Logistics Associate (food Safety & Quality Assurance)

Organizational Context

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the world's largest humanitarian organization, dedicated to saving lives in emergencies and building pathways to peace and prosperity through food assistance. WFP operates in diverse and challenging environments, striving to ensure effective humanitarian aid reaches millions globally. We foster an inclusive, multicultural workplace committed to integrity, collaboration, commitment, humanity, and inclusion.

Job Purpose

The Logistics Associate (Food Safety & Quality Assurance) will play a crucial role in ensuring the safety and quality of food commodities managed by WFP. This position involves supporting the screening and monitoring of inspection companies, conducting laboratory selections for quality testing, and ensuring the implementation of food incident management protocols. The associate will provide technical support to local suppliers and WFP staff, assess and mitigate food safety risks in various programs including Cash-Based Transfers and School Feeding, and build partnerships with government agencies and the private sector. The objective is to uphold WFP's stringent food safety and quality standards throughout the supply chain, contributing to the effective delivery of humanitarian assistance and the protection of beneficiaries.

Responsibilities

The primary responsibilities involve ensuring the quality and safety of food commodities handled by the World Food Programme (WFP). This includes supporting the screening, validation, and performance evaluation of inspection companies to guarantee adherence to WFP's quality and quantity standards. The role requires conducting laboratory identification and selection for quality testing of locally purchased commodities, and fostering collaborations with laboratories to enhance testing methodologies for food aid. A key duty is the implementation of the Food Incident Management Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), preparing evidence-based recommendations for senior staff in case of food safety incidents to minimize commodity loss and enable rapid response. The position also entails assessing and proactively managing issues, preventing future problems, and communicating lessons learned. Furthermore, it involves providing technical support to local suppliers of processed and nutritious food, ensuring their compliance with WFP's food safety and quality requirements, and supporting capacity building for WFP staff and partners. The role also requires assessing and mitigating food safety and quality risks in Cash-Based Transfer and School Feeding Programmes, and building partnerships with government agencies and the private sector to improve Food Security and Quality Assurance (FSQA) awareness and practices. Finally, it supports the implementation of the WFP FSQ manual and procedures, and effectively manages the FSQ aspects of local purchases.

Work Experience

The role requires at least 5 years of experience in food quality and safety. Strong knowledge of Cameroon and CEMAC food safety and quality regulations is essential. The candidate should possess excellent food quality and safety knowledge, strong data analysis skills related to food quality and financial transactions, and the ability to negotiate with phytosanitary, customs, and port authorities.

Skills

Food quality and safety assurance, Laboratory selection and collaboration, Food incident management, Supplier capacity building, Risk assessment and mitigation, Negotiation with authorities, Data analysis, Diplomatic and negotiation skills, Leadership, Intercultural communication

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