BACKGROUND

GAIN

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is a Swiss-based foundation launched at the UN in 2002 to tackle the human suffering caused by malnutrition. Working with both governments and businesses, we aim to transform food systems so that they deliver more nutritious food for all people.

Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, GAIN has offices in countries with high levels of malnutrition: Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Tanzania. To support work in those countries, we have representative offices in Denmark, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

At GAIN, we believe that everyone in the world should have access to nutritious, safe, and affordable food. Today, one in three people - drawn from nearly every country on the planet - are unable to consume enough nutritious food. We work to develop and deliver solutions to this daily challenge. By understanding that there is no "one-size-fits-all" way of dealing with this problem, we develop alliances and build tailored programmes using a variety of models and approaches. Our purpose is to improve the consumption of nutritious and safe foods for all.

SUN Business Network

The Scaling Up Nutrition Business Network (SBN) is part of the global movement for Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN). SBN is the only dedicated global platform for business and nutrition, with the aim to reduce malnutrition in all its forms – through engaging and supporting business to act, invest and innovate in responsible and sustainable actions and operations to improve nutrition. To do this, the SBN provides a neutral platform to broker partnerships and collaborations between business and all actors on nutrition at the national, regional and global level in support of SUN Countries. The SUN Business Network is co-convened by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and World Food Programme (WFP). The SBN is supported by a global secretariat based in London, UK. SBN members are businesses that are working towards profitable, sustainable and innovative business models required to scale up nutrition globally and within countries.

Workforce Nutrition

GAIN’s Workforce Nutrition programme aims to improve the nutrition of workers and farmers in low- and middle-income countries or communities. The programme focuses on improving the access and demand for healthier diets using existing business structures as entry point (workplaces or supply chains). Indeed, employers and buyers in supply chains can play an important role in improving workers’ diets, ideally as part of a broader approach to worker well-being featuring living wages, gender empowerment and the promotion of healthy lifestyles. The programme builds on evidence which shows that employers also benefit from effective workforce nutrition programmes. A workforce nutrition programme may include breastfeeding support (above and beyond the law), nutrition education, and healthy food at work or nutrition-focused health checks.

The Nutrition at Work (NAW) Handbook

GAIN, SBN and Eat Well Global have developed a Nutrition at Work handbook to support employers and businesses looking to provide healthy meals and snacks to their employees. The Nutrition at Work handbook provides step-by-step guidance to help employers get started. The handbook is available free of cost at NutritionConnect.org/Nutrition-at-Work. SUN Business Networks may choose to customize and translate the handbook to their country context or promote the global (English) version of the handbook.

For Pakistan, the NAW handbook has been translated in Urdu and will be made available to the selected consultant.

Consultancy GOAL and objective

To test and promote the NAW handbook among SBN member companies, GAIN and SBN seek to hire a consultant to support the implementation of the Nutrition at Work handbook in (minimum) one or two SBN member companies. Lessons learnt from this exercise will feed into the development of further implementation support for workforce nutrition programmes. Moreover, companies receiving implementation support have the opportunity to set an aspirational example and establish best practices, potentially inspiring other (SBN member) companies to initiate workforce nutrition programmes.

The consultant will guide the company through the steps of the NAW handbook and provide implementation and monitoring support. The consultant will work closely together with the SBN Consultant and the Workforce Nutrition global team.

Scope of Work

• Support the SUN Business Network in promoting the Nutrition at Work handbook among SBN member companies and identifying companies who are interested to improve upon their current food provision or to take the first steps towards providing healthy food at the workplace.
• Identify the relevant persons in the company (HR manager, caterer) in the company and introduce the Nutrition at Work handbook to them. Support with internal advocacy (see Section 1 of the handbook on The Business Case) and establish working relationships to support implementation of the programme.
• Determine needs and ambitions of the company from the managerial perspective and establish initial programme outline.
• Conduct a brief assessment of nutrition issues in the workforce through semi-structured interviews to collect the following information: potential food insecurity /hunger, dietary habits, dietary risk factors for NCD’s, nutrition knowledge.
• Conduct focus groups aiming to collect information on the food environment at work and employees’ perceptions of quality and quantity, suggestion for improvement, openness to change, attitudes to healthy eating.
• Review the current food provision and identify areas for improvement that are acceptable to employees, and provide practical nutritional recommendations for improving meal provision to better meet employee’s needs that are aligned with the recommendations in Section 2 (Building a Healthy Meal) and Section 3 (Building a Healthy Snack) of the handbook, as well as on the ‘Healthy meal and Snack recommendations’ annex.
• Support the set-up of a nutrition committee and determine SMART aims and objectives with the committee as per Section 4 of the handbook (Programme Management). Support the responsible persons in the company in shoring up resources needed for the intervention and drawing up a monitoring framework.
• Facilitate the execution process as the company works through the programme stages and provide technical nutrition advice to the caterer / company cook as needed.
• Work together with the nutrition committee to assess progress regularly using monitoring data and course correct where necessary.
• Ensure capacity building of members of the nutrition committee to support sustainability of programme after GAIN’s exit.
• When aims and objectives are reached, support the nutrition committee in either scaling-up the project or executing the plan for the future sustainability of the programme.

Deliverables

• Interview guide for the semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions.
• Workforce nutrition programme design and implementation strategy for each company, indicating SMART aims and objectives and roles and responsibilities.
• Monitoring framework for each company, including key performance indicators for output and outcome level, and a strategy on how to gather and analyse data.
• Practical nutritional recommendations for improving meal provision for each company, aligned with the Nutrition at Work handbook.
• Final report on project achievements and lessons learnt.

Timeline and LOE

The consultancy will be delivered over a 3-month period with a total of 25 to 40 days level of effort (depending on the number of companies engaged). The timeline will be discussed with the SUN Business Network and can vary from June 2021 to October 2021.

The contract will be with GAIN-Pakistan, but the consultant will work together with SBN and the GAIN Workforce team.

Eligibility

• The consultant must have a strong background in OD, research and training who is able to assess baseline and then facilitate change within an organization towards healthy food habits. Ideally the consultant would be a registered nutritionist or dietician who is familiar with the local context (dietary habits, availability, and affordability of foods) and s/he has expertise in organizational change management. If the consultant is not a registered nutritionist or dietician, s/he should partner with a registered nutritionist or dietician for this specific component of the assignment.
• The consultant should be familiar with the context in which businesses operate and understand the complexities of implementing a workforce nutrition programme.
• The consultant should have conducted similar assignments with SMEs in the food business.
• The consultant should have strong experience in programme design, implementation, and monitoring.
• The consultant should have strong communication skills to engage and support different stakeholders in the company, and to advocate for the importance of workforce nutrition.