National Food Safety Expert (SC-9)

Organizational Setting

The FAO Country Office in Bangladesh (FABGD) is responsible for leading FAO's response to country priorities for food security, agriculture and rural development through the identification, planning and implementation of FAO's priority activities in the country. It ensures a multidisciplinary approach to programmes, identifies priority areas of action for the Organization in the country and, in collaboration with the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (RAP), Divisions, Offices and Centres at FAO Headquarters, develops, promotes and oversees FAO's strategic response to these priorities. Through its Country Programming Framework (CPF), the Country Office supports policy dialogue on food security, agriculture and rural development issues, at country level and facilitates the emergence of country partnerships and supports capacity development and resource mobilization for food security, agriculture and rural development in the region. The overall aim of this project is to provide Technical Assistance (TA) to strengthen the capacity of implementing agencies to successfully implement the Smallholder Agriculture Competitiveness Project (SACP) and reach expected SACP results. The implementing line agencies are Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM) and Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC). DAE is the lead agency under overall supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA). Component 2 of SACP aims at processing and marketing of high value crops produced by the smallholder farmers. Specifically, the Component focuses on developing smallholder farmers’ capacity in production and post-production practices. It also aims at providing small infrastructure to producer/marketing groups on cost-sharing basis. Importantly, the Component emphasises improving the awareness of nutrition, hygiene and food safety. All activities in this Component are closely associated to initiatives of value addition under Component 1 and 3 – the location, scale of interventions will depend on identified, and prioritized high value crops produced by the smallholder farmers and as per the demand on the implementing agencies.

Reporting Lines

The incumbent will work under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative in Bangladesh, direct supervision of the Senior Technical Advisor (STA) – SACP and in close coordination with the SACP Project Director and Components’ Directors.

Technical Focus

The incumbent will provide technical guidance for the SACP project, specifically the National Food Safety Expert will lead the activities related to food safety, nutrition and hygiene of the different high value crops promoted by the project. Specific duties and responsibilities include the following:

Tasks and responsibilities

• Review progress of the food safety standards implementation across all SACP components. • Assess project’s stakeholders awareness of product safety programs compliance to the BSTI (Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution) Standard Operating Procedures and design actions necessary to overcome potential bottlenecks and gaps, if identified. • Support integration of Good Agriculture Practice (GAP) and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) protocols in all project activities, including the value chain development and training delivered by all components of the SACP. • Advice on food safety indicators to be included in the SACP M&E framework and and suggest how they can be integrated into the monitoring and evaluation systems of the project. • Support studies on food safety and nutrition, prepare/ review ToT training manuals, materials and conduct training of trainer (ToT) on primary processing, food safety and quality control, community based safe food processing etc. • Build and maintain a close professional link among different farmers groups (e.g. Water User Groups, Seed Village Groups, Marketing Groups, FFBS, etc.) and with the SACP implementing agencies and assist them with technical advice whenever requested. • In cooperation with the Communication Specialist and M&E Specialist develop field stories, reviews and case studies and contribute technically to preparation of a communication and knowledge outputs on food safety. • Any other tasks assigned by the Senior Technical Adviser.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Advanced university degree in food safety/ technology or processing or related area. • 10 years of relevant experience. • Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English. • National of Bangladesh or a legal resident in the country.

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Experience in the field of the food safety standards implementation. • Excellent understanding of the Good Agriculture Practice (GAP) and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) protocols in Bangladesh. • Experience in training-of-trainers, preferably in ToTs for extension agents. • Excellent communication skills including writing skills, proven ability to convey complex ideas through clear communication, and concise reports, and effective oral presentations. • Experience in working with public administration of central and local level in Bangladesh. • Readiness to carry out visits to project sites and duty travel as required. • Willingness to work as a team member with multicultural and multidisciplinary team of experts. • Ability to work independently and proceed with objectives of the assignment work under pressure and meet deadlines. • Self-motivation, willingness to learn and good work ethics.