Development of the National Food Safety Policy (NFSP) and Implementation Plan

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1. Area of expertise:

Technical experts in the National Food Safety Policy and implementation plan in Sierra Leone.

2. Purpose of consultancy:

To produce a comprehensive, evidence-based, and context-appropriate National Food Safety Policy and implementation plan.

3. Background

Food safety is a critical public health and economic development priority for Sierra Leone. Unsafe food contributes to food-borne illnesses, reduced productivity, trade barriers, and increased healthcare costs. Ensuring food safety at every step, from farm to fork, requires farmers, producers, and the wider agri-food sector to anticipate and respond to threats across the entire supply chain. This task is becoming increasingly complex as climate change introduces new and evolving risks that can compromise food safety in numerous ways.

Sierra Leone currently lacks a comprehensive national food safety policy and strategy that align with international standards such as the Codex Alimentarius, WHO Global Food Safety Strategy 2022–2030, and regional commitments under ECOWAS. This gap weakens the broader and coordinated public health response to foodborne threats. The Ministry of Health (MoH) in collaboration with the Food Safety Technical Working Group are committed to reducing the burden of foodborne diseases and enhancing the quality of food for domestic consumption, import and export. In 2025, the country conducted a mapping of its food safety capacities and developed a national roadmap to guide systemic improvements. These efforts have laid the foundation for the developent of a multisectoral national food safety policy and its implementation plan.

The food safety Unit in the Directorate of Environmental Health and Climate Change, MoH is now embarking on the development of a multisectoral National Food Safety Policy and implementation plan that provides a coordinated national framework for risk prevention, control, surveillance, regulation, capacity building, and emergency response across the food value chain. The policy will address key national food safety challenges across a broad range of areas, including legislation, institutional arrangements, monitoring and evaluation, resources, communication and education, traceability, infrastructure, training and capacity building, emerging and re-emerging issues, and inspection. An accompanying implementation plan will provide a structured and coordinated approach for operationalizing the policy.

Against this background, the World Health Organization Sierra Leone Country Office seeks to engage a national consultant to develop the national food safety policy and its implementation framework.

4. Deliverables:

The consultant will:

Scope of Work and key tasks of the consultant

The consultant will carry out the following tasks:

1. Desk review and gap analysis:

Ø Review existing policies, international food safety frameworks, and results of the food safety capacity mapping in Sierra Leone and roadmap, analyzing the current food safety landscape including policies, legislation, institutional mandates, laboratory capacity, surveillance systems, and enforcement mechanisms.

Ø Identify country-specific needs, gaps, challenges and priorities for strengthening the food safety system in Sierra Leone

Ø Identify key players across the food management continuum (such as Agriculture, Health/ Laboratories, Fisheries, Trade, Customs, and Private Sectors) to support implementation of policy and plan.

2. Drafting of the national food safety policy:

Ø Prepare an initial draft of the national food safety policy reflecting national priorities and aligned with international best practices.

3. Drafting of the implementation plan:

Ø Prepare an initial draft of the implementation plan to provide a coordinated and structured approach for implementing the national food safety policy.

4. Stakeholder consultation and validation:

Ø Facilitate stakeholder consultation to develop draft documents including the TWG for review.

Ø Present draft documents to key stakeholders for review and feedback and facilitate a national validation workshop.

Ø Incorporate comments and submit final documents to the MoH.

Deliverables

Ø Inception Report with methodology and workplan of the consultancy exercise.

Ø Stakeholder Consultation Report.

Ø National Food Safety Policy.

Ø Implementation plan

5. Qualifications, experience, skills and languages

Education: (Qualifications)

Essential:

Ø Advanced degree in Food Science, food safety, Public Health, Food Law, veterinary medicine or a related field.

Experience

Essential:

Ø Minimum of 7 years of experience in policy and strategy development.

Ø Familiarity with the WHO global strategy and other food safety guidelines including Codex standards and food safety challenges in developing countries.

Ø Desirable: Experience working with the UN on Policy/strategy/guidelines development is an added advantage.

Technical skills and knowledge:

Ø Strong facilitation, communication, and stakeholder engagement skills.

Languages and level required –

Ø Working proficiency in English (written, presentation and verbal communication skills)

Location:

c/o World Health Organization, Sierra Leone, 21 A&B Riverside Drive, off King Harman Road

P.O. Box 529 Brookfields, Freetown, Sierra Leone

6. Travel

NO Travelling required.

7. Remuneration and budget (travel costs are excluded):

The duration of this consultancy is for 4 Months. Remuneration will be at applicable fees as per the World Health Organization scale of Consultant at NOC.

Expected duration of contract (Maximum contract duration is 11 months per calendar year):

4 Months.