Consultant - Market Assessment for Women’s Income Generation Activities

Save the Children is the world's leading independent organisation for children. We work in 120 countries. We save children's lives; we fight for their rights; we help them fulfill their potential. We work together, with our partners, to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives.

We are recruiting to fill the vacant position below:

Job Position: Consultant - Market Assessment for Women’s Income Generation Activities 
Job Location: Abuja
Background and Scope of Work

• Save the Children is supporting vulnerable pregnant and lactating women through the WINNN project to steadily increase their income, build long-term food security and improve their nutritional status. 
• The most vulnerable female pregnant, lactating female caregivers/mothers of malnourished children and children U2 in the 6 WINNN implementing LGAs of Jigawa and Yobe states, will be targeted for Income Generation Activities (IGAs), trained and provided with relevant start-up supplies and/or equipment for a micro-enterprise. 
• The project supports nutrition sensitive agriculture by putting access to nutritionally rich foods and improving dietary diversity as a strategy for overcoming malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies. 
• Nutrition-sensitive agricultural production is implemented with two main focus: Making food more available and accessible through improved households income; and making food more diverse through support for home gardening, animal rearing and appropriate extension services.

WINNN is looking for a consultant to conduct labor and market assessment to guide the implementation process. The objectives of the study will be to:

• Provide analysis of the different types of businesses available currently and those that are could be created in the near future, identifying the maturity duration of each type of business.
• Identify the key skills needed in the market to guide the training guidelines for the micro enterprise management for the IGA beneficiaries
• Identify and map local vendors with capacity to provide the required IGA equipment to the beneficiaries.
• Assess capacity of a representative sample of these vendors in the target beneficiaries’ locations.
• Map the market system and identify market opportunities for the women’s IGA products and gaps to be supported
• Collect  data  on  these  opportunities, taking into account their growth potential
• Identify constraints/challenges to starting up small businesses and provide recommendations  on how to overcome them
• Determine if the existing  vendors/retailers/business have the capacity to source, transport and store materials of sufficient quality and quantity to meet the need of the beneficiaries of multi-purpose e-vouchers
• Identify the existing micro finance institutions/informal credit systems, employment, apprenticeship opportunities, skills development centers and hire purchase opportunities available in the beneficiaries’ area.

Methodology
Applicants should provide a detailed methodology showing how the assessment aims and objectives will be met as part of their technical expression of interest. It is anticipated that the proposal will include a mixture of primary and secondary data collection methods. The consultant should:

• Define  the assessment methodology and develop data collection tools
• Review of relevant material held by SC including  baseline and   monitoring reports
• Meet with key stakeholders  and beneficiaries in Yobe and Jigawa targeted LGAs and state capital
• Prepare and submit the final survey reports to SC in soft and hard copy with presentation of key findings prior to final report submission.

Deliverables
Deliverables should include the following:

• An inception report, including: planned timeline and work plan, literature review of all relevant secondary sources, detailed methodology / approach, planned stakeholders to be consulted and sampling framework, data collection and analysis tools, qualitative and quantitative protocols for data collection and analysis
• Brief presentation of preliminary findings
• Draft report written in English
• One (1) electronic file of the clean (final) qualitative and quantitative data collected
• Final report

Required Qualifications

• At least a Master's Degree in a relevant discipline
• Over 5 years research experience related to markets, entrepreneurship and livelihoods in both development and humanitarian context.
• Ability to produce well written, analytical reports in English
• Experience with socio-economic surveys.
• Good understanding of  Northern Nigeria 
• Strong quantitative and qualitative data analysis skills

Proposals should not be longer than 4 pages, excluding CVs, budget and example piece of work. Proposals should include:

• Up-to-date CV
• Projected budget – including projected travel and in-country accommodation and subsistence costs. Holding tax must also be included where relevant. Payment milestones should also be included.
• Short overview of how the candidate meets the qualifications, experience and skills requirements (no more than one page)
• Description of proposed approach and methodology
• An example piece of work from a similar assignment