DEADLINE: 20TH JANUARY, 2021
GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR IMPROVED NUTRITION (GAIN)
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
ASSESSMENT OF KEEPING FOOD MARKETS WORKING: BUILDING RESILIENCE OF NUTRITIOUS FOOD SME’S IN THE FOOD SYSTEM (IN NIGERIA, KENYA, MOZAMBIQUE, TANZANIA, AND ETHIOPIA)
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.
At GAIN, we believe that everyone in the world should have access to nutritious and safe food. We work to understand and deliver specific solutions to the daily challenge of food insecurity faced by poor people. By understanding that there is no “one-size-fits-aN” model, we develop alliances and build tailored programmes, using a variety of flexible models and approaches.
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
The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is issuing this Request for Proposal (RFP) and will be the administrative lead organisation for this RFP.
The purpose of this RFP is to engage services of a Service Provider to undertake a comparative case study assessment of the project “Building Resilience of Nutritious Food SMEs in the Food System”, a sub-component of Keeping Food Markets Working. In response to the global pandemic, GAIN has developed a program of targeted support to help sustain core food systems, workers, and markets during COVID-19 emergency, Keeping Food Markets Working. GAIN’s goal is to mitigate the collapse of food systems by supporting food markets and the value chain companies while strengthening equitable policy responses that can be delivered quickly to support continuity and protect sustainability of key workers in food systems in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs), especially in Africa and Asia, which face potentially catastrophic supply and demand disruption. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are central to LMIC food systems and to GAIN’s COVID-19 response program . SMEs handle 70-80% of all of the food consumed in sub-Saharan Africa and it is essential that they are supported to weather this crisis. These SMEs operate on very tight margins and are struggling with challenges of labour, limitations on movement and transportation, and weakening of demand with lockdowns. They need assistance to cope with financial and management implications of their situations.
As such, GAIN is implementing the following activities as a part of “Building Resilience of Nutritious Food SMEs in the Food System”, a sub-component of the Keeping Food Markets Working program, in Nigeria, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Ethiopia. Activities include:
(1) Support to existing GAIN/SBN/Marketplace for Nutritious Foods SME partners via emergency grants to protect core operational capacity (networks reach 800 companies).
(2) Mapping the financial and capacity needs of SMEs on the ground through surveys and other information gathering, to generate options for national support mechanisms (see footnote 1).
(3) Providing remote training (online/mobile) to support SMEs to adapt to the current crisis and to enhance business resilience and food safety, in response to identified needs.
(4) Creating a knowledge centre for SME business resilience to prepare for a post-COVID business environment and provide technical assistance to prepare companies to withstand continued market uncertainty and “build back better”.
