AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK GROUP
REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
Human Capital Youth and Skills Development Department (AHHD)
MID-TERM REVIEW (MTR) OF THE AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK 2018-2025 MULTI-SECTORAL NUTRITION ACTION PLAN (AHHD.2)
Brief description of the Assignment : The African Development Bank (AfDB) hereby invites consulting firms to express their interest in following assignment; Consultancy to support mid-term review of the AfDB’s Multi-sectoral Nutrition Action Plan (MNAP) under the Banking on Nutrition (BoN) partnership within the Human Capital Youth and Skills Development Department (AHHD). The selected consulting firm will assess the progress achieved in the MNAP implementation so far and draw lessons that will inform adjustments or refinement of the implementation approach for the rest of the plan’s period. Interested firms shall provide information on their qualifications and experience demonstrating the ability to undertake the assignment (documents, reference to similar services. Experience in similar assignments, etc.).
Department issuing the request : Human Capital, Youth and Skills Development Department
Place of assignment : Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
Duration of the assignment : 3 months
Tentative Date of commencement : 01 October 2021
Detailed Terms of reference for the assignment : [TORs below]
Deadline for applications : 24 September 2021
Applications to be submitted to : t.zimpita@afdb.org
Any questions and requests for clarifications may be sent to : t.zimpita@afdb.org and copy m.opare@afdb.org and s.adam@afdb.org
Terms of Reference :
- Context :
The global burden of malnutrition remains unacceptably high, particularly in Africa. Africa is the only region where number of chronic malnourished children (stunted children) has risen with 40% of stunted children in the world in the African continent. Ending malnutrition is a key goal of the Feed Africa strategy, which is one of the pillars of the High 5s strategic vision of the African Development Bank (hereinafter referred to as “the Bank”). As part of the response to the rising challenge of malnutrition in the continent, in 2016 the Bank reviewed its sectoral portfolios and undertook evidence synthesis to identify country needs and approaches to address the needs. Recognizing the potential negative implications of stunting on human development in the continent owing to limited capacity of children to grow, learn and earn to their full potential, the Bank launched an ambitious Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Action Plan (MNAP) 2018-2025 demonstrating commitment to contribute to continental efforts to reduce stunting rates. More recently, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented global crisis that has paralyzed most economic sectors, including agriculture, adversely impacting food production systems thereby constituting a major threat to food security and nutrition among millions of Africans. With the pandemic forecast to cause Africa’s Global Domestic Product to drop between $22.1 billion and $88.3 billion, the Bank stepped in to support regional member countries (RMCs) in their national emergency response efforts.
- Multisectoral Nutrition Action Plan Implementation :
The operationalization of the plan was enabled through support to the Banking on Nutrition (BoN) partnership comprised of the Bank, Big Win Philanthropy and Aliko Dangote Foundation and technical assistance from Nutrition International. The Bank’s in-house capacity on nutrition integration aims to accelerate the Bank’s investments in nutrition smart projects particularly in the five-priority sector namely: Agriculture, Education, Health, Social protection, Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).
The BoN works through a three-part approach namely, (a) leveraging the Bank’s voice and leadership to catalyze greater efforts on nutrition investment; (b) mainstreaming nutrition in the Bank’s portfolio and pipeline; and (c) contributing to an increase in the production and consumption of safe, diverse, and nutritious foods to provide more children and pregnant and lactating women with an appropriate minimum dietary diversity.
During its first phase, the MNAP sought to strengthen the Bank’s convening power for nutrition through the establishment of the African Leaders for Nutrition (ALN) initiative’s secretariat; and mainstreaming and building capacity for nutrition across the Bank and integrating nutrition into the Bank’s pipeline portfolio and workplace (See annex 1). The Bank envisaged to fully roll-out the second phase of the plan based on the experience and learnings of Phase I implementation. While such commitment to actions and investments for nutrition has been ongoing by the Bank, it is clear that the need for the Bank to continue to contribute towards progress in the area of nutrition on the continent has never been greater and the COVID-19 pandemic has added to the sense of urgency. It is in this context that the Bank is undertaking a Mid-term Review (MTR) of its MNAP.
Following nearly three years of implementing these three core intervention areas in the MNAP, the MTR plans to assess the progress achieved in the MNAP implementation so far, and to draw lessons that will inform adjustments or refinement of the implementation approach for the rest of the plan’s period.
- Objectives of the Assignment :
Overall objective : To assess and evaluate the progress made in the implementation of the Bank’s MNAP, document lessons learnt and identify areas for mid-term correction and alignment for the remaining period.
