Request for Proposal (RFP) - Development Of Women’s and Youth Empowerment Strategies and Implementation Guides at the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN)

Posted by Future on Fri 18th Feb, 2022 - nigeriantenders.com

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) invites eligible consultants / service provider(s) to tender RFP documents for the following works:

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.

Applications are invited for:

Title: Request for Proposal (RFP) - Consultancy for the Development Of Women’s and Youth Empowerment Strategies and Implementation Guides for the SUN Business Network

Preamble

The SUN Business Network (SBN) is one of the four global networks that support SUN countries (along with UN, Civil Society and Donor Networks). It is convened by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and further supported by an Advisory Group comprised of senior business leaders.

The SBN aims to reduce malnutrition in all its forms through mobilising business to invest and innovate in responsible and sustainable actions and operations. To do this SBN provides a neutral platform to broker partnerships and collaboration between business and all actors on nutrition at national, regional and global level to support SUN Country plans. We believe that when consumers demand improved nutrition, business will act, and national economies will grow. The SBN currently has presence in 44 countries and convenes more than 1,400 members at global and national level.

The SBN Global Secretariat will build on its successes, by mainstreaming gender and youth in global and national network activities to address the challenges women and youth face in accessing economic opportunities. Entrepreneurs within food systems face considerable challenges operating within difficult business environments, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Women may face additional challenges compared to their male counterparts due both to discriminatory social and cultural norms and unequitable institutional structures and policies.

Meanwhile, the global population is growing and getting ‘younger’ by the day. More than 1 billion people today are between 15 and 25 years of age and nearly 40 per cent of the world’s population is below the age of 20. 85 per cent of these young people live in low- and middle-income countries where many are especially vulnerable to extreme poverty. Young people are faced with multiple challenges as they seek to join the workforce or embark on an entrepreneurial journey.

The challenges are often characterized by several factors including but not limited to inadequate access to funds and technical support, underdeveloped skillset, access to market, understanding of policy environment, to mention a few. The need to create viable economic opportunities to engage youth is urgent. Increasing meaningful employment and entrepreneurial opportunities along nutritious food value chains offer youth the chance to engage in productive work and overcome these challenges.

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 support the development of SBN’s gender and youth empowerment strategies and resources to implement it. This assignment will be critical in providing guidance to national SBNs on how to deploy gender and youth sensitive approaches in their networks to engage and support women and youth entrepreneurs.

Scope of Work

Building on SBN new strategic focus on gender and youth engagement, the successful applicant will support the development of SBN’s women’s and youth empowerment strategies between April and June 2022. This will be accompanied by the development of implementation resources to guide national networks to operationalise the strategy. The consultant will be supervised by and work closely with GAIN/SBN Global Secretariat and SBN national coordinators and will need to engage a wide range of external stakeholder.

To support the creation of the strategies and related guidance documents, the consultant will undertake the following:

Part I: Women’s Empowerment Strategy Development:
- Build on recommendations highlighted in GAIN’s research on integrating gender equity into business networks in nutrition (see here), conduct a desk review focused on identifying women’s empowerment approaches that can/have been implemented through a private sector lens.
- Develop SBN’s women’s empowerment strategy with a focus on supporting women entrepreneurs in nutritious food value chains.
- Include practical examples and recommendations applicable to SMEs in low and middle income
- To operationalise SBN’s women’s empowerment strategy, propose critical elements of a SBN global flagship initiative that can be implemented by national networks with the support of partners.
- Develop implementation resources that provides tangible guidance for national SBNs to implement SBN’s global flagship initiative on women’s empowerment.
- Identify opportunities for collaboration with relevant organizations at the global level that can support national SBNs
- Consult and closely liaise with national SBNs to ensure feasibility of the proposals.
- Include indicators for effective assessments of proposed activities
Part II: Youth Empowerment Strategy Development:
- Conduct a desk review focused on identifying youth empowerment approaches that can/have been implemented
- Engage youth through focus group discussions, to sense check assumptions and surface any other considerations that would make the strategy document as robust as possible
- Develop SBN’s youth empowerment strategy with a focus on the empowerment of youth entrepreneurs in nutritious food value chains.
- To operationalise SBN’s youth empowerment strategy, propose critical elements of a SBN global flagship initiative that can be implemented by national networks with the support of partners.
- Develop implementation resources that provide tangible guidance for national SBNs to implement SBN’s global flagship initiative on youth engagement.
- Identify opportunities to co-design with relevant organizations such as the SUN Civil Society Network, at the global level that can support national SBNs
- Throughout the process, consult and closely liaise with national SBNs and relevant stakeholders who have experience and expertise in the topic, to ensure feasibility of the proposals.
- Include indicators for effective assessments of proposed activities

Evaluation Criteria

Proposals will be reviewed by the Selection Team. The following indicate a list of the significant criteria against which proposals will be assessed. This list is not exhaustive or 100% inclusive and is provided to enhance the applicants’ ability to respond with substance.

Applicants are required to submit the following information, conforming to the guidelines given in this section:

Understanding of the scope of work:
Proposal shall demonstrate a clear understanding of the project objective and deliverables as outlined in Section I.
Demonstrate a clear understanding of the technical requirements of this RFP:
Providing detailed technical documentation of the proposed strategy.
Evidence of experience delivering solutions using the proposed information technology platform.
The creative and methodological approaches required to implement each of the parts of the scope of work.
Comprehensiveness of work plan and reasonableness of proposed time frame:
Proposal shall include a feasible work plan to ensure successful completion of deliverables.
The work plan details how activities will be coordinated.
Detailed budget and cost-effectiveness of proposed approach:
Evidence of cost-effective approaches to undertaking the scope of work within the proposed budget.
Proposal shall identify possible challenges and include creative approaches to addressing them.
A duly completed offer of services.

Application Closing Date

28th February, 2022.

Submission of Documents

An electronic copy containing the documents preferably in MS Word along with all the required information including the fee proposal should reach GAIN via email at: rshine@gainhealth.org

Note

Proposals that are received after the RFP deadline at the specified receiving office.
Eligibility requirements, evaluation criteria and mandatory requirements shall govern the selection of the consultant.
GAIN reserves the right to reject any or all submissions or to cancel or withdraw this RFP for any reason and at its sole discretion without incurring any cost or liability for costs or damages incurred by any applicant, including, without limitation, any expenses incurred in the preparation of the submission. The applicant acknowledges and agrees that GAIN will not indemnify the applicant for any costs, expenses, payments or damages directly or indirectly linked to the preparation of the submission.
GAIN reserves the right, before awarding the Proposal, to require the applicant to submit such evidence of qualifications as it may deem necessary, and will consider evidence concerning the financial, technical and other qualifications and abilities of the applicant.

Click Here (PDF) for a detailed description of the RFP.