Background

HarvestPlus improves nutrition and public health by developing and promoting biofortified food crops that are rich in vitamins and minerals and providing global leadership on biofortification evidence and technology. HarvestPlus works across CGIAR as part of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

HarvestPlus is looking to procure the services of vendor(s) to work closely with government agencies and private sector organizations to scale the adoption of biofortified crops; to improve nutrition security; improve livelihood opportunities for vulnerable populations through increased access to nutrition and climate smart (biofortified) planting material, increased production of biofortified crops, and an improved enabling environment for biofortified foods and food products, through market connections and evidence-led advocacy efforts with stakeholders. This work will contribute to a one-year project, “Scaling biofortified crop production” which is being implemented to popularize biofortified crops in Sirajganj, Pabna, and Natore districts of northern Bangladesh. The project period will be from April 2024 to March 2025.

The project activities are as follows:

Activity	Unit	Deliverables	Total Quantity
Biofortified rice seed distribution	MT	Small & medium farm households to receive foundation/certified seed of biofortified rice varieties	114 (38,000 farmers)
VCA’s need based business support	Person	Seed and grain value chain actors fulfilling required criteria will be provided technical and financial support according to their specific requirements	20
Nutri-champ competition	Event	Cooking shows organized at community level to create unique recipes using biofortified zinc rice	3
SBCC material development	Unit	Social Behavioral Change material development, production, and utilization in project events to educate community members and other stakeholders on the benefits of a balanced diet & biofortified foods	1
Training of trainers to extension agents	Person	Government and private sector extension agents trained to build skill and knowledge on nutrition sensitive agriculture and biofortified crop production. Will serve as information source and resource person at community level.	100
Training to farmers	Person	All farmers receiving biofortified rice seeds will be trained in human nutrition and production technology of biofortified crops. Each partner will identify 25 farmer leaders, in each batch. A sub-assistant agricultural officer of DAE will be the trainer.	38,000
Grain Value Chain Actors Linkage Workshop	Event	Workshops involving all types of actors in rice grain value chain along with producers will be organized to link production to supply chain	6
Advocacy Workshop with the Stakeholders	Event	Workshops will be organized at district level to involve policy makers and other influential stakeholders to include biofortified corps and food product in projects and programs	3

To Apply

Interested organizations, please submit an expression of interest, technical proposal and financial proposal to the IFPRI website. Key elements include:

• Cover letter, expressing interest in the project (no more than 1 page)
• Creative, cost-effective work proposal describing strategy to implement each activity and meet the targets
• Comprehensive work plan with reasonable proposed time frame
• Summary table, mentioning preferred working districts and upazila
• Identification of possible challenges and creative approaches to addressing them
• Expected budget, with a focus on cost-effectiveness and return on investment for proposed activities
• Clearly defined roles and responsibilities for each team member, with one main contact person for HarvestPlus clearly identified (address, email, cell number, business number, and number of employees available)
• Organization profile (no more than 1 page)
• Copy of legal documents (VAT certificate, TIN certificate, Social Welfare certificate, trade license, etc.)

Please note:

• Incomplete, conditional tender and alternative offers shall not be considered.
• All documents should be sent in PDF format and should be legible. No JPG, word files, etc.
• HarvestPlus reserves the right to accept or reject any or all applications partly or wholly without assigning any reason.
• Physical documents will not be accepted in the office.

Preferred Qualifications

• Dedicated workforce, including project coordinator and volunteers, to deploy in the working area)
• Capital to incur expense for said activities in advance
• Experience working with value chain actors/CBOs/SMEs/millers/women groups
• Expert for providing agricultural support to farmers
• Tools & ability to work virtually
• Ability to communicate in report writing in English
• Ability to organize events and trainings
• Objective to work in the nutrition development field
• Ability to complete activities in tight timeframe