PROCUREMENT ASSISTANT (FOOD SAFETY AND QUALITY CAPACITY STRENGTHENING), SC-5 at World Food Programme (WFP): (EADLINE 17 October 2023)

Career Opportunities: Procurement Assistant (Food Safety and Quality Capacity Strengthening) – SC 5 (829726)

WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or disability.

ABOUT WFP

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.

POSITION DETAILS

Position Title: Procurement Assistant (Food Safety and Quality Capacity Strengthening), SC-5
No of Openings: 1
Contract Type: Service Contract (SC)
Position Grade: SC-5
Unit/Division: Programme and Policy
Duration: 1 year (renewable) depending on performance and availability of funds
Duty Station: WFP Field Office Huye, Rwanda
Closing Date: 17th October 2023

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

World Food Programme:
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the world’s largest humanitarian agency, fighting hunger worldwide. WFP Rwanda works in partnership with the Government and other stakeholders through the direct implementation of integrated programmes targeting the most vulnerable people and will progressively shift towards building national capacity to formulate, manage and implement programmes for achieving zero hunger. In implementing its activities, WFP will bridge the humanitarian–development nexus and leverage its extensive experience and the contributions it has made in Rwanda over many decades in order to achieve four strategic outcomes outlined in the WFP Country Strategic Plan (CSP). Strategic Outcome 2 focuses on ensuring that vulnerable populations in food-insecure communities and areas have improved access to adequate and nutritious food all year. This Outcome encompasses capacity strengthening and direct programme implementation in the areas of school feeding, social protection, disaster risk management, food security and vulnerability analysis, and climate-resilient livelihoods programming.

WFP Rwanda, Under Strategic Outcome 2, has close engagement in the national school feeding agenda. WFP provides school feeding in food insecure areas and, at the same time, acts as a key technical partner of the Government of Rwanda in developing and expanding the National School Feeding Programme (NSFP) that was launched in 2021, providing school meals in all public schools from pre-primary to the secondary level funded from the national budget. This builds on long-standing collaboration between WFP and the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) and other ministries on the design of the programme and its decentralized procurement model. The recently approved procurement model empowers schools to procure fresh foods and food products from animal source while the district procures non-perishable or long shelf-life meals with a preference given to smallholder cooperatives as suppliers. WFP’s technical assistance has a specific focus on strengthening this procurement model through periodic reviews, technical advice and capacity strengthening at the central and decentralized levels.

COUNTRY CONTEXT AND RESPONSE

In the 2020/2021 school year, the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) rolled out a nationwide scale up of the government school feeding programme that now reaches 3.8 million pre-primary, primary and secondary students in public schools in the 2022/2023 school year. The national strategic vision of school feeding in Rwanda is for all school children to achieve their full development potential through a sustainable school feeding program that provides adequate and nutritious meals at school. This plan entails providing nutritious and locally sourced meals to schools, with foods purchased from smallholder farmer cooperatives and local markets. To support the National School Feeding program (NSFP) the GoR has developed and distributed the School Feeding Operational Guidelines which provide guidance on meal composition, meal costs, procurement of foods, food management, and meal preparation, among other key areas.
Due to the national scale up, the Government has adopted a more relevant and sustainable procurement model with focus on locally sourced foods where the procurement of longer shelf-life foods will be conducted at the district, while the procurement of fresh foods will still be conducted at the school.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNEMENT

In 2021, WFP launched a 3-year initiative called the Power of Procurement for Nutrition (PP4N) with support from the Rockefeller Foundation, which focuses on leveraging institutional food procurement for school feeding to become a major promoter for food and nutrition security, create at-scale demand necessary to enable at-scale supply, jumpstart sustainable virtuous cycles that ignite commercial markets and lead to affordable healthy diets for all. The project’s vision is to enable nutrition-positive, budget-neutral approach to improving the diets of the most vulnerable while growing the market for nutritious foods and in the long term aims to incorporate carbon and environmental neutrality. PP4N is based on 4 pillars:

1. Procurement: supply of nutritious and safe food, capacity strengthening on food supply chain management and procurement, with focus on food safety and quality and social and behavior change communications,
2. Policy: policy influencing and advocacy around nutrition in public procurement and building systems and capacities for the safe and cost-efficient utilization of other nutritious foods,
3. Data: invest in areas of evidence deemed necessary like Global Meal Quality Score (GMQS) and market assessments and
4. Innovation: identify and test different models for delivery of affordable nutritious meals for school children e.g., renewable energy, new menu options etc.
   This position will be responsible for supporting the implementation of activities related to pillar 1: Procurement.

