National Specialist on Food and Nutrition Literacy - Turkey

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

FAO seeks gender, geographical and linguistic diversity in its staff and international consultants in order to best serve FAO Members in all regions.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Qualified female applicants and qualified nationals of non-and under-represented member countries are encouraged to apply.

Persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply.

All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Organizational Setting

The “Improving national food safety systems and regional cooperation” project (GCP/RER/062/TUR) will focus on strengthening of food safety control systems in five countries in the region, Azerbaijan; Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, Tajikistan, and Turkey, fostering regional cooperation. Recognising that the food safety control systems of the countries are in different stages of development, the project will focus on specific country needs, as well as on several common challenges of regional perspective. To achieve the project results, exchange of knowledge and experiences will be facilitated among the project countries, building on the Turkish experience for further expansion to the project countries, namely Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova and Tajikistan. In addition, synergies, communication and knowledge transfer will be facilitated with other completed and ongoing food safety projects, allowing for efficient use of capacity development resources and harmonizing approaches in the region.

Reporting Lines

The National Specialist on Food and Nutrition Literacy will work under the overall supervision of the Sub-regional Coordinator for Central Asia, the direct supervision and technical guidance of the Lead Technical Officer (LTO) / REU Food Safety and Consumer Protection Officer, and the operational guidance from Field Programme Unit (FPU) of FAO Sub-regional Office for Central Asia (SEC) in close cooperation with relevant sections of SEC and FAO Turkey (FETUR),the relevant national authorities and other international and national consultants.

Tasks and responsibilities

The National Specialist on Food and Nutrition Literacy will undertake the following tasks:

• Collect all the necessary information and materials to review the current capacities and the enabling environment on food literacy in Turkey including relevant regulations and policies (i.e. labelling, nutritional value declaration rules, risk communication with the consumers), studies on consumer awareness, international reference resources), present in a background report;
• Identify and map out the key stakeholders in the country on food and nutrition literacy;
• Meet with the government departments and identified stakeholders outside government departments (consumer associations, academia) and collect necessary information;
• Prepare a public survey to measure the knowledge of consumers (to be decided);
• Working closely with the LTO, analyze the information collected and prepare a report of the findings on food literacy in line with the country context;
• Prepare a way forward recommendation report for increasing the awareness on food literacy in the county, present and agree with the government;
• Present the findings and way forward on food literacy at the regional meeting on risk communication;
• Arrange for the translation of materials and other technical documents;
• Prepare a report on the assignment with main conclusions and recommendations for the follow-up;
• Undertake other tasks as necessary.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• University degree in nutrition, public health, food science, food policy or related fields (Masters/PhD is advantage);
• At least 7 years of relevant experience in nutrition, food literacy, consumer behaviour, and/or food safety;
• Working knowledge in English and proficiency in Turkish language
• National of Turkey or official resident in the country with a regular permit

FAO Core Competencies

• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

• Experience in advising senior management of Ministries with responsibility for nutrition and official food safety control would be an asset.
• Quality of both oral and written communication skills
• Ability to plan and organize institutional and technical work and support work of multi-disciplinary teams
• Extent of relevant experience in program/project management experience
• Experience in developing training materials, and delivery of training courses
• Demonstrated analytical, negotiating and advisory skills
• Computer literacy
• Specific experience of research, project management and organization of technical workshops or webinars; work with government authorities.

______________________________________________________________

Please note that all candidates should adhere to FAO Values of Commitment to FAO, Respect for All and Integrity and Transparency.