Food Technologist

WFP seeks candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian principles.

Selection of staff is made on a competitive basis, and we are committed to promoting diversity and gender balance.

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide.  The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetimes.  Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need.

These jobs are found in Headquarters (HQ), Regional Bureaux (RBs) or Country Offices (COs) and job holders report to a more senior Programme Policy Officer.
Job holders operate with a high degree of independence, manage more junior staff to ensure that programme and policy objectives are achieved in full. They are usually involved in a wide variety of programme and policy activities and analytical work, some of which may be of a considerable complexity. At this level job holders are expected to contribute to performance improvement.

Working in Nepal since 1963, WFP has extensive knowledge of the Nepal context as related to food and nutrition security, livelihood creation as well as logistics capacity and emergency response. At present, WFP Nepal operates across the country with tailored programming based on present and predicted needs. Being a well-trusted UN partner, WFP is uniquely well-placed to support the Government, as well as local communities to tackle the underlying factors causing hunger, to build self-reliance and improve food security. As part of its renewed global calls for holistic, multi-sectoral approaches to fighting malnutrition, WFP prioritize multisectoral nutrition programming as a key area for growth and acceleration of progress in nutrition. WFP’s global nutrition strategy is a multisector and holistic approach, where the multifaceted approach will galvanise implementation of both nutrition-specific, and nutrition-sensitive interventions.

Meanwhile, the Government of Nepal (GoN) has made remarkable progresses in the field of nutrition as evidenced by the reduction of national stunting rate from 57% in 2001 to 35.8% in 2016. Following the successful implementation, and lessons from the Multi-Sector Nutrition Plan (MSNP 2013-2017), the GoN formulated and implementing MSNP II (2018-2022) with aim of improving maternal, adolescent and child nutrition by scaling up essential nutrition-specific and sensitive interventions and creating enabling environment for nutrition. While promoting the production and consumption of diverse diets as priority strategy, improving the safety, quality, and acceptability of processed food is equally at the core of the multi sector nutrition strategy in Nepal.

Rice fortification is among the major program that WFP is supporting in Nepal, where in 2019 WFP and four government organizations; namely Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP), Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MOICS), Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC), and Food Management and Trading Company (FMTC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to implement a three-year plan of action (POA) on rice fortification programme in Nepal. The programme envisages to distribute fortified rice through FMTC in targeted remote and food insecure districts under an existing social safety net program. WFP’s role is to provide technical and financial support in carrying out several key programme activities including development of fortified rice standard, capacity building for establishing monitoring mechanism, procurement and installation of fortification equipment set at rice mills, etc.

Therefore, with the purpose of supporting implementation of WFP nutrition programming and strengthening related technical capacities of relevant Government Ministries, Private sector, and partners working on value chain addition, and to enhance food risk management in Nepal, WFP is looking for a food technologist with the following responsibilities and minimum qualifications.

To provide support to policy and programme activities that effectively meet food assistance needs.

Functional Area:        Programme

Position Title:             Food Technologist

Type of Contract:       Consultancy Contract

Duty Station:              Kathmandu

Contract Duration:     6 months (possible extension) 

Under the overall guidance of the WFP Country Director, and direct supervision of the Head of Nutrition (Nutrition Advisor) with matrix relation to Head of Supply Chain, the job holder will carry out the following tasks:

1. Coordinate food quality and safety activities in the country office in close collaboration with the program and supply chain team.

• Become familiar with and create a plan to implement requirements established in the WFP Quality Manual within the operations of the country. Familiarize and contribute towards the development and implementation of protocols and tools relating to food technology issues, ensuring alignment with WFP strategy, policies and plans.
• Facilitate the on-going process for finalization and approval of fortified rice standard
• Collate, analyze data and contribute to the preparation of reports relating to food quality and safety, to inform risk management and mitigation and contribute to a WFP wide view of food technology activities.
• Prepare evidenced based recommendations for senior staff on control measures to combat and reduce food commodity losses and food quality and safety issues. 
• Improve vendor management by assisting in the evaluation of food suppliers and suppliers and monitoring their corrective actions and preventive action plans (CAPA);
• Provide advice and monitor the implementation of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) to strengthen capacity of food suppliers and super cereal producers;

• Improve services provided by inspection and superintendence companies and analytical service providers; so that they meet WFP needs and align with international scopes of work and requirements;
• Technical review and capacity strengthening of the food safety and quality systems of the subsidized food supply chain managed by the Food Management and Trading Company of Nepal. (This may include commodities at farmers, storage, transport, sales depots & fair price shops.)
• Coordinate the improvement of supply chain management practices that include fumigation, sampling, product storage guidelines, loading procedures, stacking;
• Streamline the incident management system in WFP so that the organization better responds to food safety issues. In the event of food safety incidents, support investigation to document lessons learned and to prevent re-occurrence;
• Implement a traceability system so that WFP would be able to recall food if necessary;
• Provide support and advise on mitigation measures focused on minimize losses and damages for international procured food or in-kind contribution throughout the supply chain from Kolkata port to final delivery points.
• Collaborate with the regional fortification specialist on product improvement in areas of fortification, shelf-life studies, improved production process and packaging needs, based on the country’s geographical and programme areas.

