Climate change in the face of war: Ukraine’s complex crisis
Ukraine’s crisis isn't about the conflict alone; it has also created devastating ecological impacts that continue to threaten people and animals within and beyond its borders.
Vets Without Borders has an open Dairy Processing Technologist position at Wakulima Dairy Limited, located in Nyeri County in the central highlands of Kenya.
Download Job OverviewJob Details
Job Title: Dairy Processing Technologist
Country: Kenya
Location: Nyeri County, in the central highlands of Kenya
Partner Organization: Wakulima Dairy Limited
Duration: 3 - 12 Months
Start Date: As soon as possible
Pre-departure Training: VWB/VSF will provide training orientation.
Eligibility: Canadian Citizens and Permanent Residents of Canada only
Language: English (essential) Swahili, Kimeru (desirable)
Academic Requirements: University/college degree in Science with a strong focus on Dairy Science Technology
Fundraising: VWB/VSF encourages each volunteer to raise funds towards the organization’s operations.
Volunteer Terms & Conditions
VWB/VSF covers most of the costs of being an overseas volunteer, including:
- Return airfare to placement country
- Visa/permit costs
- The cost of required vaccinations, anti-malarial medication, and overseas emergency travel health insurance
- A monthly living allowance (MLA) that will be paid into the volunteer’s bank account in Canada. The MLA is designed to be sufficient to cover simple housing, basic food requirements, and other typical monthly living expenses.
Our Commitment
Veterinarians Without Borders/Vétérinaires sans Frontière is an equal opportunity employer and values the diversity of our team.
We are committed to inclusive and equitable employment practices and strive to create a workplace that supports diversity, equity, and inclusion. VWB/VSF Canada welcomes applications from all qualified candidates, including members of racialized groups, Indigenous peoples, women, persons with disabilities, and persons of any sexual orientation or gender identity.
Please let us know if you require an accommodation and we will work with you to ensure an equitable hiring process. Thank you for your interest in VWB/VSF Canada.
Overall Goal
The primary purpose of the Dairy Processing Technologist is to support the dairy processing team in the range of products the partner processes, which is in line with our One Health approach. The role will involve working directly with the production department, in liaison also with the local coordinator and Africa Program Officer.
Objectives
- Devising and further establishment of company’s quality and hygiene procedures, standards, and specifications
- Developing, implementing, and reviewing processing and quality policy
- Ensuring the factory maintains good housekeeping standards
- Setting standards for quality as well as health and safety
- Making sure that manufacturing or production processes meet national standards
- Liaising with the Kenya Bureau of standards on compliance
- Looking for ways to reduce waste and increase efficiency
- Defining quality procedures in conjunction with operating
- Setting up and maintaining controls and documentation procedures
- Making suggestions for changes and improvements and how to implement them
- Support in strategies for developing new products
All volunteers are expected to promote gender equality, environmental sustainability, and good governance within their placement responsibilities
Skills
Essential
- Knowledge of and experience in the application of principles of bacteriology, chemistry, physics, engineering, and economics to develop new and improved methods in production, preservation, and utilization of dairy products
- Demonstrated knowledge in and ability to improve food and dietary diversity at intra-household level
- Ability to work in a cross-cultural team and communicate in a clear way
- Ability to meet quality standards
- Commitment to the principles of volunteer cooperation and familiarity with participatory approaches to development, including the promotion of gender equality, good governance, and environmental sustainability
- Strong problem solving and collaboration skills
Desirable
- Previous international work/volunteer experience in the international development sector
About the Project: VETS
Volunteers Engaged in Gender Responsive Technical Solutions (VETS), funded through the Volunteer Cooperation Program at Global Affairs Canada, will engage 190 volunteers to work with local partner organizations in Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
Volunteers will help create integrated animal health systems to increase the livelihoods and household nutrition of small-scale farmers. The VETS program utilizes the skills of volunteers to build local partner capacity to support community members, primarily women, to reduce poverty. Through improved production of livestock and crops, volunteers help improve family income and nutrition.
The VETS program is built around the One Health concept, which recognizes that the health of people, animals, and the natural environment are interconnected. This project promotes the production of more and better food and increased incomes from livestock, all the while promoting land rehabilitation and conservation for sustainable development.
About Veterinarians Without Borders
In the global south, more than 90 percent of food animals are raised by subsistence farmers. However, small-scale livestock producers, the majority of whom are women, have very limited access to quality and affordable animal health services.
Aside from the risks associated with the loss of valuable livestock that provides important protein and/or income for low-income households, zoonotic diseases that can be passed from animals to humans offer a very real threat to human health on a wider scale.
Veterinarians Without Borders/Vétérinaires sans frontières (VWB/VSF) works for and with communities in need to foster the health of animals, people, and the environments that sustain us. VWB/VSF works nationally and internationally to train animal health workers, increase food security, and improve animal and public health.
VWB/VSF provides overseas volunteer placements for veterinarians and other animal and public health professionals.
