Development of the National Food Safety Policy (NFSP) and Implementation Plan

The World Health Organization Sierra Leone Country Office seeks to engage a national consultant to develop a comprehensive, evidence-based, and context-appropriate National Food Safety Policy and implementation plan. The consultant will conduct a desk review and gap analysis, draft the national food safety policy and implementation plan, facilitate stakeholder consultations, and submit final documents to the Ministry of Health.

Responsibilities

• Review existing policies, international food safety frameworks, and results of the food safety capacity mapping in Sierra Leone and roadmap, analyzing the current food safety landscape including policies, legislation, institutional mandates, laboratory capacity, surveillance systems, and enforcement mechanisms.
• Identify country-specific needs, gaps, challenges and priorities for strengthening the food safety system in Sierra Leone.
• Identify key players across the food management continuum (such as Agriculture, Health/Laboratories, Fisheries, Trade, Customs, and Private Sectors) to support implementation of policy and plan.
• Prepare an initial draft of the national food safety policy reflecting national priorities and aligned with international best practices.
• Prepare an initial draft of the implementation plan to provide a coordinated and structured approach for implementing the national food safety policy.
• Facilitate stakeholder consultation to develop draft documents including the Technical Working Group for review.
• Present draft documents to key stakeholders for review and feedback and facilitate a national validation workshop.
• Incorporate comments and submit final documents to the Ministry of Health.
• Deliver inception report with methodology and workplan of the consultancy exercise.
• Deliver stakeholder consultation report.
• Deliver National Food Safety Policy.
• Deliver Implementation plan.

Requirements

• Advanced degree in Food Science, food safety, Public Health, Food Law, veterinary medicine or a related field.
• Minimum of 7 years of experience in policy and strategy development.
• Familiarity with the WHO global strategy and other food safety guidelines including Codex standards and food safety challenges in developing countries.
• Desirable: Experience working with the UN on Policy/strategy/guidelines development is an added advantage.
• Strong facilitation, communication, and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Working proficiency in English (written, presentation and verbal communication skills).

Skills

• Food Safety Policy Development
• Policy and Strategy Development
• Food Science
• Public Health
• Food Law
• Veterinary Medicine
• WHO Global Strategy
• Codex Standards Finalization
• Food Safety Guidelines
• Food Safety Challenges in Developing Countries
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Facilitation
• Desk Review
• Gap Analysis
• Implementation Planning
• Report Writing
• English Language Proficiency

Languages

English