Global Alliance For Improved Nutrition (GAIN)- Request For Proposals For Consultancy To Conduct Scoping Of Private Service Providers (PSPS) In Bauchi, Jigawa, Kebbi And Nasarawa States

DEADLINE: 15TH APRIL, 2023
GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR IMPROVED NUTRITION (GAIN)
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFPs) FOR CONSULTANCY TO CONDUCT SCOPING OF PRIVATE SERVICE PROVIDERS (PSPS) IN BAUCHI, JIGAWA, KEBBI AND NASARAWA STATES WHO ARE COMMISSIONED BY GOVERNMENT TO IMPLEMENT (SUB) NATIONAL NUTRITION RELATED POLICIES AND NEW PSPS THAT HAVE THE POTENTIALS TO BE ENGAGED BY GOVERNMENT

(I) SUMMARY OF DEADLINES

Proposal Submission Deadline: 15 of April 2023

Award of Contract: 28 of April 2023

All deadlines are described in detail under section IX.

As part of the selection process, CARE and GAIN reserve the right to request clarifications regarding bids that substantially qualify. Questions in the technical review are at CARE and GAIN’s discretion and will only be directed to bidders who have submitted substantially responsive bids.

The final award is subject to other terms and conditions included in this solicitation, as well as the successful final negotiation of all applicable terms and conditions related to the awarded contract.

(I) ABOUT CASCADE
The 4.5-year Catalyzing Strengthened policy action for healthy Diets and resilience (CASCADE) project is being implemented by CARE and The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). By prioritizing the essential nutrition services pathway, CASCADE will work with national and local governments to implement the Nutrition policy and develop a multi-stakeholder strategic implementation plan through which government actors can coordinate to better contextualize national food and nutrition policies. The programme will work with government and its technical committees to improve quality of nutrition programmes and strategies, supporting the organisation of forums and policy dialogues to advocate for increased investment in nutrition policy implementation. The programme will strengthen capacity of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to supply nutrition services, including fortified products.

About CARE and GAIN
Founded in 1945, CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty and social injustice. With the recognition that, when equipped with the proper resources, women and girls have the power to lift whole families and entire communities out of poverty, CARE places special focus on women and girls, while working alongside men and boys. A significant portion of our work focuses on Food, Nutrition, and Climate Change Resilience; Women and Girls Economic Empowerment; Protection and Gender Equality; Water and Sanitation; and Health.

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is a Swiss-based foundation launched at the United Nations in 2002 to tackle the human suffering caused by malnutrition. Working with governments, businesses and civil society, GAIN aims to transform food systems so that they deliver more nutritious foods for all people, especially the most vulnerable. GAIN is driven by a vision of a world without malnutrition, and a mission to make nutritious and safe foods accessible to everyone, especially the most vulnerable to malnutrition, and to do this in an environmentally sustainable way.

Strategic Objectives
CARE and GAIN in Nigeria will work through the following strategic objectives to achieve the 4.5-year (2022 – 2026) CASCADE programme’s goal in Bauchi, Jigawa, Kebbi and Nasarawa states.

(1) Increase access to and consumption of healthy diets among household members, particularly women of reproductive age and children under 5.

(2) Increase resilience of households to price shocks and economic stresses that impact nutritional outcomes.

(3) Increase resilience of households to climate change-related shocks that impact their nutritional outcomes.

We aim to achieve this impact through supporting government to implement its food and nutrition policy as well as collaborating with other stakeholders to increase capacity in relation to nutrition policies.

Intermediate Outcomes and Domains of Change
The CASCADE Theory of Change (ToC) encompasses five domains and asserts that once the following associated intermediate outcomes have been achieved the programme’s strategic objectives would be achieved.

• Improved Policy Implementation: Government bodies’ nutrition related policy actions are better coordinated and more effectively implemented
• Supportive Private Service Providers: Enhance the effective implementation of nutrition related policy actions
• Strengthened Community Structures: Community structures (community members, CBOs, public service providers) are drivers of change that positively support improved implementation of nutrition-related policies and practices
• Empowered Women: Women have increased knowledge, skills and resources to produce, acquire, prepare and consume healthy diets
• Strengthened Coordination: Coordination and linkages among food system actors and processes

(III) ASSIGNMENT BACKGROUND
Scoping of private service providers (PSPs) in target states addressing the National Policy for Food and Nutrition (NPFN) is geared towards contextualizing the activities of private service providers on the subnational level. It will help identify private service providers who have some form of mandate from the government to contribute to implementation of nutrition-related policies and projects at the state level. This assessment will also seek to understand the nutrition structures at the state and local government levels, gather information on the stakeholders and key players implementing nutrition strategies, understand the barriers to implementation and identify potential opportunities at activity level.

The strength and diversity of the prevailing level of cooperation/partnership on a wide range of initiatives between SMEs and government MDAs both at the federal, state, and local government level will impact the development and sustainability prospect of key income generating/economic strengthening options. Therefore, to provide an informed basis for context-specific dialogue among relevant stakeholders on the most viable options, it is essential to work with current dataset/information.

This information will act as a baseline for planning and tracking results throughout the life span of the CASCADE project. This database will provide valuable information on the numbers and categories of SMEs within the food value chain per state, their specific focus relevant to the CASCADE objective, governance structures, and current state of engagement with government among other vital information. A comprehensive analysis of the scoping exercise will guide the project entry point, initial contacts and the determination of foundational priorities that will enhance women’s economic empowerment and participation as it relates to the project’s overarching objective for this output.

