Afghanistan: Logistics Development Review of Programme 2009-2015 and Development of Logistics Support Plan

Norwegian Red Cross (NorCross) has been supporting the Afghan Red Crescent Society in logistics capacity building and support since 2009. Areas of focus have included Procurement, Warehousing, Fleet management, asset management and jointly with ICRC Medical Logistics. ARCS’ capacity ability to meet the needs of the operational activities has been greatly increased.

The overall objective of the programme is:

ARCS manages its logistics services in an effective, efficient, transparent ad accountable manner in accordance with the national and international standards at local level

From 2009 the main achievements have included:

• Development of Procurement manual and implementation in 7 regional zones


• Development of the ARCS Fleet Management Manual


• Navision system in HQ and Regional Offices


• Development of the centralised warehousing system


• Support in the provision of medical warehouses and support to supply chain management


• Parallel support to Internal Audit department establishing Corruption Prevention policy and support in Finance development in finalising the ARCS audits

Norwegian Red Cross is now looking for an experienced consultant to undertake a full review of the programme with the expected outcome of; Assess the logistics programmes against the overall objectives of the programme covering Relevance; Impact, Effectiveness, Quality Assurance, Efficiency; Collaboration and Partnership and Continuation, expansion and sustainability.

The preliminary time line for the consultancy is 12 weeks, with a preliminary starting date of October / November (to be mutually agreed). With the following suggested time line:

1. Timeline of Process 3 months from October 2016 Week 1: Begin desk study
   Week 2: Travel to Kabul for interviews with stakeholders Week 3-6: Travel to the field (selection of Regional Offices, branches, ARCS Clinics and active distributions. Week 7: Desk review and analysis Week 8: Return to Kabul to present results and development of PoA. Submission of report with initial results. Week 9-12: Support NorCross and ARCS in the implementation of the accepted recommendations. Submission of final report.

The review is owned and managed by the ARCS with the technical lead provided by NorCross contracted external consultant. The consultant alongside the ARCS Director of Logistics, Deputy head of logistics, NorCross Programme Manager and Logistics Coordinator, IFRC logistics officer will be part of the team. ICRC will be a key partner in this review and have offered support in terms of medical logistics access and technical input an a focal point is to be identified based on availability of the time.

The external consultant is identified based on his/her technical and background knowledge on logistics in emergency and developmental context, knowledge and experience in working with the Red Cross and Red Crescent and experience in conducting a review is essential. An understanding and familiarity of the context in Afghanistan is preferable.