UNICEF’s Supply Chain Maturity Model Enhances Global Health
Effective national supply chains are essential to ensure sustainable access to safe, quality and affordable supplies for pregnant women, mothers, new-borns, children and adolescents.
Despite significant investment, the performance of these supply chains often falls short of the needs and expectations of those they aim to serve.
UNICEF’s Supply Chain Maturity Model is here to change that. This participatory, qualitative, government-led assessment identifies whether supply chain management is hindering access to crucial services.
The model evaluates 13 key operational and technical functions across five levels. Level 1 indicates minimal development, while Level 5 represents best practices in supply chain management.
How the model works
The evidence collected through the Maturity Model is vital for planning, coordination and targeted investment among partners. By deploying this model, UNICEF aims to:
Assess strengths and gaps: The model highlights strengths, gaps and priorities across public supply chains. It establishes performance baselines, guiding the development of supply chain strengthening plans. These plans aim to improve equitable access to essential products and services for children.
Coordinate technical support: UNICEF offers expertise to support governments' targets. This includes boosting domestic resource mobilisation for supplies, deploying innovations to reach remote areas, improving product tracking from manufacturer to end-user, digitalising supply chains and professionalising the supply chain workforce. These efforts help partners align their support with governments' specific objectives.
Evaluate impact: The model serves as a Monitoring and Evaluation framework to measure the effectiveness of interventions. By tracking progress along the maturity continuum, it ensures that efforts lead to tangible improvements in supply chain performance.
“Getting supplies to children and communities has never been as challenging,” explains Etleva Kadilli, Former Director of UNICEF Supply Division.
“Multiple and concurrent emergencies, coupled with the current macro-economic context is exacerbating problems in a supply chain already weakened by the pandemic.
"It’s also highlighting the interdependencies that exist in the end-to-end supply chain, such as access to raw materials, shipping delays, rising inflation and soaring energy prices.”
Etleva adds that supply chain management is "not as simple as buying products off the shelf. It requires close collaboration with diverse partners to ensure children in different countries and areas get what they need to live, improve their lives and be safe and healthy.”
Broadening access through targeted strategies
Since 2019, 30 governments have adopted UNICEF's Supply Chain Maturity Model to identify investment needs, deploy corrective actions and improve access to essential products and services across sectors like health, nutrition, education and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).
The findings from these assessments have been instrumental in forging partnerships and identifying synergies among various stakeholders.
To facilitate this, UNICEF has created the System Strengthening Cross-Partner Coordination Platform.
This platform allows partners to register their initiatives and view supply chain strengthening activities in different countries. By enhancing visibility and coordination, it maximises the impact of investments and streamlines resources.
The path forward
UNICEF's Supply Chain Maturity Model represents a significant step in ensuring that supply chains are no longer a barrier to accessing essential services.
By focusing on strengthening national systems, it helps ensure that every child, mother and family has access to the products and services they need to thrive.
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