People that Deliver Newsflash
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In this issue:
- Special Feature: Promoting Women in Supply Chain
- Highlights from the Health & Humanitarian Logistics Conference
- News from Partner Organizations
- Upcoming Events
- In Our Next Issue
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Special Feature: Promoting Women in Supply Chain
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The
2018 SAPICS Conference
held in Cape Town, South Africa, organized a “Women in Supply Chain” panel discussion with Kea Mpane, Deborah Dull, MJ Schoemaker, Pamela Steele, Laura Singel Scott and Samer Almadhoun. This engaging panel along with Pamela Steele’s book Humanitarian Logistics: A Career for Women (2010) and other events such as the commemoration of International Women’s Day on March 8th with the Benin Association of Logisticians (AsLoB), inspired PtD to continue the conversation. To professionalize supply chain management, we need to encourage women to enter the supply chain as an exciting and challenging career with many professional development opportunities.
We are devoting this issue of the PtD Newsflash to the topic of women in the supply chain. PtD reached out to successful women working in both the public and private sector health supply chain to share their experiences and advice. Through this article PtD hopes to encourage more women to enter the supply chain and join the conversation.
Number 1 Challenge: Gender stereotypes
We are aware that women face numerous challenges working in the supply chain (SC) sector, so we asked our female SC leaders to point to what they thought was the number one challenge facing women. The pervasiveness of gender stereotypes remains an issue - because women are believed to possess certain traits and not others, the roles for which they are selected often keep them from opportunities for growth and from utilizing their full skill sets. In their article in the Harvard Business Review,
What Most People Get Wrong About Men and Women
, Catherine H. Tinsley and Robin J. Ely argue, “We will not level the playing field so long as the bedrock on which it rests is our conviction about how the sexes are different.”
Challenge: Balancing work and family
Balancing work and family is a challenge in most professions, however in the field of supply chain, the need for policies such as a flexible work schedule and maternity leave are often not prioritized as this has been a predominantly male-dominated field. The lack of family-friendly policies keeps women out of the profession and inhibits those already in the field from growing in their role and moving to more senior positions as they face competing priorities and aren’t working in an environment that accommodates them. Until sector-wide policies are implemented to improve working conditions for women, this will remain a barrier to entry into the field.
Challenge: Only 25% of leadership positions are held by women
Only 25% of senior manager and director positions in SCM are held by women (Gartner 2018). Improving gender diversity at senior levels is one way to combat gender stereotypes. As Azuka Okeke, put it, “It may appear that we are valued as workers, but not as leaders and this is mostly a cultural perception.” Yet, as Okeke explains, we know that “organizations with greater representation for women in senior roles experience better business outcomes.” Having more women at senior levels is a major step towards breaking the “glass ceiling” and encourages more women to join the field. Numerous studies have shown that companies with greater representation for women in senior roles experience better business outcomes.
Increasing visibility of successful women leaders
According to the
2018 Women in Supply Chain Research
conducted by Awesome and Gartner, “Increasing the visibility of successful women leaders as role models is one of the most important things companies can do to impact recruitment and retention, as well as advancement of women to senior levels.” We asked our female SC leaders for examples of how they achieved more visibility in their organizations that could potentially be applied elsewhere. First and foremost, organizations should be committed to gender diversity, which means actively recruiting equal numbers of men and women, creating diverse teams with a gender balance, and confronting unconscious biases.
Mentorship for women in SC remains important, but organizations and leaders must not only offer mentorship opportunities, they should take it one step further and consider
how
women are mentored. For example, as a mentor Carolyn Hart focuses on the need for her mentees “to develop their own personal leadership philosophies and management styles.” Senior women leaders also need to have the time and be given the platform to not only mentor junior staff members, but also share their experiences and highlight the successes of other senior women. Further, organizations have the responsibility to provide women equal opportunities to “take center stage” and make presentations and provide keynotes.
Changes in the SC that must occur
Given the challenges and the efforts organizations are making to encourage more women to join the supply chain profession and achieve success, we asked our female leaders about the changes in the SC sector that must occur in order to see real gender parity in the workforce. The professionalization of supply chain management was overwhelmingly the change they felt was necessary to encourage more women in SC. Caroline Barber explains that SC professionals, “need to better promote supply chain as the exciting and challenging career that it is” and to “encourage and recognize professional qualifications so that people understand that supply chain management requires a professional skill set, just like accountancy or engineering for example. More needs to be done on active promotion of women into the sector, across all levels with professional development opportunities.” Women must see the SC field as an exciting and engaging sector where they can succeed and thrive, rather than a male-dominated field with limited opportunities for growth.
Available resources: how to achieve success in the supply chain
Advocating for the professionalization of SCM is one of PtD’s mandates, and the board of directors along with secretariat staff advocate and promote for the recognition of SCM as a distinct profession that is attractive to both men and women. However, it is every SC professional’s responsibility to build the pool of women supply chain leaders. We asked our female leaders to share the resources, books, and tools that motivated and inspired them to achieve success in their career. These resources have been compiled and made available on the PtD website -
click here to view the list
.
