REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS - Data Collection in Support of the EatSafe Ethiopia Baseline Assessment in Hawassa

PROJECT BACKGROUND AND SCOPE OF WORK

ABOUT GAIN

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. 

BACKGROUND

The EatSafe (Evidence and Action Towards Safe, Nutritious Food) programme aims to generate evidence and knowledge of the potential of increased consumer demand for safe food to substantially improve the safety of nutritious foods in informal market settings in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The five-year programme is funded by USAID and is undertaken by a consortium led by GAIN and containing the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Pierce Mill Education and Media as well as Busara Centre for Behavioural Economics (Busara). 

SCOPE OF WORK AND DELIVERABLES

GAIN seeks a research organization (Contractor) to support the implementation of EatSafe in-country activities in Ethiopia, in coordination with GAIN staff in the Ethiopia country office and elsewhere and with other project partners as needed. Under the direction of GAIN staff, the broad objectives of the work to be undertaken by the Contractor are:

• Carry out a baseline assessment of knowledge, attitudes, and practices relevant to food safety on two cohorts, one of traditional market consumers and one of traditional market vendors, using structured surveys;
• Conduct structured quantitative direct observations of vendor behaviors and practices in the market, as relevant to food safety;
• Establish and maintain the data pipeline for all activities from planning and data collection throughout preliminary data analyses, including: data organizing and formatting, QA/QC, safely storing and transmitting collected data, metadata, and data collection tools to GAIN;
• Document all activities in writing, in particular: tool piloting, enumerator training, and data management and QA/QC;
• Contribute to preliminary data analysis and the compilation of project reports or other knowledge products derived from the field work.

EXPECTED EXPERTISE

The Contractor, possibly comprising multiple teams within a single organization, must have significant (at least 10 years) of prior experience with:

• Organizing and managing research projects that include rigorous field data collection of human behavioural and KAPs (knowledge, attitudes, and practices) data in scientific disciplines such as public health, social and behavioural sciences, applied economics, anthropology, sociology, food safety and nutrition, human dimensions of water and sanitation, consumer science, human or veterinary medicine, or community development;
• Developing and implementing population-based structured or semi-structured surveys using best practices to obtain high-quality data suitable for rigorous statistical analyses;
• Developing and implementing qualitative and quantitative data collection methods, such as structured or semi-structured surveys and rigorous behavioural observations, with knowledge of the techniques needed to ask context-appropriate potentially sensitive questions and shift interview style as needed during interviews;
• Working and interfacing with study participants in informal settlements or low-income communities in a culturally appropriate and gender-sensitive manner;
• Familiarity with informal food sector, markets, or the study populations in the region is a strong asset.