Outsourcing has historically been provided by public employees and has been done so with a largely consistent rationale: that applying market mechanisms and private sector expertise to the work of governments can increase efficiencies, ensure that more products reach the patients and ultimately improve the effectiveness of the entire health supply chain. However, for governments (ministries of health, central medical stores, vaccine stores and supply chain agencies) to outsource their supply chain services, they need to have the internal human resource capacity to effectively manage these outsourced activities.

The outsourcing toolkit comprises three resources that have been designed to complement one another and is intended to support governments and national supply chain organisations to successfully outsource from a “people” perspective.

Centring on the outsourcing roadmap, the toolkit allows users to assess the maturity of their supply chain and their current people practices, and defines the steps to be taken before outsourcing can be adopted. The roadmap builds on PtD’s maturity model for human resources in supple chain management, Kotter’s 8-step process for leading change, and is informed by interviews with health supply chain managers in Africa.

The human resources for supply chain management Theory of Change (HR4SCM ToC) provides a useful basis for strategic planning, by providing a foundation for developing strategies to manage the quantity, type, and capacity of human resources required to operate health supply chains. The HR4SCM TOC analyses the conditions needed to ensure that workers at every level are performing optimally, in order to fulfill all the necessary functions of an effective SC system.

In 2019 GHSC-PSM, in collaboration with PtD, SAPICS and USAID, published a SCM Professionalisation Framework white paper outlining how a SCM professionalisation framework could be used by: › Governments to define the professional standards of the profession › Employers to articulate SCM competency requirements and career pathways in their organisations › Learning institutions of to define clear learning and teaching courses › SCM employees to map out a professional career in SCM In 2020, the same consortium worked together to complete the necessary elements of the ‘SCM Professionalisation Framework’.

The Workforce optimization tool: an easy, powerful method to optimize your supply chain.

As a follow up to the IAPHL and PtD moderated discussion on Supply Chain Leadership, we hosted a joint workshop IAPHL and PtD join forces to better understand Supply Chain Leadership at the 2018 Health and Humanitarian Logistics Conference.

One of the major challenges identified during the effective vaccine management (EVM) and HR rapid assessments carried out by UNICEF and its partners in various countries in 2016 and 2017 was the non-systematic approach to HR capacity development and the ad-hoc manner in which training is conducted. This haphazard approach to training means that learning is not optimized and does not result in the full impact being achieved in terms of immunization supply chain performance.

This toolkit forms part of the Country support package for Immunization Supply Chain Managers (iSCMs) as part of the implementation of the GAVI Alliance supply chain strategy and is designed to support anyone involved in change, especially those leading and managing initiatives with a focus on changing organizational behaviours. Many of the supply change initiatives outlined in the GAVI supply chain strategy and in EVM and other improvement plans will result in the introduction of new systems, processes and technology. In order for these changes to be sustainable it will also require a corresponding change in ways of working, behaviours and ultimately the culture of the organization.

Developed by USAID deliver project, this assessment guide and tool present a structured, rating-based methodology designed to provide a rapid, comprehensive assessment of the capacity of the human resource support system for a country’s supply chain.

This survey is part of a series of eight country surveys conducted in the context of the People that Deliver Initiative (peoplethatdeliver.org). This global initiative, which brings together the world’s largest organizations, aims to improve health services performance through the professionalization of logistics managers.

How can we make supply chain managers into true professionals serving health systems?