Specific Objectives :
- Assess the implementation of the Bank’s MNAP in the first phase with robust performance gap analysis to identify specific action across the three core intervention areas and recommendations for course-correction from 2021 to 2025 ;
- Review progress made by ALN in leveraging the Bank’s convening power and leadership to catalyze greater efforts towards scaling up nutrition action on the continent and recommend areas of focus in line with prevailing thinking in nutrition programming ;
- Undertake a management review including the institutional arrangements, capacity, and supportive environment for effective coordination of the Bank’s nutrition agenda ;
- Assess the progress made in terms of proportion of investments that are nutrition smart in the five-priority sectors, challenges and gaps to accelerate nutrition smart investments, as well as, relevance and appropriateness of MNAP ambition ;
- Undertake a bottleneck analysis of the coordination and implementation arrangements as well as provide recommendations to create synergies and complementarities between BoN and ALN that can be optimized within the Bank’s organizational structure to achieve greater impact ;
- Assess the relevance and appropriateness of the MNAP in the context of the current thinking and approaches to nutrition programming, and the impact of emerging threats such as COVID-19 pandemic ;
- Draw lessons learnt at the level of (i) overall design of the MNAP; (ii) operationalization and implementation; and (iii) institutional arrangements for monitoring implementation ;
- Document best practices in the implementation of the MNAP focusing on nutrition smart projects particularly in the five-priority sector operations namely: Agriculture, Education, Health, Social protection, Water and Sanitation (WASH) and make recommendations for action.
- Expected Results :
The MTR will assess the ALN and BoN implementation milestones under each of the MNAP’s three intervention areas in the first phase of the implementation period and suggest areas of improvement.
The expected results include :
- A detailed MTR report outlining the progress in the MNAP implementation, analysis of performance gaps and revised matrix of action based on the recommendations to accelerate the Bank’s contribution towards stunting reduction in Africa in the second phase of implementation onwards ;
- A Plan of Action and Road Map for updating the existing MNAP (Phase II) in line with the MTR report findings including measures to optimize the positioning of ALN for scaling up impactful high-level advocacy support to member states, global engagement (such as UN Food Systems Summit, Nutrition4Growth Summit, AU task force) as well as ALN strategic positioning within the Bank’s nutrition-related operations (such as the Feed Africa strategy) ;
- An assessment of the Bank’s institutional arrangements, capacity, and supportive environment for effective and coordinated nutrition integration and high-level advocacy and the positioning of BoN and ALN can be optimized within the Bank’s organizational structure with relevant recommendations proffered ;
- An assessment of impact of COVID on the project implementation and lessons on future project responses to mitigate impact on nutrition within project portfolios ;
- Documented best practices on the Bank’s nutrition smart investments, and nutrition awareness at the Bank workplace, HQ and regional offices which can inform further learning and policy options; and
- Recommendations for future focus and implementation in countries burden with high levels of malnutrition measured against progress and early benefits within five-priority sector operations namely: Agriculture, Education, Health, Social protection, Water and Sanitation (WASH).
- Scope of Work :
The MTR will cover all the three intervention areas outlined in the first phase of the Bank’s MNAP in terms of implementation progress and achievement of set performance indicators. The review will examine key documents related to the MNAP implementation, enabling environment, obtain the perspectives of relevant partners such as the BoN, identify opportunities to advance the Bank’s work on nutrition across the continent as well as required technical, capacity and resource needs.
Specifically, the MTR scope of work will include :
- Development of detailed proposed methodology and work plan for the MTR exercise ;
- Facilitation of an inception workshop and submit inception report on the assignment with a chronology of activities and timelines, and solicit feedback ;
- Undertaking a desk review of the relevant Bank’s documents including the MNAP, BoN and ALN reports ;
- Coordination of key informant interviews and consultation with relevant stakeholders to gather information on the MNAP implementation-including but not limited to: ALN activities; the BoN supported technical assistance to operationalize the MNAP; experience on nutrition smart investments among the task managers; project team at HQ, regional and country levels ;
- Preparation of a comprehensive report addressing the terms of reference which will include – but not limited to – the following: i) the achievements of ALN and BoN from 2018 to 2020, including best practices, challenges, opportunities and recommendations; and ii) proposed areas of synergies and alignment between the BoN and ALN initiatives ;
- In-depth review of ALN function including situational assessment and develop ALN Secretariat strengthening action plan ;
- Plan and facilitate a validation workshop to share the draft findings and solicit feedback; and
- Finalize report based on feedback from the validation workshop.
