the costs for the organisation of collection points, for bundling and preparation for shipping, for cleaning and repair, and for maintenance in the field. Similar costs are, of course, connected to goods bought from donated money; but almost always these costs are much lower than for GiK – sometimes so much cheaper that, all in all, it can be cheaper to buy them new than to pay for the costs to process the GiK.

Most people understand that this is the case when comparing local goods with GiK: obviously, it is quite possible that the cost of shipping items from Freetown, Kentucky to Freetown, Liberia could be more than the full price of the same item bought on the local market. However, this could also be true for items bought in (in this case) the US. This comes as a surprise for many people: how can it be cheaper to buy e.g. medicines locally and ship them over, than to have those drugs donated at the exact same spot for free? Yet this is true quite often, caused by e.g.:

having to combine items from various locations instead of shipping it directly from one location (the supplier’s);
use of standardised items designed for cheap and simple transport, e.g. because they are lighter, can be nested or because a multiple fits exactly in a standard shipping container;
being able to easily consolidate shipments, leading to lower shipping costs;
having to deal with reverse logistics after early expiry of goods (i.e. earlier than newly bought goods).

Gifts in kind are not always kind

Time to out one of my darker secrets: back in my younger days, I have been involved in a drive to collect gifts in kind for Romanian orphanages (after the revolution of 1989). I was highly disappointed and slightly upset when none of the large aid organisations wanted to accept our goods. Now, half a lifetime later, I understand why they did so. Gifts in kind can be the right thing – but often they aren’t. Both donors (when giving or organising drives) and aid organisations (when accepting the gifts) should keep this in mind – and logisticians have a special responsibility for explaining the issues.

Update (April 28): I hardly turned my back (had a long day of lectures and didn’t read my Twitter stream) or a new GiK initiative crops up. This time, somebody want to get 1,000,000 shirts to ‘Africa’. A good analysis of the goods and bads can be found on Amanda Makulec’s blog (and it is of course always nice to called a “development logistics guru”); Aid Thoughts has a rather snarkier take on things; Tales From the Hood comments on the rather aggressive media strategy of the founder (which basically seems to come down to, “let’s get this discussion off from the internet ASAP”); Texas In Africa lists better alternatives.

Update 2 (April 30): There are now more than 30 blog posts written about the whole 1 million shirts kerfuffle. A selection of the most interesting ones:

Tales From The Hood writes about the value of critique.
Unlike Tales From the Hood, Siena Anstis is ready to play nice, writes an open letter to the people behind it, and, surprisingly, actually gets a civil response.
On the other side of the snark divide, Alanna Shaikh takes down the initiators’ a couple of notches by analysing their video response.
Christopher Fabian analyses how the shirts broohaha might impact on future programmes.
Wanderlust writes a long but worthwhile analysis (or synthesis) of the whole business up to now.
T.M.S. Ruge at Project Diaspora is scathing, but also suggests some alternatives.
Owen Barder shines his typically insightful light on the crowd-sourcing of aid appraisals that seems to have taken place.
And a slightly cheekier take on things from the inestimable Dr. Kurtz at HRI.
Aid Thoughts steals my pun to write a great post on the economics of the initiative.

[Image: The Park House Club in Cardiff, wrapped as a gift by Howard Dickins. Some rights reserved.]

Footnote

Back to post [1] Of course, this is true for gifts in money, too, but I leave that fish for others to fry.

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Latest job opportunities (February 28, 2010)

Michael Keizer — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 01:52:00 +0000

