Terms of Reference (TOR) For Complementary Food Recipe Development and Validation Consultancy – Moyale (Borena)

Background Ethiopia has made notable progress in developing national guidance and programmatic frameworks to improve Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices, including complementary feeding. The updated Federal Ministry of Health Ethiopia Adolescent, Maternal, Infant and Young Child Nutrition (AMIYCN) Implementation Guideline (2022) emphasizes the importance of context-specific, locally appropriate complementary food recipes, supported by practical cooking demonstrations, caregiver engagement, and feedback mechanisms. These approaches are further reinforced through large-scale platforms such as the Productive Safety Net Programme Phase V (PSNP V), where nutrition-sensitive social protection interventions integrate behavior change communication (BCC), household-level food preparation practices, and improved dietary diversity. In 2022, UNICEF supported initiatives to strengthen complementary feeding practices through market-informed, affordability-sensitive recipe development, including the introduction of nutrient-dense innovations such as egg powder and avocado powder in collaboration with Addis Ababa University. These efforts aimed to tailor complementary feeding recommendations to real household economic conditions across diverse agro-ecological and market contexts. However, macroeconomic pressures—including food inflation exceeding 40% in 2022—significantly constrained household purchasing power, thereby affecting the feasibility and scalability of recommended recipes. This highlights the critical need to align complementary feeding interventions not only with nutritional adequacy but also with food system realities, affordability, and market availability.  Despite these advancements, complementary feeding practices in Ethiopia remain largely traditional and predominantly plant-based, with limited inclusion of nutrient-rich animal source foods, fruits, and vegetables. Common household-prepared foods include cereal-based porridges (e.g., maize, teff, barley, sorghum), often diluted and of low nutrient density, as well as mixtures of tubers and legumes. While these foods are culturally acceptable and locally available, they frequently fail to meet the energy, protein, and micronutrient requirements of children aged 6–23 months. Evidence indicates that such diets are particularly deficient in key micronutrients such as zinc, calcium, and iron, contributing to persistent undernutrition.  Although animal source foods can substantially improve dietary quality, their consumption remains low due to economic constraints, limited access, and socio-cultural factors, especially among vulnerable households. This underscores the importance of developing cost-effective, nutrient-dense, and culturally acceptable complementary food options that are feasible within local food systems. Recent developments, including the release of the Ethiopian Food Composition Table (EFCT) 2025 and its associated digital platform, provide new opportunities to strengthen evidence-based recipe formulation, nutrient analysis, and program design. These tools enable more precise estimation of nutrient intake, improved understanding of dietary patterns, and enhanced alignment of food-based interventions with national nutrition priorities. Furthermore, existing programmatic platforms—such as AMIYCN and PSNP—already incorporate cooking demonstrations, counseling structures, and monitoring indicators (e.g., Minimum Dietary Diversity, Minimum Meal Frequency, and Minimum Acceptable Diet), demonstrating the feasibility of scaling improved complementary feeding practices. However, there remains a gap in systematically integrating sensory acceptability, caregiver workload, affordability, and iterative testing into recipe development processes. In this context, there is a clear need to strengthen complementary feeding interventions through a food systems and nutrition nexus approach, ensuring that recipe development is not only nutritionally adequate but also affordable, scalable, market-aligned, and socially acceptable. This TOR therefore seeks to guide the development and refinement of context-specific complementary food recipes and implementation approaches that are grounded in Ethiopia’s evolving food system, climate realities, and household economic conditions. Rationale Despite the availability of national guidelines and programmatic platforms to promote improved complementary feeding in Ethiopia, significant gaps persist in translating these frameworks into sustained improvements in diet quality at household level. Evidence from implementation experiences indicates that while cash and food assistance—particularly through the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP)—can enhance household purchasing power, this alone is insufficient to improve complementary feeding practices. PSNP documentation explicitly positions transfers as an enabler for purchasing nutrient-rich foods such as eggs, milk, pulses, and vegetables; however, it also emphasizes the critical role of behavior change communication (BCC) and practical cooking demonstrations. This suggests that purchasing power without adequate knowledge and practical support is unlikely to result in improved child diets.  