Baseline survey of a USDA McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Project in Cameroon At Nascent Solutions

Please see the full TOR here

Terms of Reference

Baseline Survey of a 5-year McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Project in Cameroon

Implementer: Nascent Solutions Inc. (Nascent)

Funder: United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Location: Adamawa, East, North, and North West regions of Cameroon

Duration: January – August 2025.

Purpose of this ToR: To solicit bids for a baseline survey for Nascent’s McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Project in Cameroon. This will set up a quasi-experimental evaluation to be continued at midterm (2027) and final evaluation (2029).

Project Description

This is a five-year project funded under USDA’s McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program. Implemented by Nascent, the project is designed to improve the literacy of school-age children through improved literacy instruction, student attentiveness, and student attendance. Secondarily, the project intends to increase the use of positive health and dietary practices. The project runs from 2024-2029.

The staple activity is the provision of a daily lunch and periodic take-home rations using food commodities provided by USDA and procured locally. Concurrently, Nascent will seek to improve:

• Quality of literacy instruction, through more consistent teacher attendance, better teaching and learning materials, and training of teachers and administrators;
• Student attentiveness, through extracurricular activities, and the daily lunch program;
• Student attendance, through school infrastructure improvements, enrollment outreaches, an increased community understanding of education benefits, and reducing health related absences;
• Use of positive health and dietary practices, through increased knowledge of hygiene, safe food preparation, and nutrition, as well as increased access to clean water and sanitation, preventative health interventions, and safe food preparation and storage items.
• The environment in which schools operate, through enhancing the capacity of local government and civil society, as well as local education- and nutrition-related policies and financing.

The project will benefit 190,000 students and their families, teachers, administrators, civil servants, parent-teacher association members, and others associated with 260 primary schools in the Adamawa, East, North, and North West regions of Cameroon. The targeted schools include government-run public schools, and private schools including those affiliated with the Catholic, Baptist, Presbyterian, and Islamic faiths. The 260 schools have approximately 147,000 enrolled students in nursery through grade level 6. Nascent, its various technical partners – School to School International, the University of Illinois/AgReach, Malnutrition Matters, World Education, and Cornell University – will collaborate with the following Ministries: Basic Education, Public Health, Water and Energy, Agriculture and Rural Development, Decentralization and Local Development, Social Affairs, and External Relations.

Profile of Evaluation Team

Evaluators are welcome to assemble a team as they see fit (not including field level data collectors, who will be recruited separately). Their skills should be complementary, with one identified as the Team Lead, who will bear responsibility for all work products and processes. Firms and groups of independent consultants are welcome to apply. Combined, the team should have the following skills and attributes:

• Demonstrated experience leading complex impact evaluations.
• Demonstrated expertise in study design and sampling.
• Demonstrated experience in the development of quantitative data collection tools and managing field data using Survey CTO and Tangerine for digital data collection.
• Demonstrated experience in using qualitative methods such as focus group discussions and key informant interviews.
• Demonstrated experience in data management and analysis using statistical software, including analyzing complex (multi-stage cluster samples) surveys.
• Demonstrated experience using propensity score matching, principal component analysis, and difference-in-differences analysis techniques.
• Demonstrated experience in concise, illuminating report writing, including data visualization.
• Demonstrated experience in training and managing field data collectors and complex logistics.
• Subject matter expertise in literacy and education.
• Subject matter expertise in maternal nutrition, child nutrition, and hygiene.
• Strong teamwork ability across cultures and time zones.
• Demonstrated cultural sensitivity and gender balance to effectively communicate with a variety of stakeholders, ranging from young students to government officials.
• Experience with EGRA.
• Experience with teacher observations.
• Experience with dietary diversity surveys.
• Experience with USDA McGovern-Dole projects.
• Experience in Cameroon.
• High proficiency in written and verbal French.
• High proficiency in written and verbal English.