Infos Santé -> Recrutement de 01 Consultant Programme Policy (Post-Harvest Management Expert)

Recrutement de 01 Consultant Programme Policy (Post-Harvest Management Expert)

Entreprise: World Food Programme
Niveau d'etude: Non precise
Localité: Togo / Lomé
Date limite: 2025-03-24

Recrutement de 01 Consultant Programme Policy (Post-Harvest Management Expert)
Fully Present
locations
Lomé, Togo
time type
Full time
job requisition id
JR109965
DATE LIMITE DE CANDIDATURE

24 March 2025-23:59-UTC heure moyenne de Greenwich (Lomé)
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The World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity, for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.


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WFP offers a highly inclusive, diverse, and multicultural working environment.

WFP invests in the personal & professional development of its employees through a range of training, accreditation, coaching, mentorship, and other programs as well as through internal mobility opportunities.

A career path in WFP provides an exciting opportunity to work across the various country, regional and global offices around the world, and with passionate colleagues who work tirelessly to ensure that effective humanitarian assistance reaches millions of people across the globe.

We offer an attractive compensation package (please refer to the Terms and Conditions section of this vacancy announcement).

Job Title: Consultant Programme Policy (Post-Harvest Handling and Management Expert)

Unit/Division: Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) / CO Togo

Contract Type: International Consultancy / Regular CST

Contract Duration: 3 months

Duty Station (City, Country): Lomé, Togo

MISSION

Improve the ability of the Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) focus Planned Agricultural Development Zones (ZAAPs) to meet post-harvest quality standards for specific markets and identify machines that will add value addition on site.

ABOUT WFP

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters, and the impact of climate change.

WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, color, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status, physical or mental disability.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is and home to 8.6 million people. Situated in the Gulf of Guinea, Togo serves as a critical corridor to landlocked countries in the Central Sahel region.

Agriculture and food systems are vital to food security, livelihoods, and development of Togo. Togo’s economy depends heavily on both commercial and subsistence agriculture, with both sectors providing employment for 60 percent of the labor force.

The Government of Togo, in its 2025 Roadmap, has positioned agriculture as a priority engine of growth for production, income, and job creation. The sector has proven to be more effective for poverty alleviation and job creation than others, and sustainable transformation of agriculture and food systems is seen to underpin economic development for many African countries.

The Togo Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) was created in November 2022 as a key initiative of the Office of the President and the Ministry of Agriculture with support from WFP’s Agri-Food Transformation Advisory Support Center (TASC) program. The ATA is charged with in helping Togo implement its 2025 National Roadmap that centers agriculture as the engine of economic growth by realizing opportunities for increased production, income, and job creation for smallholder farmers in ZAAPs (Zones d'Aménagement Agricole Planifiées or Planned Agricultural Development Zones) and addressing food needs for the country.

The intervention model of the Togo ATA’s ZAAP program is a multi-year effort to pilot ever-increasing services to 60 ZAAPs through private sector engagement. The ATA uses a contract agriculture approach to engage the private sector to provide services (inputs, information, mechanization, purchasing) that are technically and economically viable and provide a good return on investment while meeting the challenges of climate change using climate resilient techniques.

As of 2024, the Togo ATA implements several programs: Contractual Agriculture, Cantonal Enterprise for Mechanized Works, Hydro-Agricultural Development, Agricultural Land Development and Storage.

Post-harvest quality is a key component for the ATA Contractual Agriculture Program because it allows producers to receive more income from their harvests, reduces post-harvest loss, meets standards for the private sector, and modernizes Togolese agriculture. “Post-harvest operations” herein refers to the harvesting, threshing, drying, storage, processing, packaging, transportation, and any other treatment and handling of agricultural products by the cooperative between their harvest and their delivery to buyers.

JOB PURPOSE

The Post-Harvest Management Expert is expected to produce a set of standards for key crops (maize, rice, soybean, sesame, and others) based on local and international standards, identify local market opportunities and their quality specifications, assess up to 60 ZAAPs for their ability to meet those standards, develop a detailed action plan that will enable each ZAAP to meet those standards, generate recommendations for improvements in infrastructure (buildings, silos, cold chains, etc.) and machinery to add value to harvests for ZAAPs, and deliver trainings to selected ZAAPs and ATA staff on post-harvest management.

In addition to identifying realistic market opportunities where improved quality will increase purchase price and/or quantity sold, the expert will also design a post-harvest management clearing database, encourage local manufacturing of selected and recommended technologies, and liaise if needed with financial institutions to ensure effective access to finance for technology manufacturers, agri-food Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, and farmers.

It is expected that the Post-Harvest Management Expert will visit ZAAPs on a regular basis, talk to the farmers, identify value addition opportunities that are technically and economically feasible, and recommend specific post-harvest infrastructure or machinery that would be appropriate for different ZAAPs.

