Counterpart International Afghanistan Afghan Civic Engagement Program (ACEP)

Transcription

1 Counterpart International Afghanistan Afghan Civic Engagement Program (ACEP) Request for Applications (RFA) Key CSO Partner Policy & Advocacy Grants Access to Justice Issuance Date of RFA: April 25, 2016 Deadline for Submission of Questions: Orientation Session Date: April 27, 2016 at 04:00 PM Kabul Time April 28, 2016 at 02:00 PM Kabul time Posting Date of Answers to Questions: May 01, 2016 Application Submission Deadline Date: May 14, 2016 at 23:59 Kabul Time Projected Date of Grant Awards: On or about June 01, 2016 RFA Number: RFA Purpose of the RFA: Eligible Organizations Who Can Apply: To solicit applications from eligible Afghan civil society organizations (CSO) interested in receiving Access to Justice Key CSO Partner Policy & Advocacy Grant to strengthen Afghan citizens capacity and provide opportunities to influence policies, monitor government accountability and serve as an advocate for positive social change at the national level in the area of Access to Justice, with focus on law enforcement bodies that promote rule of law, including the judiciary and police.. Only Kabul-based Afghan CSOs holding valid registration certificates from the Ministry of Economy and/or Ministry of Justice. Background The Afghan Civic Engagement Program (ACEP) is a five-year program, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by Counterpart International, Inc. (CPI), in partnership with Internews, the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) and the International Centre for Non-profit Law (ICNL). The goal of ACEP is to promote civil society and media engagement that enables Afghan citizens to influence policy, monitor government accountability, and serve as advocates for political reform. The program aims to achieve this goal through five program areas: (1) Regular Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) Engagement with Government; (2) Increased CSO and Media Thematic Expertise in Democracy and Governance; (3) Expanded Civic Engagement; (4) Improved Access to Independent News and Public Affairs Information, and (5) Increased CSO Organizational Capacity. ACEP has been implemented since 2014 and thus far provided support to 12 Key CSO Partners and 130 Target CSOs in 22 provinces working in more than 387 communities, with a total of 119,016 beneficiaries. Of those beneficiaries, 55,284 are female (of those, 33,874 are youth between Page 1 of 11

2 years old). In order to build on the project s success and continue its engagement with civil society organizations and citizens of Afghanistan, ACEP would like to expand its coverage to strengthen the link between the community, district, provincial, regional and national level CSOs. This year, rather than working with 12 Key Partners and 130 Target CSOs, ACEP will work with three categories of CSOs, namely: Provincial CSO Partners (PCPs) (at least one per province deemed as safe and secure for Counterpart to operate), Regional Key Partners (RCPs) (approximately 7), and Kabulbased Key Partners (KBPs) (approximately 7). Regional Key Partners will mentor, train and support Provincial CSO Partners, while Kabul-based Key Partners will be responsible for engaging with the national government to influence policies, monitor government accountability and advocate for reforms. The issues and challenges identified during provincial and regional dialogues by Provincial CSO Partners and Regional Key Partners respectively will be shared with the Kabul-based Key Partners, who will then engage with the national level government in Kabul to advocate for reforms at the national level. The Kabul-based Partners will also provide feedback and suggestions to the RCPs (and in turn to the PCPs) on where advocacy and policy interventions at the subnational level could be most effective. Through joint efforts, the Provincial, Regional and Kabul-based CSOs will work together within their individual level and roles to increase knowledge and action taken by ACEP in the following six (6) thematic areas: 1. Access to justice with focus on law enforcement bodies, those that promote rule of law including the judiciary and police. 2. Good Governance with focus on 1) elections, 2) anti-corruption, accountability and transparency. 3. Human Rights with focus on 1) women rights, 2) child rights and 3) rights of people with disabilities. 4. Peace building, Conflict resolution, and Reconciliation. 5. Counter trafficking in Persons (human trafficking). 6. Women empowerment with focus on women social and economic empowerment. ACEP will be issuing seven (7) Policy & Advocacy Grants within these thematic areas, with this grant specifically focused on Access to Justice. To ensure enhanced coordination, and collective advocacy on those issues among Kabul-based Partners, ACEP will facilitate the formation of a national advocacy group or network represented by Kabul-based CSO Partners. ACEP will provide technical assistance to the advocacy group to draft an advocacy strategy with specific action plans for The ACEP Kabul-based Partners will develop follow up advocacy action plans to be implemented by the advocacy group in Kabul. The advocacy group will provide to regional and provincial CSOs and to the media regular feedback and reports relating to progress of advocacy efforts on the issues. The purpose of this RFA is to solicit applications from interested and eligible Kabul-based CSOs to award one (1) grant worth up to 2,310,000 Afghani to the Kabul-based CSO able to lead the efforts mentioned below related to access to justice. The duration of the grant will be approximately seven (7) months with a projected start date of June 1, 2016 through December 31, Page 2 of 11