The PtD Secretariat would like to thank all the women who took the time to contribute to this article. These women serve as role models and thought leaders for current and future generations of women in supply chain.
- Caroline Barber, Transaid, Chief Executive
- Yasmin Chandani, Director at JSI and inSupply Health
- Motomoke Eomba, VillageReach DRC, Country Director
- Shabana Farooqi, Guidehouse (formerly PwC Public Sector), Managing Director
- Carolyn Hart, John Snow, Inc. (JSI), Vice President, International Division
- Liz Igharo, International Association of Public Health Logisticians, Executive Director
- Chantal Kading , PeopleShop, Managing Director
- Kea Mpane, Transnet, Head of Logistics and Distribution
- Tikhwi Muyundo, Pamela Steele Associates, Ltd. Regional Representative - East & Horn of Africa
- Azuka Okeke, PHN-Africa Resource Centre for Supply Chain, Regional Director
- MJ Schoemaker, ProscE2E Pty Ltd, Director and Owner
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Highlights from the Health & Humanitarian Logistics Conference
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This year’s Health and Humanitarian Logistics Conference took place 18-19 July, in Dubai, UAE, with over 200 attendees from 120 organizations. The objective of the conference was to strengthen supply chains and related activities as well as facilitate dialogue across organizations and sectors. Both secretariat staff as well as Deputy Chair Paul Lalvani and board members Walter Proper, Carolyn Hart, Jenny Froome, Craig Nash, and board advisor Bridget McHenry were in attendance. This was the first time that PtD was part of the organizing committee for the conference.
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Keynote speaker: Jagan Chapagain, Under Secretary General for Programs and Operation, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
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PtD led and/or participated in several workshops and presentations:
- Addressing Supply Chain Talent and Know-How Shortages for the Health and Humanitarian Sector - facilitated by Prashant Yadav, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (with PtD, USAID, SAPICS and Empower School of Health presenting, among others)
- Building Human Resources Capacity: the People that Deliver Initiative Competency Compendium for Health Supply Chain Management - Dominique Zwinkels, People that Deliver and Jean Blackstock, Jean Blackstock Consulting
- IAPHL and PtD Join Forces to Better Understand Supply Chain Leadership - Liz Igharo, IAPHL and Dominique Zwinkels, PtD
- Bridget McHenry from USAID gave an oral presentation on the new PtD resource Building Human Resources for Supply Chain Management: A Theory of Change
The key takeaways from reflections on both days included the following:
- The Keynote speaker emphasized three points: using the whole of society approach, focusing on better coordination and collaboration; putting the community at the center of the action; and considering the whole public health system, not just humanitarian interventions.
- Logistics and supply chain management are moving to the forefront in health and humanitarian systems - scale and costs are recognized, investment in infrastructure is being made, and innovative approaches such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and management information systems are being incorporated into programs
- We're living in a risky world, to mitigate these risks we need investment in preparedness, infrastructure, capacity building and research
Pictures and presentations are available via the link: https://chhs.gatech.edu/conference/2018/program/presentations
Plans for next year’s HHL Conference are already underway, and PtD will again be a member of the organizing committee. We will provide updates in early 2019 on dates and location, so check back with us and make sure to follow PtD on
Twitter
and
LinkedIn
.
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(From left) Supply chain leaders Kevin Etter, Carolyn Hart, Dr. Rajata Rajatanavin, Bridget McHenry, Liz Igharo, Dominique Zwinkels, and Walter Proper discuss supply chain leadership during the joint IAPHL and PtD Workshop.
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News from Partner Organizations
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Severe Malaria Case Fatality Reduced by 96% in Pilot Project in Zambia led by Transaid, MMV and Partners
During the pilot, severe malaria child case fatality was drastically reduced from 8% to 0.25%, with three recorded deaths during the 12-month study period compared to 97 deaths that would have been expected in this period.
All suspected severe malaria cases identified in the community were given quality-assured Rectal Artesunate Suppository (RAS) (the pre-referral drug used in the community) and subsequently referred to a health facility. In addition, the project’s Emergency Transport System (ETS) supported more than 70% of all suspected severe malaria cases, with 1,066 transfers made to a health facility.
Severe malaria is highly prevalent in children under the age of five in the Serenje District and delays in receiving appropriate treatment costs lives. The MAM program pilot set out to improve malaria case management by introducing RAS and increasing access to other key malaria medicines. To achieve this, it was also important to bolster the Emergency Transport System (ETS) by equipping communities with additional bicycle ambulances and training new riders.
