Job Description
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL
ANNUAL ASSESSMENT: STRENGTHENING NUTRITION IN PRIORITY STAPLES (SNiPS)
Issued by The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition
(I) PROJECT BACKGROUND AND SCOPE OF WORK
ABOUT GAIN
The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is a Swiss-based foundation launched at the UN in 2002 to tackle the human suffering caused by malnutrition. Working with both governments and businesses, we aim to transform food systems so that they deliver more nutritious food for all people. GAIN’s work to improve the consumption of safe and nutritious food is based on three interlinked strategic objectives:
(1) To improve the demand for safe, nutritious foods.
(2) To increase the availability of nutritious foods and enhance the nutritional value of foods.
(3) To strengthen the enabling environment to improve the consumption of safe, nutritious foods.
We build alliances between governments, local and global businesses, and civil society to deliver sustainable improvements at scale. We are part of a global network of partners working together to create sustainable solutions to malnutrition. Through alliances, we provide technical, financial and policy support to key participants in the food system. We use specific learning, evidence of impact, and results of projects and programmes to shape and influence the actions of others
Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, GAIN has representative offices in Denmark, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In addition, we have country offices in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Tanzania. Programmes and projects are carried out in a variety of other countries, particularly in Africa and Asia.
BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT
GAIN has been implementing the Strengthening Nutrition in Priority Staples (SNIPS) project since January 2021 which was developed to add a nutrition lens to and deliver an integrated suite of activities to support GIZ’s Green Innovation Centre (GIC) in Nigeria. This nutrition project aims to strengthen the GIC priority value chains and improve food and nutrition security through improved diets for farmers, farm workers, other workers in businesses in these value chains, and among the wider population in Nigeria.
The following broad objectives for this programme are:
– Increased consumption of nutritious foods by smallholder farmers, their families, and the wider population.
– Strengthened cassava, maize, sweet potato, and rice value chains in Nigeria which provide more, safe nutritious foods to consumers
– Increased use of nutritious varieties of the target staples in processed foods.
– Improved productivity & and efficiency of farmers and other businesses to improve the production of nutritious foods in the cassava, maize, sweet potato, and rice value chains.
To reach our overarching goal – improving nutrition through improved diets – the project is building on the increased consumption of the staple crops, which is the primary focus of the GIC, through the following related interventions:
– A workforce nutrition programme to support farmers and workers in these value chains to improve their diets.
– Business support services to make nutritious and safe foods more accessible, affordable and desirable.
– Increased production and consumption of biofortified varieties of maize, cassava, and orange flesh sweet potato (OFSP).
Farmers’ nutritional health is directly linked to their productivity and earning potential both in terms of their own households, farms and businesses and in terms of their contribution to national wealth. However, farming families and households are often not aware of the importance of the nutrient content of the foods they produce and consume, and they are often unaware of the importance of the consumption of a diverse diet.
Farmers engaged in the production of the priority staples in focus may be able to access foods that meet their energy needs but even earning good income from their business does not usually translate to accessing a sufficiently diverse diet. The costs of poor nutrition on lost revenues to businesses in a context like Nigeria, where underweight, stunting and anaemia are prevalent in rural areas, and obesity rates are growing could mean as much as 2.7% of GDP is lost from lower worker productivity (Chatham House, 2020).
The Workforce Nutrition (WFN) component is focused on improving the diets of farmers and workers within the rice and maize value chains, ranging from smallholder farmers to processing employees. This will be done through workforce nutrition initiatives that aim to improve the consumption of nutritious foods as a vital part of a healthy, diverse diet for all involved. Additionally, it aims to engage business owners in the supply chain, as well as local and state authorities on the significance of adequate nutrition for enhanced resilience and productivity. This will be done through regular advocacy and engagements with them to underscore the importance of workforce nutrition for both workers and farmers.
SMEs handle most of the food that is produced, transported, marketed, and consumed in low-income countries such as Nigeria. These SMEs are however hindered by a lack of business knowledge and skills and often lack the resources to take advantage of the opportunities around them to innovate and secure higher value from their smallholder investments. Lack of awareness of food safety regulations, good practices and how to adhere to them, also means that many consumers are exposed to contaminated or otherwise unsafe foods.
The business support component focuses on empowering women and young people, tapping into their creativity and energy to bolster their families, thrive in agri-business, and address malnutrition, food, and social insecurities. This initiative seeks to amplify the involvement of women and youth in value-added agriculture and entrepreneurship, particularly addressing challenges they confront in the project’s four focal states.
It aims to tap into opportunities by leveraging the political will across local, state, and national levels in Nigeria to create economic opportunities for women and youth in the production, processing, and sale of nutritious and safe foods. This will be achieved through amplifying the knowledge and information available to women and youth regarding nutrition and enhancing their involvement in decision-making processes. Furthermore, it will direct business support and investments toward their innovations. These efforts will not only improve their livelihoods but also infuse nutrition sensitivity within the GIC value chains.
