Request for Proposals

Extensive Mapping of Private and Public Sector Stakeholders in Dinajpur’s and Rangpur’s City Food System

Context

Well-understood and well-functioning food systems are essential to feed the world. FAO defines such Food systems (FS) as systems encompassing the entire range of actors and their interlinked value-adding activities involved in the production, aggregation, processing, distribution, consumption, and disposal of food products that originate from agriculture, forestry or fisheries, and parts of the broader economic, societal and natural environments in which they are embedded – see more about FAO’s food system framework here: https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/b620989c-407b-4caf-a152-f790f55fec71/content

Unfortunately, current food systems also largely contribute to pollution and soil devastation while hunger and malnutrition persist. Also, people who earn their livelihoods in food systems are amongst the most exploited and vulnerable (ILO & OECD, 2019). Furthermore, most food systems lack the ability to adapt to shocks and stresses, become sustainable, and reinforce longstanding power imbalances and inequities, including – but not limited to those of – gender, ethnicity, wealth, and land ownership.

Still, sustainable, inclusive food system transformation is key to achieve the 2030 agenda and particularly to reduce hunger and poverty and to remain within “planetary boundaries” (Springman et al 2018).
It is in this context that a multi-country and multi-stakeholder project entitled “The Nutrition in City Ecosystems (NICE)” was developed and funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) to contribute to healthy nutrition through sustainable food production and more diverse and healthy dietary choices in urban food systems.
In Bangladesh, the NICE project is implemented in Dinajpur Municipality and Rangpur City Corporation. Currently, NICE is looking to better understand the private and public sector players in the two cities’ food systems.

Objectives

This assignment aims to end up with a comprehensive, analytical mapping and engaging plan of the private and public sector actors involved in nutrition and food systems in Dinajpur and Rangpur. This requires a sound understanding of the complexity of food systems, the actors operating, delivering, and engaging on nutrition outcomes, and the government nutrition and food systems decision-making process. With recommendations resulting from this assignment, we aim to better understand the roles and perspectives of the public and private sector as an important player in Dinajpur’s / Rangpur’s food system incl. their involvement in and influencing of the decision-making process, as well as their interconnections and influence between each other.

Scope of Work

We are looking for a small mixed-method study design that encompasses a quantitative listing and scoring of the different private sector nutrition and food system stakeholders combined with qualitative key informant interviews and a broad desk review to allow triangulation of the data for this assignment.

In a first step, a list of registered public and private sector actors in the nutrition and food systems should be collected from the different local departments, e.g. (but not complete) the Department of Trade, Department of Women and Social Affairs, etc. The compiled list shall then be critically reviewed by the consultant based on the consultant’s pre-existing knowledge and be complemented by an internet search/information from local contacts to describe each stakeholder regarding A) working areas/priorities; B) sector (e.g. production, transportation, aggregation, processing (incl. specification), selling, consumption etc.); C) geographical areas they focus; D) roles and perspectives; E) needs; F) expectations/priorities; G) partners and relationships; H) staff/workforce counts, and I) financial turnover in a comprehensive matrix.

In a second step, all the identified stakeholders shall be entered into a short online survey shared with 3-5 representatives of each district department as well as other key informants to be identified by the consultant, asking respondents to score (from very weak to very strong) all the stakeholders per the following indicators:

  • Human resources a stakeholder has available;
  • Financial resources a stakeholder has available;
  • Political resources a stakeholder has available
  • Potential reaction of a stakeholder to different decisions related to nutrition and food systems (from highly negative to highly supportive);
  • A stakeholder’s interest (i.e. motives and concerns) in nutrition and food systems.

As well as asking for other key public and private sector nutrition and food system actors coming to their mind.
In a third step, scoring might be entered into the analysis tool v1.1 (© 2012 Samuel Bosomprah; see Annex) or any similar tool to calculate stakeholders’ power, support, interest and influence in nutrition and food systems and summarize their turnovers, head counts, priorities etc.

  • Power as the sum of its averaged scores for human resources, financial resources and political resources
  • Support as the average score of the question “potential reaction to different decisions related to nutrition and food systems”
  • Interest as the average score given to the interest by the different key informants
  • Influence as the product of power and support

Results shall be summarized/shared in a comprehensive, clear matrix and visualizations of the power/interest and influence/impact in respective matrices as well as through power, interest, and influence radars.

Categorization can for example occur following these criteria:

To better understand coordination among the different public and private sector nutrition and food system players in the two cities’ food systems, up to 3 representatives from each of the power/interest categories shall then be interviewed in a fourth step, investigating the different players’ perceptions of A) existing coordination, B) coordination needs, C) government support/barriers, D) best practices and E) existing challenges and barriers. A generic semi-structured interview guide to be developed by the consultant in close collaboration with the sponsor shall be used for these key informant interviews.

