CALL FOR EXPERTS

NEPAL FSSA 2 CALL FOR EXPERTS, November 2021

Food Enterprise Solutions (FES) Seeks Consulting Experts with Private Sector Experience in Agribusiness, Supply & Cold Chain Logistics, and Food Safety

NOTE: This is a new call for experts following the ones we posted in October 2020, January 2021 and March 2021. If you already provided us with your resume in the previous calls, you do not need to resubmit your qualifications. We have your information on file and we will consider your candidacy for consulting opportunities referenced here. 

Overview

Food Enterprise Solutions (FES) is exploring what drives food businesses to adopt food safety practices and technologies, with the aim to reduce the risk of producing contaminated food. Under Feed the Future’s USAID “Business Drivers for Food Safety” (BD4FS) project, we focus on the role of private sector businesses in driving positive improvements in aggregating, storing, processing, transporting, and retailing foods for local urban and rural markets in Nepal. If you have strong experience in the private sector either as an entrepreneur, business owner, manager, or consulting expert in cold chain logistics, HACCP, SPS, program management, analysis and monitoring& evaluation, we would like to hear from you. 

Purpose

Our approach to addressing these challenges begins with an assessment of factors that impede Growing Food Business (GFBs) adoption of food safety practices and technologies, what FES calls the Food Safety Situational Analysis (FSSA). To date, we have completed a first phase of the food safety landscape analysis and secondary literature review. In this first phase, the study engaged with Growing Food Business (GFBs) in Kathmandu corridor, outlined regulatory framework that guides to food safety practices, explored some of the food related infrastructural issues, and identified hazards in fruits and vegetables, goat meat and egg traded, and consumed in Nepal. GFBs were interviewed on food safety measures adoption to minimize risks and hazards while trading food products. The answers of GFBs informed lower or no application of food safety measures when trading food and food products. New emerging supply chain seemed more conscious about food safety measures in compare to traditional GFBs. “A survey on COVID-19 Challenges and Responses Among Nepalese Food Business related survey”, was conducted, which informed need for capacity enhancement of GFBs in food safety. More than 54% of the GFBs are ready to apply new strategies to deal with extraordinary disruptions in the supply chain that recently accompanied the pandemic, and application of food safety measures topped their priorities. However, most of the GFBs have limited information on accessing information on food safety. Except a handful of GFBs, most food businesses are unaware of food safety monitoring practices in Nepal.

In this phase of the FSSA we will engage directly with GFBs to understand firm-level constraints and opportunities, and identify potential commercially-viable solutions for firms operating in key food corridors, expanding our understanding of food safety situation to previously not studied Bagmati Province. The results of this phase of the FSSA will be utilized to design capacity-building strategies and incentives for accelerating the adoption of food safety practices and accessing affordable finance instruments and technologies among GFBs across the supply chains. This design process is done in consultation and collaboration with supplychain actors to identify workable solutions that could include training, technology adoption, technical assistance, financing, and use of IT. 

Required Expertise 

Our work in Nepal targets perishable, micronutrient-dense foods such as horticulture crops, goat meat, and eggs. At this time, we are inviting experts in Nepal to submit their qualifications for consideration to work on a consulting basis – with potential for a permanent position, based on performance – to support the FSSA or other technical assignments that may arise on the project, which is currently scheduled to run through mid-2024. Expertise we are seeking includes: 

• Business management/supply chain experts with private sector experience working in food systems development from farm to consumer in Kathmandu and Chitwan corridors.
• Private sector value chain experts with experience in goat meat, horticulture, eggs or other perishable foods that are important to consumer diets in Nepal.
• Food science and nutrition experts.
• Financial services specialists with knowledge of the financial landscape and key financial institutions in Nepal serving the food and agriculture sector.
• HACCP certification, cold chain logistics (for food, pharma or other export crops like flowers) SPS, ISO 22,000, BRC, etc
• Food safety experts knowledgeable about Nepal’s food safety policy and regulatory framework, standards, certification services, CODEX, etc.
• Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) as well as food quality control experience is a plus.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in agribusiness, management, business, food technology, food science, agriculture, economics, or a related subject area 
• Minimum 10 years’ relevant work experience, especially in positions that require business acumen
• Ability to communicate clearly in English in both written and verbal forms
• Demonstrated ability to use Microsoft Word and Excel software
• Access to and ability to use the internet for communications

How to Apply

Please submit the following documents in English by Nov 25, 2021 to jobs@foodsolutions.global: 

• Resume
• Cover Letter
• Three References with contact information
• Statement of salary and/or consulting fees for the past three years

To find out more about FES, please visit our website at https://www.foodsolutions.global.