Jennifer Rathebe

Jennifer Rathebe is the Technical Director of the Regional Standards Programme (RSP), responsible for monitoring the technical and operational performance of initiatives financed through the RSP. She also provides ongoing technical standards compliance assistance to project partners and liaise with key private, government and non-statutory institutions across Southern Africa active in the field of agricultural and trade issues.

Jennifer joined ComMark in September 2007. Prior to joining ComMark, she was the Director of Food Safety and Quality Assurance at the National Department of Agriculture. She has more than 25 years experience in food safety and food standard setting, having worked at the Botswana Meat Commission, first as Laboratory Manager and then at Karan Beef in Balfour, Mpumalanga, as Quality Assurance Manager.

She has also served as a non-executive director on the Board of the Johannesburg Fresh Produce Market.

She currently serves as a developing country representative, responsible for food safety, on the Working Group and Policy Committee of the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF), a global programme in capacity-building and technical co-operation established by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the World Bank, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Jennifer holds a B.Sc degree (Chemistry and Biology) from the University of Keele (UK) and an M.Sc (Chemistry) from the University of Salford (UK).

Technical Director of the Regional Standards Programme (RSP)