3 Detailed Program Description Afghans use both formal and informal institutions to solve their problems, conflicts and disputes. Disputes over water and land are mostly addressed by elders and community leaders. People seek help from the local government departments for other bigger problems. At this stage, ACEP wants CSOs to work with formal institutions of justice. CSOs can play a significant role in improving and increasing people s access to justice. Several recent cases of group rape in Paqhman district of Kabul and Farkhunda proved that CSOs can contribute significantly in ensuring Afghan citizens access to justice and keep justice institutions accountable to citizens. Role and Responsibilities of the Kabul-based CSO Partner to Receive the Access to Justice Grant The main purpose of this Grant RFA is to enable ACEP Kabul-based CSO Partner (KBP) to actively engage with the Provincial and Regional CSO Partners (together, a Consortium of CSOs) to focus on increasing access to law enforcement bodies such as judiciary and police for all Afghan citizens. As part of the Access to Justice Grant, KBP will work with PCPs and RCPs to mobilize them to develop plans and activities for advocacy, to implement and follow up directly with the national government in order to influence policies, to monitor government for accountability, and to advocate for political reforms. The Kabul-based CSO will represent the access to justice priorities identified by the consortium of CSOs and actively engage with the national government to address them. The recipient of this grant is to work on increasing citizen s awareness of the intended and actual workings of the formal justice sector. They will bring attention to the rule of law enforcement institutions and how they are intended to work. They will provide focus on policy advocacy, suggest improvements to existing legislation and policies, and/or help to develop new access to justice related laws, strategies, policies, and procedures. The intent is to ensure that justice is accessible for all citizens, and call for public accountability and a transparent judicial system that serves citizens at all levels--national and subnational. The advocacy efforts of the Kabul-based partner will be mainly based on the findings of provincial and district dialogues facilitated by regional and provincial CSO partners. These findings will be provided to the selected CSO after the grant is awarded. The district and provincial dialogues provide the platform for community representatives to come together to discuss issues of common concern with local government officials and get the commitment of local officials to address community needs and improve service delivery. However, the sub-national government officials often have limited authority to address some policy level community issues that arise in the provincial dialogues. Therefore, those unresolved issues require follow up at the policy level or by the relevant government entities at the national level in Kabul, such as with government ministries and/or Parliament. Hence, it will be the primary responsibility of the selected Kabul-based Partner to design and implement access to justice advocacy activities and attempt to have a voice in policy formulation or service delivery change in Kabul. The proposed activities of the Access to Justice KBP shall be dependent upon its engagement and collaboration with the Provincial and Regional CSOs. Therefore, the selected CSO should propose advocacy activities at the national level that it believes relates to the purpose of the Access to Justice Grant. Examples of proposed activities may include: Work directly to lobby government entities such as: Ministry of Justice (MoJ), Ministry of Interior (MoI), Ministry of Women Affairs (MoWA), Supreme Court, Attorney General s Office Page 3 of 11

