Zerihun Zena

Project Consultant, with International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations • Freelance

Jun 2022 - Dec 2022 • 6 mos

As Project Consultant, I spearheaded ILRI's research initiative on "Incentivizing Food Safety in Informal Urban Markets in Africa." Informal urban markets in Ethiopia face significant food safety challenges, yet limited research exists on effective interventions. There was a need for participatory action research to test innovations (such as Reusable Plastic Crates) and generate evidence for policy dialogue and sustainable supply chain management practices. I devised participatory action research protocols and operational frameworks for testing RPCs to reduce postharvest loss and improve food safety. I facilitated MoUs and data-sharing partnerships among food value chain stakeholders across Dire Dawa and Harar. I developed and deployed practical, flexible, and structured research data collection forms for use by survey enumerators during offline field data collection. I conducted stakeholder assessments and capacity building sessions with market actors. I supported the implementation of digital data collection tools for remote data management. Results included research protocols adopted by ILRI, data collected from 100+ market actors, strengthened partnerships between researchers and market stakeholders, and evidence generated for food safety policy advocacy.