Request for Proposals (Lead Scaling for FASA Project) at WorldFish

Description

Title of Service: Lead Scaling for FASA Project

Location: Zambia, Kenya, Nigeria and remotely

Application Deadline: 31 March 2023

Type of contract: Consultancy Service Contract

Language(s) required: English (proficient/fluent writing and oral skills)

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WorldFish  jobs in Zambia

WorldFish is an international, non-profit research and innovation organization reducing hunger, malnutrition and poverty across Africa, Asia and the Pacific. For over 45 years, our work on sustainable aquaculture and fisheries has improved the lives of millions of women, men and youth.

Fish and other aquatic foods grown in and harvested from oceans, lakes, rivers and ponds provide income for more than 800 million people and provide 3.3 billion with 20% of their animal protein intake. Our focus on sustainability makes sure that the way we produce and use these foods today means a plentiful future of generations to come.

Our evidence-based solutions range in scale from households to global policies and spans across six interlinked themes: nutrition, gender, climate, sustainability, economy and COVID-19. We champion aquatic foods for healthy people and planet and believe that a sustainable blue planet of well-nourished children, women and men is within our reach.

Background

The new Norad-funded project “Development and Scaling of Sustainable Feeds for Resilient Aquatic Food Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa (FASA)” will be implemented in Nigeria, Zambia, Kenya, with research support from Malaysia and Sweden. It is recognized that a proper scaling strategy and action plan is required to achieve the project impact in Africa. Thus, WorldFish intends to hire a Service Provider for the NORAD FASA Project for which this Request for Proposals (RFP) is issued to implement the scaling activities of the project in Zambia, Kenya and Nigeria. The primary purpose of this service contract is to design and lead the scaling work in the FASA project, under the direction of WorldFish Project Leader based in Malaysia and in collaboration with other project stakeholders. The selected organization will work with an interdisciplinary team of experts from different backgrounds, including fish nutrition, gender and social inclusion, climate change, data management, science communication, rural development and bioprocesses.

The selected organization will identify opportunities for the project to provide benefits to the project beneficiaires novel feeds landscape in the 3 project countries (Nigeria, Zambia and Kenya). The selected organization is expected to conduct initial and yearly market assessments related to local ingredients and fish feeds in the project countries, and to develop and implement the scaling strategy of the project. The initial assessments will be completed in the first 6 months of the project and will find a way for the project to contribute to advance the scaling of innovations in conformity with the scaling goals of Norad, WorldFish, and other key stakeholders within the novel feeds landscape. Annual assessments will be conducted in the subsequent 4 years of the project. Such assessments of novel ingredients, feeds and their production processes and availability will be a key design feature in identifying both cost-effective and environmentally sustainable products generated by the project that can be scaled. The sub-activities to be completed to conduct these studies include literature reviews, study design, meetings with partners, data collection and analysis, and report preparation and publication.

Deliverables and Timing

The selected firm will be responsible for hiring a team of experts to produce, among others, the following three high-quality deliverables for each country:

• Market Assessment Report

Produce a thorough market assessment on the selection and use of local ingredients and feeds in Nigeria, Zambia, Kenya.

• Plan for Annual Assessments

Develop a detailed plan for the annual assessments of enabling and constraining factors for scale-up in Nigeria, Zambia, Kenya.

Conduct life cycle assessments to assess and quantify the benefits (or disbenefits) of new fish feeds in enhancing sustainable management of natural resources and their contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

• Scaling Strategy

Develop the detailed scaling strategy for the successful implementation of the FASA project in Nigeria, Zambia, Kenya.

• Outcome Report

Three country reports

1.            Market assessment to understand the status, trends and opportunities and constraints related to the selection and use of local ingredients and feeds in Nigeria, Zambia, Kenya.

2.            Country-specific annual assessment plans for work in the years 2, 3, and 4 aiming at identifying the innovations generated by the project, as wee as the enabling and constraining factors for the scaling of the innovations generated by the FASA project in Nigeria, Zambia, Kenya

3.            Global and country-specific scaling strategy for the FASA project in Nigeria, Zambia, Kenya

• Publications

Based upon the data collected to inform all outputs, three journal articles should be drafted with WorldFish staff.

Budget

Applicants should indicate overall budget. This should include indication of fees/per day rates of individuals involved, and any other expenses.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Lead the scaling work in the FASA project.
• Develop research proposal and protocols for scaling work in the FASA project.
• Recruit and manage three local scaling specialists working part-time in Nigeria, Zambia and Kenya.
• Design and conduct market assessments on ingredients and fish feeds in Nigeria, Zambia and Kenya.
• Publish technical, scientific, practice and/or outreach articles.
• Work collaboratively with the Project Leader based at the HQ in Malaysia.
• Develop productive partnerships to further scaling work in Nigeria, Zambia and Kenya, through key international and national research institutes and universities.
• Build productive relations with investors and development partners from public and private sectors for scaling out projects outputs.
• Plan, organize, execute and report on project.

Skills, Experience and Knowledge

Organizations that have sufficient capacities and human resources, with:

• Staff member with MSc and/or PhD in scaling science or scaling practices as it relates to agriculture/aquaculture and in-depth technical training in the area of the scaling of the innovations.
• A strong track record of high-quality scaling analysis and outputs in agriculture/aquaculture and/or fisheries. Preferably, also experience in studying fish feeds in low-income countries.
• Demonstrated expertise in scaling in MEL design and delivery, assessments, data analysis, visualization, knowledge management, capacity building, and/or training.
• Excellent proficiency of spoken and written English from assigned project team.
• Ability to work with interdisciplinary research teams, linking own expertise to other fields, including human nutrition, value chains, gender and social inclusion, climate change and fish nutrition fields.
• Ability to manage research projects.
• Proven experience implementing research and development projects/activities in Africa.
• Experience with agriculture/aquaculture science and development.
• Proven competency with designing intersectional scaling methodologies in Africa.
• Experience with designing, collecting and analyzing qualitative and quantitative data.
• Preferably, experience with agricultural/animal/aquacultural/fish feed production studies.
• Experience with working with rural communities in developing countries.
• Proven competency with the dissemination of scientific and technical knowledge products, including a record of publication in Scopus-listed journals.
• Demonstrable experience in subcontracting enumerators with scaling expertise and supervising staff.

How to Apply

This opportunity is open to National and International Consulting Organizations. The selection of organizations will be based on the proposed SOW, relevant organizational expertise, experience and cost. The shortlisted organizations may be asked to make presentations detailing their proposed approach, methodology and organizational expertise. WorldFish anticipates the finalization of selection process and contracting in February 2023 and selected organization should be able to commence implementation of project activities in February or March 2023. The services of the selected organization can be either on an annual basis or for the five years that the project will last, with annual assessment and renewal in June every project year.

Interested organizations are invited to submit the following information online latest by 31 March 2023:

• Scope of work describing organizational expertise and experience in implementing projects or assignments similar in scope and nature. [Not more than 3 pages]
• Demonstration of recent relevant experience. Please provide description of three recently implemented projects/activities/assessments that are similar in nature and scope, with the following information [not more than 250 words in total for each example]:

1.            Name of the funding agency;

2.            Funding agency project Point of contact [name, position, email];

3.            Name of the project/assessment;

4.            Budget;

5.            Brief activity description.

• Proposed methodology and approach to implement requested activities. [not more than 2 pages]
• Detailed budget for the implementation of the proposed activities ;
• Proposed personnel’s current curriculum vitae; and

The screening will start as soon as possible and will continue until the partner organization is identified. Only shortlisted organizations will be contacted.