Similarly, lessons from integrated initiatives such as the Sustainable Undernutrition Reduction in Ethiopia highlight that multi-sectoral integration is essential for sustained dietary improvements. Improvements in dietary diversity indicators have been achieved where nutrition interventions are combined with agricultural extension, home gardening, and food access strategies. This reinforces that recipe development in isolation—without addressing food availability, production, and affordability constraints—is unlikely to deliver meaningful or scalable impact. At the same time, Ethiopia’s existing complementary feeding recipes, while grounded in local food systems, remain  partially outdated and nutritionally incomplete in their operational application. Legacy recipes have primarily emphasized energy, protein, and iron, with limited attention to key “problem nutrients” such as zinc, calcium, and vitamin A. Although the recent release of the Ethiopian Food Composition Table (EFCT 2025) provides a robust and updated evidence base, its systematic application in recipe formulation, nutrient profiling, and program design remains limited. Furthermore, existing recipes often lack  standardized nutrient profiling based on realistic portion sizes, and are insufficiently aligned with  household affordability, seasonal availability, and local market dynamics. As a result, there remains a critical gap in translating national guidance on “locally appropriate recipes” into  clearly defined, nutritionally quantified, and context-specific recipe packages that are both feasible and scalable at household level. Traditional complementary feeding practices continue to be predominantly plant-based and low in nutrient density, often failing to meet the nutritional requirements of children aged 6–23 months and pregnant and lactating women. While animal source foods offer important nutritional benefits, their use remains constrained by affordability and access, particularly among vulnerable households. In addition, cultural and religious practices—especially fasting periods—further limit dietary diversity. Although existing guidance acknowledges these constraints, there is insufficient operationalization of fasting-compatible, nutrient-dense alternatives, such as combinations of legumes, oils, and vitamin A–rich vegetables, alongside clear messaging on exemptions for young children. Strengthening these aspects requires engagement with religious and community leaders to ensure cultural acceptability and uptake. Another critical gap lies in the limited integration of affordability analysis, diet modeling, and seasonality considerations into complementary feeding programming. Approaches such as the Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (FBDG) methodology emphasize the importance of modeling diets based on cost, local availability, and varying energy requirements. However, these principles have not been consistently applied in recipe development at local (woreda) level. There is therefore a need to design recipes that are not only nutritionally adequate but also affordable, adaptable across seasons, and supported by practical substitution options. In alignment with the Nutrition-Centric Humanitarian–Development–Peace (NC-HDP) approach, the CORE Program implemented by SOS Children's Villages Ethiopia provides a strategic platform to address these gaps. Under its humanitarian pillar, the program aims to improve access to nutritious complementary foods among vulnerable households—particularly children under five and pregnant and lactating women—through a combination of nutrition-sensitive cash transfers and household-level recipe promotion. Targeted households, including those affected by severe acute malnutrition (SAM), are supported with nutrition cash assistance intended to complement improved feeding practices. However, the effectiveness of this approach depends on the availability of well-designed, affordable, and context-specific recipes that translate financial access into improved dietary intake. Given these challenges and lessons learned, there is a clear need for a systematic, evidence-driven approach to complementary food recipe development that bridges the gap between policy guidance and household practice. This includes updating existing recipes using the latest food composition data (e.g., EFCT 2025), incorporating missing nutrients, and ensuring that recipes are tested for acceptability, feasibility, and cultural relevance. Therefore, this consultancy