Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) ——Request for Proposals

National Food Fortification Programs
Implementation and Strengthening Grants

 

GUIDELINES:

I. Background

1. Deficiencies in critical vitamins and minerals threaten lives, retard physical growth, stunt mental development and impair health. The impact on education, equity, productivity and prosperity are immeasurable. Micronutrient malnutrition is generally recognized at the world's most prevalent nutritional disorder. According to the World Health Organization, more than half the world's population suffers key micronutrient deficiencies.

2. Correcting and preventing micronutrient deficiencies yields enormous human, social and economic benefits to individuals, families and nations. Adding micronutrients to common foods through food fortification offers an effective, safe, inexpensive, and sustainable strategy to reduce the prevalence of micronutrient malnutrition in many countries.

3. The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) has been created to foster and support food
fortification and other sustainable nutrition strategies that will save lives and improve health, productivity, and cognitive function. GAIN was launched in May, 2002 to complement existing programs to reduce micronutrient malnutrition through food fortification. The details of the GAIN's basic principles summarized in this document can be found in The Framework Document on the GAIN website at www.gainhealth.org.

I. RFP Over-View

1. Under this RFP for Implementation and Strengthening Grants (ISG), GAIN will support sustainable national or large scale programs to make fortified foods widely accessible to low income and at-risk populations. Support will be considered for the fortification of one or more vehicles, especially staples and other foods and condiments widely consumed by deficient populations.

2. Proposals must reflect national ownership and partnerships across all relevant sectors of society. Proposals must have the endorsement of a National Fortification Alliance (NFA), a national body facilitating multi-sector participation.

3. Based on a comprehensive 5 year plan and budget, financial support is provided for a period of up to 3 years to assist in capital investment, costs of ongoing operations and capacity building in public, private and civil society sectors.

4. Awards of up to $3 million per grant will be based on national need, size of population protected, and micronutrients included in the fortification program. Proposals should:

§ Define plans and mechanisms for launch of fortified production or strengthening of the proposed program within 6-18 months of the grant award;

§ Include micronutrient fortification with vitamin and mineral deficiencies of public health significance;

§ Propose food vehicles with wide coverage of at-risk populations, with special consideration given to staples and other widely consumed foods or condiments;

§ Apply multisectoral strategies, demonstrate commitment of stakeholders and identify sustainable cost-sharing and financing;

§ Demonstrate technical soundness including: designing cost-effective and sustainable plans for food fortification, utilizing fortification technologies considered safe and efficacious, and applying effective monitoring and evaluation processes.

§ Provide a 5-year plan of action and budget, reflecting the participation and endorsement of a NFA:

§ Show coordination and complementarity of fortification activities with other policies and interventions to prevent and control micronutrient deficiencies, including programs that target high-risk populations;

5. Proposals that satisfy RFP guidelines will be reviewed by an independent Proposal Review Panel. The Panel's recommendations are submitted to the GAIN Board, which makes final funding decisions;

6. Submission of a proposal under Implementation and Strengthening Grants will require investment of time and resources. While most GAIN funding may be made available through this RFP, other funding mechanisms will support assessments of national opportunities for food fortification, including the GAIN program for Situation Analysis and Program Preparation. For additional information see www.gainhealth.org.

7. For consideration of funding during the first half of 2003, proposals should be submitted to the Secretariat no later than DATE at ADDRESS. Proposals should be presented in English. However, supporting documents and materials may be in other official UN languages

II. General Requirements:

1. Under this RFP, GAIN will accept proposals from a National Fortification Alliance (NFA) that functions as a "national consensus group" to facilitate the proposal development process, coordinate proposal submission and follow up on the implementation of proposed activities. The NFA should include the participation and express commitment of:

§ Public institutions mandated to provide regulatory control of food quality and safety and nutritional surveillance, as well as relevant policy and tax reforms (to include at a minimum, the ministry of health and food and drug administrations, but preferably also other relevant ministries, e.g. industry, trade, planning, and finance);

§ Food industry committed quality-assured production and wide distribution of processed staple foods and condiments; and

§ Key stakeholders including health & development NGOs, as well as consumer associations and other relevant organizations, such as professional and education associations, civic and service organizations, chambers of commerce and industry, and possibly donors and UN/multi-lateral agencies.

§ The NFA is a body assembled to collaboratively formulate and implement a comprehensive national fortification plan. It should represent and reflect the interests and activities of all sectors and organizations needed to implement and sustain food fortification programs.

ü The NFA may be an existing body or established specifically for the implementation of the proposed activities. It need not have formal legal status

ü Commitments and responsibilities amongst the public, private and civic NFA members should be clearly defined and include participation and endorsement of each government ministry anticipated to play a substantial role in program implementation.

