Call for Consultant – Research on Local Government & School Feeding in Mbale

Terms of Reference (ToR)

SchoolFood4Cities: Understanding the Role of Local Government in Enabling Home-Grown School Feeding Programmes

1.0 About Rikolto

Rikolto is an international network organization with over 40 years of experience partnering with farmer organizations and food chain stakeholders across Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. The guiding question of our work is: What will we eat tomorrow? How can we ensure that future generations have access to affordable, quality food, given that climate change, low prices, and poverty are forcing more farmers off the land? Rikolto firmly believes that small-scale farmers, who produce 70% of the world's food, are a crucial part of the solution.

SchoolFood4Cities focuses on understanding the role of local governments in enabling home-grown school feeding programmes. School feeding programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) face significant challenges, with approximately 80 million primary school-age children going hungry and only one-quarter having access to free or subsidized school meals. Low coverage rates are especially concerning given the region's large and growing share of global child undernutrition, which is increasingly concentrated in urban and peri-urban areas.

Even where programmes exist, not all children benefit due to limited coverage, which excludes some schools, or parent co-payment requirements, which prevent poorer families from participating—creating stigma and inequity among schoolchildren. Additionally, meals often lack nutritional value and dietary diversity.

Urban centers play a crucial role in local food systems and school meal programmes due to population growth, increased food demand, high urban food insecurity, and largely informal urbanization. Local governments are recognized as key actors in shaping and implementing school feeding programmes because of their governance over food production, distribution, trade, and safety. Their proximity to communities allows for more responsive and context-appropriate interventions, potentially enhancing programme applicability, efficiency, and sustainability.

However, local governments' capacity to manage these programmes effectively varies widely across the region due to government decentralization, fiscal devolution, enabling policy environments, and local governance structures.

The project welcomes insights from a wide range of local governments across Africa and undertakes a deep engagement process with three cities: Arusha (Tanzania), Mbale (Uganda), and Kitwe (Zambia). By studying these diverse contexts, the research aims to test and compare innovative governance approaches and school food procurement models across different cultural, economic, and policy environments. This research aligns closely with the development priorities of Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia, where food security, nutrition, education, and urban development are key national priorities.

2.0 Description of the Assignment

The assignment aims to fill critical knowledge gaps—specifically in Mbale—by investigating the roles and challenges local governments face in promoting healthy and sustainable school meals while piloting policy and practice experiments to improve local food system governance.

3.0 Description of Assignments

The assignment seeks to enhance local governance, create livelihood opportunities, strengthen community resilience, and promote ecological sustainability in Uganda. It will achieve this by conducting participatory action research that examines local governance roles and challenges, offering scalable lessons for national and regional policy actors.

3.1 Specific Tasks

The consultant is expected to:

1. Analyze and articulate the role of local governments in designing, implementing, and scaling innovative, inclusive, and sustainable local school food programmes.
2. Develop and implement pilots in the three cities and provide robust empirical data to influence policy changes and inform national and regional replication roadmaps.
3. Enhance awareness and capacity of local governments and urban stakeholders to adopt evidence-informed procurement mechanisms, ensuring safe, nourishing, and consistent food supply while strengthening supply-chain resilience and incomes.

4.0 Expected Deliverables

1. One working paper and one peer-reviewed open-access journal article on Mbale city, along with a comparative analysis paper examining national and local policies.
2. A working paper expanding on literature and city insights, with emphasis on gender and community resilience.
3. A policy brief series (one for Mbale and an overarching recommendation brief) for local and national policymakers.
4. A co-developed scaling roadmap for implementing climate-resilient, gender-equitable, and socially inclusiveschool feeding programmes in Mbale.
5. Case studies detailing innovative procurement models and interventions in Mbale, including implementation challenges and successes.
6. One regional peer-to-peer city exchange to share best practices between participating cities.
7. An evidence-informed capacity-building guide, supported by a series of training workshops for local food system stakeholders.
8. Infographics and data visualizations illustrating connections between school food programmes, procurement, sustainability, and resilience, alongside one short documentary video on the impact of innovative school feeding programmes.
9. A final project report documenting the transdisciplinary research process, methodologies, and key learnings, including insights from a four-part virtual workshop series and regional forum.
10. Implementation and evaluation of pilot school feeding interventions in each city, including scalability assessments and policy recommendations.

5.0 Duration of the Assignment

This assignment is task-based and will last up to three years from the contract signing date.

6.0 Requirements

The service provider must have the following qualifications and expertise:

• A PhD/Master’s in food science, social science, agriculture, economics, or a related field.
• Extensive research experience, with evidence of published work.
• 10–15 years of experience in food systems research.
• 10–15 years of experience working with international organizations and donors.
• Expertise in training and capacity-building for policy and behavior change.
• Excellent analytical, report-writing, and presentation skills.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to facilitate multi-disciplinary teamwork.
• Proven ability to conduct action research.

7.0 Expression of Interest Submission

Interested Lead Consultants should submit:
📌 A cover letter
📌 A CV
📌 A quotation of their daily rate

Deadline: 12th March 2025, 5 PM
Submission Email: eastafrica.procurement@rikolto.org with the subject line: SchoolFood4Cities Consultant Application.

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