Job Title: Project Coordinator, Food Supply Systems – GAIN

About the Role

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is seeking a Project Coordinator, Food Supply Systems to provide technical expertise in developing Last Mile Vendor (LMV) businesses. They will be responsible for identification, selection and supporting business to increase the access of safe, fresh and variety of vegetables within the project area. This role will be offered on a three(3) year fixed term contract, subject to availability of funding and will be based in Nairobi, Kenya.

In Kenya, 94% of adults do not meet the WHO recommendations of 400 grams of daily fruit and vegetable consumption. In 2015, a national survey found that 15.3% consumed fruits daily and 50.9% consumed vegetables daily. Many African countries do not produce enough vegetables to meet their populations’ nutrient needs. This low production is exacerbated by high losses in the value chain.

GAIN Kenya has designed a program to respond to this situation by stimulating increased vegetable access and increasing consumption through demand creation.

The Vegetables for All project will create partnerships with private actors and organizations who employ different models at various levels and support sourcing of vegetables from Good Agricultural Practices compliant suppliers to increase all-year availability of safe vegetables in target.

Key Responsibilities include:

• Collaborate with relevant structures (at national, county, market level), provide technical advice and support the implementation of existing local food safety standards.
• Identify Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) compliant vegetable suppliers and/or suppliers who are meeting the food standards in project implementation counties and link them to last mile vendors for improved sourcing of safe vegetables.
• Conduct regular visits to Last Mile Vendors (LMVs) working locations to verify actual status of vegetable supply and address vegetables supply challenges.
• Link last mile vendors to identified suppliers who are meeting food standards for improved sourcing of safe vegetables.
• Coordinate with implementing partners and key stakeholders in the project to train the last mile vendors on various aspects including food safety, business development amongst others.
• Provision of technical support and trainings to mid value chain actors (e.g cold chain storage providers /logistics, retail shops, aggregators), Last Mile Vendors (LMVs) and market committees on the need for traceability systems for food safety and how to use the available/developed systems.
• Participate and contribute to development and implementation of project work plans in collaboration with the project coordinators.
• Provide assistance to the project manager by monitoring the project progress against project workplan and budget.

About you

The ideal candidate should have experience working with last mile vendors with ability to link them with suppliers compliant with food standards. Have a deep understanding and development of food safety and traceability systems. You should have strong capacity building skills with a wide variety of stakeholders including experience providing technical support to value chain actors such as cold chain storage providers, aggregators, retail shops, logistics etc.

The post holder should have solid experience in the Agri-food sector in Kenya, particularly in areas of agriculture, agribusiness, nutrition etc. Experience working on donor funded agribusiness projects or with an agribusiness itself in addition to a great understanding of supply chain analysis with a focus on vegetables.

You should be able to conduct match making events to enhance market linkages in addition to linking vendors to various business development service providers. The candidate should have an education background with a degree in Agribusiness, Agriculture, Entrepreneurship & SME Management, and/or equivalent work experience. Project Management certification is highly desirable.

About our Offer

The starting gross salary on offer for this role is from KES 3’019’680 – KES 3’454’680 per annum, depending on experience.

GAIN has a fair and competitive salary structure that allows for annual progression subject to good performance. In addition, GAIN offers a total of 37 days holiday per year (including annual leave, public holidays and additional office closure days), an attractive pension scheme and competitive insurance cover including health, travel and life assurance. We are committed to the health of our staff, especially in these challenging times, and have developed a programme of wellbeing that includes flexible and hybrid working, additional leave allowances, wellbeing days, mindfulness coaching and access to independent and confidential counselling.

GAIN also has a strong commitment to professional development. We will support you to grow in your career through both formal and informal training, and are committed to providing opportunities through internal recruitment, secondments, and promotion. All of this is delivered in a supportive and collaborative environment.

About GAIN

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is a Swiss-based foundation launched at the United Nations in 2002 to tackle the human suffering caused by malnutrition. Due to COVID19, conflict in Ukraine and climate change, malnutrition and hunger have worsened significantly since 2019, reversing a decade of progress. There is growing recognition that our food systems need to change if we are to reverse these trends.

GAIN’s Strategy aims to transform food systems to make healthier diets from sustainable food systems accessible to all people and especially those whose are most vulnerable to shocks. By 2027, we aim to improve the access of 1.5 billion people to nutritionally enhanced staple foods, improve the access of 25 million people to healthier diets, and support positive food system change in 10 countries. This is bold and complex, and the only way to achieve this is to work together with partners including governments, businesses, and civil society at the country and global level. These goals, and the ways of achieving them, build on our twenty-year legacy of transforming people’s lives with improved nutrition through concerted action and effective policy change.

Our Working Culture and Environment

We provide a flexible working environment that includes a combination of home and office working opportunities through our global hybrid working policy. This encourages our staff to have a healthy work-life balance and increases staff motivation, enriches employee wellbeing, and improves performance and productivity.

All of our positions are based in one or more of GAIN’s designated offices as stated on our job advertisements. Successful candidates will be based in one of GAIN’s country offices and must have the existing right to live and work within a reasonably commutable distance of the relevant city / cities in which the role is advertised. Please note, that GAIN does not sponsor working visas and relocations.

GAIN reserves the right to withdraw an offer of employment for candidates who are considered to ineligible under the above conditions during or after the recruitment process.

Applicants must have the right to work and be currently based in the advertised country location, to be eligible to apply for this position.

This advert closes on 31st August 2023. Early applications are encouraged. GAIN reserves the right to close this advert early should we receive suitable candidates ahead of the closing date.

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition is committed to equality of opportunity and creating an inclusive environment where diversity is valued. We are keen to reflect the diversity of our society at every level within our organization and therefore welcome applications from talented and committed people from all backgrounds, representing the diverse societies we operate in.