is justified to: Develop and standardize context-specific complementary food recipes with quantified nutrient profiles  Ensure recipes are affordable, locally available, and adaptable to seasonal and market variations  Integrate fasting-sensitive and culturally appropriate feeding options  Link recipe development with social protection, food systems, and behavior change platforms  Strengthen implementation through household trials, sensory acceptability testing, and practical demonstrations  Ultimately, this work will contribute to ensuring that complementary feeding interventions in Borena Zone, where the CORE Program is operational, are not only technically sound but also feasible, scalable, and effective in improving nutrition outcomes within drought-prone and resource-constrained pastoral and agro-pastoral communities. Purpose of the Consultancy  The purpose of this consultancy is to  design, validate, and operationalize context-specific, nutritionally adequate, and affordable complementary food recipes for Ethiopia, aligned with national guidelines and grounded in local food systems. The consultancy aims to bridge the gap between  policy-level recommendations and practical household-level implementation by developing recipes that are not only nutritionally sound but also  feasible, culturally acceptable, and economically accessible for vulnerable populations. In alignment with the Nutrition-Centric Humanitarian–Development–Peace (NC-HDP) approach under the CORE Program implemented by SOS Children's Villages Ethiopia, this work will contribute to strengthening the effectiveness of  nutrition-sensitive cash assistance and behavior change interventions, ensuring that increased access to food translates into  improved dietary practices and nutrition outcomes among children under five and pregnant and lactating women. Overall Objective General Objective To develop and validate  affordable, context-specific, and nutritionally optimized complementary food recipes tailored to  Borena Zone, with a focus on Moyale Woreda, ensuring alignment with  local pastoral and agro-pastoral food systems, cultural practices, and household economic realities. Specific Objectives 1.To identify and analyze locally available, affordable, and seasonally accessible food items within Moyale Woreda, considering:  Pastoral and agro-pastoral livelihood systems  Market access and mobility patterns  Seasonal variability and drought conditions  2. To develop nutritionally adequate complementary food recipes adapted to the Borena context for:  Children 6–11 months   Children 12–23 months   Pregnant and lactating women (PLW)   3.To ensure all recipes meet age-specific nutrient requirements, with particular attention to key limiting nutrients (e.g., zinc, calcium, vitamin A) within locally feasible diets  4.To integrate diet modeling, affordability analysis (e.g., cost thresholds), and practical substitution options based on local market dynamics and seasonal food availability in Moyale   5.To incorporate culturally appropriate and fasting-sensitive feeding practices, including:  Locally acceptable food combinations  Consideration of pastoral dietary patterns (e.g., milk reliance, limited crop diversity)  6.To test and refine recipes through Trials of Improved Practices (TIPs) and sensory acceptability assessments with caregivers and children in target communities  7.To develop a draft practical behavior change and communication materials, including:  8.Contextualized cooking demonstrations  9.Short video-based recipe demonstrations using locally available ingredients  To support institutional validation and alignment with:  Local woreda-level health and agriculture Bureaus in Borena FSNC TWG  Scope of Work and Key Tasks The consulting firm will be responsible for delivering the assignment through the following key tasks: Phase 1: Inception and Planning Conduct inception meetings with SOS Children's Villages Ethiopia and key stakeholders  Review relevant documents (AMIYCN, PSNP, EFCT 2025, FNG, etc.)  Develop and submit a detailed inception report, including:  Methodology  Workplan and timeline  Sampling and site selection (12 Kebeles/ Moyale Woreda)  Tools for data collection and analysis  Phase 2: Food Environment and Market Assessment Map locally available and affordable food items across selected contexts  Analyze price, seasonality, and accessibility constraints   Identify context-specific food baskets and substitution options   Phase 3: Diet Modeling and Recipe Development Apply diet modeling approaches (e.g., Optifood or equivalent)  Develop nutritionally optimized recipes for target groups  Ensure recipes:  Meet nutrient requirements  Fit within defined affordability thresholds  Reflect local food habits and preparation practices  Integrate fasting-compatible options and cultural considerations   Phase 4: Testing and Validation Conduct Trials of Improved Practices (TIPs) at household