Afghanistan: International Consultant on Cottonseed Oil Standards

Position International Consultant on Cottonseed Oil Standards

Place of Performance Mazar, Afghanistan

Contract Duration 15 Days

Starting Date 10 January 2016

OVERVIEW OF CTG GLOBAL

CTG Global is a managed service company specializing in Recruitment, Management Consultancy, Human Resources support services and Monitoring & Evaluation in post disaster and post conflict countries around the world.

CTG Global provides services to humanitarian organizations, government, non-governmental organizations and corporates that enables public and private sectors to focus on their core business and the achievement of their objectives in hostile and threatening environments as we provide a safe and secure environment for them to do so and alleviate them of their risks, crisis and personnel management problems.

OVERVIEW OF THE POSITION

Road to Jobs (R2J) is a three-year project that aims to create more and better jobs in two provinces of Northern Afghanistan, Samangan and Balkh, that are connected to the major urban centre of Mazar-i-Sharif. The project follows a market systems approach to address important underlying constraints inhibiting better employment outcomes, which in turn contribute to improving livelihoods and poverty reduction. R2J targets poor and vulnerable rural households and income earners who work either in rural communities, or in urban centres and other major centres of employment in both provinces.

As part of the Road to Jobs project plan, the project carried out an assessment called Participatory Appraisal of Competitive Advantage (PACA). The main objective was to assess the competitive sectors and their potential for improvement. The assessment identified a number of sectors which have the potential to improve through various interventions, to create more and better jobs and enhance the income of poor households. One of the competitive sectors according to the assessment is the cotton which is produced in bulk and is the main source of income for many poor farmers. However; the farmers do not get a good profit out of their cotton produce because it does not offer a good price. One of the reasons for low price for cotton products according to the survey is that cottonseed oil produced locally does not meet any local or international standard and therefore its market share is very low. Though many people and customers believe cottonseed oil is good oil for health but they still prefer to buy imported oil because they do not trust the locally produced cottonseed oil due to lack of standards and certification as well as poor hygienic conditions during the extraction. The project is aiming at improving the cottonseed oil production by formulating and introducing the national cottonseed oil standard to the local factories.

As a result of desk research, the R2J project found that many neighbouring countries such as Pakistan has a national standard for its cottonseed oil while Afghanistan is lacking it. Afghanistan National Standard Authority (ANSA) which is a responsible government agency for setting standards, has not been able to produce such a standard so far apparently due to lack of resources and staff. The R2J project is also aiming at enhancing the capacity of ANSA which can handle the cottonseed oil standard issues after the project intervention ends.

GENERAL FUNCTIONS

The overall objective of this mission will be for the consultant to work with the ILO Road to Jobs project, local stakeholders including Balkh Chamber of Commerce, cotton oil companies, and Afghanistan National Standard Authority (ANSA) to assess the current situation of the cottonseed oil production in Northern Afghanistan and how to formulate a national standard for the cottonseed oil in order to make the locally extracted oil more competitive to enhance its market. This will help to increase cotton farmers to earn more from their cotton produce and will create more jobs throughout of the cotton value chain.

The specific objectives of this consultancy are:

§ Meet with the project team in Mazar-e-Sharif and all other stakeholders to assess the current situation of the cottonseed oil production.

§ Review the cottonseed oil standards in the region and globally and provide guidance how they can be used for formulating a national cottonseed oil standard for Afghanistan.

§ Meet with other stakeholders including the BCCI and private sector companies that are currently working in Northern Afghanistan.

§ Discuss the situation with ANSA and review how a national cotton oil standard can be formulated.

§ Agree and finalise a plan for formulating a national cottonseed oil standard.

§ Assist ANSA and BCCI to formulate a national cottonseed oil standard using his/her knowledge of previous such work.

Outputs:

§ A work-plan specifying the next steps to be carried out by the R2J and relevant stakeholders to establish the cottonseed oil.

§ Cottonseed oil national standard developed together with ANSA.

§ Guide the cottonseed oil extracting companies to apply the newly developed national standard.

Management Arrangements and Payment

§ The consultant will report directly to Road to Jobs project of the ILO but will work with the ILO and all relevant stakeholders as mentioned above.

§ The consultant will have a mission to Mazar-e-Sharif and if needed to Kabul afterward to meet high ranking and technical officials of Afghanistan National Standard Authority (ANSA). The consultant will be paid with the daily fee based on his/her previous fee as well as subsistence allowance while in Afghanistan. Airfare and other transportation will be provided by the ILO.

ESSENTIAL EXPERIENCE

Education:

§ A first level university degree in a related field.

Work Experience:

§ Relevant experience in formulating standards for edible oil especially cottonseed oil. Current or previous employee of the Standard and Quality Control Authority of other countries will be preferred.

Key Competencies:

§ Ability to participate effectively in technical missions.

§ Good understanding and knowledge of standards and quality control.

§ Ability to draft reports and prepare guidelines relating to programme.

§ Ability to synthesise research, to reach empirically based conclusion and to provide reasoned advice.

§ Excellent analytical skills and knowledge.

§ Knowledge of tools related to formulating the standards.

§ Good computer skills.

Language Requirements:

§ Excellent command of English