Request for Proposals: Gender Transformative Nutrition Study in Tanzania (Action Against Hunger) January 2026 - Fursa za Ajira Tanzania

Request for Proposals: Gender Transformative Nutrition Study in Tanzania (Action Against Hunger) January 2026

Request for Proposals (RFP): Gender Transformative Nutrition Study for Nutrition Action Planning and Programming in Tanzania

Program Overview

Program Name Gender Equitable Nutrition in Tanzania and Uganda (GENTU)

Sectors

Gender
Health and Nutrition
Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
Food Security and Livelihoods (FSL)

Program Goal Improve and sustain nutrition outcomes for the poorest and most marginalized women, adolescent girls, and children in Bahi and Itigi districts in Tanzania and Moroto, Nakapiripirit, and Nabilatuk districts in Uganda through comprehensive and integrated nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive strategies targeting individuals, communities, health service providers, and the broader health system.

Implementing Partner Sustainable Environment Management Action – (SEMA)

Location (country region/s) Tanzania – Bahi District (Dodoma Region) and Itigi District (Singida Region)

GENTU Project Duration March 2023 – June 2028

Funding Agency Global Affairs Canada (GAC)

Responsible ACF HQ Action Against Hunger – Canada

Background

Action Against Hunger (ACF) is an international humanitarian organization committed to ending world hunger. We work to save the lives of malnourished children and provide communities with access to safe water and sustainable solutions to hunger. The organization operates in over 45 countries, responding to emergencies and implementing long-term programs to combat hunger and malnutrition. Our mission extends beyond immediate relief; we work tirelessly to ensure access to safe water, promote food security, and empower communities to build resilience against future crises. At the heart of our approach is a commitment to gender equality and social justice, empowering women, girls, and marginalized groups to participate fully in decision-making processes that affect their lives. Through innovative programs and partnerships, we aim to transform communities by addressing gender-based inequalities, promoting sustainable nutrition outcomes, and fostering inclusive development practices in the power of collaboration and innovation to create a world where no one suffers from hunger or malnutrition.

Project Background The five years (March 2023 to March 2028) Gender Equitable Nutrition in Tanzania and Uganda (GENTU) project, funded by Global Affairs Canada and implemented by Action Against Hunger, KAWUO and SEMA, aims to enhance and sustain nutrition outcomes for the most vulnerable groups: women, adolescent girls, and children in Bahi and Itigi districts in Tanzania, Nabilatuk, Nakapiripirit and Moroto districts in Uganda.

The GENTU project employs comprehensive strategies designed to address both immediate nutritional needs and the underlying factors influencing nutrition in these communities. This includes targeted interventions aimed at individuals, communities, health service providers, and the broader health system. Recognizing the significant impact of gender disparities on nutrition access and health outcomes, the project adopts a holistic, gender-transformative approach aimed not only to address immediate nutritional challenges but also to dismantle entrenched gender norms and power imbalances that perpetuate inequalities. Aiming to empower women and girls, to engage male allies in promoting gender equality, and to advocate for policies that support inclusive nutrition strategies, GENTU seeks to foster long-term resilience and equitable development.

To make such an impact, the program focuses on three interconnected intermediate outcomes:

Intermediate Outcome 1100: Improved gender-transformative nutrition practices among pregnant and lactating women, children under 5, and adolescent girls in target districts.
Intermediate Outcome 1200: Strengthened delivery and utilization of quality gender-equitable integrated nutrition and health services for the poorest and most marginalized, especially women, adolescent girls, and children in target districts.
Intermediate Outcome 1300: Improved coordination and effectiveness of gender-focused NGOs and government stakeholders to provide community-based, nutrition-specific initiatives for women, adolescent girls, and children in target districts.

Intermediate Outcome 1100 will contribute to community members’ empowerment, particularly Pregnant and Lactating Women (PLW) and adolescent girls, to adopt optimal nutrition practices, including those related to gender-responsive Maternal, Infant, Young Child and Adolescent Nutrition (MIYCAN) and management of malnutrition. Malnutrition will also be tackled in part by improving gender-responsive WASH practices and by upscaling women’s capacity for nutrition-sensitive agriculture. These nutrition supporting practices will be adopted at both the household and community level with the support of local power holders including husbands, fathers, and community and religious leaders, leading to improvements in the nutrition outcomes of PLW and adolescents, as well as their U5 children.

