Programme Policy Officer (Food Technologist)

The Programme Policy Officer (Food Technologist) will provide technical and programmatic support on local food production, food fortification, and nutrition value chains in West and Central Africa. The role involves strengthening local capacity to produce safe and nutritious foods, supporting large-scale food fortification programmes, and collaborating with regional stakeholders to improve food environments and nutrition outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Provide context-specific and tailored technical and programmatic support on local food production, local food solutions, and food fortification.
• Provide technical assistance to local producers of fortified foods on food processing, product formulation, Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Good Hygiene Practices (GHP), quality assurance, and quality control to strengthen local capacity.
• Collaborate with national food technologists, nutritionists, programme, and Food Safety and Quality Assurance (FSQA) colleagues, as well as government and private-sector stakeholders to ensure safe, high-quality, and nutritionally adequate food products are accessible and integrated into WFP food assistance programmes.
• Support Country Offices in engaging with private-sector actors including women-led producer groups, SMEs, and large national food manufacturers, promoting value chain approaches connecting smallholder farmers, processors, distributors, and consumers.
• Ensure Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) approaches and messaging influencing food choices and dietary practices are incorporated into food production and processing initiatives and stakeholders’ practices.
• Provide technical support for the design, implementation, monitoring, and scaling up of large-scale food fortification programmes and initiatives.
• Contribute to knowledge management, documentation of lessons learned, and dissemination of best practices related to local food solutions, food fortification, and nutrition-sensitive value chain development.
• Perform any other duties as required by the Team Leader, Food Quality and Strategy (FQS), and the Regional Nutrition Advisor.

Requirements

• Advanced university degree in Food Technology, Food Engineering, Agrobusiness, Health Sciences, Nutrition or equivalent related field.
• At least 3 years of postgraduate professional level experience in a similar field in country or abroad.
• Previous and/or current working experience in WACARO region and procedures knowledge.
• Fluency in English and French.
• Ability to demonstrate a client-oriented approach, high sense of responsibility, and courtesy.
• Mature judgment with good communication and interpersonal skills.
• Knowledge of fortification and processed food commodities.

Skills

• Food Technology
• Food Engineering
• Agrobusiness
• Health Sciences
• Nutrition
• Food Fortification
• Processed Food Commodities
• Local Food Production
• Nutrition Value Chains
• Capacity Building
• Programmatic Support
• Regional Stakeholder Collaboration
• WACARO Procedures Knowledge
• Client-oriented Approach
• Technical Support

Languages

English, French