The day-to-day activities and overall technical assignments of the job holder will be managed by the Togo ATA. The Post-Harvest Management Expert will report to the Director General of ATA. Administrative oversight will be provided by the WFP Togo Country Office (CO).

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive, within delegated authority)

Specifically, for each ZAAP identified as a priority for engagement (up to 60; exact number to be determined) and for each crop supported by the ATA (corn, rice, cotton, soybeans), the Post-Harvest Management Expert is expected to:

Define objectives, based on the national standards and local needs expressed by stakeholders.
Make a technical diagnosis of post-harvest operations as they are currently practiced, based on on-site interviews with agricultural producers and ATA teams.
Propose an appropriate post-harvest operations & product itinerary.
Identify the specific practical changes, structures, materials & equipment needed for achieving objectives.
Develop a plan including tangible actions & practices to improve post-harvest operations and decrease related losses.
Map out market segments that pay for quality to ensure that the adoption is economically profitable.
Contribute to the development of specifications for storage warehouses and drying areas.
Develop rural advisory materials showing the profitability of the recommended technologies to facilitate wide adoption among value chain actors.
Write specifications for post-harvest processing equipment and materials that will meet standards required by buyers.
Advise the ATA in the process of purchasing post-harvest processing equipment and materials and evaluate the offers received.
Engage financial institutions if needed to provide technical advice on developing financial products for the acquisition of post-harvest management technologies.
Key deliverables include but are not limited to:

Report that describes existing standards for key crops based on the requirement needs of specific buyers/markets including government, private sector, World Food Programme, and export markets if such exporters show interest in purchasing from ZAAPs.
Assessment of the current state of the post-harvest losses on each ZAAP prioritized for engagement (up to 60 ZAAPs)
Performance improvement plan for each ZAAP prioritized for engagement; the plan should clearly describe how the ZAAP will achieve post-harvest quality standards that meet their market opportunities.
Tailor existing training materials to the ZAAP context; lead farmer trainings on-site on harvest to delivery so that smallholder farmers learn how to reduce post-harvest loss and improve quality.
Tailor existing training materials to the ZAAP context for ATA staff to improve their capacity of post-harvest management.
Identify infrastructure needs and machines that can deliver on-site value addition for each ZAAP post-harvest management is improved and able to meet buyers’ standards.
Functional Capabilities

Participate in post-harvest management field missions, review processes, and provide inputs needed for improved program delivery.
Support in the identification and scale-up of best practices on Post Harvest Loss Reduction and documenting innovative and best practices.
Review field mission reports submitted by the ATA staff and other relevant studies on post-harvest quality, where relevant.
Design and conduct periodic reviews and appraisals of relevant ATA Program activities (e.g., Contract Agriculture; Storage) and provide technical support and recommendations to the ATA, as needed.
Participate in meetings, workshops, and other stakeholder events where expertise on post-harvest is needed.
Ability to prepare and present information about post-harvest quality to internal and/or external audiences.
Participate in post-harvest workshops, meetings, and events to share the ATA’s achievements and promote sector experience sharing for all stakeholders and promote scaling up of good practices.
Perform other related duties as requested.
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

Education:

Master’s Degree or higher in Agriculture Sciences, Post-Harvest Handling and Management, Crop Protection, or relevant fields with a focus on post-harvest evaluation and management; a bachelor’s degree will be considered if the focus is specific to post harvest management and includes exceptional field experience.

Experience:

At least 5 years of relevant work experience in multiple countries evaluating post-harvest handling and management of staple crops grown by smallholder farmers in low resource settings and experience in developing post-harvest management programs that build the capacity of smallholder farmers.

Knowledge & Skills:

Excellent knowledge of crop physiology related to harvest quality and the practical application of best practices to crop harvesting and handling in low resource settings.
Understanding of the realities of small producers, and particularly, deep understanding of post-harvest loss of staple crops by smallholder farmers
Excellent knowledge of post-harvest processing equipment and materials for products
Excellent knowledge of storage and drying facilities for agricultural products
Practical experience in developing technically and economically feasible solutions for smallholder farmers to address post-harvest loss and meet specific quality standards.
Ability to provide technical expertise in the design of post-harvest programs.
Experience in standards development for staple crops through value chain assessments and programmes.
Experience in conducting fieldwork using didactic / user centric approaches, ability, and willingness to be deployed to the field on a regular basis.
Ability to communicate clearly and concisely to a variety of audiences (e.g. producers, administration agents, etc.) and to work in multidisciplinary teams.
Experience in monitoring and evaluation of project activities, ability to synthetize lessons learned and reach empirical and evidence-based conclusions.
Language:

Fluency (level C, written and verbal) in French and basic English required (written and verbal).

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