Mediation analyses of the End to End (consumption, food environment, and demand)
approach and team capacity building for this type of modelling
Background
The CGIAR Science Program on Better Diets and Nutrition was launched in January 2025. The Program aims to increase the consumption of sustainable, healthy diets by challenging conventional approaches. Rather than focusing primarily on production, technology, and efficiency, it positions consumers as the strategic entry point for systemic change. The Program adopts a food systems approach grounded in the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) framework and aims to address five key constraints shaping diet quality: accessibility, affordability, availability, desirability, and agency. It works across the entire food system—from consumers to producers—to generate evidence on system-wide solutions that address these constraints. Through research, engagement, and capacity sharing, the research builds evidence for system-wide solutions that overcome these constraints to support governance and drive investments to attain sustainable healthy diets and curb the current unhealthy and harmful megatrends damaging the health of people and the planet.
Within this Program, the Area of Work on End-to-End Solutions for Increasing Intake of Perishable, Nutrient-Rich Foods (AoW3) builds on the One CGIAR Research Initiative on Fruits and Vegetables for Sustainable Healthy Diets (FRESH) in both Tanzania and Sri Lanka. While FRESH focused on end-to-end solutions to increase the intake of fruits and vegetables (F&V), AoW3 expands this scope to include other nutrient-rich foods, specifically aquatic foods and terrestrial animal-source foods (ASF).
Two rounds of longitudinal data were collected to explore production/supply, food environments, and demand for consumption of fruit and vegetables in Tanzania (Arusha and Kilimanjaro) and one round of data (baseline) in Sri Lanka. Future rounds of data collection are planned between 2027 and 2030. To date, descriptive and associational analyses have been conducted, but there is a need for more complex modelling to explore how consumer demand/diets, markets/food environments, and production/supply are linked.
Activities
In support of AoW3’s research work, the objectives of this consultancy are to: 1) Support mediation analyses and 2 related manuscripts that explore linkages among consumer demand/diets, markets/food environments, and production/supply for Tanzania and Sri Lanka and 2) Design and implement a program to build capacity of BDN AoW3 teams to conduct mediation analyses.
Location
Work will be done remotely, with travel to Washington D.C. and/or international conferences, as needed and requested (up to two trips per year)
Level of effort
The level of effort for this activity is estimated at 90 days, to be confirmed.
Deliverables:
Input into Tanzania manuscript
Input into Sri Lanka manuscript
Slide deck for capacity building sessions provided
Required qualifications
Professor of statistics/quantitative methods, with proven expertise in teaching mediation
Demonstrated experience conducting mediation analyses of agriculture, nutrition, and health pathways
Application
Please submit a letter of interest and your CV and your daily rate. All documents shall be uploaded as one pdf to the application section indicating CV or Resume.
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