This will be pursued through three interlinked approaches:
– Improving the nutrition quality of staple foods produced by SMEs and farmers involved in GIC activities.
– Improving the capacity of food safety and value chain actors to adhere to standards and regulations on best practices.
– Supporting technical innovations for supply chains through innovation challenges and innovation clinics.
One in three people globally experience vitamin and mineral deficiencies leading to severe health outcomes including premature and preventable death in infants and young children. Micronutrient deficiencies can also constrain work performance resulting in slower economic growth and widespread, intergenerational poverty. Nearly two-thirds of Nigerian children are at risk of vitamin A deficiency due to inadequate amounts of vitamin A in their diets (NDHS 2018) and generally inadequate access to a diversity of food at the household level due to rising levels of poverty.
This “hidden hunger” is particularly acute in countries like Nigeria and among farming families who grow and eat their own food and diets are overly reliant on staple foods, lacking in the diversity of foods needed to meet multiple nutrient requirements. The biofortification component is working with farmers and farming households to promote the adoption, cultivation, and utilization of these staples by farming households and other food processors. This component promotes Vitamin A Cassava, Vitamin A Maize and Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP) in Oyo, Kaduna, and Benue states, respectively.
GOAL AND OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSESSMENT
The overarching goal is to measure the specific changes in the production, sales and consumption patterns of biofortified foods and the other targeted foods brought about by SNiPS project on its target population.
The specific objectives are to assess the following areas:
(1) The level of adoption of biofortified varieties by the supported farmers and the change in production rates.
(2) The volume of harvested biofortified crops among the supported farmers and the proportion sold (market share).
(3) Track the number/type of project supported businesses (processors) linked and procuring biofortified crops from project farmers
(4) The volume of processed biofortified foods among the supported businesses and the proportion by their overall processing volume.
(5) The change in income resulting from the sale of biofortified foods (raw and processed) among the supported value chain actors (farmers, aggregators, processors, retailers).
(6) The level of access to biofortified foods and other targeted nutritious and safe foods by the targeted group.
(7) The proportion of people reached through the BCC activities that are now more willing to buy, grow and consume biofortified crops and other targeted nutritious and safe foods.
(8) The level of consumption of biofortified foods and other targeted nutritious and safe foods influenced by the project and the possible change in diet diversity or other diet quality scores.
(9) The level of improvement in the efficiency of the supply chain as a result of innovations supported by the project.
SCOPE OF WORK AND DELIVERABLES
The assessment will cover the following implementation locations:
(1) Kaduna – Lere, Kauru, Chikun and Giwa LGAs
(2) Benue – Makurdi, Gboko, Otukpo and Gwer East LGAs
(3) Oyo State – Afijio, Iseyin, Ido and Oyo West LGAs
(4) Nasarawa – Lafia, Doma, Konkona and Awe LGAs.
The assessment will cover the period of December 2022 – December 2025. This will be done on an annual basis using a phased approach. The first assessment phase will cover the period of January 2022 – December 2023 while the second assessment phase will cover the period of January 2024 –December 2024, and the final assessment phase will cover the overall implementation period of January 2022 – December 2025, incorporating aspects of summative research.
DIMENSIONS OF DATA REQUIRED
| S/N | CATEGORY | WORKSTREAM | FREQUENCY | POPULATION (2022 – 2023) |
| 1 | Proportion of farmers that received farming inputs | Biofortification | Annually | 6,000 |
| 2 | Proportion of farmers that produced biofortified crops | Biofortification | Annually | 6,000 |
| 3 | Quantity of biofortified crops produced among the supported farmers (kg) | Biofortification | Annually | 6,000 |
| 4 | Proportion of farmers that recorded higher production | Biofortification | Bi-Annually | 3,000 |
| 5 | Proportion of farmers that sold harvested crops | Biofortification | Annually | 6,000 |
| 6 | Quantity of biofortified crops sold among the supported farmers(kg) | Biofortification | Annually | 6,000 |
| 7 | Proportion of farmers reporting higher income from the sale of biofortified crops | Biofortification | Bi-Annually | 6,000 |
| 8 | Number of people consuming BF foods and other specifically targeted NSF | Biofortification & workforce nutrition | Annually | 12,000 |
| 9 | Proportion of people that are more willing to buy, grow and/or consume biofortified crops and/or specifically targeted NSF (SBCC) | Workforce Nutrition | Annually | 20,000 |
| 10 | Proportion of households that received farming inputs | Workforce Nutrition | Annually | 5,400 |
