National Food Control Specialist

Organizational Setting

Belize aims to enhance its food control system, and to support this effort, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is facilitating a Food Control System Assessment in collaboration with the relevant competent authorities in Belize.

FAO in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) developed a guide entitled, "Rethinking our food systems\: A guide for multi-stakeholder collaboration". This guide provides support to anyone interested or involved in convening, implementing, facilitating or supporting a multistakeholder initiative that contributes to sustainable agrifood systems transformation.

To support the Food Control System Assessment in Belize, FAO aims to implement the recommendations of the guide. It plans to capture all relevant agrifood systems stakeholders through a systematic stakeholder analysis, through a systems lens to include all relevant stakeholders beyond the control authorities, who will benefit from this assessment. It would help for the effective engagement with stakeholders, for buy-in and for good understanding of challenges and needs within the wider agrifood systems, that will enhance the quality of the assessment. It could also support the ongoing communication with relevant stakeholders even after the completion of the assessment.

Reporting Lines

The Specialist will work under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative in Belize, and under the close technical supervision of the Project coordinator, and in close collaboration with the International Consultants leading the national food control system assessment and the national team in FAO, as well as the national authorities.

Technical Focus

The Specialist will carry out a thorough agrifood systems stakeholder consultation in the country, engaging with stakeholders associated with agrifood systems in Belize, with the final aim to support the execution of a national food system assessment and prepare a country profile. The incumbent`s tasks will include the following activities\:

Tasks and responsibilities

• Prepare the draft country profile for the assessed country using the template proposed by ESF and following the guidance of the assessors;
• As part of the country profile, provide a list of all national competent authorities that have a mandate in food control, indicating their area of responsibility;
• Assist in the organization of the inception workshop (support the identification of relevant competent authorities/agencies to be invited; follow up, if necessary, to obtain nominations for the workshop; assist, if necessary, in the identification of the venue and provide support for the purchasing of services by FAO)
• Identify relevant stakeholders in the food chain (beside competent authorities) to be invited to the first session of the inception workshop such as academia, consumer organizations, and private sector associations (e.g., Dairy/Meat/Poultry/Sugar products representatives, Importers/exporters associations...)
• As necessary, provide support to the national government focal points to ensure that the relevant stakeholders are aware of the purpose of the inception workshop and will participate effectively;
• Support and participate in the inception workshop together with the international assessors; if necessary, assist in the logistic and administrative aspects of the workshop;
• Contribute to the draft report of the inception workshop to be developed by the international consultants;
• As a follow up to the inception workshop, in close interaction with the international assessor(s), make regular contact with the focal points (and/or relevant units) in the competent authorities involved in the assessment and clarify any question to ensure the collection of relevant data to be reported upon by the national authorities;
• Collect and validate data submitted by CAs in the reporting tables and, with the international assessor(s), follow up with national authorities to clarify any point and seek further data as necessary;
• Collect and review the additional evidence from national authorities, as necessary for the assessment and forward to the International assessor(s);
• Support the elaboration of the schedule for the validation mission by the lead assessor and confirm appointments with focal points and relevant units in the competent authorities and other relevant stakeholders;
• Support the implementation of the validation mission by the International assessor(s), facilitating contacts and taking notes from meetings;
• Review and provide feedback on the draft assessment report developed by the international assessors;
• Coordinate the collection of feedback from competent authorities on the draft assessment report;
• Support the organization of the strategic planning workshop\: identification of participants, setup of program and coordination with the national coordinator and FAO office - ensuring participation by high level executive on the last workshop day;
• Support the implementation of the priority setting workshop, take notes and contribute to the workshop report;
• Contribute to the final assessment report, incorporating the findings of the final workshop.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• University degree in food technology, nutrition, public health, veterinary public health or related fields
• 5 years of relevant experience in Food Control
• Working knowledge of English.
• National of Belize

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Work experience in networking with public and private institutions
• Extent and relevance of experience in food safety and food control concepts and terminology in English
• Ability to write reports in English

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION