General Logistician

Being an all-round logistician with MSF is a diverse job!

From human resources and finance through to management of communications equipment, supply management,  vehicle maintenance and sometimes even water and sanitation, our all-round logisticians are often found in smaller MSF projects in which a limited team is required.

In summary, the role of a general logistician is to plan, coordinate and monitor all logistics related activities in the project area including all non-medical assistance related activities (shelter, food, water hygiene-sanitation and essential non-food items) and provide support to medical assistance activities, according to MSF protocols and standards in order to ensure an optimal running of the project.

Responsibilities  

All-round logisticians, by nature of the position, come from a variety of backgrounds, but they all have one thing in common - flexibility.

In a high security context where only a team of four can be sent, an all-round logistician will usually be part of the team. In a small project which is winding down and being handed over to a local authority, it is an all-round logistician who will manage all non-medical aspects of the work. This makes it a fun and diverse job, but requires people who can turn their hand to anything needed. 

As in all positions, training, supervising and managing local logistics staff is a key responsibility, and an all-round logistician will manage all logistics activities at field level and may have to work with a small team. There will be need to build the capacity of these local staff in order to keep all the logistics activities running.

It’s an exciting role and you would be responsible for some or all of the following:

• Managing a team of labourers, supply assistants, technical logistics assistants, , waste zone operators and various others
• Planning supply needs
• Setting up airplane runways, bunkers and managing expat accommodation
• Ordering food and supplies for both the expat compound and the health facilities
• Managing security on exploration missions
• Siting and constructing hospital buildings
• Managing hospital waste
• Performance management for national staff 
• Supervising hygiene promotion
• Budget management
• As well as any other non-medical tasks needing to be done