Call for Expression of Interest – Advocacy Strategy Development

Introduction and Background

Since its founding in 1999, Food Rights Alliance (FRA), has been advancing the Human Right to Adequate Food for all. FRA is driven by a vision of “A world free from hunger and malnutrition.” It aspires to a sustainable food system and food justice for all. FRA works to ensure that there is an enabling environment at all levels for people to feed themselves. FRA through its members, mobilizes and organizes communities for collective action to address the barriers to access safe and healthy diets while building their capacity to speak for themselves and advocating for an enabling environment to grow and access safe and nutritious food. FRA works with both State and Non-State Actors to mobilize communities for a collective voice to speak for and harness indigenous knowledge of traditional food production and share transformational methods of producing and eating safe food relevant to their environments.

FRA with support from Rikolto implementing a 5-year Food Smart Cities (FSC) project in the districts of Mbale and Kampala. The project aims to support city regions in implementing policies and practices that contribute to more sustainable, fair and healthy food systems. Through a food systems approach, the project strives to deliver co-benefits in the areas of human health, regenerative and low-carbon food systems and a fair share for all actors in the food chain including smallholder farmers.

Specifically, the FSC project aspires to build local coalitions of businesses, consumers, local authorities and other food system actors working together to transform urban food environments for improved consumption of healthy, sustainable and nutritious food by all citizens using a 3-tier approach of Production; Inclusive Markets and Enabling Environment.

FRA contributes to Result 3 of, “an enabling policy, financial and normative environment at local, national, and international level incentivizes healthy, sustainable, and nutritious diets in East African cities.”

Rationale for the assignment

Food has for years been a neglected aspect of urban development. Through systems structures, policies and legislation, there is low civic consciousness regarding food by both rights holders and duty bearers making the creation of an enabling environment for sustainable urban food systems complex. More so, multiple actors are increasingly contributing towards the urban food system with varying interests and competing demands.

It is important to recognize the inherent complexity of the current enabling environment in the cities to foster systemic and integrated planning and implementation of policies and programs that promote access and consumption of adequately nutritious, safe and healthy foods. This requires supportive policy and regulatory frameworks, institutions and actors among others to trigger the desired transformation in the urban agricultural production system and food system.

Urbanization is one of the key components that contributes to the transformation of food systems by shaping spatial patterns of food demand and affecting consumer preferences. The transformation is a multifaceted process, changing market linkages and relations between food system actors. With the current urbanization rate of 5.7%[1] in Uganda characterized by increased rural-urban migration and the creation of more cities[2] among other factors, the sustainability of the urban food system is likely to be affected negatively. This is partly due to a limited shared understanding of the conditions that shape the impacts of urbanization regarding sustainable urban food systems. Subsequently, there is a need to explore enabling conditions that can shape the urban food system amidst such a situation.

Cities and urban areas need a strong enabling environment that can foster a robust and sustainable food system to secure enough healthy and nutritious food for everyone. This will require strong connections between the production of sufficiently nutritious food, markets that are inclusive and an enabling environment that promotes a sustainable and resilient urban food system. City-level decision-makers can be the primary facilitators for such integration with appropriate support from the national level and local levels within cities.

It is against this background that FRA would like to develop an Advocacy Strategy to define and mainstream policy advocacy interventions, messages and outcomes that aim at enhancing sustainable healthy and nutritious diets in the selected cities of Mbale and Kampala. The Strategy will be used as a guiding framework to strategically clarify FRA’s audience for change.

Objectives of the assignment

The overall objective of this assignment is to facilitate the development of an Advocacy Strategy how to influence national food policy processes to inform sustainable and resilient Food Smart Cities in Uganda, especially in Kampala and Mbale.

Scope of Work

The scope of work for the assignment will include but not be limited to:

1. Engage in meetings with FRA to facilitate the development process;
2. Undertake a review of the project documents and establish key relevant information to be consolidated into the Advocacy Strategy;
3. Conduct a contextual analysis of the food sector in Uganda specifically around issues of urban food systems in the specified cities;
4. Propose strategic areas and map key stakeholders that foster the realization of the intended outcomes of the project;
5. Develop and submit a complete Advocacy Strategy to FRA.

Deliverables

• An Advocacy Strategy for Influencing National Food Policy Processes.

Time Span

This assignment is expected to be completed by 15th December 2023 and will be carried out for a period of 20 man-days.

Institutional Arrangements

The Consultant will report directly to the FRA Executive Director. FRA will be responsible for commissioning and managing the consultant’s contract and finalizing details of the work schedule. FRA will provide supervisory services to the consultant.

Expertise

1. Proven experience in strategy development and facilitating strategic thinking.
2. Demonstrated knowledge of urban food market governance
3. Demonstrated experience in food policy and food public administration.
4. Demonstrated experience in food value chain development.
5. Excellent documentation and analytical skills
6. Ability to work under tight timelines and independently.

Contents of the Bid

Interested and qualified candidates should their expression of interest by submitting the following:

1. Fill out the Expression of Interest Template (clearly showing methodology, plan of action and interpretation of terms of reference). Click in the blue word to download the Template.
2. Curriculum Vitae of the applicant. 

Please quote “Advocacy Strategy for the Food Smart Cities Project – in the subject line.

Letters of Expression of Interest should be emailed to  fra@frauganda.org before Friday 17th November 2023 at 5.00 P.M. EAT.

[1] https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.GROW?locations=UG

[2] https://www.parliament.go.ug/news/4614/parliament-approves-creation-15-cities