TOR FOR ANALYSIS OF DAIRY SUPPLY CHAINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF A COMMERCIAL MODEL FOR MILK DISPENSERS IN AMHARA REGION, ETHIOPIA. – The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN)
Business Development, Research and Development
The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN)
Each day, 795 million people — one in nine — go hungry. Close to 2 billion people survive on diets that lack the vital vitamins and nutrients needed to grow properly, live healthy lives, and raise a healthy family. About 1.4 billion people worldwide struggle with overweight and obesity. That’s more than the number of people who are hungry worldwide.
In total, around 3.5 billion people — half the people on the planet today — are malnourished.
The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is an international organization that was launched at the UN in 2002 to tackle the human suffering caused by malnutrition.
GAIN is driven by the vision of a world without malnutrition. We act as a catalyst — building alliances between governments, business and civil society — to find and deliver solutions to the complex problem of malnutrition. Today we are on track to reach over a billion people with improved nutrition – a goal for 2015.
We focus our efforts on children, girls and women because we know that helping them have sustainable, nutritious diets is crucial to ending the cycle of malnutrition and poverty. By building alliances that deliver impact at scale, we believe that we can eliminate malnutrition within our lifetimes.
INTRODUCTION
The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is a Swiss-based foundation launched at the United Nations in 2002 to tackle the human suffering caused by malnutrition. Working with governments, businesses, and civil society, we aim to transform food systems so that they deliver more nutritious foods for all people, especially the most vulnerable.
At GAIN, we believe that everyone in the world should have access to nutritious, safe, and affordable food. Today, one in three people – drawn from nearly every country on the planet – are unable to consume enough nutritious food. We work to develop and deliver solutions to this daily challenge. What matters most for us is impact. Our purpose is to improve the consumption of nutritious and safe foods for all. We focus on children, adolescents, and women because we know that working with these groups is crucial to transforming attitudes about food and hence life chances and livelihoods. Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland,
GAIN has offices in countries with high levels of malnutrition: Bangladesh, Benin, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. To support work in those countries, we have representative offices in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In Ethiopia, GAIN contributes to fighting malnutrition through innovative and sustainable models that increase access to affordable nutritious foods among communities vulnerable to malnutrition.
GAIN’s Better Dairy for All (BDFA) project aims to improve the dairy consumption of the target consumers in 16 urban woredas of Amhara region. The project’s overall objective is to increase the quality of diets of the community by improving the consumption of dairy products. This programme will run until 2026 and be focuses on urban woreda consumers of Amhara region. As part of the solutions to contribute to addressing the issue of accessing milk packaging material like pouches, affordability, and positive environmental impacts, GAIN adopted a simple portable and insulated milk dispensary equipment to improve milk access with recyclable cup.
THE ASSIGNMENT
The problem
A food supply chain is the sequence of stages and processes through which a food commodity moves from production to distribution to consumption. Throughout these stages, food can be transformed in ways that add value (e.g., nutritive value, economic value, etc.). At the same time, food that moves through the supply chain is at risk of losing value through nutrient loss or product decomposition. Inefficient food value chains can result in food degradation and contamination, increasing food safety risk and the cost of product for consumers.
Food loss is one of the issues in the dairy value chain due to demand seasonality, as animal source foods including dairy products are not consumed during the >200 Orthodox Christians’ fasting days. Especially Amhara region is dominated by orthodox Christianity followers.
The project identified community access to dairy products as the main challenge to achieving its objectives. Milk and dairy products are unaffordable to many households. Apart from that, adulteration is an issue and a consumer concern; only 5% of milk is pasteurised, which is a food safety concern. Limited product innovation (incl. expensive packaging) to create products with extended shelf life and affordability remain barriers for both vendors and buyers. Moreover, value chain actors, 3 including retailers, have gaps in business practices, efficiency, food safety, and/or professionalism, which may contribute to higher costs or lower desirability of product.
Scope of Work
1) Goal of the consultancy
The consultant will work with GAIN to i) Analyse the supply chains of dairy products (milk and yogurt) from farm to consumer /household and ii) develop a business model for milk dispenser as a profitable solution for vendors and a way for consumers to access safe and affordable dairy products.
2) Geographic coverage
The assignment will cover urban woredas of Amhara region: Dessie, Kombelcha, Haike, Woldiya, Debre Birhan, Degen, Debre Markos, Finote Selam, Burie, Injibara, Dangla, Bahir Dar, Mota, Wereta, Debre Tabor, Gondor.
