TESTING ALTERNATIVES OF FRONT OF PACK LABEL (FOPL) VISUAL CUES FOR GAME DEVELOPMENT
1. ABOUT GAIN
The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is a Swiss-based foundation launched at the UN in 2002 to tackle the human suffering caused by malnutrition. Working with both governments and businesses, we aim to transform food systems so that they deliver more nutritious food for all people.
At GAIN, we believe that everyone in the world should have access to nutritious and safe food. We work to understand and deliver specific solutions to the daily challenge of food insecurity faced by poor people. By understanding that there is no “one-size-fits-all” model, we develop alliances and build tailored programmes, using a variety of flexible models and approaches.
We build alliances between governments, local and global businesses, and civil society to deliver sustainable improvements at scale. We are part of a global network of partners working together to create sustainable solutions to malnutrition. Through alliances, we provide technical, financial and policy support to key participants in the food system. We use specific learning, evidence of impact, and results of projects and programmes to shape and influence the actions of others.
Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, GAIN has representative offices in Denmark, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In addition, we have country offices in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Tanzania. Programmes and projects are carried out in a variety of other countries, particularly in Africa and Asia.
2. BACKGROUND
The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is issuing this Request for Proposal (RFP) and will be the administrative lead organisation for this RFP.
Low-quality diet, particularly processed food consumption, are the leading risk factor for poor health. Access to low-quality diets is becoming prevalent nowadays. Indonesian adolescents snack multiple times a day[1] (Blum et al, 2019) and regularly purchase pre-packaged snacks sold by street vendors, school canteens and kiosks.
GAIN’s ‘Food Investigator Game is a project that aims to involve adolescents through an interactive game to map out the source of nutritious foods and snacks in their local food environment. Supported with education, it aims to encourage adolescents to seek out healthier options, while at the same time signalling demand for healthier food to the vendors in the hope of triggering a market response.
The project will develop a game in collaboration with adolescents, that maps the food environment. It will encourage participants to input nutrition data from labels of packaged foods and snacks and instantly interpreting this information using front-of-package labels (FOPL).
Front of package labels (FOPL) are an effective means of communication with consumers at the point of decision-making and purchase. Adolescents may respond differently to different FOPL, and this may influence their decisions at point-of-purchase. For example, some FOPL such as Nutri-score, create summary indices of multiple nutrients, including nutrients of concern as well as beneficial nutrients, to present a product’s overall nutritional profile on a continuum from least to more healthy. This type of FOPL evaluates the overall nutritional profile of the product, without providing details on the levels at which nutrients of concern are present.
Other FOPL schemes, like the traffic light label, which colour-code multiple nutrients, convey complex information for the consumer to do an assessment of healthfulness of the product. This task could be challenging for products with high values of one nutrient of concern but low value of another nutrient of concern. Another type of FOPL are nutrient warnings, which are binary signals to consumers about the presence or absence of high levels of nutrients of concerns. While these nutrient warning that identify unhealth products most effectively discourage purchase of junk foods, we seek to generate evidence on the type of FOPL that might be more effective for our target population.
The purpose of this RFP is to engage services of a Service Provider to help determine the most effective FOPL to be used as part of the Food Investigator Game to help adolescents make better food choices. The research should be completed in two phases. The first phase is exploratory research to gain an understanding of the types of images and messages that carry the most meaning for adolescents and identify any barriers for comprehensibility in the local context. The objectives in this first phase are:
i. To explore adolescents’ decision around food purchasing, particularly unhealthy packaged food; their knowledge on the food’s ingredients; and the influence of product packaging and promotion on their knowledge and decisions.
i) To understand what type of nutritional information (including labels) adolescents use for food decisions, and to identify factors that drive acceptability and trustworthiness of information (e.g., conflicting health claims, celebrity endorsements, influencers, etc.).
The second phase of research aims to test the acceptability, usability/interpretation, trustworthiness, discriminant validity of 3 FOPL with adolescents, specifically:
i) How easily are participants able to understand the accurate meaning of the label?
ii) Is it trustworthy? Relevant?
iii) Is it culturally relevant? Are there aspects to the label that are either not relevant or culturally appropriate?
iv) Does it allow adolescents to identify unhealthy food? Does it help discriminate between healthy and unhealthy options?
v) Does it increase concern—perceptions of personal risk—over consuming unhealthy foods?
vi) Does it motivate the selection of better food choices?
vii) Is the label likely to be strengthened by placement of a government authority endorsement?
We seek a service provider that can deliver a research proposal that answers the exploratory and efficacy objectives noted above.
3. SCOPE OF WORK AND DELIVERABLES
Tasks:
- In coordination with GAIN’s team, identify the 3 FOPL to be assessed with adolescents. The selection of these labels depends on evidence regarding their effectiveness, and Indonesia’s use and experience with these labels (such as the healthier food option logo implemented voluntary under the regulation of Badan Pengawas Obat dan Makanan/BPOM (National Agency of Drug and Food Control) No 22/2019).
- Develop a research protocol and request ethical approval.
- Adapt the 3 FOPL to Indonesian context and further refine based on the exploratory research.
- Conduct data collection and analysis
- Develop final report on research findings in presentation and narrative report. The selected service provider needs to involve an academic writer to support the narrative report development. It is expected that the academic writer has minimum 5 years of academic reports writing. The report should include recommendations on the types of images and text for the FOPL that should be used in the Food Investigator Game.
Objectives:
To determine the most effective FOPL that should be used as part of the Food Investigator Game to help adolescents make better food choices.
Deliverables:
The service shall be performed between project is commenced from 22 March 2021 and 15 June 2021.
Deliverables | Date Deliverable Due |
Brief inception report with selection of the 3 FOPL to be assessed during the study | 5 April 2021 |
Draft research protocol | 26 April 2021 |
Final research protocol with ethical approval | 3 May 2021 |
Brief field report | 7 June 2021 |
Final report and presentation with the final design of FOPL for Food Investigator Game | 25 June 2021 |
4. INSTRUCTIONS FOR RESPONDING
This section addresses the process for responding to this solicitation. Applicants are encouraged to review this prior to completing their responses.
· Contact
Please direct all inquiries and other communications to rfp@gainhealth.org with subject line ‘FOPL Indonesia-query’. Responses will not be confidential except in cases where proprietary information is involved.
· Budget
Applicants are required to provide GAIN with a detailed fee percentage proposal. The final budget amount will have to be approved by the organisation prior to starting the project.
· Format for Proposal
Interested applicants should prepare a brief proposal (maximum 5 pages) that includes:
- Description of strategy with clear activities and process for conducting this service. The proposal needs to provide rationale behind the proposed strategy.
- Activities and timeline: A timeline for undertaking and completing the main activities, including planning, implementation, and reporting, should be provided. A Gantt diagram is preferred.
- Budget: Provide a budget in USD (US Dollar), broken down by main cost categories (Personnel, travel, operational, direct, and indirect costs) and by main activities. Include a brief narrative justification for line items included. The budget should be inclusive of all taxes/VAT and indirect costs.
- Detailed profiles (qualification, expertise, relevant experience etc.) of the individuals who will be completing the work including their full names, their expertise and publications in relevant research. The applicant team must include a partner based in Indonesia, including letters of commitment. It is advisable that the applicant team includes a graphic designer to support the adaptation of the FOPL to the Indonesian context.
- A completed ‘Offer of Services’ form (see end of RFP for template).
· Submission and Deadline
Completed proposals should be submitted in electronic format to rfp@gainhealth.org by email on 30 March 2021 with subject line ‘FOPL Indonesia – proposal’.
