Mozambique: MOZ-02 – MEDIUM TERM TA TO SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT OF FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION (FSN) STRATEGY (2018-2025) AND KEY POLICY AND LEGAL FRAMEWORKS FOR EFFEC

Terms of Reference (ToRs)

Background

Technical Assistance for Nutrition (TAN) supported by UK aid from UK government seeks to improve the capacity of countries that have joined the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) movement to design, deliver, and track the progress of nutrition programs and to generate, learn from and adopt knowledge of what works. Nutrition International is contributing to TAN by coordinating the provision of technical assistance to help national SUN Focal Points in select countries to overcome gaps in capacity for the design and delivery of multi-sectoral national nutrition plans, tapping into its global hub to source and deploy the expertise needed.

The national burden of malnutrition in Mozambique is significant. Stunting affects 43% and wasting affects 6% of children under five years old^[1], anaemia affects 64% of women of reproductive age and 54% of children under five^[2]. Mozambique is among the 34 countries accounting for 90% of the stunting burden in the world. The prevalence of undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies among children and women is not showing adequate reductions over the years, with rates currently at critical levels as per World Health organization (WHO) classification which indicates high public significance. The problem of overweight and obesity are emerging and affect both children and adults. The cost of undernutrition in Mozambique is high; a total of 10.9% of Gross Domestic Product (equivalent to 1.8 Billion USD) is lost every year as a result of the nutrition burden^[3] .

At the 1996 World Food Summit in Rome, the Government of Mozambique (GoM) took up the commitment of reducing the number of malnourished people by half by 2015. In 1998, the Government approved the first Food Security and Nutrition Strategy (ESAN I) and created the Technical Secretariat for Food Security and Nutrition (SETSAN) under the Ministry of Agriculture. In 2007, the GoM approved ESAN II (2008-2015), and an accompanying Action Plan for Food Security and Nutrition (PASAN), with a coordinated approach to food security and nutrition, including the right to food. SETSAN received semi-autonomous status, by the Decree of the Council of Ministers (No. 24/2010) with the launch of the new organizational statutes and a new framework for human resources. Consistent with ongoing initiatives to decentralize decision-making to smaller administrative units, SETSAN maintains provincial offices as well as a central office located in the capital city, Maputo. In the provinces, the SETSAN focal points are based at the provincial Departments of Agriculture. In addition to its coordinating role regarding ESAN II and the National Multi-Sectoral Plan of Action for the Reduction of Chronic Malnutrition (PAMRDC), SETSAN is also the national focal point for the SUN movement. On December 6^th 2017, the Council of Ministers (through Decree No. 69/2017) approved the creation of the National Council for Food and Nutrition Security (CONSAN). This significant development will elevate SETSAN to a structure within the Council of Ministers which presents a positive step towards establishing and sustaining high level commitment on FSN issues in Mozambique.

The GoM, a member of SUN movement since 2010, has continued to re-affirm its commitment to ensuring good nutrition for all its citizens. Since that time, a number of significant developments have happened at the global, regional and country level (i.e the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda, the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition (2016-2025), the second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) in 2014, the World Health Assembly (WHA) targets for 2025, Malabo Declaration in 2015 to end hunger and reduce stunting on the continent to 10% by 2025 and the approval for establishment of CONSAN, among others. The Five-Year Plan of the Government of Mozambique (PQG 2015-2019) includes the reduction of chronic undernutrition as an indicator in the human and social development pillar. This commitment is further supported by the second National Strategy for Food Security and Nutrition (ESAN II– 2008-2015). In addition to tackling malnutrition and food insecurity, ESAN II focuses on strengthening of governance structures and coordination mechanisms for nutrition and food security across the country. The above developments, sets an opportunity for the Government and partners to work together with other stakeholders to accelerate efforts towards the elimination of hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition. At present, several SUN networks including the UN Network, the Civil Society and the Business networks are active and they work together towards accelerating progress in food and nutrition security.

While the country continues to demonstrate success in strengthening its governance and implementation structures for food security and nutrition, key challenges remain, this include; (i)Inadequate legal and policy legal framework for FSN (ii) Limited coordination among senior decision-makers at central, provincial and district levels and (iii) Implementation challenges driven by lack of program specificity to properly address regional or local community contexts, inadequate monitoring and evaluation systems and unequal involvement of different sectors at all levels.