4 and Parliament to endorse laws, policies and procedures for combatting all forms of injustice, to implement rule of law and eliminate the culture of impunity. Implement activities to enhance capacity and raise awareness of government entities, media and CSOs on the costs (both financial and in terms of trust and of services), and how lack of access to justice contributes to increased conflict in the country by anti-government groups and warlords. Build evidence-based (research supported advocacy) and lobbying capacity of ACEP regional and provincial CSO partners through development of advocacy training materials, organizing training workshops and regular mentoring. Develop and maintain sustainable partnerships and alliances with ACEP regional and provincial CSOs for the purpose of exchanging information and capacity building between provinces and Kabul. Advocate on the issues identified by ACEP regional and provincial CSO partners from community, district and provincial dialogues. Establish and maintain mutual and open relationships with media outlets for advocacy purposes. Manage production of policy engagement materials, including policy briefs, position papers, communication messages, and position statements relevant to CSO advocacy campaigns. Take part in formation of the national advocacy group in Kabul that will be formed by ACEP Kabul based CSO partners. Report back to communities through regional and provincial CSO partners about achievements at the national level in response to communities concern/requests on issues of access to justice. Access to Justice Research In addition to the CSO s proposed advocacy activities, the access to justice Kabul-based CSO Partner will budget and use up to 30% of grant funds to design and implement access to justice research to support the advocacy activities. The access to justice CSO partner must use the findings of the research to address a relevant hot-button issue. For management and implementation of all activities under the grant, the Kabul-based CSO will propose one Advocacy Manager and one Government & CSO Liaison Officer. The key role and responsibilities of the Advocacy Manager will include the design and implementation of an evidence based advocacy campaign project and the management of all other advocacy activities under the grant including: attendance in ACEP advocacy meetings, organization and facilitation of group lobbying meetings with government officials, prepare and submit bi-weekly, monthly and quarterly activities report to CPI/ACEP, design and conduct policy and advocacy research when needed, build advocacy capacity of provincial CSOs through development of advocacy training materials, organize training workshops and regular mentoring, develop and implement an annual work plan to correspond with the targeted annual milestones in order to achieve the outcomes and objectives of the ACEP policy advocacy grant, develop and maintain sustainable partnerships and alliances with CSOs in Kabul and provinces, Page 4 of 11

5 manage production of policy engagement materials including: policy briefs, position papers, communication messages, position statements relevant to CSOs advocacy campaigns, and establish and maintain sustainable relationship with the media outlets for advocacy purposes. The key role and responsibilities of the Government & CSO Liaison Officer will include: establish and strengthen linkage between CSOs and government, attend ACEP and its partners advocacy meetings, conferences, workshops, trainings and other gatherings when required, conduct policy and community research for advocacy purposes, organize advocacy events such as conferences, workshops, seminars and gatherings, establish and maintain regular communication with regional and provincial CSO partners of ACEP, and support the Advocacy Manager in overall implementation of the KPAG grant activities. The anticipated Outcomes of the KPAG and ACEP partnership include: Stakeholder awareness and understanding about harms and potential threats of lack of citizen s access to justice increased. Access to justice and assistance services to both females and males at national and subnational levels improved. Additional legislation, policies, procedures and legal frameworks proposed to make judicial institutions more responsive and accountable to citizens. Advocacy for policy change, policy adoption and other specific areas increased. Capacity of provincial CSO partners improved in the areas of lobbying, evidence-based advocacy and networking as a result of partnership and capacity building activities from Kabulbased CSOs. Networking and collaboration among CSOs and other stakeholders regarding access to justice issues affecting Afghan citizens will be improved across national, regional, and provincial levels. Increased policy development and reform at the national level led by ACEP Kabul-based CSO engagement with citizens at the provincial and regional level through CSO representatives. Improved linkages between ACEP provincial and regional CSOs with the national government, both formally and informally, through Kabul-based CSO network. Issue-based policy advocacy conducted by ACEP s Kabul-based, regional-based and provincialbased CSOs increased. Note: Counterpart will not fund activities that are described as banned activities by the NGO Law and other Laws of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (Article 8). To avoid duplication of funding, CSOs that have active grants/programs and/or planning to receive grants/programs of similar nature from USAID or other donors may not be considered for this opportunity at this time. Grant Selection Process 1. Grant Application Orientation Session An orientation session for civil society organizations interested in applying for Access to Justice Key CSO Partner Policy & Advocacy Grant (KPAG) under this RFA will be organized by Counterpart International Afghanistan on April at 02:00 PM (Kabul time) in Kabul Counterpart Office. Page 5 of 11