Intermediate Outcome 1200 will improve nutrition among target beneficiaries by strengthening the quality and delivery of equitable health and nutrition services in an integrated fashion. The project’s emphasis on improved integration between nutrition-specific interventions and primary health care is based on evidence that integration has been associated with improvements in early breastfeeding initiation, exclusive breastfeeding, night blindness as a result of vitamin A supplementation, and recovery from and reduced relapses of children with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM). In addition, intermediate outcome 1200 will see more women, children, and adolescents utilizing health services and receiving nutrition-related treatments due to the removal of gender and age-based barriers.

Intermediate Outcome 1300 will help to facilitate, concretize, and sustain the gains across intermediate outcomes 1100 and 1200 by strengthening community mechanisms to consistently provide effectively, coordinated multi-sector nutrition programs by empowering feminist Community Based Organizations (CBOs) through enhanced skills and platforms, to partner with governments to shape and deliver programs aligned with national multi-sectoral nutrition strategies.

Under intermediate outcome 1300 of the GENTU project includes several activities. One of the activities is to carry out a Gender Transformative Nutrition study to uncover and recommend the appropriate gender transformative nutrition action planning and programming solutions that will remediate what many key nutrition stakeholders believe are the numerous contextual and societal issues that continue to inhibit good nutrition in Tanzania and Uganda.

Description of Assignment

General Scope, Purpose and Objectives In 2025, Action Against Hunger successfully conducted two gender analyses in Tanzania and Uganda which demonstrated, very clearly, the specific gender inequality pathways and other determinants responsible for the high prevalence of malnutrition in its GENTU project intervention areas. Following the identification of these gender inequality pathways and determinants, recommendations were provided to Action Against Hunger regarding the enhancement of its gender transformative GENTU programming.

When we broaden our field of vision, we can concede that poor nutrition outcomes are widely prevalent in Tanzania and Uganda, but also that the main reason for this continued prevalence, despite numerous efforts to thwart these realities, is the limited technical, functional and structural capacity among nutrition stakeholders to effectively design, plan for and implement nutrition programming on a national scale.

In other words, while nutrition has been identified as a thematic cross-cutting issue under the directives of state policies in both Tanzania and Uganda, adequate recognition and emphasis are still not given to gender inequality as the main, complex and farthest-reaching determinant of poor nutrition status and outcomes. Hence, technically speaking, there exists a huge gap in the conceptual understanding of the social and systemic presentations and manifestations of malnutrition for key nutrition decision makers and practitioners in Tanzania and Uganda. Unfortunately, this critical conceptual gap triggers a domino-effect of ensuing gaps; such as a gap in the analysis and interpretation of nutrition outcomes identified in the communities; gaps in the design of national nutrition theories of change and frameworks; gaps in the design of nutrition studies; gaps in nutrition data collection, and finally, gaps in the design of nutrition focused and sensitive interventions, activities and indicators.

Lastly, we can attest that the limited capacity identified above also touches upon systemic and structural areas of consideration. Indeed, although governments in Tanzania and Uganda have identified nutrition as a cross-cutting issue impacting budgeting, planning and implementation, there remains a lack of appropriate funding and budgeting for gender in nutrition national planning activities, MEAL challenges and deficiencies in advocacy and social mobilization for gender in nutrition.

Building upon the rich findings of its two gender analyses, Action Against Hunger is looking to engage in a study that will closely consider, assess and analyze national policies, national nutrition action plans, frameworks and implementing strategies in Tanzania against global best practice gender transformative frameworks and systems for nutrition.

With the insights and findings gained from this assessment, Action Against Hunger would also require for the study to include a comprehensive package containing: (1) a set of tailored gender transformative nutrition programming and implementation recommendations, as well as (2) a tailored gender transformative framework for nutrition implementation toolkit that can ultimately benefit Tanzanian government and non-government stakeholders.

As part of the GENTU project, Action Against Hunger is seeking a team of senior consultants to carry out a study in Tanzania that will generate evidence and insights that support gender-transformative approaches in nutrition programming and action planning.

Hence, the Objectives of this study are to:

