Research Consultancy Terms of Reference

Ensuring food and nutrition security in a time of volatility

July 2014

Introduction

These Terms of Reference are for the Year Three qualitative research component of the joint Oxfam and Institute of Development Studies (IDS) four-year, 10-country research project ‘Ensuring food and nutrition security in a time of volatility’. IDS will lead and coordinate the research process, whilst Oxfam will be responsible for overall project management.

Purpose and Objectives

The overall purpose of the research project is to document poor people’s experiences of food price volatility in a form that enables generalizable, policy-relevant insights into how food price volatility is playing out in developing countries. The integration of qualitative and quantitative data is intended to ensure the research reaches policy-makers as well as a wider audience, with human narratives embedded within and illustrative of wider macroeconomic impacts. The evidence generated is intended to inform short- and long-term responses to protecting vulnerable groups from food price volatility (or enabling them to benefit from higher prices/price spikes, e.g. small farmers).

The research aims for an overall assessment of the situation at community level, by exploring impacts on local economic activity and livelihoods, individual and community wellbeing and security, household coping strategies and official and informal social protection responses. However, the research will also pay particular attention to issues with potentially enduring impacts on development, and which qualitative methods are particularly suited to exploring. These are likely to include investments in human capital and the inter-generational transmission of poverty, as well as impacts on gender-based vulnerabilities, local social cohesion, and security.

The activities will generate:

a. A robust multi-dimensional assessment of the impacts of food price volatility on people’s wellbeing and the responses these generate in selected developing country locations

b. Focused analysis of specific policy issues to do with food security which emerge over the period (e.g. the aspirations of youths, the right to food, the impacts on women’s empowerment, the private sector in food markets);

c. Activities to engage policymakers and practitioners in developing ‘spike-proof’ social protection and food security policies; and

d. Strengthened local capacities to monitor food and nutrition security.

Scope of the Work

The research project has a four-year duration and will cover the following ten countries: Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kenya, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Vietnam, Bolivia, Pakistan, Guatemala, and Ethiopia.

These Terms of Reference refer to qualitative research to be conducted in Year Three.

1

IDS will provide methodological support and guidance to all ten countries.

Research activities across the four years of the project include the following integrated components:a. Qualitative monitoring activities in ten countries in each of the four years. This will involve

repeat visits to the selected community ‘listening posts’ or sentinel sites visited in Year One to generate people’s analyses of what has changed in relation to their food entitlements, access to social protection and wage rates relative to prices.

b. Complementary quantitative research. This will include i) tracking and synthesis of routinely collected food security tracking data, and ii) analysis of poverty and/or household income and expenditure or food or nutrition survey data to assess the impact of food price volatility since 2008 on poverty, wellbeing and food security. This will only apply to countries in which suitable and accessible data exist, for at least two points in time. The quantitative evidence will be collected and analysed to iterate with the qualitative monitoring work to interpret and triangulate findings in each. The quantitative analysis will need to be robust enough to provide a broad national picture of the impacts of volatility on food security over the period, and to situate the findings of the qualitative research within the national context, in an effort to provide a sense of their representativeness and scale.

c. Focused analysis of an identified key issue, undertaken through a dedicated module in the qualitative monitoring which will each year focus on a selected issue that merits deeper exploration. In Year Three this topic is: ‘Changing Food Habits: views on processed and unsafe foods’ (SEE ANNEX 2 FOR MORE DETAILS). Over time, the intention is to develop an approach that allows in-depth conversations with a set of communities in ‘sentinel sites’ on a range of emerging issues.

d. This will be accompanied by some secondary literature review and key informant interviews at the national level.

Lead Country ResearcherIn each country, the qualitative research activity will be managed by a lead country researcher, who will be a senior person responsible overall for the research, including recruiting, training and directing field / community researchers, maintaining quality control, data management (as raw data will be shared), draft report production (in collaboration with IDS coorindator), and some in-country communications work. The lead country researcher will attend dissemination activities in-country (e.g. press conferences, policy roundtables, etc. (to be determined at a later date)).

Field researchers of a high standard will also be required to conduct the research (with some help from the senior researcher) to and write up the notes.

In Year Three, the in-country research team will be responsible for: Ensuring research is focused in the same research sites, and as far as possible, conducted

with the same households as in Years One and Two Identifying and maintaining contact with a ‘community researcher’ in each site Conducting ten high quality household case studies in each site, to be re-visited and

updated annually (same households as previous years) Conducting five or more key informant interviews in each site, to be re-interviewed

annually (same informants as as previous years) Conducting at least four focus group discussions in each site (same groups as previous years

as far as possible) Collecting other administrative data at the local level as available (usually as part of the key

informant interviews).

2

Research Design, Methods, and Data Collection

The qualitative component of the research design, for which the Lead Researcher in each country will be responsible, will be undertaken in (at least) two sites in each of the 10 countries, the same sites as in previous years. Detailed guidelines will be developed in collaboration with all the research teams, and provided in good time for translation, adaptation and training for the field work.

