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.
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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 Researcher
In 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).
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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 participants
Research 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 activities
These 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:
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
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/responses
o 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 coauthored 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.
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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.
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ANNEX 1: Methodological Guidelines
Sent under separate cover, structured as:
1
Qualitative research guidelines – overview
2a
2b
2c
2d
2e
2f
FGD tools – to follow
FGD checklist – to follow
HH case study tools – to follow
HH case study checklist – to follow
KII tools – to follow
KII checklist – to follow
3a
3b
Qualitative research guidelines – data management – to follow
Photography guidelines – to follow
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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
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6. knowledge or assumptions about nutrition
7. 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:
Processed
food
What are they
buying or
selling and
why?
Unsafe
Food
Public Opinion:
advertising,
media,
school/street/vill
age talk
Economic factors:
prices, livelihoods,
subsidies, new
foods, cheap foods
•What are
their
concerns?
•What is being
done?
Food
habits
•how have
food habits
changed?
•What are the
implications?
Government
action: food
regulation, taxes,
social protection
& nutrition progs.
Processed and
unsafe food:
changing meal
habits, time,
unpaid care, ill
health
Other influences:
including custom,
culture and
religion
Tools and Methods (we’ll give more guidance in the Annex 1 guidelines)
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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 snacks
b) Sauces and seasonings
c) Popular street foods
d) 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.
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