Demonstrate the gendered nature of nutrition outcomes across Tanzania by building upon the previous examination of how gender norms, gender roles, nutrition status, access to dietary diversity, caregiving roles, workload distribution, decision making power, and access to nutrition, health, and WASH services differ among and impact women, men, girls, and boys in selected GENTU districts.
Assess national policies, national nutrition action plans, frameworks and implementing strategies in Tanzania against global best practice gender transformative frameworks and systems for nutrition.
Contribute to addressing existing knowledge gaps by facilitating the identification of any potential gaps or shortcomings in the analysis of existing country-level data (Nutrition, health, gender) and knowledge resources (policies, strategies, guidelines etc.) as they pertain to gendered differences in nutrition and health outcomes.
Provide practical evidence-based guidance and tools for Tanzanian policymakers and stakeholders to integrate gender-transformative approaches into national and subnational nutrition policies, programs, implementation strategies and frameworks.
Identify opportunities and practical entry points to promote more equitable gender relations and strengthen gender-transformative approaches that can improve nutrition outcomes for women, adolescents, and children in Tanzania.
Generate actionable, context-specific and cross-country recommendations to inform national program adaptations, strengthen community-based platforms (CHWs, care groups, VHNDs etc.), and guide harmonized gender-transformative strategies across Tanzania.
Support advocacy efforts at national and sub-national levels by providing evidence and insights that can influence the integration and institutionalization of gender-transformative nutrition approaches within policies, strategies, guidelines, and budgets.

The consultants will work closely with the Action Against Hunger GENTU teams to ensure alignment with project goals, integrate feedback, and refine approaches.

Methodology

The Gender Transformative Nutrition Study will be primarily undertaken through a qualitative method of approach consisting of consulting key stakeholders and reviewing existing country and global level sources. The key methods will include but are not limited to:

Develop and conduct strategic consultations and Key Informant Interviews (KII) with key national and sub-national (multi-level) government policy makers and CSO stakeholders in Tanzania.
Develop and conduct strategic KIIs with Canadian GTFN Coalition/Community of Practice Membership.
Conduct a desk review of existing gender in nutrition literature: including nutrition policies, strategies, program reports and data from Tanzania to understand the contexts and identify the gaps.
Conduct a desk review of global best practice gender transformative nutrition literature: including the Gender Transformative Framework for Nutrition (GTFN); The GTFN Systems Tool; the GTFN case studies; Closing the Gender Nutrition Gap: An Action Agenda for Women and Girls, and other gender transformative tools and studies.
Develop new and tailor existing gender transformative nutrition study tools and recommendations.
Conduct any relevant data compilation; data analysis and feedback sessions required.
Draft all required reports.

Assignment & Statement of Work

For this assignment, the consultants will be responsible for achieving the following key outputs/deliverables within the stated timeline.

Key outputs / deliverables and timeline The consultants conducting the Gender Nutrition Study are expected to deliver:

Inception meeting with Action Against Hunger GENTU teams.
Comprehensive desk review as outlined above.
Inception report detailing understanding of the assignment, refined objectives, methodology, work plan, timeline, and list of key stakeholders to engage.
KIIs and consultations with multi-level government and CSO stakeholders.
Desk review report synthetizing existing secondary data, policies, strategies, and frameworks in Tanzania, highlighting evidence gaps and opportunities for gender-transformative nutrition programming and action planning.
Stakeholder engagement report summarizing findings from Key Informant Interviews with research institutions, CSOs, and government stakeholders at national, district, and sub-county levels, highlighting gendered nutrition challenges and institutional perspectives.
A draft Gender Transformative Nutrition Study Report.
A final Gender Transformative Nutrition Study Report consolidating all findings, highlighting evidence gaps and analyses, actionable recommendations and toolkit for gender-transformative nutrition approaches.
An Executive Summary of the Gender Transformative Nutrition Study Report.
Validation & dissemination workshop events to present final gender transformative nutrition study report findings, actionable recommendations and toolkit (Audience, language and modalities to be determined at a later stage).

Requirements

Applicants should meet the following requirements:

At least 7 years of proven experience and expertise in conducting gender transformative nutrition studies (including in Tanzania, East Africa or similar contexts).
A Masters’ Degree or PhD (or equivalent) in either Women & Gender Studies, Sociology, Political Science, International Development, Nutrition, Public health or a related field.
Demonstrated experience conducting gender in nutrition assessments, and nutrition research/studies.
Excellent report writing and oral communication skills in English and Swahili required.
Tanzania nationals and/or persons with valid work permits in Tanzania are highly encouraged to apply.
Excellent knowledge and proven expertise in gender equality, women’s empowerment, gender transformative programming, Gender-Based Violence, Gender Nutrition studies.
Excellent knowledge of the existing links between gender inequality, Gender-Based Violence and Nutrition.
Excellent knowledge of Nutrition as a Human Rights and Gender Justice Issue in integrated health systems programming.
Knowledge of the Tanzanian health systems, community structures, and contexts related to health and nutrition services in rural settings.
Familiarity with the policy, legislative, and program landscape of Tanzania particularly in nutrition, gender, adolescent wellbeing, and GBV.
Proven ability to work collaboratively with diverse stakeholders.
Facilitation skills and the ability to manage the diversity of views in different socioeconomic and cultural contexts are a requirement.
Ability to manage the available resources and adhere to timelines and deliverables ensuring timely completion of all project phases.
Strong qualitative research skills, including data collection, analysis, and interpretation.
Adherence to ethical standards in research and data collection related to Gender Based Violence (GBV), including informed consent, confidentiality, and sensitivity to cultural norms and practices.
Ability to manage the available resources and adhere to timelines and deliverables ensuring timely completion of all project phases.

