USAID/ENGAGE

FINISHED: Request for Applications No. P4767-2021-05

Folder with the label Grants

LINKING, ADVOCATING, COLLABORATING: SUPPORT TO CSO REFORM INITIATIVES

(Support Issue-Based Civic Initiatives on National, Regional, and Local Level)

Pact is a leader in building the capacity of non-government organizations, networks, and intermediary organizations. Pact’s mission is to help build strong communities globally that provide people with an opportunity to earn a dignified living, raise healthy families and participate in democratic life. Pact achieves this by strengthening the organizational and technical capacity of grassroots organizations, coalitions, and networks, and by forging linkages between government, business, and citizens to achieve social, economic, and environmental justices.

This Request for Applications (RFA) is part of the Enhance Non-Governmental Actors and Grassroots Engagement Activity funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented in Ukraine by Pact (USAID/ENGAGE). The purpose of USAID/ENGAGE is to increase citizen awareness of and engagement in civic activities at the national, regional, and local level. More detailed USAID/ENGAGE Activity description can be found here.

Background

USAID/ENGAGE aims at fostering effective national, regional, and local civic coalitions and initiatives to promote democratic reforms. ENGAGE activities include supporting national CSOs in their efforts to engage and integrate local-level counterparts as well as local and regional activists and organizations to address local issues and influence national-level policies.

USAID/ENGAGE provides support to CSOs and informal civic initiatives to establish mechanisms for cooperation between civil society and government entities, build multi-level networks, and conduct oversight and monitoring through issue-based grants. Issue-based grants will be provided for moving forward the agenda of the reforms including anti-corruption, rule of law, decentralization, civic education, government accountability and transparency, electoral process, inclusive development (of persons with disabilities, internally displaced persons (IDPs), lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) and other vulnerable groups), EU integration, and other topics that are important to citizens and CSOs.

Goal of the Request for Applications

The goal of this RFA is to foster effective national, regional, and local civic coalitions and initiatives to promote democratic reforms through support of advocacy, networking, civic education, and private sector engagement activities. Different types of projects are expected under the different lots of this RFA to ensure tailored support of advocacy activities, relationship building, civic education, and private sector engagement.

This RFA is issued as a public notice to ensure that all interested, qualified, and eligible entities have a fair opportunity to submit applications for funding. Via this RFA Pact offers project support to established CSOs, as well as unregistered groups and informal civic initiatives.

Thematic Priorities

With this RFA, USAID/ENGAGE aims at addressing civil society’s challenges in extra-curricular civic education and reform promotion by supporting advocacy, networking, civic education, and private sector engagement, which build on ongoing and new citizen initiatives nationwide.

In the framework of this RFA, the primary priority themes will include (but will not be limited to):

Under this RFA, support for networks and coalitions is a priority for USAID/ENGAGE that seeks to link national, regional, and local civic initiatives throughout Ukraine, as well as support increased levels of information sharing and the development of joint initiatives among local CSOs and new grassroots civic initiatives, via a ‘bottom up’ approach to coalition and network building. Thus, special focus will be made on projects, supporting coalitions of organizations in their efforts to foster the reform progress on regional and local level.

Activities to be supported under this RFA need to demonstrate ability to leverage financial and in-kind contributions from the private sector, citizens, or the government. Proposed activities should include sustainability plans which articulate how activity or activity results will continue after initial support is received. Activities which demonstrate actual or potential opportunities for public-private partnerships will be prioritized for funding.

Geographic Area

USAID/ENGAGE will provide support to national, regional, or local organizations and coalitions, including established CSOs, as well as unregistered groups and informal civic initiatives nationwide, prioritizing those providing activities in the South and East of Ukraine, including in USAID/ENGAGE focus oblasts (Kharkiv, Kherson, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia).

Description of the RFA Tracks

USAID/ENGAGE offers project support to national, regional, or local organizations and coalitions, including established CSOs and unregistered groups and informal civic initiatives, through full and open competition comprised of four Tracks:

Track 1: USAID/ENGAGE is soliciting CSO initiatives to conduct issue-based policy advocacy, civic oversight, and watchdog activities of the progress of the reforms, awareness raising about the reforms and progress in their implementation.