Transaid and MMV worked in collaboration with the National Malaria Elimination Centre (NMEC) of Zambia to procure WHO-prequalified RAS (100mg). This drug gives children with suspected severe malaria an initial dose of artesunate, providing a 12-hour window to seek treatment at a health facility. Without RAS, children with severe malaria stand a greater risk of dying before they reach a health facility. Once at the health facility, children were then given injectable artesunate followed by a 3-day oral antimalarial treatment course.
Caroline Barber, CEO of Transaid and PtD Board Member, says: “The number of lives saved is a real testament to how important timely access to healthcare services is and we’re delighted to be able to share such excellent results and are now looking at how this approach can be scaled up across Zambia.”
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Health centers rely on smooth supply chains for the lifesaving medicine they use to treat patients. And to run smoothly, supply chains need highly trained professionals to manage them. That’s why the
USAID Global Health Supply Chain Program-Procurement and Supply Management (GHSC-PSM) project
partnered with Addis Ababa University (AAU) in Ethiopia to deliver a new graduate-level supply chain management course. Through three months of close collaboration to create the course content, GHSC-PSM imparted enhanced teaching and curriculum design techniques to the university staff and left them with relevant curriculum for future use.
This approach goes beyond the traditional development model of increasing the knowledge and skills of individuals. Partnering with in-country universities considers the needs of the whole labor market. By improving institutional systems and performance — rather than just training individuals — GHSC-PSM is equipping Ethiopia to build and support its own supply chain workforce.
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International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) - Pharmacy workforce predicted to grow year on year in new report
On 4 September, FIP published the findings from the largest retrospective study of pharmacy workforce capacity conducted by any organization to date.
Workforce data were collected at several points between 2006 and 2016 from FIP’s member organizations in up to 75 countries and analyzed for trends. The report, “Pharmacy workforce intelligence: Global trends”, maps the global pharmacy workforce capacity and its growth to regions and country-level economic indicators. The number of pharmacists (per 10,000 population) has increased since 2006 and an increase in the global pharmacy workforce of up to 40% is projected between 2016 and 2030. However, low-income countries have experienced the slowest growth and the report’s authors warn of a continued widening income-based capacity gap between countries. Read the full
press release on the FIP website
.
The Pharmacy Workforce Intelligence Trends Report” can be found
here
.
The Pharmaceutical Workforce Development Goals can be found
here
.
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APICS 2018
30 September - 2 October 2018, Chicago, Illinois, USA: Each year, the APICS annual conference brings together thousands of professionals from around the world, covering all areas of the value chain. Whether you’re in logistics, procurement, manufacturing, or planning, APICS 2018 will have something for you! PtD Executive Manager, Dominique Zwinkels, will be attending this year’s conference. To learn more this year’s conference, visit
the APICS website
.
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11th Global Health Supply Chain (GHSC) Summit
28-30 November 2018, Radisson Blu Hotel, Lusaka, Zambia: The 11th Global Health Supply Chain Summit will focus on accelerating global health supply chain excellence through better supply chain system design, innovative financing for health supply / demand / performance, and deployment of new technologies (e.g., drones, sensors, digital health, etc.) & integrated information systems. Participants will hear about case studies, strategies, and frameworks from practitioners and academics in the above themes of this year’s summit. As in the previous conferences, the summit will assemble an impressive group of practitioners and experts from the global health supply chain field including academics, country planners, NGOs, logistics practitioners, pharmaceutical industry, and donor representatives. Conference organizers encourage both English and French speaking presenters and participants. The conference will provide French-English and English-French simultaneous translation throughout the entire event. The conference schedule includes:
27 Nov 2018:
PtD will be hosting a full day side meeting on a multi-sectorial approach to health supply chain labor markets. How can a whole of labor market approach and a detailed theory of change catalyze investments in this underserved area? Is leadership the key? Stay tuned for more information that will be broadcast through IAPHL and PtD.
28-29 Nov 2018:
- Keynotes, presentations, and discussions
- Finalist presentations and announcement of the 4th Global Health Supply Chain prize
30 Nov 2018:
- Training on relevant best practice tools in supply chain management;
- Academic session for doctoral students and young faculty to discuss research in global health supply chains
Attendees will thus get access to both best practice results, ideas regarding state of the art tools, as well as “how-to” ideas to improve performance in their respective contexts. The Summit will thus provide a forum for attendees to learn from the community of global health care supply chain experts. Challenges in health care delivering remain urgent, but the adoption of innovative practices, technologies and coordinating agreements provides hope for a brighter future.
The 11th Global Supply Chain Summit will also announce the winner of the 4th Global Health Supply Chain Prize, details regarding application for this prize will be forthcoming soon. If you have an innovative application and operate in a low or middle-income country, you are encouraged to share your success and become a contender for the prize. Selected finalists for will have the opportunity to present their initiative at the conference to a panel of judges, who will select the winner.
More details on registration, hotel information, etc. can be found on the
GHSC Summit website
.
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