Nutrition for RMNCH+ SBCC

Strategy Study
Request for Proposal (RFP)

November 2015 - February 2016

Submitted by:
Digital Green Foundation

1. Background
Digital Green uses an ICT enabled social and behavior change communication
approach that leverages low-cost, peer-to-peer video. Village-level agricultural and
health workers use pocket-sized cameras to produce videos starring local individuals
sharing testimonials and demonstrating practices to improve health and nutrition
behaviors. These community workers regularly screen the videos using batteryoperated, hand-held mobile projectors and facilitate discussions among small groups
of individuals, such as womens self-help groups and mothers groups, in an
interactive forum and encourage them to adopt behaviors featured in the videos.
Feedback and usage data at each screening are captured in an information system
that operates in locations with intermittent Internet connectivity to better target
programs based on community needs and interest.
Started as a research project in 2006, Digital Green has refined and scaled its
approach in India, Ethiopia, Ghana, Tanzania, Afghanistan, and Niger. An early study
found this approach was 10 times more efficient on a cost per adoption basis
compared with a conventional agricultural extension approach. A feasibility study that
considered an extension of the approach to promote maternal, infant, and young
child nutrition (MIYCN) practices showed high demand and acceptability. The videos
were shown to be one of the main sources of nutrition-related information within the
community. Community health workers valued the videos as job aids.
Digital Green has collaborated with over 25 partners, building the capacity of villagelevel workers and the community groups that they engage with to produce over 4,000
short videos in 28 languages on locally relevant agricultural, health and nutrition
practices which have been shared with more than 750,000 individuals across over
9,500 villages.
To support this work, Digital Green has developed organizational structures, systems,
and processes for its role as a technology development and technical assistance
provider to implementation partners, like the National Rural Livelihoods Mission
(NRLM) in India, Ministry of Agriculture in Ethiopia and NGOs, which institutionalize
its approach to support their existing development programs. Digital Green also
collaborates with a variety of research and knowledge agencies in the technology
sector and contributes to technical input in the content production process, to analyze
data that it captures, and to bring together complementary ICT channels for behavior
change communication. Digital Green currently employs about 100 development
professionals, software engineers, and administrators that support the wide network
of partners and community members that it works with.
Over the next four years, Digital Green will collaborate with a variety of public,
private, and civil society organizations to scale its ICT-enabled, human-mediated
social and behavior change communication (SBCC) for nutrition for reproductive,
maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health (RMNCH+A). Digital Green expects
to directly engage at least 200,000 women (and indirectly 1m individuals) across over
2,000 villages in at least four states in India with this approach. Digital Green intends
to strengthen its own organizational capacity to achieve this objective by growing its
team, bringing together its existing and new partners, refining its approach, ensuring
process and content quality, and analyzing feedback and impact data to better align
its work to the needs and interests of communities.
To this end, Digital Green intends to strengthen its strategy and organization to build
on existing processes and systems to support this work and its longer-term goals as
well. In this context, Digital Green proposes to hire the services of an external

strategy and change management consulting agency, particularly with a focus on

nutrition SBCC, to provide a third-party perspective on how these aspects could be
refined and structured in a manner that aligns with Digital Greens mission and vision.

2. Schedule
Timeline

Activity

3 November, 2015

18 November 2015

Requests for Proposals (RFP) released and

posted at http:// http://www.digitalgreen.org/blog/
Deadline for expression of intent and written
questions
Answers to written questions provided by email to
respondents
Deadline for submission of proposals

24 November 2015

Proposals shortlisted

26 November 2015
1-2 December 2015

Shortlisted Consulting agencies invited for

presentations
Presentation by shortlisted agencies

4 December 2015

Consulting Agency finalized

10 December 2015

Pre-award and risk assessment of the Consulting

Agency

18 December 2015

Contract issued

9 November 2015
11 November 2015

Please direct all submissions and questions to: Charu Chopra, Director of India
Programs, charu@digitalgreen.org. Proposals will be competitively evaluated. The
most highly technically qualified proposals may be requested to present them at
Digital Greens office in New Delhi, India. Digital Green reserves the right to fund any
or none of the proposals submitted. All preparation and submission costs are at the
applicants expense.

3. Scope of Work
a) Objectives & Deliverables:
The overall objective of the assignment is to assist Digital Green in identifying a
viable future strategy for its organizational structure; scaling its nutrition for RMNCH+
approach; identifying public, private and civil society partners in geographies with
high burden of under nutrition that can institutionalize it; and mechanisms for donor
and co-investors to sustain it.
In particular, the consulting agency will be expected to:
1) Develop a concept for Digital Greens required organizational model and
corresponding business and/or funding model with clear recommendations for
Digital Greens 5-year strategy
2) Design Digital Greens service offering for scaling its SBCC approach for
achieving nutrition for RMNCH+ goals

3) Map nutrition burden and existing public, private, and civil society programs
across India to prioritize opportunities for engagement
4) Survey potential implementation partners and co-investors (e.g., corporate
social responsibility programs) to develop a framework for driving ownership
and longer-term sustainability
To analyze the above elements, Consulting Agency will perform the following tasks:

