USAID awarding $35 Million to Non-profit Organizations in Bangladesh – Upskilling Youth Opportunities

Deadline: 8-Nov-22

USAID/Bangladesh is announcing the Bangladesh Integrated Youth Activity Addendum to the YouthPower 2 (YP2) Annual Program Statement (APS), hereafter known as the YP2 APS.

USAID Bangladesh seeks to build the skills and abilities and expand the opportunities of youth so that they elevate their contributions toward increasing Bangladesh’s inclusive, social, and economic development goals.

Objectives

• Through this Bangladesh Integrated Youth Activity, USAID/Bangladesh aims to increase the meaningful participation of Bangladeshi youth within their communities and in the economy. This will be achieved through three objectives:
  • Promote equitable access to economic opportunities,
  • Strengthen youth leadership through targeted support of local youth-led and youth-serving organizations in order to promote youth participation as decision makers and key contributors to individual, household, community, and national well-being and
  • Strengthen youth systems, in partnership with youth, to provide more coordinated and effective services, practices, and policies that embody the principles of Positive Youth Development (PYD).
  • This integrated, cross-sectoral activity will focus on 18-35 year old urban youth.

Programmatic and Geographic focus

• The principles underlying the strategic and operational approach of Bangladesh Integrated Youth
• Activity and the proposed interventions should include the following:
  • Positive Youth Development: Genuine social transformation for Bangladeshi youth to live free of crime and violence will require youth involvement in the decision making process at the individual, community, and institutional levels.
  • Inclusive Development: USAID promotes a nondiscriminatory, inclusive, and integrated development approach that ensures that all people, including those who face discrimination and thus may have limited access to a country’s benefits, legal protections, or social participation are fully included and can actively participate in and benefit from development processes and activities.
  • Private Sector Engagement: The private sector is a key actor in the success and sustainability of this Activity. The Activity will proactively engage with the private sector, understanding USAID’s private sector engagement (PSE) efforts.
  • Do No Harm: USAID is committed to ensuring its youth programming does not put individuals or groups at increased risk of harm or raise their public profile in a way that could lead to backlash. This principle is especially important when working in contexts in which youth are affected by violence, discrimination, stigma, and/or criminalization.
  • Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning: The successful applicant will be expected to select appropriate standard indicators and/or develop custom indicators to monitor the outcomes and impact of interventions as well as the context of activity implementation. The activity will contribute to the Feed the Future, PYD, and Youth Workforce Development (YWFD) learning agendas and provide lessons learned for future activities for youth.

Funding Information

• Subject to the availability of funds, USAID/Bangladesh anticipates supporting up to one (1) award of $35 Million over the life of the award.

Activities

• The Bangladesh Integrated Youth activity will promote efforts to:
  • Improve youth access to technical and soft skills development that is responsive to employer needs, build youth agency and understanding of their educational and career options, challenge gender and power dynamics, and foster an entrepreneurial mindset.
  • Strengthen youth-led and youth-serving organizations to improve their capacity and participation in government and civil society, strengthen linkages between youth leaders and youth networks.
  • In partnership with youth, strengthen youth systems to provide more coordinated and effective and friendly services, practices, and policies to serve traditionally marginalized populations such as adolescent girls and young women, ethinic minorities, indigenous youth, and LGBTQI+ youth.

Eligibility Criteria

• All U.S. and non-U.S. public, private, for-profit, and non-profit organizations, as well as higher education institutions (especially minority-serving institutions (MSIs) and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)), public international organizations, and non-governmental organizations are eligible to submit a concept note that meets the 937 geographic code requirements. Further, the organization must be a legally recognized organizational entity in the country where it operates.
• USAID values the participation of the U.S. higher education community in this activity. U.S. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are key partners for developing solutions to development challenges, by serving as intellectual hubs for knowledge, research support, and innovation. MSIs and HBCUs have played an important role in both American history and global affairs and are uniquely positioned to contribute to youth development efforts.
• All interested organizations are restricted to submitting only one Concept Note as the Prime Applicant. If more than one Concept Note is received with the same Prime Applicant, USAID will seek written clarification from the relevant entity regarding which Concept Note should be considered for review. If clarification is not resolved within five (5) business days, all Concept Notes submitted by the Applicant will be deemed ineligible.
• Please note that Applicants can serve as sub-awardees or supporting partners on multiple Concept Notes under this Addendum.
• As an NPI addendum under the YP2 APS, The Bangladesh Integrated Youth Activity Addendum envisions three specific forms for engagement, each intended to offer different entry points for working directly or indirectly with new, underutilized, or established organizations.
• Organizations only need to qualify under one of the forms of engagement listed but must involve significant participation by one or more new or underutilized partners in Bangladesh that is a youth-led or youth-serving organization.

For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=343645