Gender balance in the proposed team, at all levels, is highly recommended and should be striven for.

Location

The consultancy is home-based except during the data collection phases. The consultant should be prepared to travel within the country for data collection.

Payment Conditions

30% of the total fee following submission of the inception meetings and report to facilitate initial planning and commencement of work.
30% upon successful completion of data collection phase, validation workshop, submission of the draft gender transformative nutrition study report for review and feedback.
40% to be paid upon acceptance, approval of the final gender transformative nutrition study report which should incorporate all revisions or additional requirements stipulated in the contract and delivery of the dissemination workshop.
All payments will be made via bank transfers in Tanzanian Shillings (TZS) with Action Against Hunger responsible for deducting all applicable taxes as per local regulations.

Legal and Ethical Matters

Based on the requirements and considerations outlined; a refined statement regarding legal and ethical matters for the consultancy agreement are:

Action Against Hunger retains ownership of all draft & final documentation related to this consultancy. The consultant agrees that these documents and any related publications will not be shared with any party other than Action Against Hunger without explicit written consent.
Action Against Hunger is designated as the primary recipient of the gender nutrition study. However, they may share the results with specific groups, including donors, governmental partners, and coordination bodies as necessary for program coordination and reporting purposes.
The consultant must disclose any potential conflicts of interest that could compromise the independence or impartiality of the gender nutrition study. This includes relationships with stakeholders or organizations that could influence the outcomes or perceptions of the evaluation.
The consultant agrees to conduct the gender nutrition study in accordance with ethical principles, respecting the dignity, rights, and confidentiality of all individuals involved. This includes adherence to relevant laws, regulations, and ethical standards applicable to the consultancy.

Application Packages and Procedures

Qualified and interested parties are welcome to submit a proposal for the Gender Transformative Nutrition Study for Nutrition Programming and Action Planning in Tanzania and are asked to submit the following:

Letter of interest in submission of a proposal for Conducting a Gender Transformative Nutrition Study for Nutrition Programming and Action Planning in Tanzania (in the form of an email) to: tender@tz-actionagainsthunger.org by Sunday, 8th February 2026 at 23:59 EAT.
Detailed technical proposal with a maximum length of 15 pages formatted in Lato font size 11 (excluding required attachments), clearly demonstrating a thorough understanding of this Request for Proposals and including the following:
- Proposed technical approach in conducting the gender nutrition study, including description of methodology, tools, sample size and strategies for stakeholder engagement.
- Proposed approaches to data analysis, in response to overall objectives.
- Proposed timeframe detailing activities and schedule/work plan (including a Gantt chart for all stages of the gender nutrition study processes, include information/support required from Action Against Hunger.
- Demonstrated previous experience in Qualitative methods and other qualifications.
- Team composition and level of effort of each proposed team member and indication of language skills of team members (if more than one).
A financial proposal with a detailed breakdown of costs for the study (to be submitted in Excel format):
- Itemized consultancy fee/costs.
- Itemized costs and payment modalities for the assignment, including but not limited to: Level of Effort & Travel Costs.
- Currency of offer in Tanzanian Shillings.
- Validity period of the offer from the date of submission.
Curriculum Vitae(s) of all proposed team members outlining relevant experience.
Names and contact information of three references who can be contacted regarding relevant experience.
A Consulting Firm profile (if applicable).

The proposal will be evaluated based on both technical (methodology) and financial (budget) aspects. The Contracting Authority selects the offer with the best value for money using an 80/20 weighting between technical quality and price.

Only qualified candidates will be contacted.

Complete applications should be submitted electronically to: tender@tz-actionagainsthunger.org with the subject line: “GENTU GENDER TRANSFORMATIVE NUTRITION STUDY” no later than Sunday, 22nd February 2026 at 23:59 EAT.

RFQ/Tender Information and Attachments

For comprehensive information regarding this RFQ/tender, we invite you to download the attachments provided below. These documents contain all the necessary details, including specifications, requirements, and submission guidelines. Please review them carefully to ensure you have all the pertinent information needed to participate.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL NOTICE HERE

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