One that is a bit different from our regular fare: Emory University (Atlanta, USA) is looking for a coordinator, programme logistics to coordinate distribution of a large donation antibiotics for the International Trachoma Initiative.
IRC is looking for for a senior logistics coordinator for Congo (DRC), a logistics technical specialist for Chad and Congo (DRC), a logistics process and controls documentation consultant for their HQ in the USA, a logistics manager for Haiti, and a logistics coordinator for their refugee programme in the USA.
Merlin is looking for logisticians for North Maniema, Congo (DRC) and for Haiti/Dominican Republic; logistics coordinators for Liberia, Kenya, Haiti, and Congo (DRC); and a supply chain coordinator for Congo (DRC).
Oxfam GB is looking for a regional logistics manager for West Africa, based in Dakar (Senegal). Apparently they are also looking for a regional logistics manager for Latin America and the Caribbean and a logistics coordinator for Sudan, but this is not advertised on their own site.
Save The Children UK is looking for a logistics adviser for Angola. They also seem to be looking for a global supply chain manager (based in the UK), but I cannot locate this vacancy on their site.
The IMC is looking for logistics coordinators for Haiti and Congo (DRC), and a logistics and commodities officer for their HQ in the USA.
Management Systems International (MSI) is looking for an administration and logistics coordinator for Afghanistan. They also seem to be looking for a deputy chief of party, finance and logistics management for Afghanistan, but that vacancy is not advertised on their own site.
The Louis Berger Group is looking for an administration and logistics coordinator for Afghanistan; I suspect that this is the same position that is advertised by MSI. They are also looking for a procurement manager for Afghanistan.
Intermón Oxfam is looking for a logadmin officer for Abéché (Chad) and a logistics officer for Warrab State (Sudan).
The American Refugee Committee (ARC) is looking for a logistics and security coordinator for Haiti.
Apparently, the Samaritan’s Purse is looking for a program manager, logistics for Haiti, but this vacancy is not advertised on their site.
Populations Services International (PSI) are looking for a consultant, operations and logistics technical advisor for Haiti; and a contracts analyst, a contracts assistant, a senior Zprocurement and logistics officer, a voluntary pooled procurement and logistics officer and a senior ditto, all for the HQ in Washington DC (USA).
Solidarités are looking for a logistics coordinator, a logistician, and a distribution manager for Haiti; an administrative and logistics coordinator for Zimbabwe, and a logistics and administrative field coordinator for Teknaf (Bangladesh).
ACTED is looking for logistic interns for Chad and Haiti, country logistic managers for Sudan, Chad and Haiti, and country logistic and security managers for Yemen and Iraq.
UNICEF are looking for a logistics officer for Sierra Leone, two supply and logistics specialists for Senegal, a senior contracts assistant for their HQ in New York (USA), a logistics specialist for Chad, a procurement assistant – planning for their supply division in Copenhagen (Denmark). As usual, their vacancies are hidden in a password-protected system, so I cannot link. Please don’t forget to bitch about this when applying!
The British Red Cross is looking for a logistician for their emergency response unit.

Sigh. Did anyone read my earlier rant on bad job advertisement practices?

[Image: Job opportunities by Coffeechica]

Do you know what you export?

Michael Keizer — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:05:41 +0000

I must admit that I am guilty: I have brought my Dell computer into Sudan — and out again, I am happy to say. But in doing so, I was in technical violation of various US export regulations. Over at Aid Worker Daily, Jon Thompson warned us about this already some time ago. I know that at least one international NGO decided on not buying Dells because of these regulations, even though they actually were otherwise the best for their organisation (they seemed to forget that almost every computer these days has regulated technology on board, even if it’s only wifi, so this was a particularly pointless exercise).

You might say: what does that have to do with me? I am not in America, my organisation is not incorporated in the US, what can the US government do to me? The problem here is that the US claims extraterritorial jurisdiction in many areas, of which this is one. When you bought your laptop or router, somewhere in the small print a clause was hidden stipulating that you would not export the technology to any country that is in the US’ bad books. Still, if you feel that you are untouchable for the US government, go ahead. I am sure SportingBet, a UK internet gambling site, felt much the same — until US law enforcement arrested their chairman. And don’t forget that many international NGOs get a large part of their resources from the US…

So what can you do? I see a couple of options:

Not use any regulated technology in prohibited countries. Might be an option for some organisations, but in view of the array of these technologies this is simply not an option for the (vast) majority of us.
Go the official route: get a license. Not easy, it needs expert legal input, it is a lot of work, and how are you going to do that in the throes of an acute emergency response? And one can wonder whether you will actually get a license for export to e.g. Sudan… although leveraging public opinion might force BIS to relent.
Keep your fingers crossed, go ahead anyway, and (again) plan to use public opinion if things do go pear-shaped and your CEO is arrested the moment she sets foot on US soil.

Whatever you choose to do, make sure it is a conscious choice: don’t get caught on the hop.

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