81306940 - Framework agreement C4N NIPN Support to Nutrition Information Systems Consultancy Pool

Bekanntmachungs-ID: CXTRYY6Y1353NX2M

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Background: Despite global strides in food availability and nutrition, progress towards eradicating malnutrition remains slow and uneven. The 2021 Global Nutrition Report indicates high worldwide malnutrition rates, with nearly a quarter of children under five being stunted and a rising trend in obesity across all countries. Malnutrition is a significant cause of child and maternal mortality and is linked to poor infant feeding practices, inadequate healthcare, and micronutrient deficiencies. The economic cost of malnutrition is substantial, with losses up to 11% of GDP in Africa and Asia, affecting learning, productivity, and increasing healthcare costs. Climate change and COVID-19 have further compromised food security and nutrition, underscoring the need for evidence-based, multi-sectoral approaches to combat malnutrition effectively.

Project Description: The "Knowledge for Nutrition" (K4N) and "Capacity for Nutrition" (C4N) initiatives are central to German Development Cooperation's efforts against malnutrition, supported by the BMZ's "ONE WORLD - No Hunger" initiative and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. With an annual funding of around EUR 1.5 billion, these programs aim to build on evidence-based strategies for improving nutrition. K4N, backed by a EUR 49.8 million investment, offers technical support to enhance nutrition-related programs and policies. In partnership with the EC, C4N seeks to improve maternal and child nutrition in line with SDG 2.2, focusing on evidence-based program development and multi-sectoral approaches.

The "Nutrition Information Platform for Nutrition" (NIPN) initiative complements these efforts by providing timely, reliable data to inform policy and intervention decisions. Coordinated by C4N-NIPN, it supports the global Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) movement's goal to reduce chronic malnutrition. By leveraging existing information and enhancing nutrition data analysis, NIPN aims to improve decision-making on nutrition investments and policies, demonstrating the importance of country-specific, data-driven approaches to address malnutrition effectively.

Objective: The primary goal is to strengthen multisectoral nutrition information systems, offering tailored solutions to EU partner and SUN member countries. This involves guidance, technical assistance, and sharing of best practices and experiences to inform better decision-making and policy formulation, ultimately contributing to the global fight against malnutrition.

For countries in need of assistance, the C4N-NIPN offers specific diagnostic scoping of a countries needs and suggests solutions based on NIPN country experience. This resource includes practical guidance, mapping exercises, case studies, terms of reference, and insights gleaned from past experiences, all aimed at facilitating either direct application or tailored adaptation. Additionally, the C4N-NIPN Global Coordination team provides technical support, available both in-person and online, subject to resource availability. The areas and scope of support provided will continue to evolve according to requests received. The following are examples of areas where support will be provided: 1) Multisectoral coordination body, 2) Data, 3) Strategic planning for nutrition using evidence, 4) Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) for multisectoral nutrition plan, 5) Communication and 6) Policy question formulation. The support of the NIS involves a step-by-step approach starting from the country raising a request, followed by diagnostic exercise and technical assistance steps (TA) and post assistance monitoring.

The subject of this tender is the conclusion of a framework agreement with one contractor, that can implement various assignments by proposing experts in provision of TA for the undertaking of NIPN support to NIS in EU-partner and SUN member countries.
The contractor will contribute to support C4N-NIPN in the effective delivery of TA to countries, which are received through the SUN request tracking system. The skills and professional experience of the requested experts are broad and extensive in order to be able to cover the full spectrum of support provided under C4N-NIPN.
Overall, contractor will provide the technical support to countries upon and depending on the country request to:
- Support the initial diagnostics/analysis to characterize what type of support/TA is needed, including scoping calls, desk reviews, and appraisal missions if necessary:
- Support mapping of existing data systems, and initiatives supporting the NIS in the country.
- Support mapping of existing multisectoral nutrition information system, multisectoral committee including donor coordination body for nutrition and multisectoral national plan for nutrition.
- Conduct in person and/or online meetings with involving country stakeholders, development partners, nutrition institutions.
- Support development of the NIPN support to strengthen NIS by documenting systematically assistance provided, and tools shared to countries.
- Assist with repository and development of new tools for the NIPN support to strengthen NIS.
- Report on results, progress, challenges, and outcomes of the consultancy work. Support the strategic planning and advocacy for the NIPN approach beyond the second phase of NIPN.
- Setting up and implementing regional exchanges, workshops as well as peer-to-peer exchanges in different regions and contexts
- The expert shall carry out any other nutrition-related task by the contracting authority (GIZ) upon request.
The contractor manages costs and expenditures, accounting processes and invoicing in line with the requirements of GIZ.
The contractor reports regularly to GIZ in accordance with the current AVB of the GIZ GmbH. Period of assignment: from contract award until 30 April 2026.
The tenderer is required to make available one pool of international and one pool of regional short-term experts. The contract term of each short-term expert and period of assignments may vary between a couple of days and various weeks. It is the task of the contractor to identify suitable candidates through its extensive technical network and initiate the respective contracting procedures based on the specifications provided by the contracting authority.

The requirements on the format and content of the CVs are described in section 6. The qualifications mentioned below correspond to the requirements for achieving the highest number of points in the technical assessment. "One year of professional experience" is therefore defined as a cumulative 12 expert months with at least 20 expert days per month, provided no diverging definition is specified for individual qualifications.
UN DESA regions are defined as East Africa, Central Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, South America, the Caribbean, Central America, North America, Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, West Asia/Middle East, Eastern Europe, Northern Europe, Southern Europe, Western Europe, Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia; refer to USND methodology for country assignment.
The tenderer must assign the 2 proposed experts per pool to the required qualifications and clearly present them in a separate table preceding the CVs. The summary presentation must mention only qualifications that are actually indicated in the CVs. Professional experience must be evidenced by meaningful references in the CVs. It is advisable to make explicit reference to each example of professional experience.