Call for Experts in Food and Agriculture

Food Enterprise Solutions (FES) seeks consulting experts for USAID Feed the Future Business Drivers for Food Safety (BD4FS) Project in Nepal

Background

As agricultural products leave the farm, they pass through the hands of numerous actors in the overall food system: village aggregators, traders, processors, transporters, storage operators, warehouse managers, retailers, and prepared food providers such as kiosks, restaurants, fast-food chains, hotels, hospitals, and schools. Because of the many actors involved in the handling of food, these systems present an inherent risk of contamination that contributes to pre-consumer losses and risk of transmitting foodborne pathogens. 

Some foods are sold closer to the point of production in village markets, whereas some move through more handlers via a market shed serving small towns and urban centers. Regardless of the specific supply chain they travel along, foods are handled by micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, or “growing food businesses” (GFBs) that must manage the challenges of food safety in order to deliver safe, nutritious, and healthy foods to the market. These GFBs are the target stakeholder group for the Business Drivers for Food Safety (BD4FS) project. 

In many markets, GFBs do not have strong incentives to upgrade operations and invest in food safety:  consumers generally lack the purchasing power to make more discerning choices in the marketplace, and the public sector lacks the systems for monitoring and enforcing safe food-handling practices. Yet, with businesses playing a critical role in the food system, it is important for us to understand their challenges, identify constraints, and find effective approaches they can use to build food safety into their operations. Doing so – particularly when aligned with activities to improve consumer awareness and to strengthen public sector policies and regulations – will help in promoting a culture of food safety – an overall goal for food systems development. 

Purpose

Our approach to addressing these challenges begins with an assessment of factors that impede GFB adoption of food safety practices and technologies, what FES calls the Food Safety Situational Analysis (FSSA). These factors can include lack of infrastructure such as energy or roads, unreliable supply chain logistics, uncertain regulatory and enforcement framework, poor access to food testing services, lack of information, etc. The results of the FSSA are utilized in designing capacity building strategies and incentives for accelerating adoption of food safety practices among GFBs across the supply chains. This design process is done in consultation and collaboration with supply-chain actors to identify workable solutions that could include training, technology adoption, technical assistance, financing, use of IT, etc. 

Expertise Being Sought

For its work in Nepal, FES will be targeting perishable, micronutrient-dense foods such as horticulture crops, goat, and eggs. At this time, we are inviting experts in Nepal to submit their qualifications for consideration to work on a consulting basis 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: 

·       Value chain experts with experience in goat, horticulture, eggs or other perishable foods that are important to consumer diets in Nepal

·       Food science and nutrition experts

·       Business management experts with experience working in food systems development from farm to consumer

·       Financial services specialists with knowledge of the financial landscape and key financial institutions in Nepal serving the food and agriculture sector 

·       Food safety experts knowledgeable about Nepal’s food safety policy and regulatory framework, standards, certification services, etc. 

Minimum Qualifications

·   Bachelor’s, or an equivalent, degree in agriculture, food science, business management, economics, nutrition or a related subject area; Master’s preferred

·       Minimum of five years of relevant work experience; ten years required without a Bachelor’s degree

·       Ability to communicate clearly – speak, read, and write – in English; fluency preferred

·       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:

·       Resume

·       Cover Letter

·       Three References

·       Statement of salary and/or consulting fees for the past three years

to the following email address:

jobs@foodsolutions.global

by October 31, 2020

To find out more about our work, please visit the FES Knowledge Center on our website at https://www.foodsolutions.global.