CGIAR Research Initiative on Fruit and Vegetables for Sustainable Healthy Diets (FRESH):

Implementation of a process evaluation in the Philippines

 

Background

Inadequate diets represent a major contributor to malnutrition and stand as the primary driver of non-communicable diseases globally. Enhancing dietary habits, which includes boosting the consumption of fruits and vegetables, has the potential to save one in five lives lost annually. Micronutrients and dietary fiber play pivotal roles in maintaining good health. Obtaining micronutrients from fruits and vegetables carries a smaller environmental footprint compared to other food sources, underscoring the importance of these food groups in promoting both health and sustainability. Nevertheless, worldwide, fruit and vegetable intake fall far below the recommended levels. Unfortunately, the full extent and nuances of this issue remain poorly understood, primarily due to a lack of comprehensive dietary data, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Addressing this dietary challenge necessitates a consumer-centric approach. Understanding dietary patterns and addressing barriers related to desirability, accessibility, affordability, and availability is crucial. To achieve this, cost-effective solutions are needed that span the entire food system, from intake to production. The CGIAR Research Initiative Fruit and Vegetables for Sustainable Healthy Diets (FRESH), aims to tackle these issues comprehensively. FRESH adopts an end-to-end approach that not only seeks to increase fruit and vegetable consumption but also enhance diet quality, nutrition, and health. Simultaneously, it aims to improve livelihoods, empower women and youth, and mitigate negative environmental impacts.

Walang Gutom Food Stamp program is a social protection program implemented by the Philippines Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) that aims to address food insecurity and malnutrition among poor households. It consists of electronic vouchers as well as other complementary interventions. The proposed process evaluation (PE) of the Walang Gutom Food Stamp program will provide insights into the operational aspect of the program and aid in the design of an impact evaluation of a more nutrition sensitive version of the program.  This PE forms an important component of an overall evaluation plan, and it is critical to designing the key components of the revised food stamp program to be implemented in 2025.

For this process evaluation, IFPRI will develop and implement two research workstreams. Specifically, these two workstreams include i) an assessment of the implementation of the Walang Gutom program and the experience among the beneficiaries and other participants, and ii) a beneficiary survey to understand more systematically the experience among beneficiaries of the program understand their use of the voucher, understanding of the nutrition education provided and their reflections on some of the barriers to increasing the intake of fruit and vegetable.  IFPRI is seeking a candidate to support the design, management, and execution of these workstreams.

This requisition is for a firm or team (i.e., a company, NGO, institution, organization, team; called “Collaborator” throughout this Requisition) with expertise in qualitative as well as quantitative data collection to perform all activities related to the process evaluation described above, and as specifically described in the following sections. This requisition may lead to hiring multiple firms if no single firm can undertake all the activities mentioned below.

Brief overview of workstreams

The two research workstreams include:

1. The implementation assessment will consist of the following:

• Key informant interviews with key staff (<=20) involved in the implementation of the Walang Gutom program. Semi-structured interviews with staff (<=30) involved in nutrition behavior change communication activities. Semi-structured interviews with retailers (<=36) involved in the Walang Gutom program.
• A maximum of 12 focus group discussions (FGDs) with an adequate sample of the chosen population group of food stamp recipients.

2. A beneficiary survey that will consist of collecting data in-person from program beneficiaries (<=250 households) on their experience with the Walang Gutom program.

The geographic location of the implementation assessments and the beneficiary surveys will be the same and will involve data collection in up to 6 provinces, located in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The sample for the beneficiary survey is expected to include approximately 250 households. The provinces and the communities within the provinces will be selected such that there is variation in access to services (choosing some that have better access and some that are more remote) and are spread across rural and urban areas. The final sample size, sampling approach and eligibility criteria of households will be determined in consultation with IFPRI.

Timeline of activities: The design of the study will take place in early November 2024. The expectation is that the data collection will start in mid to late November 2024 and be completed within a month, by end of December 2024.