| 11 | Proportion of households that established home gardens | Workforce Nutrition | Annually | 5,400 |
| 12 | Number of people (households) buying and consuming BF crops and other specifically targeted NSF | Workforce Nutrition | Annually | 6,000 |
| 13 | Change in diet diversity and other diet quality scores | Workforce Nutrition | Bi-Annually | 6,000 |
| 14 | Percentage of businesses processing NSF | Business Support | Bi-Annually | 1,107 |
| 15 | Volume of processed NSF among supported businesses | Business Support | Bi-Annually | 1,107 |
| 16 | Percentage increase [change] in the volume of processed NSF among supported businesses | Business Support | Bi-Annually | 1,107 |
| 17 | Proportion of businesses reporting higher income from the sale of processed NSF | Business Support | Annually | 1,107 |
LOCATIONS
| S/N | WORKSTREAM | State | LGAs |
| 1 | Biofortification | Kaduna | Lere, Kauru, Chikun and Giwa. |
| Benue | Makurdi, Gboko, Gwer East and Otukpo. | ||
| Oyo | Afijio, Iseyin, Ido and Oyo West. | ||
| 2 | Workforce Nutrition | Kaduna | Lere, Kauru, Chikun and Giwa. |
| Benue | Makurdi, Gboko, Gwer East and Otukpo. | ||
| Nasarawa | Awe, Lafia, Doma and Kokona. | ||
| 3 | Business Support | Kaduna | Lere, Kauru, Chikun and Giwa. |
| Benue | Makurdi, Gboko, Gwer East and Otukpo. | ||
| Oyo | Afijio, Iseyin, Ido and Oyo West. | ||
| Nasarawa | Awe, Lafia, Doma and Kokona. |
EXPECTED DELIVERABLES FOR THE FIRST ASSESSMENT
| S/N | DELIVERABLES | TIMELINES |
| 1 | Submit a draft inception report containing the methodologies to be used to undertake the study. | December 15, 2023 |
| 2 | Submit the final inception report incorporating the amendments made through discussions with the GAIN team and relevant stakeholders. | December 29, 2023 |
| 3 | Submit the protocol and data collection instruments, preferably digital tools in all instances involving quantitative data collection tools [either one of SurveyCTO, Kobo Collect, ODK, Survey Solutions, or CommCare]. | January 12, 2024 |
| 4 | Obtain the necessary ethical clearance from the Institutional Review Board. | January 30, 2024 |
| 5 | Complete all data collection processes, capturing the categories of data shared by the GAIN team. | February 29, 2024 |
| 6 | Complete the cleaning and analysis of data using statistical analysis tools. | March 8, 2024 |
| 7 | Submit a draft report containing the findings, and key recommendations with all the data sets included in the annex. | March 18, 2024 |
| 8 | Submit the final report integrating the feedback after GAIN and partner review. | March 22, 2024 |
| 9 | Submit a high-quality PowerPoint presentation summarizing the assessment’s goal, objectives, methods, and key findings. | March 22, 2024 |
| 10 | 10. Submit a dashboard containing the numeric findings from the assessment (preferably with Power BI or Tableau. | March 22, 2024 |
| 11 | Support with dissemination of the results in selected meetings, including co-design workshops among partners. | As applicable |
(II) INSTRUCTIONS FOR RESPONDING
This section addresses the process for responding to this solicitation. Applicants are encouraged to review this prior to completing their responses.
CONTACT
Staff will be available to respond to clarifications on this solicitation. Please direct all inquiries and other communications to the GAIN email address: rfp@gainhealth.org . Queries sent by 10 October, 2023, at 5:00 pm WAT will be responded to via an online post on the website by 23 October, 2023. Responses will not be confidential except in cases where the applicant clearly indicates that proprietary information is involved. BUDGET Applicants are required to provide an illustrative budget in naira, in a separate document. The final budget will be elaborated as the scope of the assessment is clarified and as part of the contracting process. The budget submitted with this proposal should include
(i) Justification of overall value for money.
(ii) A comprehensive budget justification should be presented for each category of costs including personnel, cost of travel, subsistence allowances, consultants, meeting/workshop, overhead if applicable, and miscellaneous expenses. All prices/rates quoted must be inclusive of all taxes/VAT as required.
FORMAT FOR PROPOSAL
The proposal needs to be formatted and attached as two separate documents:
· Technical proposal outlining research objectives and methodological approaches; detailed profiles (qualification, expertise, relevant experience etc.) of the agencies and individuals who will be completing the work including their full names, their expertise and publications in relevant research; and past experience (previous research conducted over the last five years which are relevant for this evaluation) and references.
· Financial proposal outlining budget accompanied by a budget narrative (as above).
SUBMISSION
Proposals should be in English and submitted in electronic copy to the following e-mail address: Nquotation@gainhealth.org Please include “SNIPS Third-Party Annual Assessment” in the subject line.
DEADLINE
Completed proposals should be submitted electronically to GAIN before 5:00 p.m. West African Time on 31 October, 2023.