With ESAN II (2008-2015) ended, there is need to develop ESAN III (2018-2025). ESAN II is currently being evaluated with technical and financial support from Government (SETSAN), DANIDA, FAO, WFP, Belgium Technical Cooperation (BTC) and Millennium Development Goals (MDG). This evaluation exercise will serve as an important source of information for the development of ESAN III. To ensure effective implementation of ESAN III and retention of FSN on top of GOM agenda, there is need to define and develop key policy and legal frameworks for FSN. The entire process should consider the following:

i. Alignment to ongoing initiatives such as strategic, institutional and programmatic review of ESAN II and PAMRDC and the planned development of FSN management information system.

ii. Alignment to PQG, approval for establishment of CONSAN, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other global and regional and national commitments.

iii. The ongoing discussion on whether PAMRDC will be incorporated under ESAN III or whether the 2 strategies will be kept separate.

iv. FSN policy, legal and institutional shifts in Mozambique.

v. Mainstreaming of gender, HIV, Climate Change and other relevant cross cutting issues

vi. The SUN checklist on the criteria and characteristics of ‘good’ national nutrition plans (http://www.securenutrition.org/resource/checklist-criteria-and-characteristics-%E2%80%98good%E2%80%99-national-nutrition-plans)

It is in this framework that the SUN Focal Point has requested Nutrition International TAN project to provide TA to support development of ESAN III and key policy and legal frameworks. The proposed TA will work together with the current ESAN II evaluation consultants, PAMRDC evaluation consultants, UNICEF, EU, FAO, Technical Working Groups (TWGs) and other nutrition sector stakeholders, to ensure that the output of the TA holistically addresses FSN challenges in a complementary manner in Mozambique.

Objectives

Overall objective

The overall objective of this TA is to support the SETSAN and Food Security and Nutrition Stakeholders in Mozambique to formulate ESAN III (2018-2025) define key policy and legal framework for FSN.

Specific objectives

1. Analyze and existing FSN policies, strategies and plans together with ESAN II and PAMRDC evaluation findings.

2. Facilitate formulation of ESAN III strategic framework, implementation framework, Monitoring and Evaluation framework and costing framework in close liaison with SETSAN, line ministries, Technical Working Groups (TWGs) and other stakeholders.

3. Use available information to define and develop key policy and legal framework for FSN.

4. Support initial capacity building and sensitization actions that will facilitate effective implementation of ESAN III and FSN policy.

Expectations

This Technical Assistance is expected to bring a significant contribution to GOM ability to scale up food Security and nutrition interventions among vulnerable populations in Mozambique. The main outcome of this TA will be enhanced coordinated planning, implementation, costing, financing, tracking and evaluation of multisectoral FSN actions at the national, provincial and district level.

The TA will specifically support:

1. Critical analysis of ESAN II evaluation findings and FSN policy, strategic and legal framework with specific focus on enabling/policy environment, institutions, capacity, design and M&E perspectives.
2. Stakeholder consensus on key policy and legal instruments needed to scale up nutrition in Mozambique
3. Adequate stakeholder participation in development of strategic and implementation framework of ESAN III.
4. Formulation of actionable, measurable and inclusive detailed implementation plan, Monitoring and Evaluation framework and costing of ESAN III.
5. Validation and adoption of ESAN III in coordination with relevant sectors and stakeholders at the national, provincial and district level.

NI is committed gender equality. Consultants are required to indicate how they will ensure that gender equality considerations are included in the provision of technical assistance.

Scope of Work

Taking a facilitative, consultative and participatory approach under the overall guidance of SETSAN, the consultants will undertake specific activities and produce the following deliverables:

Objective 1: Analyze and existing FSN policies, strategies and plans and ESAN II and PAMRDC evaluation findings

Activities

• Inception phase planning with SETSAN and stakeholders

• Consensus on the methodology/roadmap and roles of stakeholders and contributors

• Desk review

• Multi-sectoral and multistakeholder inception workshop

Deliverables

• Desk review report

• Inception report that should include:

o Detailed work plan and activity schedule

o Detailed methodology

o Risks and mitigation strategies

• Inception workshop report which should define roles and expectations of key stakeholders

Objective 2:Facilitate formulation ofESAN III implementation frameworkMonitoring and Evaluation framework and costing framework

Objective 3: Use available information to define and develop key policy and legal framework for FSN

Activities

• Develop tools and methods for stakeholder consultations (secondary data scoping tools, Key Informant Interview (KII) and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) guidelines)

• National stakeholder consultations

• Provincial and district consultations

• Develop first draft ESAN III which should include, but not limited to, situation analysis and policy and, strategic directions, results framework, implementation arrangements, M&E plan, costs and budgetary arrangements, stakeholders engagement among others

• Map out priority policies and legal instruments and develop framework for FSN policy and laws

• National multi-stakeholder detailed review workshop report

• National validation workshop

Deliverables

• Data collection tools to be used during national, regional and district consultations

• National and field consultation summaries

• ESAN III, FSN policy and FSN laws outlines

• First draft of ESAN III, FSN policy and FSN laws

• Final draft of ESAN III, FSN policy and FSN laws

Objective 4: Support initial capacity building and sensitization actions that will facilitate effective implementation of ESAN III and FSN policy

Activities

• Design and print detailed and summary versions of the final documents

• Plan and facilitate dissemination workshop at the national level and 2 regions

• Develop knowledge product for the TA

Deliverables

• Approved/validated design for the comprehensive and summary versions of the final documents

• Detailed ESAN III and FSN policy dissemination plan

• TA summary

NB: Applicants are requested to present specific deliverable-based activities along with proposed level of effort required, in terms of number of days, as part of their technical proposal.