3) Specific objectives
Analysis of supply chains of dairy products: The effect of food supply chains on the food environment can be categorized into three main aspects, namely, the Accessibility of the food, the Desirability of the food, and the Quality of the food. Accessibility tells us whether consumers are logistically and financially able to procure the food. Desirability should indicate whether a food is appealing and will be chosen by consumers. The measure of the food’s quality should indicate whether the food is safe, nutritious, and free from significant health risks. Results expected of the services:
• Determine drivers of the Food Environment (Accessibility, Desirability, Quality): should focus on the factors that will influence the food environment. The food environment enables consumers especially low-income consumers and those at risk of malnutrition to access safe and nutritious foods.
• Determine aspects of the supply chain (Product, Process, People, Policy): should investigate the entire depth of the supply chain: not just the actors and transactions, but the underlying policies, the surrounding business opportunities, and the social environment. Do the existing milk suppliers enough to supply dairy to the consumers? What are the gaps not to attain the production of dairy products?
• Determine stages of the value chain (Production, Transportation, Processing, Distribution, Retail): should encompass the entire value chain, from production or farm gate to point of retail sale.
• Determine strategies to maximise potential benefits in terms of
✓ increase the accessibility of nutritious foods (through increased availability and increased affordability),
✓ increase the desirability of nutritious foods (through better advertising, consumer awareness, and more appealing products) and
✓ increasing the quality of nutritious foods, by improved product characteristics, improved food safety. Business model for milk dispenser: the project identified milk dispensers as a solution to get dairy products consumed in the Amhara region. However, the model needs to be tested and developed to ensure it addresses the challenges of accessibility, desirability, and quality of products. At the same time, if the model is not profitable and not efficient for milk vendors (milk houses), the consultant need to assess other efficient solution for the challenge . Therefore, the consultant is expected to advise the project on 1 or 2 alternative solutions to milk dispensers.
Results expected of the services:
• Product and its unique value proposition – what are vendor’s competitive advantage and how this can be maintained?
• Target consumer – what is the persona/ characteristic of the target customer? Will the product reach and be attractive to Bottom of the Pyramid consumers? Describe how milk vendors create value for each of the target consumers.
• Pricing – Determine what are consumers willing to pay for the product / service. Against which other products / services will this compete (indirectly and directly), and what is the price point of those?
• Operational resources – required for milk houses/ suppliers/vendors to operate. Which of these will be directly managed, and which will be outsourced or subcontracted?
• Supply of inputs – what will be necessary to ensure a reliable supply of inputs or materials? and what improvements could be made to lower costs or to ensure a higher quality and safety of the dairy product etc. Which additional inputs will be required (electricity, water) and how will these be supplied? Which human resources will be required?
• Production – What infrastructure will be required? Is the existing capacity sufficient to meet demand in the short to medium term or is further investment required to improve the production capacity? What do they need to improve their dairy supply volume?
• Distribution – How will the final product be distributed? Will distribution infrastructure be required? If so, who will own and manage it? Which arrangements will need to be created with retailers, brokers, etc.? How can a cold chain be maintained (if required)? How will this impact the product’s price? What innovative business model addresses the distribution challenge?
• What partnerships will be required / should be explored to support the milk vendors in scaling out the delivery to wider populations?
• Revenue model – What are consumers willing to pay for each product, and what will the company charge? Through which payment method will the company collect revenue for the product? What will the product cost per unit, and how will money be transacted? What will the timeframe be for payment versus delivery of the product? Will the company have revenue streams other than the proposed product / service and if so, how will these complement one another? How does this revenue stream contribute to the company’s overall revenues?
• Cost structure for the model – What is the cost of production of the product, and what are the general and administrative costs of running the business? What is the cost of operating the single use packaging compared with milk dispenser?
• Which investments have already been made, and which additional investments are required to make the business model successful? What are the investment barriers?
Specific deliverables expected
1) A detailed report of not more than 15 pages with findings and recommendations on improving access to dairy products in urban woredas in the Amhara region.
2) A detailed of not more than 20 pages that clearly outlines all of the topics above. A populated Business Model Canvas (GAIN can provide the template)
Duration of assignment
Maximum of three months from the agreement signed
Expected start and end dates of assignment
June 2024 to September 31st 2024
Format of proposals
• Use the technical and financial proposal templates provided.
• Applicants should also provide samples of previous work done
Criteria for proposal selection
• Background and qualifications of consultant
• Relevant work experience
• Technical competence
Eligibility requirements for companies or individuals
• Proven record in research
• Ground-level implementation experience, with a particular focus on private sector business model development.
• Experience with supply chain management. Dairy value chain specific will be an added advantage.
• Experience with consumer feedback and insight assessments with focus on qualitative and quantitative approaches.
• A qualified team with expertise in agribusiness or food supply chain and business modelling.
• Ability to deliver on short deadlines with the expected quality and outcome intact.
• Experience in dairy supply analysis is advantageous.
• Good understanding and working knowledge of the food sector in Ethiopia. Knowledge of the Amhara region would be an advantage.
• High reputation in delivering the tasks timely
