DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS2 September 2025-23:59-GMT Greenwich Mean Time (Nouakchott)
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, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or disability.
ABOUT WFP
The World Food Programme is the worldโs 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.
At WFP, people are at the heart of everything we do and the vision of the future WFP workforce is one of diverse, committed, skilled, and high performing teams, selected on merit, operating in a healthy and inclusive work environment, living WFP's values (Integrity, Collaboration, Commitment, Humanity, and Inclusion) and working with partners to save and change the lives of those WFP serves.
To learn more about WFP, visit our website: https://www.wfp.org and follow us on social media to keep up with our latest news: YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok.
WHY JOIN WFP?
WFP is a 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
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).
This position of Food Safety and Quality Assurance Officer is for the WFP Country Office in Nouakchott, Mauritania. The role of the FSQA will be to effectively support the CO in its operations and programmatic activities especially on integrating Food Safety and Quality Assurance System across all activities of procurement, logistics, operations, CBT, School Feeding, Food fortification, and capacity strengthening of the government food safety agencies and the private sector (food manufacturers/producers and fortification projects).
Job title : Food Safety and Quality Assurance Officer
Contract type: CSTII
Duration: 11 months
Division/Unit: Supply Chain
Duty Station (City, Country): Nouakchott, Mauritania
Reporting line: Deputy Country Director with technical reporting line to RBD FSQ
BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT
The Islamic Republic of Mauritania is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation. The country has experienced severe droughts that have led to commodity unavailability and reliance on imported foods. The government is also hosting Malian refugees who fled their home countries due to internal conflicts and wars. WFP MRCO, in its new CSP 2024 - 2028, will focus on capacity strengthening of Government priorities to advance its Sustainable Development Goals - 2030. This includes but is not limited to enhancing the diversification, availability, and accessibility of nutritious and safe foods in the country, promoting local nutritious food manufacturing industries, raising public awareness on the consumption of nutritious and safe food, at the same time, building the capacity of the national food safety authorities to address the growing concerns of food safety for consumer protection.
To effectively support and strategically advance the national development agenda, the WFP MRCO intends to recruit a Food Safety and Quality Assurance (FSQA) Officer to not only support the CO in its value chains projects, traditional supply chain operations and programmatic activities of nutrition, fortification, CBT, School Feeding but also capacity strengthening for the government food safety agencies and the private sector. In its Strategic Outcome 3, Food Safety and Quality will play a critical role in the capacity strengthening of the national quality infrastructures (such as AMSSA and ONANOR) and the private sector (food manufacturers/producers), thus, reducing substandard products on the markets and minimizing human exposure to food safety hazards, while promoting the production, commercialization, availability, and accessibility of safe and nutritious food for the population.
KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)
Under the overall supervision and guidance of the Country Director, the direct supervision of the Deputy Country Director, and in close collaboration with the Heads of Unit (Programme and Supply Chain), the Food Safety and Quality Assurance Officer will be responsible for the following key duties:
- Support the CO in all FSQA related activities in the CO. Provide technical guidance and support to WFP MRCO in the design and implementation of food assistance policy development, programmes and initiatives i.e. Home-Grown School Feeding (HGSF), food fortification initiatives, cash-based interventions, and institutional and private sector capacity strengthening.
- Act as the focal point for WFP MRCO and represent the organisation in the National Quality Infrastructure Stakeholders Forums.
- Create and maintain partnerships and collaborations with government ministries and affiliated agencies (AMSSA, ONISPA, ONANOR, CSA etc.), UN agencies and international organisations (e.g. IFC, World Bank) the private sector, the academia, NGOs, and other partners and stakeholders working on matters related to new food development, food fortification, food safety standards, laboratory testing, inspection, certification, and accreditation.
- Keep updated and support emerging developments and cutting-edge research in the areas of product innovations and food safety and quality to capitalize on opportunities for integrating industry standards and best practices effectively.
- Collaborate and support CO, RBs and HQ in FSQ-related subjects, especially on emerging developments in the areas of food safety and quality, packaging materials, shelf-life studies, indigenous food fortification, and/or food product optimization to leverage the opportunities to source food locally.
- Monitoring of WFP food procurement through contracts review and execution: follow up on the imported and locally produced foods for compliance, supervise the inspection company performing Q&Q services at SHF, milling factory, during loading, offloading, sampling, and testing and clear the food lots via FOSTER system.
- Implement a consistent food safety and quality assurance management scheme across different operations, incorporating various standards and procedures (SOPs), documents, guidelines, policies, and strategies, ensuring the consultations and management approvals are reached.
- Recruit, train, and build the capacity of the national staff in charge of food safety and quality, undertaking food safety and quality roles and playing a backup role in partnerships and capacity strengthening functions with the private sector as well as the government agencies.
- Support CO in FSQA training initiatives, including material development, scheduling, and execution to ensure appropriate development that enables high performance. Develop and deliver training modules to WFP staff to create a food safety culture and external stakeholders on the key areas of food safety and quality control, food technology, food processing, and food fortification to build local capacity in the processing and/or production of specialized nutritious foods such as fortified foods.
- Prepare accurate and timely reports that inform food risk assessment and management and contribute to a WFP-wide view of food safety and quality activities, enabling informed decision-making and consistency of information presented to stakeholders.
Qualifications & experience required
Education:
Advanced (Masterโs) degree in Food Science, Food Technology, Food Safety and Quality, Food Processing, Nutrition, or other related field, or first university degree with 5 years of related work experience and/or training/courses.
Experience:
At least five (5) years of postgraduate progressively professional experience in food safety and quality assurance, food production, food fortification, food standards, laboratory analysis and food safety inspection and certification.Technical Skills & Knowledge:
- Knowledge of food safety and quality management systems (i.e., ISO 22000, FSSC 22000, BRC, HACCP, etc.).
- Experience in industrial food production, food fortification and product optimisation, and stability testing.
- Knowledge in ISO, Codex standards, laboratory analysis, inspection, certification, laboratory accreditation.
- Proven ability and experience in conducting suppliersโ audits, incident management, product traceability.
- Ability to advise operations, logistics and procurement on food contracting, handling, and distribution.
- Demonstrated ability to develop and maintain effective work relationships with donors and partners.
- Experience in capacity strengthening of the private sector and gov agencies in food safety and quality era.
Language:
- Intermediate level in French (C) and fluency English (B) is required.
WFP LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK
WFP Leadership Framework guides to the common standards of behavior that guide HOW we work together to accomplish our mission.
Click here to access WFP Leadership Framework
REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION
WFP is committed to supporting individuals with disabilities by providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process. If you require a reasonable accommodation, please contact: global.inclusion@wfp.org
NO FEE DISCLAIMER
The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.
REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION
We strongly recommend that your profile is accurate, complete, and includes your employment records, academic qualifications, language skills and UN Grade (if applicable).
Once your profile is completed, please apply, and submit your application.
Please make sure you upload your professional CV in the English language
Kindly note the only documents you will need to submit at this time are your CV and Cover Letter
Additional documents such as passport, recommendation letters, academic certificates, etc. may potentially be requested at a future time
Please contact us at global.hrerecruitment@wfp.org in case you face any challenges with submitting your application
Only shortlisted candidates will be notified
All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs, job requirements, merit, and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. Therefore, all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.
No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.
- Intermediate level in French (C) and fluency English (B) is required.
- Support the CO in all FSQA related activities in the CO. Provide technical guidance and support to WFP MRCO in the design and implementation of food assistance policy development, programmes and initiatives i.e. Home-Grown School Feeding (HGSF), food fortification initiatives, cash-based interventions, and institutional and private sector capacity strengthening.