Food Systems for Nutrition Innovation Lab Call for Expressions of Interest (EOI): Demonstrating the Cost-Effectiveness of Innovation Bundles to Support Food Systems Transformation for Nutrition, Food Safety, and Reduced Food Loss and Waste
The application deadline has passed
The Food Systems for Nutrition Innovation Lab (FSN-IL) is a five-year activity managed by Tufts University and supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Bureau for Resilience and Food Security (RFS). FSN-IL is seeking expressions of interest (EOI) from eligible institutions to collaborate on applied research that demonstrates that bundles of innovations can support food systems transformation for nutrition in target geographies at scale. The bundle of innovations (to be implemented and/or tested will reduce loss and waste of nutrient-dense perishable foods while ensuring food safety in Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal, or Bangladesh. The final study design will be developed through a process of co-creation with FSN-IL and its consortium partners and will require concurrence of the USAID mission in the target country.
FSN-IL focuses on all parts of the value chain, with particular emphasis on downstream (post-farm gate) innovations that include processing, storage, packaging, cooling, transformation, retail, and consumer domains. This also includes critical cross-cutting innovations that improve nutritional status of vulnerable populations.
The objective of this EOI is to identify partners with experience and expertise in implementing, testing and/or assessing innovations in Bangladesh, Nepal, Malawi, or Mozambique. Each country is of course unique in its food systems and challenges. That said, FSN-IL research through this EOI will focus on potentially generalizable innovations in perishable food value chains from the post-farm gate, ideally on a combination of innovations from processing to storage, packaging, cooling, transformation, market infrastructure improvements, market access improvements, food retail and environment modifications, as well as demand generation and social behavior change communication to influence consumer perceptions and, subsequently, consumer choice.
All applications must include at least one U.S. based academic institution and should identify at least one partner from the selected focus country. There is no restriction on who can apply as the lead (prime) if criteria for being the lead of a USAID project are met and documented. Applicants and their partners must have a Universal Entity Identification (UEI) from the System for Award Management (SAM) and an active SAM registration at the time of award.
The application process will consist of three stages: submissions of expressions of interest, co-creation process, and assessment, development, and submission of a full proposal.
Only selected EOIs will be invited for co-creation with FSN-IL. EOIs must be submitted through Piestar RFx and must be received in the system by 5:00 pm EST on Tuesday, March 5th, 2024. More information can be found by downloading the EOI form below. Additionally, you will be asked to download the following EOI template below and upload it to Piestar as part of your application.