Requests for Proposals

The Assignment
To support the coordination and operationalisation of the secretariat, a local consultant (SBN Coordinator) is being sought with funding support from the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). The position holder would, among other things, lead efforts to align private-sector action with national nutrition priorities, foster partnerships, and ensure that business contributions are integrated into Rwanda’s nutrition agenda, supporting the country’s vision of a healthier, more prosperous future.
 

The purpose of this RFP is to engage services of a qualified organisation or individual to support GAIN in designing a set of innovative financing solutions across selected nutritious food value chains. The assignment will take a system-level view, diagnosing financing needs of actors along nutritious foods value chains, and recommending digital and non-digital financial solutions that can be implemented through partnerships and existing market mechanisms. The work will focus on four priority nutritious value chains: Vegetables, Poultry, Fish and Dairy, primarily for domestic and regional markets. Across these value chains, the consultant will identify clear and actionable financing architecture including:

• Microloans for smallholder farmers
• Early-stage financing for SMEs aggregating, producing, and processing nutritious foods. Please note that GAIN is implementing the Nutritious Foods Financing Facility (N3F) that supports growth-stage SMEs in nutritious food value chains across Sub Saharan Africa.
• Working capital and asset finance for micro- and small-scale distributors
• Micro loans for last-mile vendors
   

Malawi continues to face significant challenges with undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies, particularly among children under five and women of reproductive age, leading to poor health outcomes. The EU-funded FOCUS project, led by Self-Help Africa (SHA) in partnership with GAIN, CSONA, and CADECOM, seeks to improve nutrition by strengthening Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and promoting the consumption of fortified and biofortified foods. Biofortification of staple and legume crops offers a sustainable solution, yet many communities lack access to certified seed or planting materials for crops such as high-iron beans, provitamin A maize, and orange-fleshed sweet potatoes (OFSP). Addressing these gaps requires strong, coordinated seed value chains that connect alliances, seed companies, regulators, policymakers, CSOs, and development partners. This consultancy will provide phased technical assistance to strengthen these networks and enhance the adoption of biofortified crops across Malawi.

BACKGROUND
The purpose of this RFP is to engage services of a qualified organisation with strong expertise in evaluative research in the food systems space to: (1) design the methodology for an eventual evaluation of I-CAN progress and achievements, to be used in the future, and (2) undertake a ‘light touch’ interim assessment of I-CAN progress to date.
Set out below is the proposed timescale for this procurement. It is a guide and whilst the GAIN does not intend to depart from the timetable, it reserves the right to do so at any stage. For all dates, the deadline is 23:59 CET.

Background

The purpose of this RFP is to engage services of a qualified organisation with strong expertise in qualitative and quantitative data collection in the food systems space to support development and testing of a set of indicators for understanding youth engagement in food systems in Africa.