§ GAIN places value on national solutions. Therefore, this RFP will not dictate details for the functioning of the NFA. The NFA members shall define organizational functions and responsibilities. However, documentation of activities and organizational structure will be required.

§ In most cases, GAIN will accept proposals from only one NFA for each country. Under specific circumstances such as the case of very large countries, a Sub-National Fortification Alliance may be formed to submit a proposal. Such a proposal should be consistent with nationally formulated policies, have the endorsement of the national government, and/or document coordination with the NFA.

§ The NFA may receive no more than one award in any given 12-month period. After the first grant, additional awards will be considered only for expansion beyond the scope of the initial ISG, for example, fortification of additional food vehicles or expansion fortification activities by the food industry.

2. The proposal should specify an Executing Agency (EA), designated by the NFA. The EA is a legal entity that can receive and manage funds from GAIN on behalf of the NFA. The EA is responsible for financial management and administration of the program including:

§ Receiving and disbursing funds to sub-recipients;

§ Overseeing and managing proposed procurement;

§ Submitting regular financial and programmatic progress reports.

The EA will be an institution with its own legal status, transparent financial systems and capacity in place to enable them to carry out the proposed activities. The EA may be a department of government, domestic office of a UN agency, international or domestic NGO or other organization. GAIN's system of accountability will be based on the following principles:

§ Funds are used for the intended purposes;

§ Funds are used cost-effectively for these purposes;

§ They produced the expected result/impact;

§ All fiduciary arrangements, including audits should be fully transparent to domestic stakeholders and others interested in the activities of the GAIN;

§ Systems should minimize transaction costs for all parties, especially the recipients.

During the process of proposal review, GAIN may request more detailed information on topics such as financial management, budgets and implementing partners. Proposals will be expected to include provision for independent audits. The EA has the responsibility for ensuring the necessary data is made available. Upon approval of a proposal, information regarding fiduciary arrangements will be provided to the recipient.

3. Proposed activities should include at least one full-time Fortification Program Director/Coordinator, with technical qualifications, responsibility and authority sufficient to coordinate the agreed-upon roles of NFA members. Financial support of such personnel may be included in the proposed ISG budget.
The Program Director/Coordinator need not be an employee of the EA. The proposal should indicate:

§ Background, experience and qualifications of the proposed Director/Coordinator;

§ Support of the appointment by the NFA;

III. Program Requirements:

ISG proposals should outline a comprehensive National Fortification Plan of Action and reflect agreed roles and responsibilities of members of the NFA. Support will be considered for the fortification of one or more vehicles, especially staples and other foods and condiments widely consumed by low income and at-risk populations. While funds will be provided specifically for food fortification activities, proposals should indicate coordination with other interventions for micronutrient deficiency control, including the promotion of micronutrient-rich foods, provision of supplements for vulnerable groups, and complementary public health interventions. Proposals should describe the following information relevant to the food fortification plan:

1. Magnitude of Micronutrient Deficiencies and Impact on Public Health
The National Fortification Plan of Action should be based on a micronutrient situation analysis including information on magnitude and severity of key micronutrient deficiencies. Also required is a description of the public health and nutrition context including: infant and maternal mortality, child growth and development indicators, background on current micronutrient interventions and policies, vaccine coverage, access to primary health services and other relevant factors. GAIN will seek to maximize impact of financial support in countries with:

§ Micronutrient deficiencies of public health significance;

§ Public health context suggesting significant benefits resulting from reduced prevalence;

§ Limited domestic resources to respond to micronutrient malnutrition.

2. Strategic Approach to Food Fortification
GAIN places a premium on cost-effectively increasing micronutrient intake among low income and at-risk populations. The proposal requires a comprehensive and realistic situation analysis to assesses the potential impact of fortification. The proposal should:

§ Specify each food vehicles, define micronutrient fortificants, and specify addition levels;

§ Address technical issues such as stability and bioavailability;

§ Define efficient and cost effective food production and distribution channels that provide access to low income and at-risk populations;

§ Project size of populations protected with significantly enhanced micronutrient intake via the proposed food vehicle(s);

§ Define an effective plan for monitoring the fortification process and evaluation of its impact including systems for quality assurance, food control and nutrition surveillance systems.

§ Demonstrate coordination and synergy of fortification activities with other policies and
interventions to prevent and control micronutrient deficiencies, including programs that target high-risk populations.