6 Requests to attend the orientation session should be ed to no later than April 27, 2016 at 02:00 PM (Kabul time). Please use Orientation Session RFA Access to Justice Key CSO Partner Policy & Advocacy Grant (KPAG) in the subject line. No phone requests will be accepted. In your , please list the name of your organization, the name and title of the person to represent your organization and her/his contact details ( address and phone number). Only one representative per organization may attend the orientation session. All invitees must bring a valid picture ID and arrive 20 minutes earlier than the announced time to allow for registration and entrance procedures. The purpose of the orientation session is to explain the application process and to allow interested applicants to ask questions about the RFA requirements. All interested CSOs, and any CSOs that are not be able to attend the orientation session in person, can questions regarding the RFA in writing to applications.acep@counterpart.org with subject line: Question RFA Access to Justice Key CSO Partner Policy & Advocacy Grant (KPAG) until April 27, 2016 at 02:00 PM (Kabul time). All Questions & Answers (Q&A) collected via or at the orientation session will be posted on ACEP Facebook page on May During this solicitation process, interested applicants MAY NOT contact, speak with or ask questions of any Counterpart ACEP staff outside of the Orientation Session. Any contact is grounds for disqualification of the organization s application. 2. Application Requirements NOTES: most forms referenced below and attached are new or revised. You must use the forms attached with this RFA. Do not use old forms from previous RFAs nor from other donors. The maximum total number of pages for the Proposal is 10 (ten) pages, not counting the cover page. Applicants may decide the length of each section. Anything beyond 10 pages will NOT be read by the Grant Technical Evaluation Committee (GTEC) members and therefore not be considered in the scoring. Responses to this RFA must be submitted in English, typed in Times New Roman font size 11. They must contain the following information and documents: Technical Proposal (Using Attachment A1, Proposal) should address: 1. Legal, Registered Name of Organization and Acronym 2. Contact information (Address, Telephone number; and Website address) 3. Name, position and contact information of the Official Organizational Representative 4. The grant application/proposal should address: The organization s clear objectives and how these are directly linked to the thematic areas set forth by this RFA. Provide a clear understanding of the work to be undertaken and the roles and responsibilities of all parties involved. 5. A description and list of the CSO s research and policy advocacy campaign activities completed in the past three years. For each campaign, event or initiative, include: what, if any, research was conducted on public policies, the details of the advocacy for implementation of laws, the details of lobbying with public institutions and Parliament with the purpose of influencing policies for bringing positive changes, and formulating new laws. Page 6 of 11

