Deadline: 30-Apr-24
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is inviting applications for grant funding to support implementation of the Climate Resilient Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Activity.
The Annual Program Statement (APS) seeks to engage grantee partners from the private sector, universities, institutes, non-government organizations (NGOs), civil society organizations (CSOs), technical service providers and financial institutions such as micro-finance and banks. Grants will fall into three broad categories: (1) feasibility support (e.g., assessments, research, targeted studies); (2) catalytic (e.g., pilot activities, innovation promotion); and (3) scale-up (e.g., market development, system establishment, knowledge management). The initial grants under this APS are intended to support impactful activities and build local capacity; some illustrative activities are:
- WASH and Water Resources Strategy, Studies, and Analysis: water and conflict management studies; social and behavior change communications (SBCC); water basin/groundwater mapping with climate inputs; payment for ecosystem services analysis for watershed protection; community and/or multi-village water supply management; institutional, managerial, and technical gaps and solutions for WASH systems and facilities; lowland WASH provision policy review.
- WASH Services and Products Innovation and Development: private sector led operations and maintenance (O&M); distribution and installation of solar energy products, water pumps; MHH products development including sales, distribution, access; handwashing systems; WASH schemes asset management; WASH scheme functionality data collection, management, and analyses tools for decision-making.
- Private Sector Viability Assessments, Studies, and Analyses: private sector participation and market systems development including mapping of actors; customer preferences and segmentation; product development; market readiness (supply/demand, price points); organization and facilitation of marketplace and events such as multi-stakeholder platforms.
- Financial Products and Services: for financial institutions including microfinance and banks for the development of micro-loans and products for sanitation, menstrual products, and water supply provision at the enterprise/NGO/CSO/women and youth groups, local saving and credit individuals’ levels and at household levels.
- Business Development Services: For enterprises (especially women-led micro enterprises) and youth and girls in the WASH space including WASH Committees (WASHCOs).
- Communication Products and Services: for organizing events, publications and products and services including SBCC tools and products; knowledge management; awareness creation for key international events for water and sanitation including International Women’s Day, World Water Day, World Toilet Day amongst others.
- Technical Training and Mentorships for Youth and Women and Other Stakeholders in WASH system management (e.g., for WASHCOs, local government water bureaus and teams); renewable energy applications; WASH scheme O&M; organizational leadership and confidence building; literacy and numeracy skills; gender equity and women empowerment.
- Micro grants for successful and promising innovators, enterprises (Vocational and life skills training for women and girls), WASH Committees (WASHCOs), co-operatives and associations that have well-developed WASH-related products and services ready for scale up.
- Women led networks, business associations, micro-enterprises engaged in the WASH services provision, technical training and mentorships and skills development.
In support of GoE commitments to the lowlands, the United States Agency for International Development Ethiopia (USAID/Ethiopia) has launched the five-year CR WASH Activity. Leveraging the implementation of the OWNP Phase II subprogram Development of Sustainable Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene Program in Drought Prone Areas of Ethiopia, the CR WASH Activity will expand access to improved water supply and sanitation for targeted lowland areas of Afar; Oromia; South Ethiopia; and Somali Regions.
Objectives
- IR1: Professionalize and expand quality climate-resilient water services
- Expand access, service reliability, and management to climate resilient water services with focus on rural clusters
- Evaluate and strengthen technical and organizational capacities of WASHCOs, Water User Associations, youth/women groups/technicians, and networks through training, mentoring and internships to manage WASH schemes, carry out O&M and repairs and others.
- Assess and address capacity gaps of Regional Water and Energy Bureaus (RWEBs), Woreda Water Offices (WWOs), WASHCOs, rural utilities in reliable management of climate resilient WASH services via training, mentoring, coaching programs, and other innovative learning approaches.
- Conduct viable private sector participation options business development services, assessment, and analysis in WASH services via the mapping and assessment of key service providers, medium and small enterprises (MSMEs), financing institutions, and others including review of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) modalities in line with GoE framework, PPP O&M models to increase service reliability for rural utilities.
- Collaborate with financial institutions such as banks and microfinance to develop products and services for the WASH sector including microfinance and loans to MSMEs, service providers, retail networks etc.
- Improve contingency planning, budgeting, and disaster risk reduction measures, including utilizing climate information services.
- Produce water basin maps with detailed climate risks and hazard levels in a pilot region.
- Assess capacity of service providers (WWOs) and develop capacity strengthening programs to prepare/implement disaster reduction response and business continuity and Climate-Resilient Water Safety Plans.
- Strengthen sustainable water resources management including assessment of the potential for source water and watershed protection.
- Assess viability of payment for ecosystem services, water funds, or carbon offsets to support the conservation of source waters in the lowlands.
- Support groundwater mapping and assessment in selected woredas, including strengthening capacities of RWEBs and WWOs to do the mapping activities.