level  Implement sensory and acceptability testing Refine recipes based on feedback and feasibility findings  Work with certified nutritionists to validate nutrient adequacy  Phase 5: Communication and Dissemination Produce short, high-quality cooking demonstration videos   Engage local influencers/chefs/media actors Support dissemination through:  Community platforms  Media channels  Program implementation structures (PSNP, HEWs)  Phase 6: Institutional Engagement and Endorsement Facilitate validation workshops with:  Local woreda-level health and agriculture Bureaus in Borena FSNC TWG Incorporate feedback and finalize recipes  Develop a standardized recipe annex/guideline document Phase 7: Monitoring, Evaluation, and Reporting Develop a context-specific recipe adoption and monitoring framework, aligned with:  PSNP monitoring systems  Health Extension Program  Move beyond activity-based reporting (e.g., number of cooking demonstrations) by integrating standardized quantitative indicators, including:  % of caregivers preparing enriched complementary foods/porridge ≥3 days/week   % of children achieving Minimum Dietary Diversity (MDD)   % of children achieving Minimum Acceptable Diet (MAD)   % of households demonstrating improved food preparation and hygiene practices   Design and deploy simple data collection tools, including:  Household monitoring checklists (HEWs / CORE Officers)  Direct observation spot-check tools  TIPs follow-up tracking tools  Submit:  Draft report (including preliminary findings)  Final report including:  Quantitative adoption and diet quality results  Lessons learned and implementation gaps  Recommendations for scale-up   Deliverables and Payment Schedule (Timeline: April 6

• July 5) Payments will be made based on the successful completion and approval of key deliverables, aligned with the consultancy period from  6 April to 5 July. Milestone / Deliverable Linked Phases Expected Timeline 1. Inception Report (Approved) - Methodology, workplan, tools - Sampling (12 kebeles in Moyale) - Stakeholder engagement plan Phase 1 By 12 April 2. Food Environment & Market Assessment Report - Food mapping - Price & seasonality analysis - Food baskets & substitution options Phase 2 By 25 April 3. Draft Recipe Package & Diet Modeling Results - Draft recipes (all target groups) - Nutrient profiling (EFCT-based) - Affordability analysis Phase 3 By 15 May 4. Field Testing & Validation Report (TIPs + Acceptability) - TIPs results - Sensory testing findings - Revised recipes Phase 4 By 5 June 5. Communication Products Delivered - Cooking demo videos - BCC/demo materials Phase 5 By 15 June 6. Institutional Validation & Final Recipe Annex - FSNC TWG validation - Woreda/Zone endorsement - Final guideline document Phase 6 By 25 June 7. Final Report & M&E Framework (Approved) - Quantitative indicators integrated - Monitoring tools - Final recommendations Phase 7 By 5 July Ethical, Safeguarding, and Do‑No‑Harm Requirements The consulting firm shall adhere to the highest standards of ethical practice, safeguarding, and “Do No Harm” principles throughout the assignment. All activities must ensure dignity, inclusion, and non-discrimination by using positive, non-stigmatizing, and culturally appropriate language and imagery. Prior informed consent must be obtained for any photos, videos, or testimonials, with parental or caregiver consent required for children. The firm shall ensure that all interactions with children and vulnerable groups comply with safeguarding standards, protecting their, dignity, and safety at all times. The consulting firm shall also ensure responsible data management by collecting only necessary information, maintaining confidentiality, and anonymizing personal data where possible. All activities must be context-sensitive and avoid exacerbating vulnerabilities, taking into account local cultural practices, gender dynamics, and resource constraints in pastoral communities. Clear and accessible feedback and grievance mechanisms must be established during community engagement, and all interventions should be inclusive and accessible to persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups Intellectual Property and Data All materials produced under this assignment—including but not limited to creative content, raw and editable design files, scripts, audio-visual materials, photographs, datasets, and analytical outputs—shall become the exclusive property of the commissioning organization upon final payment. The consulting firm shall not use, reproduce, or distribute any materials without prior written consent. The consulting firm shall provide all outputs in fully editable formats, along with relevant documentation or usage guides to support future adaptation and use. All data collected shall be securely managed and handed over in an organized, accessible format, ensuring compliance with data protection and confidentiality requirements.