 Workstream 1: Qualitative study - Activities to be completed by Collaborator

The collaborator will make payments, coordinate logistics and provide all necessary supplies and services for the study preparations, data collection, and data processing for this study. This study will include key informant interviews (KIIs), semi-structured interviews (SSIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs) and the activities expected from the Collaborator are as follows:

A.    Study preparation

• Provide translation services to Filipino or other relevant local language for the data collection instruments and training materials.
• Program the tools in CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviews)
• In collaboration with IFPRI, develop data collection and quality control plan.
• Recruit and hire moderators and interviewers for conducting the data collection activities.
• In collaboration with IFPRI, facilitate enumerator training.
• Perform pilot testing of survey instrument.

B.    Data collection and data coding

• Conduct KIIs, SSIs and FGDs using trained personnel.
• Ensure all KIIs, SSIs and FGDs are accurately recorded through notetakers and recording instruments.
• Identify and document challenges encountered during data collection and coding.
• Provide transcription and translation services for KIIs, SSIs and FGD data collected.
• Ensure consistency and accuracy of data coding using appropriate software.
• Document in adequate detail and keep records of all KIIs, SSIs and FGDs conducted.
• Provide a report with data collection, quality control, and coding process.

Workstream 2: Quantitative survey - Activities to be completed by Collaborator

The collaborator will coordinate the survey work that will be conducted as part of this workstream. The collaborator will make payments, coordinate logistics and provide all necessary supplies and services for survey preparations, data collection, and data processing. This will include the following:

A.    Survey preparation

• Provide experienced enumerators and supervisors as required to carry out data collection among selected beneficiary households in the Philippines. To this extent the Collaborator will organize the recruitment, selection, hiring, and payment of such individuals.
• Program the tools in CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviews)
• Program the tools in CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviews)
• All documents related to the study, such as standard operating procedures (SOPs), protocols, survey tools and manuals for conducting enumerator training, should be translated to Filipino or relevant local language. These documents will serve as the basis for quality assurance during the data collection process.
• Obtain local authorization letters/documents.
• Prepare and conduct training of enumerators and supervisors in collaboration with IFPRI.
• Conduct pre-testing of diet recall questionnaire. The data will be collected via Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI). In consultation with IFPRI, the Collaborator will test and aid in finalizing data entry programs.

B.    Data collection and data entry

• Conduct data collection among identified households within 3 weeks. The sampling criteria will be determined in consultation with IFPRI.
• Share weekly progress of data collection and data entry electronically.
• Share data generated from CAPI with IFPRI every two weeks during data collection.

C.    Data cleaning

• Ensure data completeness and validity.
• Provide responses to queries from IFPRI in relation to data processing or cleaning, as needed.
• Provide brief report with data collection, management, and cleaning process.

 Timeline of activities

• Survey preparation, translation of questionnaire and interview guides and training manuals, enumerator training and CAPI pre-testing: November 2024 (2 weeks)
• Conduct data collection: Mid-November- mid-December 2024
• Submit clean and documented datasets to IFPRI: December 31, 2024
• Submit brief summarizing the data and financial reports to IFPRI: December 31, 2024

 Required qualifications                         

• Extensive experience conducting data collection including FGDs, KIIs, SSIs and household surveys in the Philippines.
• Track record of submitting deliverables on time.
• Experience working with international and national researchers or research organizations.
• Experience in building trusting and cordial relationships with local authorities, community leaders, and respondents.
• Experience using and programming CAPI and SurveyCTO.
• Excellent communication skills in English.

Technical and financial offer

The following items must be included in the technical offer:

• A presentation of the collaborator and previous experience in conducting key informant interviews, focus group discussions, semi-structured and structure surveys.
• Detailed CV of the key personnel for each of the two workstreams.
• Detailed budget proposal for the work described above.
• Alongside the budgets for each workstream, please provide a budget narrative.