7 Please include project title, objective described, duration, amount of funding and donors contact information (name of the contact person, organization name and address, active phone number and official address). 6. Describe what you/the CSO has learned from working in advocacy. What has worked well and what has not? What is the reason for the success and describe when and why have there been challenges? Challenges and setbacks are often part of the work of advocacy. 7. Describe the CSO s experience working in access to justice activities. 8. List detailed activities where the CSO has linked or cooperated with other CSOs to accomplish a specific objective. What other CSOs did you work with and what was the result? We recognize that even a lack of success in an activity or project can be useful for learning and reprogramming. 9. Describe when and how the CSO has trained others to identify any issues and do any type of advocacy. What was the result? What other CSOs were trained? 10. What other activities does the CSO do beside advocacy? Provide a description of how research and policy advocacy activities are aligned with the organization s mission, core competencies and strategic objectives. 11. A brief description of the main sources of funding for the organization (amounts of funding, duration, donor, name and objective of the project, current active grants). 12. A description of the individual advocacy project/s that is being proposed by the CSO, and provide details of the activities and their potential impact. 13. A description of the role of gender and youth in the design and their involvement in the proposed activities and how the CSO will obtain their input. 14. A description of how the indicators and tools will be used to measure project performance. 15. A description of how the project and/or results of the project will be sustained including steps taken to ensure sustainability and impact (on research projects, describe how the results of the research will be used to affect future impact). 16. A description of how the project will be managed and operated including the proposed Advocacy Manager and Government & CSO Liaison Officer. 17. A description of project stakeholders and partners and describe their involvement in the project implementation. Work Plan (Using Attachment A2, Work Plan) 1. Develop a Work Plan in Excel format, using the template provided in Attachment A2. Please note the Sample Work Plan tab included in the template for applicants to refer to when developing their work plans. Budget and Budget Narrative (Using Attachments B1, Budget and B2, Budget Narrative) 1. Using Attachment B1, please develop a Budget in an amount not to exceed AFN 2,310,000. Please note the Sample Budget tab including in the template that shows what the budget should look like. Please ensure that only costs that are directly related to the grant activities are budgeted. Indirect costs are not allowed under this Program. The budget should reflect all the resources necessary for project implementation. Budgets are to be developed based on the specific needs associated with the applicant s proposed activities. 2. Please develop a Budget Narrative using the template provided in Attachment B2. The budget narrative should provide details on all types of costs planned, cost per unit and cost justification. Cost Share Requirement and Plan In order to be considered for a Grant, applicants are required to secure either cash or goods/services (referred to as in-kind ) to contribute to the grant activities. This cost share Page 7 of 11

8 contribution must come from other, non-us Government related sources of funding. The cost share contribution requirement is a minimum of 5% of the value of the grant. Please refer to Attachment C for Cost Share Guidelines. Applicants must complete and attach to the Application a Cost Share Planning Worksheet, per Attachment C. that demonstrates how the organization plans to meet this cost share requirement either in cash or in kind and what percentage of cost share they are proposing. The minimum requirement is 5% but special consideration shall be given to sound cost share plans that propose a higher cost share. Please note that if awarded, the proposed cost share becomes a contractual commitment that the organization must meet within the effective dates of the grant. Required Documents to Attach as Part of the Application 1. Copy of the Registration Certificate 2. A copy of the receipt from the Ministry of Economy of the CSO bi-annual report to the Ministry/Department of Economy. 3. Copy of the Organization s Charter or Document of Incorporation or Organization s bylaws 4. Organization s most recent annual financial statement and audit report for the most recent year. 5. A current organizational chart outlining the staffing structure by name and title and showing the number of staff employed. 6. Cost share attachment (Appendix A-Cost Share Plan Worksheet) An application containing all of the required information in the above Application Requirements and list of Required Documents shall be considered a complete application. If any (even one) of the required documents is not received, the application will not be considered and therefore not be read or scored. 3. Deadline Date for Responding to this RFA Complete Applications should be ed to applications.acep@counterpart.org. The and attachment total size should not exceed 20 MB. If needed, an application may be submitted through multiple s. Please include in the submission the following subject line: RFA Access to Justice Key CSO Partner Policy & Advocacy Grant (KPAG). The deadline for submitting Complete Applications is May 14, 2016, 23:59 PM Kabul Time. Late or incomplete submissions will not be considered. Applications and accompanying documentation will not be returned. All applicants will be notified on outcome once the grant recipients are determined. 4. Applications Evaluation Process Only complete applications received by the Application Submission Deadline Date will be accepted and submitted to the Grant Technical Evaluation Committee (GTEC) for review. GTEC members, Counterpart technical staff from different departments with ACEP, will thoroughly review and evaluate the applications in accordance with application evaluation procedures. Using the below evaluation criteria, GTEC members will score and rank each application and recommend the top candidate for funding. Page 8 of 11

