REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST
(INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT)
| Consulting Services: | Consultancy to develop a user-friendly compendium of forgotten food commodities in Africa |
| Name of Project: | FARA/FAO-RAF |
| Activity Ref No: | GF.RAFTD.RA4030226HP00.5575 |
| Procurement Ref: | FARA/CS/IC/2022/01 |
| Date: | Monday, January 31, 2022 : Submission deadline February 14, 2022 |
- Food and nutritional security are significant developmental challenges in recent times. Africa is recorded to have the highest number of malnourished populations globally; Africa was estimated to have a 19.1 percent prevalence of undernourishment (PoU, 2019). There is the need for an accelerated approach and coordination at the continental level to provide solutions to these problems and advance necessary action to achieve the zero-hunger target.
A recent report indicated that Africa is home to diversified indigenous food commodities, that are well adapted to the environment and thrive well with little or no external inputs. These indigenous foods offer dietary diversity and are potent sources of micro and macronutrients. However, they have received little or no research and development attention towards their genetic improvement, value addition, and marketing. This earned them the label, “Neglected or forgotten food commodities”.
The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) has identified forgotten food as a potential source of solutions to ending hunger, malnutrition, and other dietary challenges in Africa. FARA and its partners proposed to carry out scoping studies, stakeholders’ engagement, and other activities to identify and characterize forgotten food commodities with the potential to be mainstreamed into the food system. To carry out this assignment, FARA requires the services of a consultant to support its staff in carrying out specific activities.
- The overall objective of the assignment is to re-integrate the African indigenous, forgotten, and underutilized food commodities into the emerging food systems for sustainable food and nutritional security.
- This request for expression of interest aims at engaging a consultant to carry out the following functions:
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- Carry out a systematic review and consultations to define the scope of traditional or forgotten foods. This will include the moderation of a D-group discussion to define what forgotten food is and what it is not, and/or a more apt term to describe the kinds of foods referred to as forgotten.
- Draw a list of important forgotten foods and prioritize at least 100 common traditional food crops based on geographic coverage, nutritional density, other environmental and cultural values, and cross-cultural acceptability.
- Undertake a desk review on the nutritional information for the identified forgotten food commodities and compile their nutritional values.
- Coordinate the analysis to validate the nutritional value of the identified 100 food commodities.
- Develop a compendium of the nutritional content, availability, accessibility, and utilization of common indigenous foods in the four sub-regions of sub-Saharan Africa. The analysis will include their environmental and economic benefits; it will be developed into a user-friendly format that documents at least 100 commodities. The compendium will be made with high-resolution images and succinct information on each commodity.
- Facilitate stakeholder’s dialogue to validate the compendium of Forgotten Foods in Africa.
The detailed terms of reference are in the link below:
Terms of Reference for a Consultancy on Forgotten Foods
- The Executive Director of FARA invites interested consultants to express interest in carrying out this assignment.
- Consultants interested in this call must provide an Expression of Interest no longer than 10 pages, outlining proposed methodologies, references related to the execution of similar contracts, experience in similar areas, or evidence of knowledge and a proposed timeline. Brochures, CVs, and other supplementary materials submitted shall not be accounted for as part of the 10-page limit.
- The anticipated period of performance for this consultancy is 42 man-days spread over three months. The work is expected to be carried out from the 22nd of February to 14th May 2022.
- The individual consultant shall be selected based on procedures defined in the Procurement Guidelines of FARA.
- Interested consultants may obtain further information from the Senior Technical Cluster Leader/Innovation Systems Specialist, Fatunbi Oluwole [[email protected]], and copy the Procurement Expert, Mr. Callistus Achaab [[email protected]], during the following hours: 9h00 to 15h00 GMT.
Please download the Terms of Reference below for further information on this opportunity.
- Expressions of Interest should be submitted electronically to [[email protected]] and addressed to Dr. Yemi Akinbamijo, Executive Director of FARA, No 9 Flower Avenue, New Achimota, Mile 7, Accra, Ghana, no later than Monday, 14th February 2022, at 14h00 GMT. Tel: +233 302 772823/744888
- FARA Affirmative Action Statement on Recruitment: there is no discrimination based on gender race, religion, ethnic orientation, disability, or health status.
Executive Director of FARA
2 Comments
Bonjour Dr Yemi,
C’est Lilia de Madagascar. Ayant reçu cet appel à manifestation d’intérêt, je suis intéressée pour formuler une demande de consultation avec deux collègues qui partagent les mêmes vision, mission… avec moi. Est-ce qu’il était possible de présenter en français cette manifestation d’intérêt. Merci et meilleures considérations
PS: je n’ai pas de site web car je dirige une école doctorale et je préside aussi le Comité d’éthique pour les sciences et les technologies à l’Académie Malgache
Good idea. Probably left out of this discussion and yet very important, is a) the ability to produce those foods (especially the fruits, vegetables and animals or/and animal products)—e.g., how do we get the seeds accessible or domesticate the animals albeit the wildlife regulations) b) the commercialization of these commodities (processed or not) and integrate them in the trade systems. Thank you and wish you the best.