Objectives of the Track:

Illustrative activities:

Expected results:

Upon completion of the proposed project, applicants will have to demonstrate achievement of some or most of the following results:

Track 2: USAID/ENGAGE is soliciting CSO initiatives to establish and strengthen national and local horizontal networking, cross-regional collaboration, and CSO-local government collaborations to link national, regional, and local civic initiatives throughout Ukraine around USAID/ENGAGE’s overarching themes.

Objectives of the Track:

Illustrative activities:

Expected results:

Upon completion of the proposed project, applicants will have to demonstrate achievement of some or most of the following results:

Track 3: USAID/ENGAGE is soliciting applications for extra-curricular CSO-led direct civic education and engagement and for traditional and innovative local constituency-building activities. The priority will be for those initiatives focusing on topics relevant to anti-corruption and democratic governance.

Objectives of the Track:

Illustrative activities:

Expected results:

Upon completion of the proposed project, applicants will have to demonstrate achievement of some or most of the following results:

Track 4: USAID/ENGAGE is soliciting applications to support local partnerships between CSOs and local private sector actors. USAID/ENGAGE also will consider matching support to CSO projects that have already mobilized at least 30% domestic resources via direct monetary, in-kind, crowdfunded, or other domestic sources of income.

Objectives of the Track:

Illustrative activities:

Expected results:

Upon completion of the proposed project, applicants will have to demonstrate achievement of some or most of the following results:

All applications under this track must:

Eligibility:

Selection Criteria:

Tentative Duration of the Grants: up to 18 months.  Independent of their start date, all proposed projects must end before June 30, 2023.

Grant Amount: average grant amount is up to $50,000. Outstanding ideas may receive bigger financial support if they are reasonable and well-justified.

The future agreements will be signed in Ukrainian currency, UAH, so applicants should submit their budgets in UAH.

Please note! Pact makes payments to its subawardees only via wire transfer, so unregistered groups and informal civic initiatives should apply for this competition in partnership/consortium with an officially registered CSO that agrees to administer the initiative’s funds.

Deadline for Submission of the Applications

Upon availability of funding, selection of awards will be made on a quarterly basis in four cycles (September 2021, December 2021, March 2022, June 2022).  To be considered within these cycles, applications must be submitted by September 25, 2021, at 24:00 Kyiv time, December 15, 2021, at 24:00 Kyiv time, March 15, 2022, at 24:00 Kyiv time, June 15, 2022, at 24:00 Kyiv time, correspondingly.

Applications submitted after June 15, 2022, at 24:00 Kyiv time will not be reviewed.

Application Process

Submit completed applications by e-mail to grants.engage@pactworld.org with the subject: “Response to RFA P4767-2021-05.”

Important:

Review Process

Pact will establish a technical review committee that includes representatives from various company departments and external staff. All technical reviewers will be subjected to a screening process to eliminate any conflict of interest. Evaluation will be based on the criteria set forth above. Selection of awards will be made on a quarterly basis in four cycles (September 2021, December 2021, March 2022, June 2022). The review panel will rate applications and make funding recommendations to the program’s grants management unit.

To facilitate the review of applications, please use the application format provided by Pact.

Terms and Conditions

Standard provisions: The Standard Provisions for Non-U.S. Non-Governmental Organizations as applicable will apply to these grants.

Permission for use and disclosure: By applying under this RFA, the applicant consents to the disclosure of the documents submitted by the applicant to the reviewers involved in the selection process. Please note that all reviewers are bound by non-disclosure agreements.

Disclaimers:

Questions?

If you have questions, please submit them electronically to grants.engage@pactworld.org.

The email subject line should read “Questions to RFA P4767-2021-05 – name of organization submitting the question.”

Questions to this RFA will be answered on a rolling basis. The Q&A document will be added to this RFA package and updated on a rolling basis.

* In line with the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA or Transparency Act) you are required to obtain an individual DUNS Number to be the recipient of a U.S. Government-funded subaward. A DUNS number may be obtained online via fedgov.dnb.com/webform. A DUNS number is not required for application, but will be required for receipt of award. If you need a detailed instruction on receiving the number, please write to grants.engage@pactworld.org.