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Research Consultant

2 months ago

Nairobi, Nairobi Area, Kenya WRI - World Resources Institute Full time
WRI Africa Research Consultant

Terms of Reference

Piloting food loss and waste measurement protocol for fish value chains in Kenya

Institution overview

The World Resources Institute (WRI) is a global non-profit research organization established in 1982.

The organization has been working in Africa for more than 30 years, supporting local partners and African governments to advance forest protection, landscape restoration and sustainable cities.

Our vision for Africa is an inclusive transformation so that Africa's people and landscapes flourish.

WRI Africa generates actionable knowledge across three strategic pillars:
Vital Landscapes, Thriving and Resilient Cities, and Institutional and Economic Transformation.

The goal of the Vital Landscapes pillar is to revitalize and protect landscapes for people and the planet working in four programmatic areas:
Food, Restoration, Water and Forests.

Because Africa's population will continue to grow rapidly in the next decades, and climate change will remain an obstacle for development, the Vital Landscapes Pillar has a vision to build the resilience of our natural ecosystems so that they can continue to provide vital ecosystems services - food, water, carbon sequestration and climate regulation sustainably.

The pillar aims to catalyse comprehensive transformation of African food systems, so that the way we produce, transport, store, process, trade and consume food is done in a manner that protects the environment and guarantees human health and well-being.

Assignment background


The current assignment is part of WRI-Africa's Vital Landscapes Pillar described above, and more specifically, the food loss/waste (FLW) portfolio domiciled under the food program.

One of portfolio's goal is to contribute to impactful FLW prevention and reduction through collaborations that scale-up a Measure-target - Act approach.

This approach encourages entities to integrate measurement of FLW in their operations, set targets and execute FLW prevention/reduction actions while implementing mechanisms for tracking progress towards the set targets.

Measuring or quantifying FLW helps entities to better understand how much, where, and why food is being lost or wasted, and provides an evidence-based foundation for the Actions that need to be prioritized.

Measuring further enables entities to monitor whether they are on track towards realizing the set targets.

.


A major obstacle in the mitigation of FLW is lack of reliable and consistent data on the magnitude, the hotspots (geographical, product, value chain stages), and the key drivers of FLW that entities encounter.

A review of the literature shows there exist variations in scope/boundaries of FLW measurement– even in the same value chains, which raises data discrepancies as well as reporting and accounting issues[\[1\]](#_ftn1).

These situations make it impossible to measure progress against any targets because there is no standardized way of defining and measuring the problem at any one point.

Additionally, the formulation of strong policies that would address the challenge with clear actionable recommendations to the public and private sector actors becomes challenged by the lack of comprehensive and accurate data sets.

Food entities in general require standardized data collection strategies and tools if they are to be able to implement successful FLW prevention/reduction actions.


Kenya and other African countries have committed to the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) target 12.3 of reducing food loss and halving food waste by 2030.

This commitment requires national frameworks to be supported with credible/standardized approaches for measuring FLW.

Conceptually, the methodological considerations of FLW measurement must consider the fact that food commodities are highly varied in their very nature.

Variations also exist in the causes and drivers of FLW depending on geographical, cultural, and social contexts. Furthermore, food loss and food waste entail quantity and quality dimensions.

A difficulty in measuring the quality dimension is that it is not always discernible (even when it could have health and food safety implications) and is perceived differently by different consumers.

Nevertheless, some quality dimensions that can be associated with sensory attributes lead to economic loss because consumers pay a reduced price for the inferior-quality product or discard such produce that then ends up as food waste.


Another important dimension of FLW measurement relates to understanding the destinations of fractions of food that, for various reasons, end up not being consumed or becomes waste.

Food commodities generate a significant amount of waste arising from market failures, deterioration, and processing in the form of by-products.

Food entities targeting certain markets need to measure and evaluate where fractions of the unsold or unconsumed produce (including processing by-products) terminate.

These could include donation/redistribution as human food, conversion into processed products (e.g., overripe mango can be processed into mango pulp), repurposing for animal feed, upcycling into bio-based products, channelling to value (nutrients, energy) recovery processes (e.g., anaerobic fermentation, controlled composting and controlled combustion), incineration, and landfill.

The target is to evaluate these destinations and keep reviewing them, with a focus to reducing the quantities that end up in high-GHG emitting destinations (e.g., landfill, incineration, and uncontrolled compositing), while maximizing material flows to destinations that return the highest value and benefits.

WRI developed the global FLW measurement protocol/standard in 2016[\[2\]](#_ftn2) in a bid to standardize the way FLW is measured.

In the interest of making the standard fit-for-purpose, WRI-Africa has contextualized the protocol for local companies and businesses to help them quantify and monitor their FLW.

The protocol envisions six basic steps (Figure 1) and has accompanying guidance on how best to implement it.

As part of the refining process, efforts are underway to pilot the protocol and the guidelines among companies and other business entities operating in select value chains.

The targeted companies include agricultural firms, food processors, wholesalers as well as established retailers (supermarkets), and food service outlets.

