Tender at Helen Keller International, Tanzania
Creating Homestead Agriculture for Nutrition and Gender Equity (CHANGE) Project,
implemented in Sengerema and Ukerewe Districts, Mwanza Region, Tanzania
Under: Enhanced Homestead Food Production, Funded By:Canadian International
Development Agency
Founded in 1915 and started working in Tanzania in 1984, Helen Keller International is a
New York-based, private voluntary organization whose mission is to save the sight and lives
of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged. We combat the causes and consequences of
blindness and malnutrition by establishing programs based on evidence and research in
vision, health and nutrition. In Tanzania, among other projects that we are implementing,
the Enhanced Homestead Food Production (EHFP) is among them. The EHFP model was
introduced in 2011 in the 12 villages of Ukerewe and Sengerema Districts. The overall goal is
to design and test an EHFP model in Tanzania that improves household food and nutrition
security within 1200 vulnerable households. The project is implemented in partnerships
with local and international organisations, Local Government Authority and central
government agencies that are providing ground coordination and technical backstopping
respectively.
The need to generate evidence for the feasibility of EHFP model in addressing hunger and
malnutrition in Africa is core in HKI. Recognising this HKI has partnered with International
Food Policy and Research Institute (IFPRI) and the International Center for Research on
Women (ICRW) to design, implement, monitor, and evaluate a broad scale EHFP model (that
includes Orange Fleshed Sweet Potatoes as appropriate) that improves the nutritional status
of infants and young children and their mothers through homestead food production and
nutrition behaviour change using the ENA framework in Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Ivory Coast
and Senegal from where the lessons learned could serve as a springboard for the expansion
to other countries facing similar food and nutrition challenges through the Creating
Homestead Agriculture for Nutrition and Gender Equity (CHANGE) project. This is a three
years project that has been extended from EHFP for the purpose of generating evidence for
the wider use of the model. The EHFP model is expected to improve child and maternal
nutrition and health by increasing access to nutrient-rich fruit, vegetable and animal-source
foods; diversifying diets; increasing household incomes; improving intra-household
allocation of resources to favour women; empowering women with sound knowledge,
attitudes, practices and greater control over resources; improving nutrient intakes and
infant and young child feeding and care practices; and increasing the use of preventive
health services.
The project will be implemented in 48 villages that are sub-divided into 24 control and 24
intervention villages in the districts of Sengerema and Ukerewe. For implementation
purpose the villages will be further sub-divided into 3 clusters of 8 villages each whereby an
applicant will be expected to work at a minimum in 8 villages. The project targets 1200
households with children under 2 years of age (50 per village for 24 intervention villages).
Implementing activities in these areas, HKI is looking for suitable CSO(s) to partner with in
managing all field operations of the project in the defined geographical location, monitor
and document project activities implementation, maintain linkages among project partners
at the district and community level.
Applicants will have to be a legal entity registered in Tanzania with the right to enter a
contractual agreement with HKI. The applicant must have the mandate to work in the stated
project area. It must have no history of legal proceedings related to fraud or corruption.
For all interested CSOs, RFA can be obtained by writing an expression of interest email to
staidini@hki.org and copy ikitururu@hki.org latest by 30th
Dec. 2013.