Duty Station/Location

The lead Consultant and team will be based at the SETSAN for activities that require physical presence e.g stakeholder consultations and workshops. The team can work from home when not travelling to the sub-national level or presence at the SETSAN is not required. The consultants will also be expected to travel to selected provinces for an estimated 60 days.

All travels required under this consultancy will be provided for by Nutrition International and SETSAN.

Timeline

This TA support would be for a period of up to 9 months, from 1^st April 2018 to 31^st December 2018. The Level of Effort (LoE) will be agreed upon in consultation with SETSAN. Specific LoE will be determined in consultation with the SUN Focal Point and Nutrition International.

NB: Priority will be given development of ESAN III which the first draft has to be ready by 31^st July 2018.

Management and Reporting/Coordination mechanism

1. The lead consultant will report to SETSAN Executive Secretary who is the SUN Focal Point or her designate.

2. The SUN Focal Point will facilitate the operational linkages with ESAN task force, Technical Working groups, SUN Networks, line ministries and other stakeholders under this TA.

3. Specific financial and administrative accountabilities are to the Nutritional International for all the deliverables of the assignment. Payment will be subject to performance and reaching deliverables as agreed upon at the moment of contract signing.

4. Nutrition International will provide technical input into the assignment and is responsible for assuring the quality of the work being delivered by the consultant.

5. Nutrition International will review the consultant’s work and share with the SUN FP for feedback prior to sharing externally (as needed).

Profile/qualifications of consultants

It is expected a consultancy firm or team of consultants with assorted areas of expertise in Policy and Planning, Laws and Regulations Development, Economics/Finance, M&E and Nutrition will be required to complete all aspects of this consultancy, with the Lead Consultant responsible for work completed by all team members.

Lead Consultant

• Post-graduate or doctoral-level qualifications the following fields; Policy and Planning, Public Health, Food security, Nutrition, Social Sciences, Economics, Applied Sciences or related areas.
• A minimum of 15 years’ experience in the field of development sector including consultancy work with the Government and development partners in nutrition, health, food security or related fields.

· Excellent knowledge of Mozambique food security and nutrition landscape and programmes.

• Specific experience in developing national policies, strategies, plans and legal frameworks.
• Experience of providing strategic policy advice to national and sub-national governments.
• Experience in program design, M&E, financial planning, developing FSN policies and legal frameworks and budget expenditure tracking in combination with specialized experience in food security, health or nutrition will be added advantage.

· Experience in working with multistakeholder platforms and processes, or other complex collaboration platforms across sectors, including health and agriculture

• Experience in coordinating and managing a team of subject matter experts.
• Excellent communication, analytical and writing skills.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver quality results within strict deadlines.
• Experience with working in team-based environments which requires a grasp of cross-functional subject matters.

Other Consultants

· At least 8-10 years of experience in policy, planning, design, M&E, costing and tracking of nutrition, food security, health and other related programs.

· Excellent knowledge of Mozambique food security and nutrition programmes.

· Experience in developing national policies, strategies or plans.

· Experience in working with multistakeholder platforms and processes, or other complex collaboration platforms across sectors, including health and agriculture

• Excellent communication, analytical and writing skills.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver quality results within strict deadlines.

· Experience developing capacity building materials and processes, and delivering associated events

Language Skills

· Fluency in written and spoken Portuguese and English is mandatory.

Nutrition International is committed to gender equality. Consultants are requested to indicate how they will ensure that gender equality considerations are included in the TA outputs.

[1] Technical Secretariat for Food Security and Nutrition (SETSAN), 2013

[2] Malaria, HIV/AIDS Survey, 2015

[3] The Cost of Hunger in Africa (COHA) study, 2016

Interested firms or consultants are invited to submit the following by email to TechnicalAssistance@nutritionintl.org before 1^st March 2018:

· Up-to-date curriculum vitae (CVs)

· Technical proposal: not exceeding five pages, describing the consultant’s understanding of the task, proposed methodology, responsibilities of team members and key stakeholders and detailed work plan that breaks down activities and deliverables with associated timelines.

· Financial proposal: including daily fee rate, suggested number of trips/days in-country and any other expenses required to fulfill the terms of the consultancy (field trips, meetings, materials, etc.).

Submissions without Technical and financial proposals will not be processed