Deadline: 30-Sep-21
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Pakistan (USAID/Pakistan) is seeking applications for a Cooperative Agreement from qualified entities to implement the Improving Girls’ Education Activity (IGEA).
The activity will mainly focus on girls’ education and women’s adult literacy. The activity will pilot a public-private partnership model for girls’ education in remote areas of KP and the MAs of KP, which will lead to an improvement in access to, and quality of basic education for about half of the population. Improving access to, and quality of basic services will contribute to mainstreaming of the MAs and bringing these areas to parity with the rest of KP province. Provision of quality basic education services to almost half of the MAs population will lead to enhanced public trust in government and support regional stability and security.
The activity will focus on improving quality and access to basic education, particularly for girls, in remote areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province including the Merged Areas (MAs).
Goal: Improved access and quality of education along the Af-Pak border areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Purpose: The activity’s purpose is to achieve better learning outcomes and increased enrollment through improved management of public schools (particularly girls’ schools) in KP, including the merged areas.
Objectives
- Education department capacity enhanced through development of policy and institutional framework for initiating Public Private Partnership (PPP) in the education sector. (Technical Assistance to KP government)
- Education service delivery improved by outsourcing public sector schools to the private sector on a pilot basis.
Funding Information
- Subject to funding availability and at the discretion of the Agency, USAID intends to provide $4 Million in total USAID funding over a 4-year period.
- The anticipated period of performance is 4 Years.
Expected Results
- Component I:
- Develop policy, institutional framework, and regulations for Public Private Partnership (PPP) for outsourcing of public sector schools’ management to the private sector;
- Education department officials trained in procurement, monitoring, and management of PPP units for effective implementation and sustainability of PPP initiative in education;
- Public Private Partnership (PPP) Unit established and operationalized; and
- Sustainability plan developed.
- Component II:
- Private sector organization/s engaged for improving schools’ management;
- Criteria for potential schools’ identification and selection developed and implemented;
- Teachers trained for better learning outcomes;
- Schools’ managers trained on monitoring and supervision for improving schools’ performance;
- Improved access particularly for girls’ in the target areas/districts;
- Improved quality of education particularly for girls in the selected schools;
- Community participation increased in the selected schools for improved school performance;
- Improved attendance of teachers and students in the selected schools, increased retention of students; and
- Learning environment improved in the schools.
Eligibility Criteria
- This funding opportunity is limited to local Pakistani entities and USAID expects a healthy competition within the eligible local Pakistani organizations resulting in the award of a Cooperative Agreement.
- USAID encourages eligible local Pakistani organizations to participate in this restricted limited to local competition and welcomes applications that have not previously received financial assistance from USAID.
For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=335424
