Tiwoloka Project

Terms of Reference

Cost of the Diet Study

CARE is a global leader in humanitarian and development programming, committed to ending poverty and improving the lives of vulnerable communities. Since 1998, CARE Malawi has worked in close partnership with the Government of Malawi and other key stakeholders to implement impactful programs, with the goal of reaching over 3.2 million women, girls, and vulnerable individuals between 2025 and 2030.

The Tiwoloka program (2024-2029), funded by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) through the McGovern-Dole Food for Education and Child Nutrition (FFECN) initiative, is currently being implemented by CARE in partnership with the Ministry of Education of Malawi and local partners FAWEMA and WaterAid. Tiwoloka seeks to 1) improve literacy outcomes among school-aged children; 2) increase the use of positive health, nutrition, and dietary practices; and 3) strengthen government policy and systems towards a government-led, evidence-driven school feeding program (SFP). Tiwoloka will directly benefit 105,564 people, including 84,331 primary and pre-primary students in six districts of Malawi through improved literacy, health, nutrition, and hygiene outcomes. Tiwoloka is being implemented in 106 schools in the Central and Southern Regions of Malawi.

Through the present Terms of Reference (ToR), CARE Malawi seeks to hire the services of a consultant to conduct a Cost of the Diet (CotD) study to inform Tiwoloka’s implementation and advocacy efforts towards the development of a national SFP.

Objective of the Assignment. The CotD study aims to identify cost-effective and culturally acceptable options for components of school and household meals. Tiwoloka will use these recommendations as part of (i) its advocacy with the Government of Malawi (GoM) and School Meals Coalition for the development of a national SFP and (ii) community and school-level training on nutrition, including but not limited to Care Groups and School Feeding Committees. Tiwoloka will also disseminate the findings to the School Meals Coalition to inform school feeding programming implemented by other development partners.

Scope of Work. The consultant will use a combination of primary and secondary data to develop recommendations for cost-effective school meal menus responsive to primary school-aged children’s dietary gaps in Malawi. In consultation with Tiwoloka’s MEAL Manager and CARE USA’s Director of Research, the selected consultant will develop data collection tools to collect primary data for this study. Informed by the findings, the consultant will identify affordable nutritious foods available in local markets in six districts of Malawi – Chiradzulu, Kasungu, Lilongwe Rural West, Mulanje, Ntcheu, and Thyolo – and develop locally relevant and cost-effective school meal menus. The consultant will also develop recommendations of nutritious foods and recipes to increase dietary diversity of children under five years of age (CU5) and women of reproductive age (WRA). The consultant will consider cultural preferences, local farmers’ production, seasonal availability of food items, and the workload required for preparation of meals in the development of recommendations.

The scope of work includes:

Development of electronic data collection tools and training of Tiwoloka’s MEL staff to collect data using those.
Primary data cleaning and analysis.
Triangulation with available secondary data sources and Tiwoloka baseline findings.
Report writing.
Preparation of a short version (3-4 pages) of the report with key results for external dissemination.

Data sources. The CotD study will use the following data sources:

Primary data collected from markets in the six target districts. Tiwoloka staff will collect data using tools developed by the consultant (see above). The data collection will be combined with Tiwoloka’s annual market survey to ensure efficiency.
Market survey data collected by Tiwoloka in October 2024 and secondary data on market trends obtained from the Ministry of Agriculture and studies conducted by other sources. The consultant is expected to identify relevant secondary data sources.
Existing Tiwoloka baseline data on dietary diversity of primary school-aged children and women of reproductive age (WRA) and production by local farmers.
Secondary data from studies conducted by other initiatives on cultural food preferences/ restrictions, food preparation time, and workload. The consultant will identify relevant secondary data sources.

Key deliverables. As part of this assignment, the consultant is expected to submit the following deliverables:

Inception report, outlining the proposed methodology in detail; data sources; timeline; and knowledge products resulting from the assignment.
Clean datasets with complete codebooks, used for analysis, and analysis files (scripts, output files) as applicable.
Draft CotD report.
Final CotD report responding to CARE’s feedback.
CotD brief (3-4 pages) for dissemination of findings.

CARE’s Responsibility. CARE will be responsible for the following:

Data collection, including costs related to salaries, allowances, per diem/ accommodation as applicable, and logistics.
Provision of tablets for data collection.
Venue for training of staff.

The Tiwoloka MEL Manager will oversee this assignment and in collaboration with CARE USA’s Director of Research, review data collection tools, data collection training materials, datasets, and the draft report.

Compliance with CARE’s Policies and Research Ethics. CARE requires all consultants and staff to comply with its policies on Safeguarding and Fraud Prevention, and with CARE’s Guidelines on Responsible Data Management. The consultant and any staff involved in data collection or analysis will be required to sign the Safeguarding and Fraud Prevention policies and apply those in data collection, analysis, and reporting. The consultant will include appropriate consent forms and train staff on requirements for informed consent, confidentiality, and respectful and safe data collection processes. The consultant will be responsible for overseeing data collection to ensure responsible data management and fraud prevention. The consultant will also ensure compliance with safe data storage and transfer. The final report will not include any personal identifiers.

Qualifications. The selected consultant will:

Demonstrated prior experience in conducting CotD or equivalent studies in Malawi or in similar settings. Please note that the consultant should have experience in conducting such studies as the primary author or main data analyst. CARE will require samples and references from clients to demonstrate prior experience as part of the submission.
Demonstrated experience in quantitative data cleaning and analysis of complex datasets in development settings.
Expertise in nutrition or relevant disciplines, particularly in the context of development projects in Southern Africa or similar settings.
Demonstrated ability to deliver high-quality written products (samples required) in English.
Experience in Malawi or Southern Africa is strongly preferred.

How to apply

Interested bidders are required to include the following documents in their application:

Technical proposal outlining the methodology for the CotD study, relevant experience and expertise, and proposed timeline.
Financial proposal.
Applicants will submit technical and financial proposals to CARE through mwi.procurement@care.org by 5th September 2025, 5PM CAT.