Finally, in a fifth step, the consultant is expected to share a summary of the integrated analysis with the comprehensive matrix and engagement plan to establish public-private partnership, all requested visualizations through a comprehensive report not exceeding 20 pages, excluding annexes such as the matrix. Recommendations on A) how to better integrate public and private sector players into Dinajpur’s and Rangpur’s food systems governance, but B) also on the potential for partnership of different public and private sector players with the NICE project and C) a concrete engagement plan to establish public-private partnership are required to be an integral part of the final report.

Expected Deliverables

  • List / Excel Matrix of all public and private sector actors active in Dinajpur’s / Rangpur’s city food system including information on A) working areas / priorities; B) sector (e.g. production, transportation, aggregation, processing (incl. specification), selling, consumption etc.); C) geographical areas they focus; D) roles and perspectives; E) needs; F) expectations/priorities; G) partners and relationships; H) staff/workforce counts, I) financial turnover
  • Online survey tool
  • Generic interview guide probing on private sector actors active in Dinajpur’s / Rangpur’s city food system’s coordination mechanisms
  • Geographical mapping representing the different private sector actors active in Dinajpur’s / Rangpur’s city food system’s location and activity area
  • Power/interest and influence/impact matrices of all private sector actors active in Dinajpur’s / Rangpur’s city food system as well as respective power, interest and influence radars
  • Two participatory workshops with relevant stakeholders from public and private sectors and a proper engagement plan to establish a public-private partnership
  • Final report containing the usual parts of a final report such as methodology, findings etc., particularly A) a comprehensive summary of the nutrition and food systems private sector coordination mechanisms and respective coordination needs, expectations, challenges and barriers, B) Recommendations on how to better integrate private sector players into Dinajpur’s and Rangpur’s food systems governance, and C) recommendations/assessment of potential for partnership between private sector player and NICE project and how to best approach.

Required Profile

  • Showcased experience in and understanding of the food system approach and outlining a food systems thinking
  • Experience in work with public and private sector in various domains in the agri-food system
  • Experienced in mappings
  • Experienced in work with local governments and showcased experience in receiving lists and documents from different local government departments
  • Understanding of the governmental and administrative organization incl. able to listen all relevant departments to contact for a comprehensive private sector list
  • Familiar with the local context, working experience in Rangpur Division is a must and permanent location in Rangpur division an asset
  • Demonstrated familiarity with questions of equity and women and youth engagement / empowerment
  • Strong interpersonal skills and effective collaboration with local organizations and authorities.
  • Structured mode of thinking, strong skills in proper and clean documentation and structuring, incl. for the provision of clear and concise progress reports.
  • Commitment to ethical standards and cultural sensitivity
  • Fluidity in both Bangla and English as reports need to be shared in English while interviews and ground work needs to be done in Bangla

Submission:

In the proposal (20 pages max), the consultant is requested to provide answers to the following questions:
Please showcase the requested profile through justified examples and give an overview of the team, you propose (incl. daily rates). Please include examples of similar projects successfully completed.

Please technically describe your approach for conducting this exercise by specifying how objectives are achieved and what each step of the Scope of Work should look like and needs (max. 12 pages). Please also include your understanding of consistent sponsor information.

Please include a thorough and concise work plan and budget indicating dates until milestones are delivered, staff costs, travel, office costs, etc.

Submission Procedure:

Submission Deadline and Address: 11 October 2024, 11:59 PM.

Email id: [email protected]

In fairness to all consultants, no extensions will be granted under any circumstances.

  • All submissions must be received via email by the submission deadline.
  • All proposals should be in PDF format.
  • RFP submittals received by the set deadline will be reviewed for completeness and proposed methodology and efficacy in realizing the objectives.
  • Respondents may submit their proposals any time prior to the RFP closing date and time.
  • Respondents will be solely responsible for all costs incurred in the preparation and presentation of their proposal.
  • All proposals and supporting documentation submitted shall become the property of the client.

The proposal should include:

  • Contact details
  • Organizational/individual profile highlighting the experience of similar work
  • Up-to-date and detailed CV of the consultants (who will be engaged)
  • A clear overview of how the work will be approached, the methodology proposed, and the outputs generated, with a clear timeline for each of the specified activities and a budget apportioned for the assignment
  • Two references (reference can be one for whom the consultant/consulting firm did a similar type of work)

The proposal, including the consultant CVs, should not be more than 20 pages long, should have 1.2 line spacing, and Calibri font with a minimum font size of 11.

Right to Amend:

We reserve the right to amend or supplement this Request for Proposal by providing notice of amendments to all who have received the proposal document. Respondents may request to be notified of any amendments.

Rejection of Proposals:

We reserve the right to negotiate with the successful respondent changes in their proposal prior to, and/or as part of awarding a contract. Contact will be made exclusively with the selected agency or individual.
This Request for proposals neither expresses nor implies any obligation on our part to enter into a contract with a vendor submitting a proposal.