DEADLINE: 26TH FEBRUARY, 2021
GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR IMPROVED NUTRITION (GAIN)
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS DEVELOPMENT OF A BUSINESS MODEL, MARKETING STRATEGY & COMMUNICATION’S PLAN FOR THE GAIN/IPAN MICRONUTRIENT TESTING CERTIFICATE TRAINING PROGRAM
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 to 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 poor people’s food insecurity. By understanding that there is no “one-size-fits-all” model, we develop alliances and build tailored programmes using various 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. We provide technical, financial, and policy support to key participants in the food system through alliances. We use specific learning, evidence of impact, and results of projects and programmes to shape and influence others’ actions.
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
Since 2012, GAIN has been working in Nigeria to improve Large Scale Food Fortification. Within this period, the frequency of loss of technical, analytical capacity in laboratories, mostly from regulatory agencies, has been raised as a persistent challenge by industry stakeholders faced with grappling with the constant changes and inconsistent quality of the officials they interface with. The redeployment of staff is a norm in public sector laboratories. However, the frequent redeployment poses a challenge to long-term capacity development and sustainable knowledge investments, as trained staff can be moved to other units or departments, which may or may not be relevant to the built capacity.
In partnership with the Institute of Public Analysts of Nigeria (IPAN) through the Driving Fortification’s Effectiveness through Systems Innovations Project, GAIN/IPAN is developing an innovative and interactive training and certification program aimed at facilitating the institutionalization of laboratory analytical capacity development and maintaining a premium capacity standard for personnel. The three-tiered certification program is targeted at the following client groups: fresh graduates, technical laboratory professionals, statisticians, field staff involved in surveys and sampling, and laboratory services managers involved in laboratory management and quality systems.
The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is thus issuing this Request for Proposal (RFP) to engage the services of a business consultant to support the development of a business model which will also serve as the sustainability plan and a marketing strategy/plan for the newly developed certificate program in micronutrient testing for public analysts.
INSTITUTIONALIZING LABORATORY ANALYTICAL CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT (ILACD)
Through the Driving the Effectiveness of Fortification through Systems Innovations grant, GAIN has been working with partners to design and implement an intervention that will deliver improvements in laboratory systems and processes. GAIN hopes to achieve this by raising and standardizing laboratory personnel’s skills and competency levels, field inspectors to meet pre-defined internationally accepted and recognized quality standards.
The Institutionalizing Laboratory Analytical Capacity Development (ICALD) project provides the requisite practical skills to university graduates, technical laboratory professionals, statisticians, field staff involved in surveys and sampling, and laboratory services managers involved in laboratory quality management systems. Thus, the project seeks to drive these improvements at the regulatory (publicly) owned/funded laboratories and establishments and private laboratories to increase access to high-quality services and improve system efficiency in regulatory food/micronutrient testing and analysis. The initiative aims to catalyze micronutrient analysts’ professionalization by developing and delivering regular and progressive certificated training and capacity building modules for technical officers involved in food and micronutrient analyses. The certification program will be offered at three Levels: Level 1, Level 2 (Supervisory), and Level 3 (Managerial).
This certification program’s client group will be technical laboratory professionals, field staff involved in surveys and sampling, and laboratory services managers involved in laboratory management and quality systems. The certificate program’s training includes an eLearning component that creates an optimal eLearning experience for participants through audio, video, animations, interactive exercises, and quizzes for an interactive learning experience.
Upon completion of the training, candidates are expected to write an internationally accredited certification examination to be administered by IPAN-SoTLAN Persons’ Certification Body at any of these three levels. Their success at these examinations will give them international recognition of their competencies and a new status as Certified Professionals in Food micronutrient analyses of the Quality Infrastructure Sector of the country.
SCOPE OF WORK
This assignment aims to engage a seasoned business consultant to develop a sustainable business model and marketing plan to ensure the success and long-term sustainability of the ILACD program.
- Identify and interview key stakeholders in the private and public sectors to understand the potential business case and appropriate business models and marketing strategy for the training program.
- Develop a value proposition for the training program to be used for developing the business model and informing the marketing strategy
- Develop an implementable marketing and communications strategy with clear implementation plans
- Comprehensive stakeholder and client mapping to develop a list of potential organizations to be targeted for marketing – Definition of who the customers are, and their segmentation
- Develop a robust business and financial model identifying the vital financial inputs for sustaining the program and cost to client participants, including modeling the potential income to be generated from the training program
- Piloting of the selected business model and marketing plan for the first round of registration
SUBMISSION
An electronic copy containing the documents, preferably in Microsoft Office Suite formats and/or PDF, along with all the required information (including the fee proposal), should reach GAIN at the following address: ooyekenu@gainhealth.org and jpilaku@gainhealth.org.
DEADLINE
Completed proposals should be submitted before 2300HRS West Africa Time on 26th February 2021.
Proposals may be postmarked on the due date, provided that an email of the proposal is submitted by the deadline.