Therefore, it is important to focus on which actors are pulling the levers and driving food system change and how they interact or work with other actors including government institutions. It is also necessary to understand in what context these actors work, what shapes the emergence and effectiveness of their interactions with each other, and in what type of enabling environment. Accurate analysis and understanding of the situation will determine the effectiveness of CASCADE intervention plans. This will involve the scoping exercise and analysis, identification of key actors/initiatives, and re-enforcement of relevant and viable partnerships. Others are capacity assessment, development and implementation of a response plan.

(IV) OBJECTIVES
The assignment will achieve the following objectives:

(a) Overall
Assessment of the Private Service Providers in the targeted states with specific focus on selected LGAs who are commissioned by the government to deliver nutrition related policies and the status of their engagement with the government.

(b) Specific objectives
(a) Scoping of PSPs in targeted states/LGAs that have been commissioned by the state government to deliver nutrition related policies. This is focused primarily on, but not limited to the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) and other social protection programmes which deliver food or nutrition services through government agencies and donors.

(b) Mapping of private sector companies operating food and nutrition businesses in the selected CASCADE implementation LGAs of the Kebbi, Nasarawa, Bauchi and Jigawa states with the potential to become PSPs to government programs including the NHGSFP.

(c) Identify the characteristics of the PSPs i.e., relevant registration (CAC), NAFDAC regulatory certification, operational capacity, number of employees, annual revenue, etc.

(d) Define the level of engagement of the PSPs with the government.

(e) Identify the Agri-producer groups and/or associations relevant to the PSPs in the in the implementing states/local government with their level of activities.

(f) Level of education and financial literacy of the founders/managers of the PSPs.

(g) Identify barriers and challenges in relation to private sector companies providing food and nutrition services to the government and other large-scale procurement programs carried out in the context of government policies.

(h) Propose clear package of interventions that the project will use in the implementation stage, to achieve its goals.

(i) Develop a database with all the relevant information pertaining to the identified PSPs including their names, locations, country coverage, services offered and PSP’s link to government/policy.

Local Government Areas of focus are:

(V) ASSESSMENT PROCESS

Desk review
Conduct desk review on relevant documents and literature.

Assessment and scoping of private service providers of existing national and state policies on nutrition
Identify and assess private service providers implementing nutrition policies and confirm whether the companies meet the definition of a private service providers and are active in the food and nutrition sector in the implementing states.

Assessment, inventory, and analysis of all the existing relevant regulatory framework
Conduct the assessment, inventory, and analysis of all the existing relevant policies, legislation, regulation, procedures, norms, and guidelines concerning and related to food systems (including food and nutrition security) which relates and supports the private sector development in Nigeria (including government incentives, taxes, investments, fiscal benefits, support to food systems value chains, basic food basket, etc.) in force in Nigeria.

This assessment aims to assess existing policies that stimulate private sector development in the field of food and nutrition and test whether private sector companies are aware of the existence of these policies, as well as identify barriers and challenge in relation to private sector companies providing food and nutrition services to government and other large-scale procurement programs executed in the context of government policies.

Assessment and scoping of existing public entities and organizations set to support private sector development in Nigeria
This task aims to identify Government-led entities that support private sector development, both at national level and implementing states’ level, as well as identifying the services they provide, the areas of overlap, potential areas of synergies, and any other value-addition from their services to private sector development.

(VI) DELIVERABLES:
(a) Workplan and study/research methodology protocol.

(b) Desk review report summarizing all items listed and required for document and literature review.

(c) Presentation of each state’s scoping of existing private service providers of food and nutrition policies.

(d) Submission and presentation of the assessment, inventory, and analysis of all the existing relevant policies, legislation, regulation, procedures, norms, and guidelines concerning and related to food systems (including food and nutrition security) which relates and supports the private sector development in Nigeria, more specifically in the states of implementation.

(e) Submission of a database of all PSPs and SMEs in each state and categorized by LGA commissioned by the state government and donor agencies to deliver on nutrition related policies and other social protection programmes.

(f) Submission and presentation of the states’ scoping of existing public entities and organizations set to support private sector development in Nigeria within the context of food systems (including food and nutrition security).

(g) Submission of a clear package of interventions that the project will use in the implementation stage, to achieve its goals.

(VII) COMPETENCIES

• Proven ability to conduct a scoping assessment.
• Skilled consultants are encouraged to apply for this Expression of Interest. The applicant (individual or company) providing these services must have:

• Strong skills or have a multidisciplinary team composed of experts in legal, public regulations and policies and tax legislation, as well as expertise in public policies related to private sector and food systems, food production value-chains, nutrition/public health, agrarian sector, and proven experience in conducting similar assessments.
• Good reporting and writing skills.
• Able to work under pressure and to deliver under short deadlines.
• Fluency in English and Hausa languages.
• All consultants should have permission for working in Nigeria.
• Deep experience in Nigeria, with sound understanding of business and policy.
• Excellent analytic, as well as strong verbal communication skills.

(VIII) EXPECTATIONS FROM APPLICANTS

The successful applicant (s) will:

• Work closely with representatives from GAIN and its partners: A lead contact will be designated for regular communication and monitoring of deliverables.
• Meet with representatives from GAIN shortly after the contract is awarded, following which a work plan will be developed detailing the objectives, deliverables, timelines, and budget for each of the parts outlined in the Scope of Work.
• Meet with GAIN regularly during the Project as well as at the request of GAIN.
• Submit deliverables and reports according to the revised work plan’s agreed-upon schedule.
• Your technical application should not be longer than 20 pages, including cover page. All supporting documents should be included in the annexes.

(IX) TIMELINES
The assignment must not exceed a maximum of 10 weeks from the day the contract is awarded. The comprehensive table of the assignments is expected to be as follows:

The proposal submissions must be received via email by GAIN on or before 11:59 pm on Saturday, 15 April, 2023.

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