Technical Officer, Food Safety Job at Federal Ministry of Youth Development

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Job Title: Technical Officer, Food Safety

Scheme: Junior Professional Officer's Programme (JPO-P)  

Recruiter: Federal Ministry of Youth Development

State: AKWA IBOM

Agency: WHO

Applicants are advised in their own interest not to give any form of gratification or inducement to any person or group of persons to assist them in the recruitment exercise.

Women and persons physically challenged are encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Unit of assignment:   Food Safety Programme, Division of Communicable Diseases, Health Security, and Environment

Country and Duty Station: WHO Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen, Denmark

Duration of assignment: One year renewable depending on satisfactory performance

Objective of the WHO Programme/Department

•   WHO/Europe's food safety programme supports countries in building capacity to manage food safety challenges in accordance with the WHO European Action Plan for Food and Nutrition Policy 2007 – 2012 and the WHO global strategy for food safety.

•   Food safety is challenged by a longer, more complex and globalized food chain than ever before, which makes it more difficult to prevent food contamination even in the most developed countries. Prevention of foodborne disease and effective responses to food safety challenges require holistic, risk-based and timely policies and strategies.

•   The food safety programme's capacity building addresses the following areas: development of inter-sectoral food safety systems with a whole-food chain and risk-based approach; surveillance of foodborne disease; surveillance of microbiological and chemical contamination in the food chain; management of food safety emergencies and outbreaks of foodborne disease; food safety risk communication and consumer education; and antimicrobial resistance from a food safety perspective;

Assignment Summary:

The JPO will work in Division of Communicable Diseases, Health Security, and Environment within the Food Safety Programme. Under the supervision of the Programme Manager Food Safety, Dr Hilde Kruse, the JPO is expected to:

1) Support the food safety programme with its country and multi-country work with particular focus on food safety capacity building capacities in the Central-Asian Republics and the South Eastern European (Balkan) countries.

2) Support the food safety programme with work related to food safety emergencies in collaboration with the Alert and Response Operations unit in WHO EURO and the INFOSAN (the International Food Safety Authorities Network) secretariat in WHO Headquarters.

Duties, Responsibilities and Output expectations:

Under the overall supervision of the Programme Manager Food Safety, Dr Hilde Kruse, the JPO shall perform the following duties and responsibilities:

1) Support the food safety programme with its country and multi-country work: 75%, both years. Assist in implementing the food safety activities foreseen in the Biennial Collaborative Agreement (BCA) between the Member Countries and WHO EURO. Activities include preparing and organizing related workshops and training courses and support with development of relevant presentations and materials.

2) Support the food safety programme with work related to food safety emergencies: 25%, both years. Assist in the response to food safety emergencies, including gathering relevant epidemiological and food safety information, and facilitating information sharing and communication from a technical perspective.

Canditate Profile:

Qualifications and Experience:

Education:

Minimum: University degree in medicine, veterinary medicine, food sciences, toxicology or microbiology.

Desirable: Master's degree or PhD in a discipline relevant to food safety such as epidemiology, toxicology or microbiology.

• Age: Must not be more than 32 years on the date of application

• Information Technology skills, including word processing, database application (excel) presentation software (power point) and internet appreciation.

• An interest in adapting to varied physical environments; and a desire to work with people with different language, national and cultural backgrounds;

• Evidence of ability to think strategically, work independently and demonstrate a sense of self-assuredness.

• Respect for the UN principles of the United Nations Charter and the participating UN organization's mission statement

Work experience:

Minimum: Two years experience related to food safety, infectious diseases, foodborne disease or toxicology.

Desirable: Experience from working at the international level. Experience from working with outbreaks and health emergencies, especially related to food safety.

Skills required for the assignment:

Minimum: Proficiency in spoken and written English, good computer skills and strong analytical skills. Knowledge of food safety and foodborne disease and prevention and control.

Desirable: Knowledge of the Russian language.

WHO competencies required for the assignment:

The candidate is expected to demonstrate and be guided by WHO competencies; specifically:

1. Producing results

2. Communicating in a credible and effective way

Learning objectives of the JPO during this assignment

Upon completion of the assignment, the JPO will have / be able to

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