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Terms of Reference Consultancy Support for Strengthening Local Service Provider Networks and Evaluate the Performance of Selected IGAs 1 Project Background The Suchana program aims to reduce undernutrition leading to stunting in children under two years of age living within 250,000 very poor households with women of reproductive age (15-45 years) in Sylhet and Moulvibazar districts of Bangladesh. The program adopts an integrated approach to nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions and aims to develop a sustainable and replicable model that can be scaled. Suchana is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the European Union (EU) and is implemented by a consortium of eight partners, including Save the Children, iDE, WorldFish, Helen Keller International, and implementing agencies CNRS, RDRS and FIVDB. icddr,b is responsible for carrying out the impact monitoring of the program. iDE’s role in the program is to provide technical advisory services related to strengthening market linkages and capacity building of the consortium partners on market-based approaches. 2 About the Assignment 2.1 Context of the Assignment Among the five pillars of the Suchana program, Pillar 3- better nutrition through improved economic status - focuses on increasing household income and strengthening livelihood strategies through a nutrition-sensitive approach which ensures that households are able to afford a nutritious diet, have the economic means to put nutrition knowledge into practice, and invest in developing secure and resilient livelihoods. Nutrition-sensitive interventions differ from nutrition specific-interventions in that they aim to address the underlying causes of malnutrition rather than providing a direct solution. The effects of nutrition-sensitive interventions may be less direct, but they may impact a larger number of beneficiaries in a more sustainable way, as the root causes of malnutrition affect many people, and solving them produces long-term gains in nutrition. The nutrition-sensitive approach is also designed to be gender transformative and climate-sensitive through a household-based approach and a rich engagement with climate-sensitive technologies and service delivery mechanisms. Suchana is implementing a Nutrition Sensitive Market System Developed approach. The first component of Pillar-3 is the implementation of market-led income generating activities (IGAs) with start-up investment grants. IGAs focus on increasing household access to sufficient nutritious food through increased income and production for consumption, to prevent chronic malnutrition and reduce the incidence of stunting. The second component of Pillar-3 is support for homestead food production (HFP) of nutritious food, primarily for domestic consumption, but also to support income generation by selling surplus produce. Suchana is, building trust, communication, and incentives between beneficiaries and market actors to create strong forward and backward linkages. Suchana is supporting both top-down systemic interventions and bottom-up facilitated linkages. Rapid Market Assessment and IGA analysis have supported the design of this systems strategy and have identified systemic constraints disaggregated by sectors. The most critical and common constraints for horticulture, livestock, poultry and aquaculture sub-sectors include the following:
To address these constraints, the Suchana Market Systems Strategy deploys five key interventions at micro, meso and macro levels in the market system which are Business Groups (Micro Level) and Local Business Advisor (Last mile actor) development, establish Collection Points, Local service provider engagement (Meso level) and lead firm engagement (Macro level). This overarching strategy is integrated into each of the five main project sectors: horticulture, livestock, poultry, aquaculture, and Off-farm sub-sector. LSP Association is the part of strengthening LSP capacity and linkages. Currently Suchana is working with three association or Network – Seed Retailer Association, Para-veterinary Association and Fish Fingerlings Hawker Association. 2.2 Objective of the Assessment The overall objective of this assignment is to strengthen Suchana market development interventions. The specific objective of this assignment is to provide consultancy support –
3 Major responsibilities of Consultant The consultant will go through the HCD process e.g. Hear, Create and Deliver Phase for both of the activities. So, the major responsibilities of the consultant will be as follows:
4 Major responsibilities of iDE iDE will provide the consultant with the necessary support to undertake and implement the assignment and execute the ToR. Such responsibilities include the following:
5 Expected Deliverables
All deliverables described above should be written and/or presented in English. The quality should be suitable for an international audience. Subsequent to signing the contract, the consultant will present iDE with a brief report demonstrating it’s understanding of this assignment, the proposed methodology of carrying out the assignment, a work plan with implementation schedule, associated budget, and a draft table of contents (TOC) for the final report. A draft of this inception report will be reviewed by iDE, resulting in a final agreement on the strategy that guides the consultancy. 6 Eligibility Criteria General experience and expertise:
7 Budget and Payment Schedule The total budget for this work must not exceed BDT 800,000 (Eight Lakh Taka only) which should cover all costs including consultants' fee for conducting the entire assignment until final deliverables submission. This should include remuneration, field-based travel (accommodation, transport, per diems) and any miscellaneous costs. Government tax regulation will apply and tax deduction at source will be applied. The consultant will submit an invoice at the end of each phase. The payment schedule is as follows:
8 Work Schedule The assignment will be carried out from 1st August 2019 to 30th September 2019 as stated below.
9 Bid Submission All expressions of interest should include:
Interested and qualified consultants/ consultancy firms should submit their proposals to bangladesh.procurement@ideglobal.org by 4:30 pm, July 27th, 2019 Dhaka time. Please write “Suchana Consultancy on LSP Network and IGAs assessment” in the subject line. Only shortlisted firms will be contacted and invited by an interview either in-person or via video-conference. iDE is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on grounds of race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation.
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