- Expand access, service reliability, and management to climate resilient water services with focus on rural clusters
- IR2: Increase sustainable access to and use of sanitation and hygiene products and services, including MHH
- Reduce open defecation and expand access to and use of at least basic sanitation products and services.
- Scale up modified CLTSH SBCC approach tailored to the lowlands including via training, SBCC and community engagements and use of smart subsidies.
- Conduct rapid formative assessment to understand barriers and opportunities in building and sustaining sanitation and hygiene progress and market systems in the lowlands.
- Conduct sanitation supply chain analysis, market system readiness, and customer segmentation in each region for sanitation products and services.
- Work with financial institutions to develop micro loans and products for sanitation and hygiene products and services.
- Expand adoption of key hygiene behaviors, products, and services including MHH
- Do rapid review and update of the 2019 Lowland WASH MHM Assessment and Market Analysis to develop SBCC tools and approaches to reduce stigma and taboos related to menstruation and identify/activate market entry enablers for the private sector and key drivers for use of MHH products and services.
- Analyze the stigma and impact of lack of MHHs product for young girls in lowland schools.
- Update sanitation product prototypes and launch a design competition for innovation.
- Develop and launch ToT on innovative handwashing systems and safe water management.
- Reduce open defecation and expand access to and use of at least basic sanitation products and services.
- IR3: Improve gender power dynamics
- Strengthen the confidence and self-efficacy of women and girls through strengthened gender dynamics.
- Refresh and/or develop curricula for women-only training for WASHCO members and women WASH professionals at woreda and regional levels.
- Facilitate adult education courses to build literacy and numeracy skills of WASHCO members.
- Improve girls and women access to services including financial products, services, training, and support on MHHs.
- Expand WASH leadership opportunities and the vocational skills of women and girls through the facilitation of women empowerment to participate as leaders in communities, organizations, businesses, and institutions.
- Map and/or create professional spaces for women water professionals; female students in TVETs and university; and female boarding school students.
- Facilitate mentorship, internship, and scholarship programs for female students in TVETs, universities and boarding schools to share their experience and challenges in WASH leadership and management.
- Establish/strengthen women led and owned MSMEs; provide technical trainings and financial support for the MSMEs on repairs and O&M of water and solar systems, sanitation, MHM products and services.
- Strengthen the confidence and self-efficacy of women and girls through strengthened gender dynamics.
- IR CC: Strengthen the enabling environment for climate resilient water/sanitation services
- Improve WASH and climate data use and management.
- Review and update curricula for capacity building support on use of GEMS/Kobo toolbox for WASH service monitoring.
- Train WWOs on effective use of digital systems to capture upload and update WASH service Monitoring & Evaluation data.
- Develop low-cost innovative data capture and management approaches to build on existing regional databases.
- Strengthen WASH scheme asset management data collection and use.
- Increase coherence between humanitarian, peacebuilding, and development WASH programming.
- Assess the causes of water conflicts and develop water conflict mitigation strategies.
- Conduct rapid review of GoE strategy and policy documents related to WASH service delivery in humanitarian response, peacebuilding, and long-term development.
- Draft and validate studies recommending steps to transition between humanitarian response, peace-building and long-term development WASH service.
- Evaluate capacity of Disaster Risk Management (DRM) steering committees at the regional, woreda and kebele levels for both immediate humanitarian response and long-term development efforts and develop/implement capacity strengthen plan and curricula for the DRM committees.
- Accelerate needed policy reforms to reflect pastoralist context.
- Update and facilitate adoption of revised guidelines, policy documents and recommendations.
- Develop policy briefs, position papers, and white papers from experiences and evidence of CR WASH activities that reflect lowland priorities, and the interconnectedness of household, agriculture, and livestock needs in the face of a changing climate and corresponding risks related to water resources and WASH.
- Improve WASH and climate data use and management.
Funding Information
- For any grant award(s) resulting from this solicitation that is other than in-kind, equivalent to $25,000 USD or more, grant recipients will be required to provide their Unique Entity Identifier (UEI).
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicant must be registered and formally constituted with the GoE at the national or regional level (attach the business/or organization registration license/certificate and/or the TIN for legally registered business)
- Applicants may only submit one application per prime organization under this APS.
- Applicants must demonstrate presence or experience working in the Ethiopia lowland regions of Afar, Somali, Oromia and South Ethiopia.
- Not appear on the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) and Blocked Persons List maintained by the U.S. Treasury for the Office of Foreign Assets Control, or “OFAC List.”
- Not appear in the System for Award Management (SAM) as ineligible to receive U.S. government funds.
- Not listed in the United Nations Security designation list.
- Be willing to sign and submit the required certifications before awarding the grant.
- Applicants must display sound management in the form of financial, administrative, and technical policies and procedures and present a system of internal controls that safeguard assets; protect against fraud, waste, and abuse; and support the achievement of program goals and objectives. CR WASH will assess this capability prior to awarding a grant.
- Any falsification of application information may result in rejection/cancellation of the award.
- Faith-based and community groups will receive equal opportunity for funding.
For more information USAID.