Market & Value Chain Specialist – Mogadishu, Somalia

Vacancy Announcement No. 339840/2023

Job Title: MARKET & VALUE CHAIN SPECIALIST

Contract Type/Grade: Consultant, Level II

Duty Station: Mogadishu, Somalia

Contract Duration: 11 Months (initial)

Date of Issue: 30th January 2023

Closing Date: 20th February 2023

Position Overview

The Market & Value Chain Specialist will provide technical assistance on WFP’s agriculture-based food systems interventions, including the production, post-harvest loss management program and market access strategy, and support overall implementation of the Climate Smart Food Systems strategic outcome 3 of the WFP Somalia Country Strategic Plan 2022 – 2025, which aims to enable the consumption of healthy diets for all. The candidate is expected to work autonomously while ensuring close collaboration with Country, Area and Field Office based staff as well as external stakeholders.

What will you do?

• Responsible for market outcomes under existing programmes, bringing to market WFP-supported agriculture products. Lead on capacity-building initiatives related to sales, branding, packaging, pricing, and food transformation systems strengthening. Train and build the capacity of WFP, partner, and government staff, cooperatives, and farmers, on the fundamentals of market information systems, the agriculture value chain, pricing, sales, and marketing.
• Provide overall programme/project coordination and management for WFP’s ongoing food systems projects where needed. This includes coordination with area offices, building the capacity of implementing partners, and being the programme/project focal person with WFP business units (procurement, finance), communications and other relevant WFP units
• Work with relevant technical units to incorporate Nutrition in Retail report recommendations, through development of an actionable roadmap by each relevant unit. Including tackling key findings on khat, tea, and CBT (vouchers) leveraging.
• Lead partnership development with one or more Somalia private sector processing enterprises on nutritious food product processing, including launching a product onto the Somalia market.
• Review existing market information systems, map regional and local market outlets, and identify opportunities for linkages along the value chains. Review operational research around value chain mapping, market information systems, including access to finance, credit and subsidies.
• Lead a fodder value chain analysis and develop expansion and integration opportunities in link with disaster preparedness efforts linking fodder reserves to pastoral and agropastoral zones.
• Develop a local procurement strategy and plan jointly with Supply Chain team.
• Support the Supply Chain team to develop a comprehensive retailer strategy to promote the sale of WFP-supported and/or other locally produced nutritious products across WFP contracted retailers, including monitoring the availability, quality, and price of those products as well as retailer performance, in coordination with M&E.
• Support the Supply Chain team to identify and assess relevant supply chains, define a market development strategy ensuring Value for Money (availability, affordability, and quality of nutritious food), and develop capacity-building initiatives aimed at different supply chain actors across storage, transport, procurement, fortification, FSQ etc.
• Support the Supply Chain team to grow WFP’s e-commerce platform, adding price monitoring, quality standards, and other elements to support market linkages.
• Contribute to analytical, operational and donor reporting, for internal or external use.
• Perform other related duties as required.