Obtain an overview of the Digital Green approach and structure both with
respect to its prior work in nutrition and broader agriculture and livelihood
development activities in light of the expected growth. Relevant questions:
What is the 5 year business plan for Digital Green and how does the nutrition for
RMNCH+ work fit with that? What is the ideal size for Digital Greens core staff
and what type of staff might be needed as it focuses increasingly on nutrition for
RMNCH+? What is an appropriate management structure to support this broader
portfolio of activities?
Review the current and potential future operating and business/funding
model of Digital Green: Gain an understanding on the current set-up of Digital
Green and its approach for SBCC in varying geographies, in India and globally,
and sectorally, including agriculture, health, and nutrition. Evaluate the feasibility
of adapting or combining alternative ICT-enabled SBCC approaches, such as
broadcast television and mobile solutions, to enhance Digital Greens approach
for nutrition for RMNCH+ SBCC for greater scalability.
Conduct desk research and interviews to recommend implementation
partners, service approaches, and geographies where nutrition for
RMNCH+ SBCC could be scaled in India prioritized based on factors, such as
women, child, and adolescent under-nutrition burden; existing public, private, and
civil society programs that have the mandate and capacity to co-invest in
institutionalizing the Digital Green approach; and Digital Greens existing base of
operations. Learn how Digital Green has institutionalized and scaled its approach
for agriculture and livelihood development with government programs, like the
National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM), to see how those partnerships could
be leveraged and/or new ones forged in a similar manner. Develop a matrix that
maps 3-5 potential scaling strategies and delineates the trade-offs (e.g., impact,
scale, cost) associated with each one.
Develop clear and actionable implementation plan: Evaluate what role
external donors (e.g., Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID, corporate social
responsibility programs) could have and how their support could be used to
effectively along with the buy-in of implementation partners leveraging Digital
Greens approach. Analyze in both near-term (1-2 year) and longer-term (3-5
year) intervals. Explore how Digital Green can serve as convener for aligning the
disparate priorities of implementation partners and donors for scaling nutrition for
RMNCH+ SBCC goals. Outline a clear roadmap for implementing the
recommendations, which can be scaled up: What are the key milestones for
Digital Green to build this strategy? Who is responsible (internally and externally)
for what? How does the business plan for implementation look like? What type of
support (and from whom) does Digital Green need to achieve this?

b) Expected Timelines:
1. Kick Off December 21, 2015-January 1, 2016*
1.1.
Meet with Digital Greens Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Operating
Officer (COO) and Project Director for an overview of organization, approach,
and existing operations

1.2.

Review existing strategies for partnership management, sustainability, and

plans for next phase and how build toward scaling nutrition for RMNCH+
SBCC programming in India

2. Conduct Interviews January 4-January 15, 2016*

2.1.
Conduct interviews with i) key potential implementation partners in India, like
the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) and National Rural Health
Mission (NRHM), at central and state-levels and (ii) donors (e.g., USAID, Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation, corporate social responsibility programs)
2.2.
Focused discussions with Digital Greens Project Director and other members
of Digital Greens senior management team
2.3.
Prepare qualitative assessment in matrix format of existing and proposed
strategies in the areas of business model, organizational development
including technical skills and expertise in the domain of health and nutrition,
and research and implementation partner linkages
3. Gather and Review Data January 18-29, 2016*
3.1.
Prepare draft business model, organizational, partnership, and project
structure strategy and present it to Digital Green leadership team
3.2.
Incorporate feedback from Digital Green
3.3.
Socialize draft strategies with key donors and business partners for feedback
4. Refine Strategy February1 -11,2016*
4.1.
Prepare report that provides overview of the process, goals, analyses,
alternatives, evaluation criteria, matrix assessment, and next steps.
4.2.
Present overall and project specific strategies to Digital Greens leadership
team
4.3.
Develop brief summary report that is suitable for wider public distribution that
brings together conclusions from the study which could be shared with
existing and anticipated donors, research and implementation partners
* The assignment will be completed over 8 weeks starting when the consultancy
contract is executed. The timelines for each sub-category are indicative and
adjustments in timelines within sub-categories can be made based on work plan
proposed by the Consulting Agency.

c) Proposal Format
If this solicitation is amended, all terms and conditions that are not amended remain
unchanged. Please acknowledge receipt of any amendment to this solicitation in the
cover letter.
The proposal format is divided into two sections: Technical and Financial proposals.
Kindly submit hard copies of Technical proposal and Financial proposal in
separate envelopes marked on top. All technical proposals should be
submitted to
Charu Chopra
Director India Programs

Digital Green
E-6, Clarion Collection (The Qutab)
Shaheed Jeet Singh Marg
New Delhi- 110 016
E-mail: charu@digitalgreen.org
Agencies are encouraged to submit both hard and soft copies of the Technical
proposal
All financial proposals should be submitted in hard copy to
Kavitha Vinod
Manager-Donor and Partnerships
Digital Green
E-6, Clarion Collection (The Qutab)
Shaheed Jeet Singh Marg
New Delhi- 110 016
E-mail: kavitha@digitalgreen.org
PLEASE DO NOT SEND FINANCIAL PROPOSALS THROUGH ELECTRONIC
MAIL
Technical proposal
Proposals should be prepared simply and economically, providing a straightforward,
concise description of your agencys ability to meet the requirements of the work
outlined in this RFP. Please do not exceed beyond 5 pages.
Please organize your proposal as follows:
- Cover Letter
The letter shall, at a minimum, contain the following:

Identification of the proposer, including business name and point of contact

details

A statement that the proposal shall remain valid for a period not less than
ninety (90) days from the due date of proposals

The signature and typed name of the person authorized to bind the offering
agency to the terms of the proposal

- Qualifications, Related and Relevant Experience and References

Overview
This section should establish the ability of your agency to satisfactorily perform the
work described in the Scope of Work (Section 3 of this RFP) based on: demonstrated
competence in the services to be provided; the nature and relevance of similar work
currently being performed or recently completed; competitive advantages over other
agencies in the same industry; strength and stability as a business concern; and
supportive client references.

Background information about the organization

Furnish background information about your agency, including date of founding, legal
form (i.e. sole proprietorship, LLC, corporation/state of incorporation), number and
location of offices, principle lines of business, number of employees, day/hours of
operation and other pertinent data. Disclose any conditions (e.g. bankruptcy or other
financial problems, pending litigation, planned office closures, impending mergers)
that may affect the Proposers ability to perform in accordance with a resulting
contract. Certify that the agency is not debarred, suspended or otherwise declared
ineligible to contract by any federal, state, or local public agency.
Relevant Personnel and Work Experience
Describe your agencys prior experience of undertaking similar type of work,
including years of experience in providing such services in the attached sample
template Annex 1.1. Elaborate upon the key people to be involved in the study with
their profiles in the attached sample template- Annex 1.2
- Work plan and Technical Approach
This section should demonstrate your agencys understanding of Digital Greens
objectives and requirements, demonstrate an ability to meet those requirements and
outline clearly and concisely the plan along with timelines for each activity for
accomplishing the specified work. Please be concise.
Financial Proposal
The financial proposal should disclose line item wise charges that will be assessed to
Digital Green as a result of the services provided by your agency. Please provide the
estimated budget in the attached sample template Annex-2.
Include a budget in Excel format and an accompanying budget narrative with
milestone payments associated with a verifiable product, task, deliverable, or goal. .
The milestones will generally have three parts: (1) a description of the product, task,
deliverable, or goal to be accomplished; (2) a description of how your agency will
document the completion of the product, task, deliverable, or goal; and (3) the
amount that Digital Green will pay for the deliverable. Be sure to provide in detail the
total proposed costs for implementation of the project your agency is proposing
As a sample that should be appropriately tailored by the Applicant, the following
provides Digital Greens expectation for a milestone and structured payment plan:
Milestone
1. Survey in X province
2. Training in X province

Documentation
Survey report
Training materials
and attendance sheet

Milestone Amount
INR 1,00,000
INR 1,00,000

In addition to the milestone and structure payment plan, the applicant must also
include an Excel-based budget that supports the total proposed amount. Costs do
not necessarily need to align with individual milestone amounts, but must align with
the total proposed amount.
The accompanying budget narrative must explain the basis of estimates, adequate
cost, and historical or unit pricing data to establish a reasonable cost and the
assurance that the recipient will realize no increment above actual cost. This means
calculations and details must be provided for Digital Greens review. For example,
international travel must include the number of travellers, the number of days, the

departure city and the arrival city. To expedite Digital Greens review, please ensure
that the Excel budget and budget narrative align.
The financial proposal should disclose all charges that will be assessed to Digital
Green as a result of the services provided your agency. Please provide the estimated
budget in the attached sample template Annex-2.
Appendices
Furnish as appendices supporting documents that relate to the preceding
instructions. Include any additional information you deem essential for proper
evaluation of your proposal and which has not been explicitly solicited in the
preceding sections.
Evaluation of Proposals
Digital Green anticipates issuing a contract to the agency whose proposal is most
advantageous and cost-effective. A contract calls for one price, not subject to any
adjustment based on the agency cost experience in performance of the contract.
This is established at the outset, when the contract is negotiated and signed.
Technical proposals will be evaluated at first level. Financial proposals of those
agencies, which have technically qualified, will be evaluated at next level. Each
technical proposal will be evaluated based on evidence of the following items:
Adequacy and quality of proposal:
- Understanding on the proposed task
- Alignment of proposal with Scope of Work and expected deliverables
Specific experience:
- Understanding and ability to undertake video production
- Experience of executing similar type of projects in past
Key experts and staff:
- Quality and suitability of the agency to handle the project
- Suitability of technical personnel
Calendar and Deadlines:
- Proposed time line
- Previous track record for meeting the deadlines

Sl. No.
S.
No
.

Name and Address of the

agency that hired your
organization for the
assignment
Name

Designation

Detailed description of Job work

and any sample of reports that
can be shared
Key area of
expertise

Annex -1.1 Experiences:

Please complete a table using the format below to summarize the
experiences in the course of the past 3 years by the agency.
Annex 1.2: Profile of the team composition (Attach brief CVs
of team members)