2. Support capacity strengthening efforts to the Government line ministries on food technology

• Assist the Government in formulation of food safety regulations, standard setting, codex compliance etc.
• Support capacity building WFP staff and external stakeholders for efficient and effective delivery of food assistance to beneficiaries (e.g. through the design and review of training materials).
• Support Government with implementation of a traceability system so that the Government would be able to recall food if necessary;
• Assist Rice fortification programme by supporting and coordinating activities of the Rice Fortification Technical Committee (chaired by the Director General, DFTQC) 
• Coordinate with the Government Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC) on food quality and safety.
• Develop and deploy a capacity strengthening plan for first practitioners across supply chains of fortified commodities, especially rice. This includes needs identification, training plan preparation and development of indicators.
• Provide support during the installation and validation of equipment needed for the fortification rice in WFP-assisted factories. 

3. Enhance internal and external partnership and coordination

• Follow emergency preparedness practices to ensure WFP can quickly respond and deploy food and/or needed resources to affected areas at the onset of a crisis.
• Act in an assigned emergency response capacity as required to meet emergency food assistance needs.

4. Others as required.

Education: Advanced university degree in Food Technology, Biotechnology, Food Engineering, Biology, Chemistry, Microbiology or related field, or First University degree with at least 5 years of relevant work experience.

Language: Fluency in both written and spoken English and Knowledge of Nepali languages will be an advantage
 

Purpose

• Understand and communicate the Strategic Objectives: Understands WFP’s Strategic Objectives and the link to own work objectives.
• Be a force for positive change: Flexibly adapts individual contributions to accommodate changes in direction from supervisors and internal/external changes (such as evolving needs of beneficiaries, new requirements of partners).
•  Make the mission inspiring to our team: Recognizes and shares with team members the ways in which individual contributions relate to WFP’s mission.
•  Make our mission visible in everyday actions: Sets own goals in alignment with WFP’s overall operations, and is able to communicate this link to others.

People

• Look for ways to strengthen people's skills: Assesses own strengths and weaknesses to increase self-awareness, and includes these in conversations on own developmental needs.
•  Create an inclusive culture: Participates in open dialogue, and values the diverse opinion of others, regardless of background, culture, experience, or country assignment.
•  Be a coach & provide constructive feedback: Proactively seeks feedback and coaching to build confidence, and develop and improve individual skills.
•  Create an “I will”/”We will” spirit: Participates in accomplishing team activities and goals in the face of challenging circumstances.

Performance

• Encourage innovation & creative solutions: Shows willingness to explore and experiment with new ideas and approaches in own work.
•  Focus on getting results: Consistently delivers results within individual scope of work on time, on budget and without errors.
•  Make commitments and make good on commitments: Commits to upholding individual accountabilities and responsibilities in the face of ever-changing country or functional priorities.
•  Be Decisive: Makes rational decisions about individual activities when faced with uncertain circumstances, including in times of ambiguity regarding information or manager direction.

Partnership

• Connect and share across WFP units: Seeks to understand and adapt to internal or cross-unit teams’ priorities and preferred working styles.
•  Build strong external partnerships: Demonstrates ability to understand and appropriately respond to and/or escalate needs of external partners.
•  Be politically agile & adaptable: Portrays an informed and professional demeanor toward internal and external partners and stakeholders.
•  Be clear about the value WFP brings to partnerships: Provides operational support on analyses and assessments that quantifies and demonstrates WFP’s unique value as a partner.

Functional competencies including Providing guidance to team on the appropriate handling, storage, and preservation of food types to optimize use of resources; Knowledge of food safety and quality and product optimization concepts and principles to implement protocols and tools to relating to food technology issues; and Understanding of when to handle minor risks and/or escalate larger issues to appropriate authorities among others.

Experience:

• At least five years of postgraduate professional experience in overseeing quality assurance and quality control in the food manufacturing industry.
• Experience in the private or government sector in areas related to food safety and quality in Nepal is advantageous.
• Proficiency in Windows MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook);

Technical skills and knowledge: 

• Hands-on experience in R&D formulation and process optimization in a manufacturing setting. Knowledge of complementary food characteristics for children and other vulnerable groups is an asset;
• Experience in rice fortification or the rice milling sector is a plus

• Has implemented tools and protocols focused on safety and quality assurance i.e. Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP).).
• Experience of food safety and quality management systems (e.g. ISO, BRC, IFS, NS, etc.);
• Knowledge of shipments and clearing imports/exports with custom officials as well as warehouse and commodity management.
• Knowledge of regulatory affairs, food fortification and food safety and quality standards setting
• Training and experience in utilizing computers and standard software packages and systems;
• Good knowledge of UN system policies, rules, regulations and procedures is an asset.

Monday, 21 September 2020

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Female applicants and qualified applicants from developing countries are especially encouraged to apply

WFP has zero tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status.

No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.