9 As applicable, GTEC may request CSOs to provide additional information and refine their proposals within an established deadline for re-submission of a revised application. The selected applications will undergo a pre-award risk assessment. Based on pre-award assessment results, Counterpart will establish the risk category under which a grantee falls under in order to introduce an appropriate award conditions and grant management plan. The selected prospective subgrantee (although reference is made of this Grant throughout this RFA, legally it is a subgrant from the USAID funded ACEP Grant) will be submitted to USAID for approval (including vetting approval). Once approval is obtained, ACEP will finalize negotiations and issue the final subgrant agreements to the selected CSOs. Applications will be reviewed based on the following evaluation criteria. Scores will be given for each category and the detailed bullets under each category to equal the sum for the category: Page 9 of 11

10 Application Technical Aspects for Selection 1. Organization s ability to successfully implement the project. Relevant previous experience including list of grants obtained in the last three years. Details of experience working in advocacy and policy. Learnings from previous experience in advocacy and policy. Experience working in Access to Justice. Experience training others to identify issues needing advocacy and how to do advocacy. Organizational structure. 2. Relevance and suitability of planned activities and expected result to achieve project objectives related to the thematic areas described in the RFA. Understanding of the context in the country relative to access to justice issues. Experience and learning from working with other CSOs and groups on issues of common interest. Potential of designed project to impact public awareness, policy, and/or laws. Plan for CSO to engage with Regional CSOs on issues and provide training and feedback to Regional and Provincial CSOs. 3. Project sustainability potential and potential impact on government, regional and provincial partners, and communities and districts. How project will be managed Relationship and experience working with the government Organizational understanding of how change takes place Scoring Project activities demonstrated effective involvement of women and youth in the project design and activities, including obtaining their input Budget reasonableness and cost effectiveness; included a minimum cost 15 share contribution of 5% Are the line items costs reasonable? Is the total budget in line with the activities and objectives of the project? Is the budget for the project implemented by the CSO separated out? 6. Replicability and/or potential to have significant impact 5 Maximum Score Subgrant Agreement Award and Payments: Only one (1) advance plus cost reimbursement type subgrant agreements will be issued for the access to justice Key CSO Partner Policy & Advocacy Grant (KPAG). An initial advance based on the first two months of projected costs will be issued to the subrecipient after signing by both parties of the subgrant agreement and receipt of the two- month cost projection based on the approved budget. Subsequent advances will be made on a monthly basis upon receipt of the monthly financial report for the previous month and submission of the projected costs for the Page 10 of 11

11 next two months of activities, based on the work plan and budget. Continuous payment of advances will be strictly contingent upon Counterpart s monthly monitoring of subgrantee s satisfactory performance and accomplishment of project activities, and timely and accurate submission of monthly programmatic and financial reports submitted by the subgrantee. Disclaimers Please note that the issuance of this Request for Application does not constitute a commitment on the part of Counterpart International, Inc. for funding or an award. All costs associated in the preparation and submission of a proposal in response to this RFA shall be the sole responsibility of the applicant. RFA Enclosures: Attachment A1: ACEP Proposal Template Attachment A2: ACEP Work Plan Template Attachment B1: ACEP Budget Template Attachment B2: ACEP Budget Narrative Template Attachment C: Cost Share Guidelines o Appendix A-Cost Share Plan Worksheet o Appendix B-Cost Share Certification o Appendix C- Cost Share Report Page 11 of 11