Global Alliance For Improved Nutrition (GAIN)- Request For Proposals For Social Behavioural Change Communication (SBCC) Campaign For Vitamin A Nutrient Enriched Priority Staple Crops In Nigeria (4 Lots)

DEADLINE: 28TH OCTOBER, 2022
GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR IMPROVED NUTRITION (GAIN)
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR SOCIAL BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE COMMUNICATION (SBCC) CAMPAIGN FOR VITAMIN A NUTRIENT ENRICHED PRIORITY STAPLE CROPS IN NIGERIA

(I) PROJECT BACKGROUND AND SCOPE OF WORK

(1) 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.

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-all” 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.

GAIN’s Workforce Nutrition programme aims to improve the nutrition of workers and farmers in low- and middle- income countries or communities. The programme focuses on improving the access and demand for healthier diets using existing business structures as an entry point (workplaces or supply chains). GAIN began its workforce nutrition programme in 2013 and has reached over 230,000 estate workers, smallholder farmers and their families in the tea, cocoa and garment supply chain across Africa and Asia. We currently work with partners in the tea sector (India, Kenya, and Malawi), cocoa sector (Ghana), garment sector (Bangladesh), and we are running pilots in a variety of industry sectors in Mozambique.

Our work on biofortified crops aims to scale access to and demand for nutrient-dense varieties of commonly consumed staples such as maize, sweet potato and cassava through targeted support to address challenges and constraints to increased production and consumption of these foods. We do this through market development and commercialization, such as in our partnership with HarvestPlus and through noncommercial pathways focused on farming households and public procurement systems. A key part of our approach is improving the enabling environment for biofortified seeds, crops and food products through advocacy, catalytic financing, and the licensing of technology and related services.

GAIN supports businesses, especially micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), through most of our programmatic offerings. This support is coordinated through the Scaling up Nutrition (SUN) Business Network (SBN), which is convened by GAIN in Nigeria and was launched in 2016 to improve and strengthen the private sector’s contribution to nutrition. The Network has supported businesses with brokering business-to-business linkages, facilitating connections to government and other sectors, including development partners, and capacity building for MSMEs to address critical barriers to start, grow and scale their business. Specific support areas include access to finance, access to markets, quality control and assurance in their production processes, and food safety and nutrition education.

(2) 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 implement a Social Behavioural change campaign for nutrient enriched priority staple crops (vitamin A cassava, vitamin A maize, rice and orange-fleshed sweet potato) in Benue, Nasarawa, Kaduna and Oyo states of Nigeria; promote increased consumption, cultivation and commercialization of these nutrient enriched priority staples. This campaign will promote the objectives of the Strengthening Nutrition in Priority Staples project in the focal states.

The Strengthening Nutrition in Priority Staples project is currently implemented by The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition in partnership with GIZ and the Green Innovation Centre for the Agricultural and Food Sector in Nigeria (GIC), with support from the German Government through the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The Strengthening nutrition project will strengthen the GIC priority value chains and improve food security and safety through improved diets for farmers, farm workers, other workers in businesses in these value chains, and among the wider population in Nigeria. The SNIPS project is aimed at improving nutrition through improved diets for farmers, farmworkers, and their households; as well as other value chain actors by improving food security and safety. This goal will be achieved through the following objectives:

• Increased consumption of safe, 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 & efficiency of farmers and other businesses to improve the production of safe, nutritious foods in the cassava, maize, sweet potato, and rice value chains

To reach our overarching goal – improving nutrition through improved diets – the project will build 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 and diversify their diets;
• Business support services to make a wide variety of nutritious and safe foods more accessible, affordable and desirable; and
• Increased production and consumption of biofortified varieties of maize, cassava, and sweet potato

Farmers’ nutritional health is directly linked to their productivity and earning potential both in terms of their own household, farms and businesses, and in terms of their contribution to national economic growth. 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 programme will support farmers and workers in these value chains to improve their diets. The Workforce Nutrition (WFN) component aims to reach rice and maize value chain workers (from small holder farmers to processing employees) with workforce nutrition programmes that aim to improve the consumption of nutritious foods as part of a healthy, diverse diet for workers, farmers, and their households.

The programme also aims to engage business owners in the supply chain, and local government and state authorities on the importance of farmer/worker nutrition for greater resilience and productivity. Throughout the programme, GAIN will lead regular advocacy and engagement with business managers, and government officials on 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 will empower women and young people and unleash the creativity and energy of youth and women to support their families, succeed in agri-business and attempt to tackle malnutrition, prevent food borne illnesses as well as food and social insecurity. This workstream will increase women and youth involvement in value-added agriculture and entrepreneurship that directly addresses the specific challenges that women and rural youth face in the four focal states for this project. It will respond to opportunities to harness the political will at local, state and national levels in Nigeria to invest in creating economic opportunities for women and youth in the production, processing and sale of nutritious and safe foods. This will be achieved by significantly increasing the knowledge and information available to women and young people about nutrition, food safety, increasing their participation in decision-making and targeting business support and investments so they can bring forward innovations, increase livelihood opportunities and build nutrition sensitivity into the GIC value chains. This will be carried out using three interlinked approaches:

• Improving 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 practice.
• 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 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 aims to work with farmers and farming households to promote adoption, cultivation, and utilization of these staples by the farming households and other food processors. The workstream will promote Vitamin A Cassava, Vitamin A Maize and Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP) in Oyo, Kaduna, and Benue/Oyo states, respectively

(3) OBJECTIVES
The main objective is to engage a service provider to implement a Social Behavioural change campaign aimed at increasing demand for nutrient enriched priority staple crops (cassava, maize, rice and orange-fleshed sweet potato) in Benue, Nasarawa, Kaduna and Oyo states of Nigeria; promote increased consumption, cultivation and commercialization of these nutrient enriched priority staples and targeted safe and nutritious foods. This campaign will promote the objectives of the Strengthening Nutrition in Priority Staples project. The SBCC agency selected will implement the behavior change communication campaign, building upon the insights research earlier conducted by a SBCC design agency. The insights research which will provide insights into the three workstreams (biofortification, business support and workforce nutrition) will form the basis of communication activities including interpersonal, media and community mobilization approaches. The campaign will seek to modify the current behaviors of the audience and promote the adoption of new behaviors while combining multiple SBCC approaches that resonates across the different audience segments with targeted messages. These approaches will include;

• Interpersonal approaches: counselling, education and support groups
• Media: Mass media, small print media, traditional media, social media, mobile technology
• Community mobilization: campaigns

The campaign will also employ opportunities, approaches and entry points to both identify and regularly reach farmers and households with messages, as well as to connect them with the identified access components of the programme. Entry points should use existing delivery structures with the GIC programme such as the agricultural development programs (ADPs) at state level, existing service delivery models such as partnerships that have already organized farmers into farmers groups and are providing services. Finally, the campaign will aim to advocate and engage with the state and national governments on the workforce nutrition, support to nutritious food businesses and the adoption of biofortified varieties of the target staples. Building on this, the SBCC agency will implement a powerful and engaging behaviour change communication campaign to improve both access to and demand for targeted nutritious foods among smallholder farmer families. The SBCC agency is expected to achieve the following specific objectives:

(1) Develop a set of nutrition key messages that are not only based on the insights research on which targeted foods and food groups to promote, but also address the emotional triggers, barriers, enablers and motivators for behaviour change

(2) To develop and implement a social behavioural change campaign with a direct reach of 10, 000 participants aimed at improving the demand for nutrient enriched priority staples while employing cost-effective, scalable approaches and leverage existing communication channels and implementation structures as identified in the formative research

(3) To implement communication interventions aimed at increasing the willingness to buy, grow or consume targeted nutritious and safe foods, including nutrient enriched priority staples and nutritious foods.

(4) To implement communication campaigns aimed at promoting the cultivation, commercialization, consumption of nutrient enriched priority staples across the three workstreams of the SNiPS project (Biofortification, Business support and Workforce nutrition). The implementation should include an approach to improve awareness and demand for biofortified crops targeting value chain actors to promote adoption of these crops by farmers and consumption amongst farming households and other consumers in the implementation states.

(3.1) PROJECT STATES, LGAs AND VALUE CHAINS
Under the guidance of, and in consultation with, the GAIN team responsible for the SNIPS project, the Consultant shall carry out the objectives outlined above in Kaduna, Benue, Nasarawa and Oyo states across four LGAs and

value chains as detailed below:

(4) SCOPE OF WORK AND DELIVERABLES
(4.1) SCOPE OF WORK
The successful applicant shall present the following services:

• Develop a communication strategy document to guide the implementation of the campaign across the targeted states.
• Design communication materials across the various audience segment identified across the workstreams
• Pretest communication materials designed
• Implement the social behavioural change campaign reaching 10,000 participants directly across the 4 focal states and 16 LGAs
• Submit SBC campaign deliverables covering each state of intervention including attendance list, campaign reports, all communication materials and documents etc.

The proposed methodology should be outlined in the proposal. It is expected that the selected applicants will work in close collaboration with the GAIN Nigeria Senior Project Manager, partners and stakeholders within the broader project.

(4.2) DELIVERABLES
Table 1: Scope of Work: Activities and deliverables applicable to all countries

(5) QUALIFICATIONS
The Service Provider shall be an organization legally registered in Nigeria and with demonstrated experience, in-depth knowledge and understanding of design and implementation of impactful social behavioural change campaigns in Nigeria’s agricultural and nutrition sector.

The Service Provider should have an initial network of contacts in the Agricultural industry, knowledge of the activities of value chain actors in the select states and proven expertise in successfully delivering a similar activity.

(6) SUBMISSION
The original proposals should be submitted in electronic copy on or before the 28 of October 2022 and addressed to aadewusi@gainhealth.org copying gehiabhi@gainhealth.org and jpilaku@gainhealth.org. Please include SBCC IMPLEMENTATION AGENCY as the subject for your submission. Requests for additional information can be directed to the same e-mail addresses.

(6.1) DEADLINE
Completed proposals should be submitted to GAIN before 5:00 pm WAT on 28 October 2022.

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