Sites The sentinel sites or ‘listening posts’ in each of the ten countries will be the same as in years One and Two. In each country, at least one rural and one urban or peri-urban site has been selected in which to conduct the research.

Research participantsResearch participants will be drawn from three main groups:

- Local key informants: the village chief or local government official, schoolteacher or doctor, NGO official or priest, etc; at least five key informant interviews should take place in each site each year(same informants as previous years)

- Main low income occupation groups: subsistence farmers, day labourers, petty traders, domestic workers, sex workers, transport workers, recycled waste workers etc; focus group discussions will take place with four of these groups, two mainly women and two mainly men in each site each year (same as previous years, as far as possible).

- Selected poor or food insecure households; case studies will be developed from interviews and other activities with household heads and/or adult women, to cover 10 households in each site each year(same households as previous years).

A sampling strategy should have been developed in years One and Two to ensure the main variables of vulnerability (age, dependency ratio, HH headship, migration status, occupation) are covered in selecting interviewees for household case studies.

Tools and activitiesThese are detailed in Annex 1 – please refer.

Research Outputs, Dissemination & Deliverables

In each country, the Lead Researcher will be responsible for working with the IDS Coordinator to support the production of brief country reports and reports on key emergent themes. Crucially, in addition, he/she will provide detailed focus group discussion notes, case study interview transcripts, Fieldwork photographs (as specified in Annex 1-3b) and be available for a telephone discussion about the research findings to enable the Global and Country Report structure to be planned and agreed. Guidelines on preparing and formatting data and metadata are provided in Annex 1.

National dissemination workshop or meeting

In Year 3, it is necessary that we start to share findings with and gather suggestions and feedback from policymakers and researchers. The Oxfam/IDS team can support these meetings or workshops and will try to be present, as far as possible.

Specific deliverables in Year Three are at least:

3

One national workshop or meeting, organised in conjunction with the quantitative researcher to

o discuss and share qualitative findings from Years 1, 2 and 3 o discuss and share quantitative research findings (if relevant) o gather suggestions or feedback for further research o highlight key messages for policy and practice.

Documentation from this event should include:o video footage (where possible)o two-page summary including feedback/responseso list of participants

In addition, research outputs should include:

A validation and feedback meeting or workshop with research participants at the outset of Year Three research (based on Year One and Two analysis); support will be provided in the form of a generic set of presentation materials, and efforts will be made to ensure IDS/Oxfam staff will be present for some of these

Four focus group discussions per site Ten household interviews per site Five key informant interviews per site Detailed fieldnotes, including direct quotes from research participants, and all relevant meta

data (see Annex 1), written up in English according to guidelines Fieldwork photographs (as specified in Annex 1-3b)

Instead of the country team leader being responsible for the national report, in Y3, these will be co-authored with the IDS/Oxfam team. So the outputs for this will include

A meeting to agree outline and main contents for a brief annual national report Sections for the national report, as agreed during the meeting Comments on the overall national report. One 500 word article or blog about any aspect of the research at any time during the year

(may be any member of the research team).

Data Quality

The data that will be collected will be made available to other third parties, so it is essential that data are collected and managed to a high standard. In particular:

Data management should adhere to the standards set out in the methodological guidelines (see Annex 1)

Qualitative data should be tagged/labelled using a metadata template

Team Composition

The Lead Country Researcher will be responsible for recruiting, training, supervising and supporting any co-researchers or Research Assistants employed for this research, working with an agreed indicative budget for daily rates and subsistence and travel costs.

4

The researchers should be highly competent in participatory and qualitative research methods, and have an understanding of the current trends in food price volatility and food security policy and practice, as well as an understanding of rural and urban livelihoods, and gender-based inequality. The Lead Researchers must be able to communicate in English.

Timeframe and terms of payment

As far as possible field research should be conducted at the same time of year as in previous years.

Detailed notes from focus group discussions, and case study interview transcripts or full notes will need to be delivered soon after the conclusion of field research, by 30th November 2014 at the latest. Meetings to discuss and drafting of national reports will take place during December 2014.

Terms of payment are as follows:

1. 25% on accepting contract (timetabled before August 31 2014)2. 25% on completion of validation / feedback workshops with communities (by October 31

2014)3. 25% on submission of data notes etc. (by December 31 2014)4. 25% on completion of national workshop (by March 31 2015 – can be earlier).

Coordination

The Lead Country Researcher will communicate regularly with the IDS Research Coordinator, including informing her of any problems faced with the fieldwork or challenges anticipated in meeting the deadlines.

