Food Safety and Quality Assurance Expert (SSA, L10)–National School Meals Programme

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

5 August 2026-23:59-GMT+02:00 Eastern European Standard Time (Cairo)

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ABOUT WFP
The World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity, for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

At WFP, people are at the heart of everything we do and the vision of the future WFP workforce is one of diverse, committed, skilled, and high performing teams, selected on merit, operating in a healthy and inclusive work environment, living WFP's values (Integrity, Collaboration, Commitment, Humanity, and Inclusion) and working with partners to save and change the lives of those WFP serves.
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WHY JOIN WFP?

• WFP is a 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
• WFP offers a highly inclusive, diverse, and multicultural working environment.
• WFP invests in the personal & professional development of its employees through a range of training, accreditation, coaching, mentorship, and other programs as well as through internal mobility opportunities.
• A career path in WFP provides an exciting opportunity to work across the various country, regional and global offices around the world, and with passionate colleagues who work tirelessly to ensure that effective humanitarian assistance reaches millions of people across the globe.
• We offer an attractive compensation package (please refer to the Terms and Conditions section of this vacancy announcement).

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The World Food Programme (WFP) has extensive global experience in supporting governments to design, strengthen and scale sustainable National School Feeding Programmes (NSFPs). Under its School Feeding Strategy (2020–2030), WFP prioritizes national ownership by helping countries enhance systems, improve programme quality, and test innovative approaches tailored to their context.

Egypt currently operates one of the world’s largest school feeding programmes, reaching over 13 million children. However, the model relies predominantly on fortified biscuits with limited nutritional diversity due to logistical, safety and infrastructure constraints. In line with national strategies, including Vision 2030, the Education Sector Plan and the National Food and Nutrition Strategy, the Government, through the Minister of Education, is exploring the possibility of shifting toward providing fresh, nutritious hot meals, reaffirming commitments made under the School Meals Coalition.

To support this transition, the Minister of Education has formally requested WFP’s assistance in designing a scalable, cost efficient national hot meal model, covering operational guidance, infrastructure mapping, procurement and supply chain strengthening and the integration of lessons from global best practice. As a foundational step, WFP and the Ministry of Education and Technical Education (MoETE) will undertake a comprehensive mapping of school, community, and market capacities relevant to hot meal delivery, and to conduct a feasibility analysis to classify schools according to their readiness for transition during the 2026/2027 academic year.

WFP seeks the services of a Supply Chain Expert to provide specialist advice, analytics and contributions to integrated supply chain operations to ensure the design of effective and integrated supply chain approach that will inform the transition from snack based school feeding to a national hot/fresh school meals programme.

The expert should have broad experience across procurement, service delivery systems, operational design, contract management, costing, and logistics to support the development of a scalable and sustainable national hot school meals model.

The incumbent will work through the WFP Egypt CO in close collaboration with MoETE at central, governorate, and district levels to ensure alignment with national rules and regulations.

WHY JOIN WFP EGYPT?

•Contribute to one of the largest school feeding transformation initiatives globally.

•Support a high-impact programme expected to improve access to nutritious meals for millions of children.

•Work alongside government counterparts, technical experts and international stakeholders.

•Apply your expertise to influence relevant national supply chains and service delivery models.

SCOPE

•Thematic Scope: The scope of this assignment falls within the WFP’s support to enhance Egypt’s national school feeding programme, focusing on assessing the readiness of the system to transition to safe and efficient hot/fresh meal provision. For that, a comprehensive examination of the infrastructure and operational conditions required for such a shift to understand existing capacities for meal production, storage, and delivery. Based on the feasibility assessment, a collection of context-appropriate delivery models will be developed, including guidance on costs, staffing, equipment, logistics, safety, and nutrition standards. To operate hot meals at scale, there is need to operationalize a procurement and supply chain system capable of ensuring food safety and quality, predictability, and cost-efficiency.

•Temporal Scope: The assignment is expected to commence in the coming months and continue through the rollout of the programme for the 2026/2027 school year, subject to project timelines and funding availability.

•Geographic Scope: Nationwide.

TYPE OF CONTRACT: Special Service Agreement (SSA, L10)

DUTY STATION (City, Country): Cairo, Egypt

DURATION: 6 months

ACCOUNTABILITIES:

• Provide technical inputs to national school and infrastructure mapping by identifying food safety risks related to meal preparation, storage, water and sanitation conditions, waste management, energy sources, and hygiene practices in school or community kitchens, training institutions, and private food providers potentially engaged in hot meal delivery.
• Analyze food safety and quality implications of different delivery modalities (on‑site cooking, central kitchens, caterers, hybrid models), including risks associated with sourcing, processing, storage, transportation, meal holding times, and last‑mile distribution under diverse geographic and climatic conditions.
• Support the classification of schools and delivery options from a food safety perspective by defining minimum eligibility criteria, required controls, and mitigation measures for each school cluster, and identifying conditions under which hot meal delivery would not be feasible without significant safety investments.
• Provide technical guidance on compliance with national food safety regulations and standards, in coordination with relevant authorities (e.g. National Food Safety Authority, Ministry of Health), including inspection requirements, certification, licensing, and alignment with existing control systems.
• Define food safety and quality requirements for procurement and contracting processes, including supplier eligibility criteria, food specifications, hygiene and sanitation standards, inspection and verification mechanisms, recall procedures, and integration of food safety obligations into contracts and framework agreements.
• Advise on the design of food safety assurance systems across the supply chain, including preventive controls, risk‑based monitoring, documentation requirements, and incident reporting and response protocols tailored to hot school meals operations.
• Provide food‑safety‑related inputs to costing and financial models by identifying cost implications of compliance measures, including equipment, infrastructure upgrades, protective gear, testing, inspections, staff training, and monitoring systems.
• Draft or review food safety and hygiene components of the National School Meals Operational Manual, including standard operating procedures for kitchen operations, personal hygiene, cleaning and sanitation, temperature control, storage and transport of food, incident management, and reporting tools.
• Identify food safety capacity gaps among government institutions, implementing partners, caterers, kitchen staff, and suppliers, and propose priority capacity‑strengthening and training measures to support safe implementation at scale.
• Assess food safety readiness for phased implementation in selected governorates, identifying high‑risk control points, immediate mitigation actions, and minimum conditions required prior to start‑up.
• Develop training materials on standard operating procedures on food safety and hygiene for relevant government counterparts and programme personnel, and deliver Training of Trainers (ToT) sessions to strengthen national capacity for the implementation of the National School Hot Meals Programme.
• Contribute to the development of a short start‑up and scale‑up risk management note by summarizing key food safety risks likely to arise during early implementation and recommending adjustments to delivery models, controls, and monitoring arrangements based on field realities.
• Provide technical backstopping during the launch of the pilot phase of the hot meals programme to relevant stakeholders.
• Any other related duties, as required, within the scope of the assignment.

Deliverables

1-Food Safety Mapping and Risk Assessment Summary

Technical inputs/ sections pertinent to food safety and quality provided to the national school kitchen mapping/ assessment, including identification of key food safety risks across schools, supply chain, kitchens, current delivery models, and geographic contexts.

2-Food Safety Standards and Controls for Hot Meal Delivery Models

A concise document defining food safety and quality requirements for on‑site, central kitchen, and hybrid delivery models, including supplier eligibility criteria, food specifications, hygiene and sanitation standards, inspection and compliance mechanisms, and alignment with national regulations.

3-Food Safety Operational Guidance and Inputs to Supply Chain and Costing Guidance

National Operational Manual for food safety and quality assurance across kitchen operations, storage, transport, incident management, monitoring, and reporting. Contributions to the manuals related to supply chain and food‑safety‑related costs for financial modelling.

4-Capacity Assessment and TOT

Capacity Assessment Report and TOT sessions delivered to national stakeholders

5-Start‑up Food Safety Readiness and Scale‑up Adjustment Note

An action‑oriented assessment of food safety readiness for phased implementation of the hot meals selected models, identifying high‑risk control points, required pre‑conditions for start‑up, and recommended actionable adjustments to support safe piloting and informed scale‑up.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education: Advanced university degree in Food Science, Food Safety, Nutrition, Supply Chain Management, Public Health, or a related field.

A first-level degree with additional relevant experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced degree.

Experience:

• At least 8–10 years of progressively responsible professional experience in food safety system design, implementation, and quality assurance, including a minimum of 5 years in senior technical, advisory, or food safety management roles within large-scale catering, institutional feeding, hospitality, airline catering, industrial catering, school feeding programmes, or comparable food service operations.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience designing and implementing food safety management systems for large-scale catering operations, such as institutional catering, airline catering, industrial catering, hospital catering, school feeding programmes or comparable meal service operations.
• Proven experience managing or advising on high-risk food safety environments, including identification and mitigation of public-health, operational and reputational risks.
• Demonstrated experience providing senior-level technical advice to government counterparts, regulatory authorities and/or international organizations.
• Experience working with the Egyptian food safety regulatory environment, including engagement with the National Food Safety Authority (NFSA) and food service regulatory requirements, is strongly preferred.
• Prior experience working with UN agencies, governments or large public-sector programmes is strongly desirable.

Knowledge & Skills:

• Demonstrated ability to produce high-quality analytical reports, technical guidance and operational manuals for senior and government audiences.
• Strong analytical, drafting, and advisory skills, with the ability to translate complex technical requirements into practical operational guidance.
• Knowledge of food safety risk assessment methodologies and preventive control frameworks.
• Ability to design and implement monitoring and quality assurance systems at scale.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and facilitation skills.
• Ability to work independently and deliver technical outputs under tight deadlines.

Language: Fluency in written and spoken English and Arabic required.

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REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

WFP is committed to supporting individuals with disabilities by providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process. If you require a reasonable accommodation, please contact: global.inclusion@wfp.org

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REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

• All applications must be submitted exclusively through our online recruiting system. We do not consider CVs or applications sent by email, LinkedIn, or any other channel.
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• At the application stage, the only required documents are your CV and Cover Letter. Additional documents (passport, certificates, recommendation letters, etc.) may be requested later in the process.
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and invited to proceed to the next stage of the recruitment process.

All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs, job requirements, merit, and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. Therefore, all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.