3A. Operational & Management Plan
The proposal should provide a comprehensive and detailed five-year operational and management plan describing the proposed activities and implementation responsibilities all stakeholders. The proposal should:

§ Describe financial and programmatic management system that ensures that program activities are implemented and monitored in an efficient and coordinated manner;

§ Identify implementing organizations, their specific roles, and how they will relate to each other. Management arrangements must also indicate how communications, supervision and capacity building among implementers will take place;

§ Outline plans for monitoring process program process and progress

§ Define plans and mechanisms for launch of fortified production or strengthening of the fortification program within 6-18 months of the grant award;

3B. Comprehensive Five-Year Budget
Resources for all proposed activities should be reflected in a comprehensive 5 year program budget which:

§ Allocates and itemizes resources sufficient for all activities elaborated in the proposed operational plan;

§ Itemizes allocations of GAIN funds to public sector, private sector, and non-governmental organizations for up to 3 years;

§ Defines a clear transition from GAIN support during years 1-3 to sustainable non-GAIN financing in years 4 & 5 of the program.

4. Commitment, Sustainability and Future Expansion of Food Fortification
A significant and sustained multi-sectoral commitment of political, human and financial resources by members of the NFA and other partners must be clearly demonstrated. Proposals should demonstrate:

§ High-level participation of both public and private sectors;

§ Matching investments, both in-cash and in-kind, by government, industry, consumers and other institutions. Funds from all non-GAIN sources, domestic and external, current and planned, public and private, will be considered as the aggregate country match;

§ Capacity-building within both the public and private sectors;

§ A supportive government policy environment including regulation, taxes and tariffs, or plans to modify such policies as needed;

§ Consumer and other stakeholder involvement including activities for public education and creation of consumer awareness or demand;

§ History of successful programming in national nutrition and public health interventions, including salt iodization and micronutrient supplementation programs.

V. Special Considerations & Limitations:

1. GAIN funds should not be used to compensate for any reallocation of funds from existing health and nutrition budgets to finance fortification activities. It is the intention of this RFP that domestic matching funds be additive to and not replace current investments in health and welfare.

2. Due to the existence of other multilateral funding channels for salt iodization, GAIN assistance will not cover strengthening and expansion of Universal Salt Iodization (USI) programs except as part of a comprehensive upgrading of: regulatory and food control functions; program monitoring and surveillance systems; and generic social marketing of fortified foods. However, Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD) prevention efforts may be a consideration in the evaluation of responses to this RFP.

3. Limited assistance for capital investment by the private food processing industry in fortification technology will be provided by GAIN only upon demonstration of specific need and significant cost-sharing by the involved companies.

4. While support for establishing new systems and procedures to more efficiently and equitably procure, distribute or quality-assure fortificant premix will be considered, requests for direct financing or subsidy of premix purchase are not viewed as sustainable approaches. However, partial and time-limited support for premix and fortificant procurement will be considered upon documentation of special need, firm commitments for cost-sharing by domestic partners, and a plan for full transfer of financing for fortificant premix by the end of the 3-year grant period. Funds used for purchase of fortificant will be included under the $3 million award cap. Funds for subsidy of premix will be considered only if other critical program elements are adequately supported by funds from GAIN or other sources.

5. It is recognized that support for regional activities and initiatives may be strategically advantageous to accelerate implementation and expansion of food fortification programs. Small or neighboring countries may prefer to present a common proposal to capitalize on economies of scale. In some cases, specific issues including harmonization of trade policies, technical standards and operational capacity are more effectively addressed on a regional basis. In these cases, GAIN encourages linkages of NFAs with regional organizations and agencies to address these barriers, including:

§ Advocacy to create supportive regional trade policies and practices;
§ Creation of Regional Fortification Alliances;
§ Harmonization of technical and quality standards for product fortification;
§ Building national and regional capacity for monitoring and evaluation;
§ Undertaking operational research with application to multiple countries;
§ Providing region-wide services, such as reference laboratories or training programs;
§ Developing IEC/social marketing campaigns to promote regional/national awareness; and
§ Providing regional support to strengthen civil society's role in fortification efforts.

Under this RFP, GAIN will consider support for regional initiatives that meet the following conditions:

§ Demonstration of the relative advantage and cost effectiveness of the proposed regional approach;

§ Fulfillment of the RFP requirements stated above, including designating an Executing Agency and Program Director/Coordinator, as well as establishment of NFAs in each of the countries included in the regional initiative; and

§ Definition of an appropriate regional decision-making process.

6. Under this RFP, requests for research support should focus on specific operational issues that are critical to effective implementation of the proposed program, including monitoring and evaluation. Preparatory nutrition surveys and data compilation, technical and commercial feasibility studies, capacity evaluation and political assessments should be conducted prior to the response to this RFP. Support for these activities may be provided under a separate funding category (Additional details on Situation Analysis and Program Preparation Grants available at www.gainhealth.org).

7. Building capacity for monitoring, evaluation and necessary operational research is critical to the sustainability of national fortification programs. GAIN encourages linkages among organizations and agencies that promote and support research and capacity building. In some cases, these activities may be considered for support under a separate funding category (Additional details on Fund for Special Projects available at www.gainhealth.org).