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WFP seeks candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian principles. Selection of staff is made on a competitive basis. We are committed to promoting diversity and the principle of equal employment opportunity for all our employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of religion or belief, ethnic or social background, gender, gender identity and disability.

JOB DETAILS

Job Title: International Consultant- Food Technologist (Wheat Flour Specialist)
Grade: CST II
Type of contract: Consultancy
Duration: 06 Months (with possibility of extension)
Duty Station: Kabul
Vacancy Number: 764583
Date of Publication: 09 April 2023
Deadline of Application: 23 April 2023

ABOUT WFP

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the leading humanitarian organization saving lives and changing lives, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience.

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

With an engaged government, rich natural resources and a young and diverse population, Afghanistan has the potential to make significant progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. However, a complex and protracted conflict, combined with challenges related to climate change, demographics, gender inequalities, and underemployment issues, have dramatically impeded the country’s efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, including goal 2 on zero hunger.

Afghanistan remains one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises with 28.3 million people – two-thirds of the population – in need of humanitarian assistance. Decades of conflict, extreme climate shocks, and severe economic decline characterized by high unemployment, cash shortages, and rising food prices have plunged millions into poverty. According to the 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan, some 20 million people are acutely food insecure between November 2022 and March 2023, including more than 6 million people on the brink of famine-like conditions in IPC Phase 4 (Emergency). Further, the global food and fuel crisis makes it harder for already vulnerable households to meet their basic food needs. In response to unprecedented levels of hunger and vulnerability, WFP has scaled-up humanitarian operations with the aim to reach 23 million people in 2022 with emergency food, nutrition, and livelihoods support. Present in Afghanistan since 1963, WFP’s current Country Strategic Plan (2018-2023) has adapted to the new operating environment, providing lifesaving support to those who need it most, while continuing, where possible, to support long-term community resilience, gender, and education initiatives.

Results from WFP’s latest Afghanistan Food Security Update Round 13 (Sep-Oct 2022) show that, on average, 90 percent of household income is spent on food, while 50 percent of households rely on crisis level coping strategies to meet their basic food needs. Furthermore, 90 percent of households continue to face insufficient food consumption for the 12th month in a row. Female-headed households are disproportionately affected, with 84 percent experiencing insufficient food consumption, compared to 50 percent of male-headed households.

JOB PURPOSE

WFP Afghanistan Country Office continues to work towards its mandate of supporting local economies through local procurement. In November 2022, WFP procured 26,284 mt of locally produced wheat flour, valued at US$14 million, for distribution across Afghanistan. As of end November, WFP prepositioned 86,500 mt of food out of the planned 100,000 mt in hard-to reach areas head of the winter hunger season.

WFP is also buying other commodities from the local market multiple food items – iodized salt and High Energy Biscuits. These are produced at local manufacturers, contracted by WFP, and need to be constantly complying with organization technical expectations.

As part of the Food Safety & Quality (FSQ) Unit in Afghanistan, reporting to head of FSQ Unit, the incumbent will be responsible for technical and advisory role on food quality and safety.  The incumbent will be responsible to enhance the technical capacity of local food manufacturers, primarily fortified wheat flour millers, to meet WFP’s technical expectations, support FSQ unit in the implementation of food safety and quality guidelines across the supply chain.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

The job holder will carry out the following tasks:

1.    Coordinate food quality and safety improvement of local manufacturers, primarily wheat flour millers, in the country office in close collaboration with the supply chain team.

• Familiarize themselves with the WFP requirements for millers as well as WFP’s overall FSQ Manual.
• Baseline the quality management systems of potential and registered local food suppliers (millers in particular) and verify facilities compliance with WFP expectations, including ISO 22000, ISO 9001.
• Assist millers to close all gabs identified in earlier audits/assessment by proposing optimal solution with respect to the context.
• Support local millers in improving internal processes and production modalities to produce complaint products with WFP specifications.
• Transitioning local suppliers from dependency on WFP-led quality control to independent quality assurance and management.

2.    Coordinate incident management upstream and downstream for wheat flour.

• Support operations through technical support in tackling potential and actual incidents involving wheat flour and other food product.
• In liaison with Pakistan, Afghanistan and HQ teams, close incidents by identifying root causes, particularly related to wheat flour, whether locally, regionally or internationally purchased.

3.    Support FSQ Unit in enhancement of quality culture across the organization.

• Support WFP operation teams by nurturing quality culture across the supply chain where staff shall be aware about the technical characteristics of products handled. This could be through trainings, on-site visits and on-the job learning.
• 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.

4.    Others as required.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education:  

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

Functional Capacities:

• Functional competencies including provision of guidance to team on the appropriate handling, storage, and preservation of food types; knowledge of food safety and quality and principles to implement protocols and tools to relating to food technology; 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.

Technical Skills and Knowledge:  

• Hands-on experience in wheat flour manufacturing, with mandatory experience in running factories. Laboratory experience in wheat flour manufacturing will not be considered relevant.
• Demonstrated capacity in implementing 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 & quality management systems (e.g. ISO, BRC, IFS);
• Knowledge of regulatory affairs, food fortification and food safety and quality standards setting.

Language:

• Fluency in both written and spoken English and Knowledge of Nepali languages desirable.

HOW TO APPLY

To be considered, interested candidates are invited to apply via (https://www.wfp.org/careers/job-openings).

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted. We want to ensure the recruitment process is fully accessible. Please contact us at afg.hrrecruitment@wfp.org to advise us of any accessibility needs you may have.

WFP has a zero-tolerance approach to conduct such as fraud, sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to WFP’s standards of conduct and will therefore undergo rigorous background verification internally or through third parties. Selected candidates will also be required to provide additional information as part of the verification exercise. Misrepresentation of information provided during the recruitment process may lead to disqualification or termination of employment

WFP will not request payment at any stage of the recruitment process including at the offer stage. Any requests for payment should be refused and reported to local law enforcement authorities for appropriate action.