The World Bank task team working on the Egypt Emergency Food Security and Resilience Support Project is seeking a consulting firm to assist with a series of analytical studies.
The objective of the assignment is to inform potential reforms of the bread subsidy
program and incentives mechanisms in the wheat value chain in Egypt.
The two proposed studies are: i) A poverty and social impact assessment (PSIA); and ii)
Price incentives analysis.
The PSIA will analyze and inform
reforming and better targeting of the near-universal Bread Subsidy Program.
The PSIA will assess the distributional impact of the bread subsidy within a
population in terms of various socio-economic indicators. This analytical work
will aim to build on the work of the WB Human Development Public Expenditure
Review (HD PER).
The price incentives analysis will analyze how the policy and
market environment in the wheat value chain affect prices for different agents
(producers, millers, traders, and consumers) along the wheat value chain. The driving factors of
price (dis)incentives will be explored. The findings of the analysis will help
inform and suggest politically feasible policy options for improving incentives
to promote efficient and sustainable market-oriented wheat value chain, while
keeping prices of bread affordable for consumers, especially considering the
decades-long social contract between the government and its citizens to
provide a cheap source of bread to the poor and vulnerable segments of the
population. The activity will define the tradeoffs among various policy and
support options.
The two pieces of analytical work will jointly inform whether
reforms to the bread subsidy program could contribute to reducing distortions
in the wheat value chain, improving food security, and promoting
a sustainable agriculture sector. This is especially important if the different options
potentially available to improve targeting of the program could create more
space for the market to operate along the wheat value chain.
The following general qualification criteria would be the basis for the selection:
· A firm with over ten years of research experience
(data collection and analysis) in agriculture and food, poverty, and social protection.
· Experience working with government counterparts and
development partners in Egypt, including the World Bank.
· Possess strong networks with universities, research
forums, private sector, NGOs, etc.
· Ability to conduct research in both Arabic and
English.