The piloting effort is linked to another of WRI's flagship project (10 x 20k x 30) that aims to engage with at least 10 farm-gate facing companies leveraging their capacity and knowledge to influence at least of their supplier farmers each, to cut near-farm and on-farm FLW by half by the year 2030, in line with the SDG 12.3 target.


Figure 1:
Standardized framework for FLW measurement and actioning.

The assignment


WRI Africa is seeking a highly qualified expert consultant to pilot the contextualized FLW measurement protocol with food companies and businesses in Kenya.

The consultant will be required to implement direct FLW measurement exercises with select companies/ business entities. The objective is to iteratively review and refine the protocol and the accompanying guidelines.

The companies/businesses may include agricultural firms, food processing companies, large aggregators/packhouses, established cooperatives, major retail outlets (supermarkets), and established food service outlets.

The qualified candidate will have strong interest in food systems transformation, and a grasp of the big picture, and the systemic implications of food loss and waste on people's social, and economic conditions as well as the environment.

The person must demonstrate deep understanding of the principles underpinning effective FLW assessment, and the emerging issues around FLW measurement, prevention and reduction in Africa.

Experience in the value chains of interest will be an added advantage.

The candidate is expected to be proactive and able to deliver autonomously, taking ownership for delivery of the work program.

Specific tasks

  • Perform an expert review of the protocols and guidelines for FLW measurement along fish value chains.
  • Develop a relevant appraisal matrix outlining the specific aspects to be evaluated on the protocol and guidelines.
  • Pre-test the tools proposed in the guidelines for FLW data collection to flush out any issues or ambiguities.
  • Work with WRI team to identify a presentative sample of targeted end-user entities.
  • Work with WRI Africa team and selected business entity representatives and to identify the value chain stages for the assessment.
  • Work with WRI team to train representatives of the target business entities on collecting FLW data across the value chain stages of interest, analysis of the data and reporting.
  • Work with WRI Africa team representatives of the selected business entities and to deploy the FLW quantification tool across the different value chain stages.
  • Gather feedback from the end users paying attention to any challenges and unexpected issues.
  • Analyse the collected data and report on magnitude of FLW in the selected entities the causes and drivers and make recommendation on the suitable innovations/technologies that the entity can use to reduce FLW across its value chain stages.
  • Analyse user feedback and compile a detailed report of the findings from the piloting exercise, highlighting any modifications made (or which should be made) for purposes of refining the protocol and guidelines.
Deliverables


1\) A report (written feedback) detailing the piloting procedure, methodology, results, and user feedback for each of the value chains selected for the exercise.

2\) A report documenting the magnitudes of FLW across the selected value chain stages, causes and drivers and recommendations on possible interventions to reduce FLW by specific entities.

3\) Seminar presentation.

The consultant will participate in at least one webinar or physical seminar session with WRI-Africa partners to present the findings of the assignment presented in the two reports above.

4\) A verified and validated version of the protocol/guidelines.

The consultant will in consultation with WRI-Africa team integrate all user feedback to produce the final, verified, and validated protocol and user guidelines for FLW measurement in fish value chains in Kenya.

Duration of the assignment


This assignment is scheduled to take place in between May and September 2024 for a duration of 60 direct engagement days spread across five (5) months.

It can be conducted by an individual consultant or a team of consultants with designated lead.

Required qualifications.

  • A master's degree or above in social science, development studies, food Science/technology postharvest technology, or a related field.
  • Extensive experience in conducting research in the agricultural sector, specifically on food loss and waste.
  • Strong analytical skills (qualitative and quantitative) and ability to synthesize large amount of data to produce desired outputs.
  • Knowledge of Africa's agrifood sector, food systems and how they are linked to issues of food loss and waste, food and nutrition security in Africa.
  • Indepth understanding of the Kenyan agricultural sector and food value chains
  • Experienced researcher with ability to work multiple stakeholders including public and private sector.
  • Proven track record of producing highquality, policyoriented research papers.
  • Excellent English writing and oral communication skills
  • A great team leader and team player
  • Good work ethics
Expression of Interest

Expression of Interest should contain:
\- A brief (Max. 2 pages) document outlining your approach. This should explain why you are qualified for this assignment. It should also illustrate your grasp of the concepts involved, methodologies you intend to apply and timelines.

\- An indicative work plan and budget proposal. The budget should provide a breakdown of the consultant fee and the costs of field activities.

\- CV(s)

\- All these documents should be in one pdf file.


We invite qualified persons to submit their Expressions of Interest by May 10, 2024 to [\[email protected\]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#d586b4b8a0b0b9fb92b4a1a0a7a095a2a7bcfbbaa7b2) for the attention of Samuel Gaturu, with cc to [\[email protected\]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#0b f647b636e7925467e7f7e656c624b7c c) for the attention of Christopher Mutungi, Senior Research Associate, Food Program at WRI Africa; [\[email protected\]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#6d20040e050c c030e050c0f022d1a1f0443021f0a) for the attention of Michael Onchabo, Director, Food and Land Use Coalition, Kenya; and [\[email protected\]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#a0f2cfc2c5d2d48ecdc2c5c3c8c5e0d7d2c98ecfd2c7) for the attention of Robert Mbeche, Director of Food program at WRI Africa.

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