Food Fortification Portfolio Manager

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is the frontline humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. On average WFP reaches more than 160 million people with food assistance in 120 countries. Around 23000 people work for the organization most of them in remote areas directly serving the hungry poor.

WFPs Strategic Plan (2022-2025) outlines the many ways for WFP working in synergy with others to most efficiently and effectively save and change lives. Within this Strategic Plan two out of the five strategic outcomes directly contribute to nutrition outcomes and for the first time nutrition is also a cross-cutting outcome. This inclusion of nutrition as a crosscutting priority in WFPs 2022-2025 Strategic Plan is a commitment to maximize the contribution WFP makes to managing and preventing malnutrition and improving diets and avoiding crises and provides additional leverage to scale up efforts like food fortification. WFPs dedication to nutrition can also be seen in its commitments at the 2025 Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit in which it committed to increase the proportion of fortified cereals it distributes to 50% over the course of the next five years.

The WFP Nutrition Policy expands WFPs focus on preventing malnutrition to cover all forms of malnutrition including undernutrition overweight/obesity and micronutrient deficiencies while reaffirming WFPs support to treatment of moderate acute malnutrition which is a critical part of the continuum of care. Further the policy commits WFP to increasing its focus on resilience-building and stunting prevention in longer-term humanitarian responses with national governments and other partners and aims to ensure that WFP applies a nutrition lens in all of its activities identifying and leveraging opportunities to improve nutrition and diets through its work.

Fortified foods are an important element in improving nutritional adequacy of diets which is critical to ensuring a healthy diet for all. This applies to peoples diets anywhere and particularly where dietary diversity is not meeting food-based dietary guidelines and where healthy diets are unaffordable. Fortification needs to be implemented by processors of staple foods (flours rice vegetable oil salt etc) and these foods should be made available through multiple distribution channels including the open market to reach those in need. Furthermore fortified foods should always be part of food assistance whether distributed in-kind or through vouchers or cash. And social protection such as social assistance and school meals can also provide effective distribution platforms to specifically reach those most in need. As largest humanitarian agency and being a major player in both food and social protection systems WFP has a very important contribution to make to increasing availability of fortified foods and ensuring it reaches those most in need.

One of WFPs longest-standing partners in our efforts to scale up food fortification is dsm-firmenich. Now in its 19th year this partnership has contributed to WFPs expertise and ability to advocate for the use of fortified foods to address micronutrient addition to supporting WFPs efforts to capacitate local production of fortified foods efforts undertaken within this partnership have led to a diversification in WFPs food basket co-development and improvement of Specialized Nutritious Foods and incredible successes in efforts to improve the accessibility affordability and acceptability of fortified foods particularly fortified rice. Due to work undertaken in this partnership WFP has become the global expert in the use of fortified rice in social protection programmes.

The Food Fortification Portfolio Manager will serve as one of WFPs focal points for food fortification and support global coordination efforts related to food fortification working in close conjunction with actors across WFP including colleagues from Food Safety and Quality Procurement Programmes and others. Additionally this position will manage a team of subject matter experts and will work in close coordination with Regional Hubs and COs to implement fortification programming in addition to coordinating WFPs work in fortification with external fortification partners.

The Food Fortification Portfolio Manager will also contribute to the identification and solicitation of additional resources to support WFPs food fortification portfolio and lead on PPGNs efforts to scale up the use of fortified staples in WFPs distribution. They will also continue to contribute to the Nutritious Foods for Healthy Diets (NF4HD) team in additional ways identifying opportunities for collaboration across the different sub-teams and leveraging the expertise of these colleagues to advance WFPs fortification agenda whenever possible/appropriate.

DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT:

Specific Tasks

Coordinate Food Fortification Activities Globally

• Provide strategic guidance to shape the fortification portfolio and workstreams;
• Coordinate requests coming to the team and follow up as needed to ensure quality of teams outputs
• Lead and coordinate drafting of a Guidance Note for WFP staff on developing national fortification programmes and using fortified foods in WFP operations
• Provide both technical support and strategic guidance in the implementation of field-based fortification programmes;
• Support the organization of learning opportunities on food fortification for WFP staff including external partners such as IFC;

Increase Uptake of Fortified Commodities by WFP

• Support the drafting dissemination and implementation of the Action Plan for WFP to meet its N4G commitments related to staple food fortification specifically focusing on the roll-out of fortified rice within WFPs in-kind distributions;
• Serve as the Secretariat and permanent member of the Fortification Review Committee (FRC) conducting required research in advance of and following FRC meetings abiding by the strict timelines set forth in the FRC ToR revise ToR to align with the coming fortification mandate support the use of dashboards to monitor WFPs procurement and distribution of foods that do not meet fortification requirements and provide quarterly updates to WFP leadership on the use of fortified foods (and requested waivers) in WFP operations;

• Serve as the Secretariat and permanent member of the Food Fortification Task Force preparing the agenda and working with colleagues across the organization to prepare timely and relevant updates on issues pertaining to scaling the use of fortified foods in WFP operations
• Support engagement with Donor Relations and Procurement specialists to encourage in kind donations of fortified commodities or the use of donated cash to buy fortified commodities;

Build external Demand for fortified commodities by participating in policy advocacy and technical and academic initiatives to build support for and evidence of the benefits of fortification

• Represent the Nutrition Service and WFP on various Technical Advisory Groups related to fortification such as the Global Fortification TAG;
• Strengthen WFPs efforts related to global advocacy for fortified foods especially as related to global events such as World Food Day etc.;
• Support an improved collaboration with UNICEF and other partners in fortification efforts;
• Confer with PPGNs Chiefs to ensure alignment of messaging and enhancement of WFPs contributions in external fora and provide inputs necessary for her interventions when more senior representation is required;
• Provide technical and strategic support to WFPs Modelling Inadequate Micronutrient Intake (MIMI) programme and other fortification activities funded by the Gates Foundation

Manage WFP-dsm-firmenich partnership

• Coordinate all programmes funded by the WFP-dsm-firmenich partnership;
• Work closely with PSP to identify and optimize opportunities presented by the partnership as they relate to the mission of WFP;
• Continue to manage and provide guidance to WFP efforts under current MoU across the three workstreams across the different regions and COs supported by the partnership;
• Develop new programmes in partnership with key COs to grow and evolve both workstreams in the partnership throughout the duration of the MoU;
• Hold regular partnership management team meetings (internal and also including d-f) and use other innovative and effective ways to ensure proper information sharing and communication between the team and other units within the Service;

Provide technical assistance and proposal writing support to PPGN

• Provide technical support to PPGN units as needed especially as related to the cross-functional nature of food fortification;
• Engage with potential donors and support development of future partnerships related to food fortification including providing key inputs into funding proposals;
• Collaborate with PPGNs Learning and Innovation Team to implement the M&E Framework and Reporting for WFP-dsm-firmenich Partnership and include/improve corporate indicators for fortification.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education:

The candidate must have an advanced degree related to nutrition medical

sector epidemiology/public health or food science;

Experience:

A minimum of 10 years of experience preferably involving project management international development and/or health/nutrition programming.

Knowledge & Skills:

• Strong Communication abilities to engage with various stakeholders from different sectors and backgrounds ability to interact with leaders and external audience with maturity and tact ability to interact with vulnerable people groups
• Collaborative spirit able to liaise with a wide range of people at all levels and across different cultures and to act with credibility and diplomacy
• Outstanding organizational and time-management skills with an ability to plan ahead anticipate requirements problems and obstacles and an ability to juggle competing priorities successfully and to work to tight deadlines
• Strong drive self-motivated and able to work with a high degree of autonomy
• Fully committed and motivated to achieve the aims of the UN World Food Programme
• Mobility: Willing to work in multi-cultural settings and travel to different field locations and including challenging operating environments.
• Publications: Academic publications in the field of food fortification health or nutrition a benefit.

Languages:

A second UN language in addition to English would be preferred.

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