Updates
Quality supplies - even during crises
22 Nov 2022
Many crises and especially the latest global COVID-19 pandemic have shaken the humanitarian sector to innovate when it comes to fast response. Our UNFPA Quality Assurance colleagues established Fast Track Procedures for quality.
The procedures focus on the core and minimum quality requirements of each respective sexual and reproductive health commodity on a risk-based approach. This streamlined approach has tremendously reduced the turnaround time of responding to requests, including assessing dossiers from an average of 2 weeks to 48 hours upon receipt, while still assuring the quality of commodities.
Fast-tracking ensured a timeous turnaround during the height of the pandemic and has also been adapted in other settings including the recent Ukraine crisis with the influx of donations from different stakeholders.
The team is also working on reshaping the practice around in-kind donations to reduce the turnaround time, namely, the declaration and commitment by the Donor to donate, where possible already technically approved commodities within long-term agreements, because with this type of donation, extra quality assurance steps are waived
