Organizational Setting

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has been advocating and promoting the importance of multisectoral and multidisciplinary approach for health management encompassing preparedness, prevention, detection, and response of health threats such as zoonotic diseases (ZDs), Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and food safety arising at human-animal-environment interface. The FAO’s Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) assists governments to develop policies, programmes and projects to address these threats and provides technical support for the sustainable development of their One Health (OH) initiatives.
Under the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded Global Health Security (GHS) Programme, several activities are being implemented in Mozambique in response to the recent outbreak of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in the country. Subsequently, FAO is recruiting a Poultry Value Chain Analyst to support the mapping of the poultry industry in Mozambique, including a socio-economic assessment of the impact of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in the poultry value chain  of the country.  The position is based in the ECTAD office of the FAO Representation in Maputo, Mozambique. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) through ECTAD, is dedicated to working with the national government in the country in preventing and controlling emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases of public health importance and AMR.

Reporting Lines

Under the overall supervision of the Senior Animal Health Officer/ ECTAD Global Programme Coordinator (NSAH), the functional and administrative supervision of the FAO Representative in Mozambique and the direct supervision of the ECTAD Country Team Leader in Mozambique, and technical backstopping of the ECTAD regional team for Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA), the Poultry Value Chain Analyst will support the  mapping of the poultry industry in Mozambique, including a socio-economic assessment of the impact of  the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in the poultry value chain  of the country. This responsibility shall be discharged in close collaboration with the Veterinary Services (VS), Directorate of Livestock Development (DNDP) in the Ministry of Agriculture and rural development (MADER), Professional veterinary and poultry producer associations.

Technical Focus

Implementation of the ” Supporting the Global Health Security Agenda to address zoonotic diseases, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and animal health in Mozambique” project (OSRO/GLO/1148/USA).

Tasks and responsibilities

The Poultry Value Chain Analyst will undertake the following tasks:

1.  Conduct a situation analysis and a preliminary risk analysis. This shall involve:
2. ·         Identify people, groups, and organizations in the poultry value chain.

    

   ·         Geographical mapping of trade routes (local and international) to markets of poultry meat, eggs, poultry feeds, waste (used as manure) and other inputs.

    

   ·         Identify risk issues for avian influenza (AI) transmission and hotspots.

    

   ·         Provide a Poultry production, processing, and distribution system analysis.

    

   ·         Collect socio-economic data of the incentive structure for stakeholders to comply with risk reduction measures. Particularly:

    

   à         Formal and informal contracts between stakeholders, including the credit and financing arrangements in exchange of products and services What are their motivations for behaviour change (especially what factors might influence behavioural changes and changes to practices)?

    

   à         Value, batch size and frequency of transactions

    

   à         Profit margin and sales volume at different points in the chain

    

   à         Contribution of the value chain related activity to the household income of the stakeholders

    

   à         Regulatory mechanisms (formal and informal) – Institutions (Including the potential geographical variation in the capacity and/or regulation of institutions, e.g., district veterinary offices)

    

   à         Certification / inspection / regulations

    

   à         Identify the microfinance institutions and other financial intermediaries that provide financing to the poultry sector.  

    

   1.     Conduct a detailed risk and value chain analysis. This shall involve:

    

   ·         Identify practices that tend to increase risk for AI transmission and the prevalence of these practices.

    

   ·         Identify practices (regulated or not) aimed at risk reduction (good production practices including biosecurity) and compliance with these.

    

   ·         Identify the critical risk control point (CCP) in the value chain using a risk scoring method or other semi-quantitative assessment to support conclusion. State if control measures exist at this step.

    

   ·         Assessed resources and capability of people in the chain to react to disease challenges.

    

   ·         Identify existing disease control policies, particularly:

    

   à         commitment of government at all levels to control diseases (level of response)

    

   à         capacities, resources, etc. of the veterinary services – cost structure (institutions and individuals)

    

   2.     Risk Management Options:

    

   ·         Develop a Risk mitigation strategy using approaches consistent with economic incentives across the supply chain. Viz:

    

   à         What is expected to comply with control measures – how does this interact with the interests of specific value chain actors (budgets and margins, cultural beliefs or behaviours)?

    

   à         What has a chance to be implemented?

    

   3.     Produce a separate document on the socio-economic impact of the recent outbreak of HPAI on the poultry value chain in Mozambique.

    

   4.     Undertake any other assignments as may be requested by the supervisor.

    

•  CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements    

•    Advanced university degree in Veterinary Medicine, agricultural economics, business administration, or a related field.
•    A minimum of 7 years of relevant experience in agribusiness, value chain analysis, and development.
•    Working knowledge of English and Portuguese.
•    National of Mozambique or resident in the country with a valid work permit.

FAO Core Competencies

•    Results Focus
•    Teamwork
•    Communication
•    Building Effective Relationships
•    Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills 

•    Evidence of training in both the general semi-structured interview and other participatory methods, and in the integration of risk analysis with value chain study and analysis is desirable.
•    Relevant experience in executing similar studies in the poultry sector, including knowledge of the Mozambican poultry industry is also desirable.
•    The candidate must have knowledge conducting surveys, data analysis, and report writing.
•    Professional experience in veterinary epidemiology, including production of disease hotspot maps.
•    Experience in conducting value chain analysis in a Southern Africa context.
•    Experience with risk analysis in poultry production systems.
•    Demonstrated evidence of skills in socio economic assessments.
•    Ability to work in interdisciplinary teams, and good interpersonal skills.
•    Good computer skills as well as ability to use epidemiological tools.