- Duration of contract and schedule of deliverables :
The contract period will be for 3 months. The indicative deliverables for the study are outlined below. The final report shall be written in English and submitted electronically.
| N° | Deliverable | Timeframe for Submission |
| R1 | Inception Meeting | First week of effectiveness of contract |
| R2 | Inception Report Submission | Two (2) weeks after effectiveness of the contract |
| R3 | Data Collection and Analysis | Ten (10) weeks after effectiveness of the contract |
| R4 | Preliminary findings | Eleven (11) weeks after effectiveness of the contract |
| R5 | Draft Report & Presentation | Eleven (11) weeks after effectiveness of the contract |
| R6 | Final Report | Twelve (12) weeks after effectiveness of the contract |
Inception Report : This shall set out the state of mobilization, updated methodology and work plan, timetable for the services as well as a QA plan and envisaged outline of the MTR report and recommendations for the execution of the assignment as described in these Terms of Reference. The Consultant shall be expected to facilitate an inception workshop to help review and validate the inception report.
Preliminary Findings : The consultant shall share initial findings and recommendations with the Banking on Nutrition partners prior to the Nutrition Technical Committee of the complex
Draft Report : This will provide detailed analysis of the progress in the MNAP implementation, identify performance gaps and revise matrix of action based on the recommendations to accelerate the Bank’s contribution towards stunting reduction in Africa in the second phase of implementation onwards. It will also document best practices and present a Plan of Action and Road Map for updating the existing MNAP (Phase II). This will also include measures to optimize the positioning of ALN for scaling up impactful high-level advocacy support to member states, global engagement as well as ALN strategic positioning within the Bank’s nutrition-related operations (such as the Feed Africa strategy). A presentation on the draft report will be shared with the Nutrition Technical Committee for comments and validation. The Bank shall make arrangements for the review of the draft report.
Final Report : The Consultant will submit a final report, two weeks after receipt of the Bank’s comments on the Draft Report. This will include dissemination with senior management and partners.
- Coordination of the Mid-Term Review :
The review methodology will include interviews with a purposive sample from stakeholder, partners, and eventual coordination meetings with the Bank’s senior management. The consultant will undertake desk reviews, develop evaluation outputs, collect information, data and documents as it pertains to the above scope of work and expected deliverables. The consultant will present preliminary findings and final report to the Bank’s Nutrition Technical Committee under the Agriculture Human and Social Development complex.
The Bank will: (i) provide all necessary background documents, reports, guidelines, project appraisal reports, etc. available; (ii) where feasible, assist in arranging formal/informal meetings within the Bank senior management and external stakeholders and (iii) coordinate the review of the consultant’s deliverables. All data collected during the course of the assignment shall be listed, clearly marked and categorized according to source, and shall become property of the Bank. The consultancy shall exercise diligence in the execution of the assignment, and the reporting requirements and schedule shall be respected.
Financial proposal and renumeration related to the consultancy shall be handled by Big Win Philanthropy under the Banking on Nutrition partnership.
- Qualifications and Experience for Consultancy :
The selected consultancy shall demonstrate a proven experience in successful situational analysis, monitoring, evaluation, data collection, data analysis and reporting on multi-sectoral nutrition programming. Experience in the Bank’s operations and nutrition initiatives is an added advantage.
He/ She should have (for example) :
- Advanced University degree in one of the following fields : nutrition, public health, social sciences, life sciences or other related disciplines ;
- At least eight years of progressively responsible professional work experience at the national and international levels in intersectoral/intercluster integration work for nutrition outcomes ;
- Specialized training/experience and expertise in intersectoral/intercluster integration work for nutrition outcomes in at least one of the following areas: National guideline development or revision, Cluster strategy, work plan or scale up plan development, Agency strategy, work plan or scale up plan development and Programme implementation and monitoring ;
- Ability to identify issues, formulate opinions, make conclusions and recommendations ;
- Demonstrated professional competence and mastery of subject matter; conscientiousness and efficiency in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and meeting results ;
- Demonstrated cultural sensitivity and ability to establish harmonious working relations in a multicultural environment ;
- Excellent written and verbal communication in English and/or French.
- Evaluation Criteria :
The consulting firm will be selected in accordance with the AfDB’s implementation manual relating to the acquisition of consultancy services. The candidates shall be evaluated based on the following criteria;
| Criteria | Score |
| General qualification and experience relevant to the assignment | 40 |
| Demonstrated experience in intersectoral integration for nutrition outcomes and scale- | 30 |
| up plan development and programme monitoring and evaluation | |
| Availability of skills within the personnel of the firm during the period planned for the | 20 |
| execution of the contract | |
| Language and communication skills: ability to deliver project outputs and effective | 10 |
| communication in English and French | |
| Total | 100 |
Applicants are to submit brief technical proposal in line with objects and scope of work.