Food Fortification Specialist

Organizational Context

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the world's largest humanitarian organization, dedicated to saving lives and building a pathway to peace and prosperity. WFP uses food assistance to combat hunger and address the impacts of conflict, disasters, and climate change. With a commitment to diversity and inclusion, WFP strives to create a skilled, high-performing workforce that embodies its core values.

Job Purpose

The Food Fortification Specialist will lead the implementation of WFP Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office's (ESARO) food fortification strategy, aiming to improve nutrition and combat micronutrient deficiencies. This role involves providing technical support to country offices in planning, designing, implementing, and monitoring fortification programs. The specialist will conduct landscape analyses, strengthen capacity of stakeholders, drive strategic positioning of WFP, and lead advocacy efforts. Key responsibilities include overseeing fortification initiatives, ensuring the quality and integration of fortified foods into WFP operations and government programs, and fostering collaboration with regional partners. The objective is to enhance nutritional adequacy through effective food fortification strategies across the region.

Responsibilities

The Food Fortification Specialist will lead and oversee fortification landscape analyses in Eastern and Southern Africa, assessing national policies, strategies, and private sector engagement in priority countries. This role involves identifying programmatic entry points and conducting validation workshops. A key responsibility is to lead the implementation of the WFP ESARO food fortification strategy, ensuring successful execution of country operational plans and strengthening the capacity of technical staff. The specialist will drive WFP's strategic positioning as a technical agency in food fortification, lead regional advocacy, support resource mobilization, and monitor strategy implementation, addressing bottlenecks. Furthermore, the role involves providing continuous technical guidance to country offices on planning, designing, implementing, and monitoring fortification programs, including formative studies and capacity building for government stakeholders. The specialist will also influence regional and country-level decision-making to increase the use and quality of fortified foods, collaborating with Supply Chain units and regional partners. This includes contributing to policy dialogues, regional forums, and thought leadership on food fortification.

Work Experience

Requires a minimum of five years of experience, ideally encompassing food fortification, food technology, food science, value addition, fortified food value chains, food security, project management, and partnership engagement. Demonstrated experience in providing technical support, particularly in food fortification, is also essential.

Skills

Food fortification, Nutrition strategy, Micronutrient deficiencies, Public health, Project management, Partnership engagement, Advocacy, Capacity strengthening, Policy development, Food systems analysis

Explore related opportunities