JOB PURPOSE

Provide capacity strengthening, operational support, monitoring and evaluation, and training focused on perishable and non-perishable food items for school feeding. This position will support districts (Nyamagabe and Nyaruguru) and schools in those districts, both in oversight and providing capacity strengthening on food safety practices and procedures for school feeding.
This includes ensuring that fresh foods and food products (including animal-source foods) at school level as well as commodities at district level (rice, maize flour, beans, oil, sugar) meet the established standards of quality and safety set by national regulatory authorities, inspecting the workplace for compliance and identifying any areas of concern, investigating customer complaints, and preparing reports on food quality and safety.

This position will be based in WFP Huye Field Office, and the incumbent will work closely with WFP Procurement staff, and the School Feeding team and the Food Safety and Quality Officer in the Country Office. The incumbent will be under the overall supervision of the Head of Field office and will report to the Logistics Officer (Food Technologist).

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES 

Provide technical expertise and guidance to schools for improved food handling and food safety practices in food storage and management in school feeding programmes.

1. Assist in developing and maintaining a quality assurance programme, ensuring that food products meet the established standards of quality and food safety
2. Prepare training programs and conduct training courses for staff in school kitchen on food handling, storage, and food serving activities, i.e., equipment, utensils, and dishes, cooks and meals, and good cleaning and sanitation practices at schools.
3. Support in education or capacity building on food quality and safety for school feeding in Nyamagabe and Nyaruguru districts.
4. Undertake activities related to training need assessment, and provision of training courses around quality and safety, food handling and storage, especially cereal products, pulses, roots, tubers, legumes, nuts, fruits, vegetables, milk/dairy products, salts, oil, and water.
5. Undertake food supply and store quality audits to identify non-conformities and propose corrective actions required (arrange, coordinate, and participate in external quality audits)
6. Support schools in food procurement activities and advise on food handling, transport and storage of perishable and non-perishable food commodities.
7. Conceptualize awareness, training, and technical assistance based on need assessment, organize, and conduct awareness campaigns, and technical assistance as per the established plan.
8. Contribute to building the capacity of smallholder farmers and local millers in the districts to supply the National School Feeding Programme, with regard to food quality and safety, as well as food fortification standards to comply with when supplying schools.
9. Undertake impact assessment of training courses and technical assistance in the school feeding programme.
10. Follow up the implementation of proposed corrective actions and recommendations after a quality audit, and timely report on the progress made.
11. Supporting WFP and partners in recommending areas of improvement to implementing relevant activities regarding food quality and safety.
12. Ensure that all records and documentation related to the role are properly kept and maintained.
13. Contribute to the development of sampling plans and procedures for testing product quality/ quality control purposes.
14. Participate in quality management system reviews and promote quality and food safety policies to all personnel.
15. Review and report the principle causes of quality loss and non-conformance

DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT 

• Quarterly inspection and quality audit reports
• Capacity strengthening trainings to stakeholders
• Lessons learnt report after one year

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPRIENCE REQUIRED

Education:

Food Science and Technology, or development studies, nutrition, M&E and education or other relevant field, or First University degree with additional related work experience and/or trainings/courses

Experience:  

 At least 5 years of work experience in Food safety and quality, food supply chain, school feeding programmes, capacity strengthening processes and/or other related fields.

Knowledge & Skills: 

• Demonstrated technical experience in designing, providing capacity strengthening related to food quality and safety, food handling and storage, especially cereal products and fruits and vegetables.
• Experience in coordinating and assisting with technical training and overall competency to management and employees with regards to food preparation, food serving, staff hygiene and behavior, food safety program, pest control, and hygiene /cleaning practices.
• Demonstrated broad knowledge in food security, nutrition, food quality and safety, as well as school feeding programs in Rwanda.
• Skills in maintenance and coordination of food quality and safety programs to maintain compliance with requirements.
• Ability to write clearly, and strong communication and presentation skills

Languages:
Must have fluency in English, and Kinyarwanda

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

This position is open for Rwandan Nationals only

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

17 October 2023

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.