5

ANNEX 1: Methodological Guidelines

Sent under separate cover, structured as:

1 Qualitative research guidelines – overview

2a FGD tools – to follow2b FGD checklist – to follow2c HH case study tools – to follow2d HH case study checklist – to follow2e KII tools – to follow2f KII checklist – to follow

3a Qualitative research guidelines – data management – to follow3b Photography guidelines – to follow

6

ANNEX 2: Special Topic for Year 3

Life in a Time of Food Price Volatility – Special Topic for Year 3‘Changing food habits: views on processed and unsafe foods’

This year, the ‘special topic’ will focus on understanding the adequacy and acceptability of the food people are eating in the research communities, focusing specifically on how food habits and customs are being influenced by processed foods and foods perceived to be unsafe.

Why are we interested in these issues? Concerns about food safety have emerged in earlier rounds of the research, as have signs that cooked (out of the house), processed or ‘fast’ food is becoming more important in many people’s diets, including in rural areas. People may think the food they are consuming (or selling) is inadequate in various ways – they may worry about how nutritious it is, how clean it is, or they may feel that an important part of culture and wellbeing is being undermined as food habits change. Others may disagree: they may like the new tastes and believe processed foods bring better nutrition and a modern way of life.

Food safety and quality are issues increasingly covered by the media. While they are growing issues for people who are poor, they are also raising anxiety among middle class consumers – campaigns have been started and people are talking about it in the media and day-to-day. Our research can make a contribution at a moment when these issues are getting a more responsive hearing in policy circles.

The aspects of everyday food that worry people (its safety and its adequacy) may be related to the rapid rise in food prices since 2007:

1. people may choose to buy processed foods instead of cooking or preparing their own food a. to save time and effort (particularly important if more women are working outside

the home than in the past)b. because they are overall cheaper (e.g., taking into account fuel costs)

2. incentives to adulterate food, use low quality ingredients or prepare in unsanitary conditions may be higher when prices are high

3. people may not be able to afford the food they prefer, causing them to feel concerns about the food they can buy, and to be suspicious of its origins and quality (e.g., when all the quinoa leaves Bolivia to feed Gwyneth Paltrow what do locals eat instead? Or when mustard oil is no longer produced locally in Bangladesh and people can only get sunflower or ‘vegetable’ oil, are they worried about its origins and quality?)

Other factors shaping how people view processed food and food safety may include

4. changing tastes and preferences, particularly across generations 5. the influence of advertising and/or the entrance of multinational food products in local

markets

7

6. knowledge or assumptions about nutrition7. the influence of government in terms of what is promoted, taxed or regulated 8. OTHER factors, including worries about changes to custom, culture and religious food norms.

Basic framework for researching processed and adulterated foods

In addition to our regular inquiry into wellbeing, coping and social protection, the research will give special attention to:

documenting what processed foods people are buying or selling, and understanding which of the 7 mechanisms above influence decisions about what to purchase and consume;

gathering their concerns about food adequacy and safety, and exploring why they worry about it, and what is being or should be done about it;

understanding how processed foods and concerns about food safety have influenced people’s food habits and customs, as well as their patterns of care in the past 5 years

The framework takes economic factors that affect what is available and accessible, and links them to ways that public opinion is influencing people’s decisions and tastes and also links in the effect of government regulatory activities. We ask how these sets of factors affect what people consume, how it influences their lives and how they feel about it:

Tools and Methods (we’ll give more guidance in the Annex 1 guidelines)

What are they buying or selling and why?

Processed food

What are their concerns?What is being done?

Unsafe Food

how have food habits changed?What are the implications?

Food habits

Processed and unsafe food:

changing meal habits, time,

unpaid care, ill health

Economic factors: prices, livelihoods,

subsidies, new foods, cheap foods

Public Opinion: advertising,

media, school/street/vill

age talk

Government action: food

regulation, taxes, social protection

& nutrition progs.

Other influences: including custom,

culture and religion

8

In households and key informant interviews, the discussion of processed and unsafe foods the questions should cover economic factors, public opinion, government regulation and the effects on people’s food habits and family lives.

In addition to local informants, researchers can seek out expert interviews with those involved in, or with expertise in food safety, the informal food industry, and nutrition.

In focus group discussions and households, the facilitators may ask what kinds of processed foods are being consumed now and why, and what are people’s concerns about quality and adulteration. In interviews or focus groups with shop owners and cooked food vendors will probably have a lot to say on the topic. They will have understanding not only of what people are buying and saying, but also about government regulations and the effect they have. They may be balancing their need to keep up a reputation for selling good food, with the need to make a living day to day.

A photography exercise in the local community is important this year. Ask volunteers to go out and take pictures of:

a) Children’s favourite snacksb) Sauces and seasoningsc) Popular street foodsd) Changing staple foods (e.g. bread)

When the volunteers come back with pictures, discuss each picture, recording the narrative that explains why the photographer chose this food, or this scene of food preparation or sale. Questions could include which people choose these foods and why, what worries they have about them and what effect these food habits have had on people and society.

The photos can also be shared with food experts (with the photographers’ permission) to understand the significance of these foods in terms of issues of nutrition, economics, regulation and culture.

9