Deadline: 15-Feb-24
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is seeking applications for a cooperative agreement from qualified entities to implement the USAID Markets for Sanitation Activity.
Objectives
- The overall purpose of this Activity is to increase gender inclusive and equitable access to, and use of, improved sanitation and hygiene products and services. The Activity will work to fulfill this purpose through four complementary intermediate results:
- Gender inclusive sanitation and hygiene sector governance strengthened;
- Increased demand for gender inclusive basic sanitation and hygiene products, services, and behaviors;
- Increased equitable supply of diverse and affordable basic sanitation and hygiene products; and
- Improved coordination and learning among sanitation and hygiene actors including the private sector.
Funding Information
- USAID intends to provide $31,000,000.00 in total USAID funding over a five-year period.
Activity Objective and Intermediate Results
- Objective: Gender inclusive and equitable access to and use of improved sanitation and hygiene products and services
- The activity aims to improve access to improved sanitation and hygiene products and services to address the needs of both men and women. The activity applies a systems approach to strengthen the governance/enabling environment, demand, supply, monitoring and learning so as to achieve the intended goal.
- Illustrative indicators:
- HL.8.2-2: Number of people gaining access to a basic sanitation service as a result of USG assistance.
- HL.8.2-6: Percent of households in target areas practicing correct use of recommended household water treatment technologies.
- IR 1 –Gender inclusive sanitation and hygiene sector governance strengthened.
- The water, sanitation and hygiene sector is a set of closely interrelated sector functions that enable governments, public and private partners to engage in a sustained and effective WASH service delivery development process. Governments, at both national and local levels, have a key role to play to create an enabling environment for the private sector and support the establishment of supply chains and strengthening of WASH market systems. They are responsible for facilitating equal access to everyone, without discrimination.
- Sub-IR 1.1 – Sanitation and hygiene sector (public and private) capacities enhanced to deliver sustainable sanitation and hygiene services that address both the needs of men and women.
- The Market Based Sanitation guideline established and demonstrated through T/WASH increased government confidence, commitment, and buy-in to scale up the approach into other woredas.
- Expected results:
- Market based sanitation guideline implementation scaled-up.
- Institutional and legal frameworks improved to define and legitimize the role of the private sector in WASH.
- Illustrative indicators:
- HL.8.3-3: Number of water and sanitation sector institutions strengthened to manage water resources or improve water supply and sanitation services as a result of USG assistance.
- HL.8.4-1 Value of new funding mobilized to the water and sanitation sectors as a result of USG assistance.
- Sub-IR 1.2 – Operationalization of improved gender-responsive sanitation and hygiene sector policies to reduce gender inequities in the sector.
- There has been recent progress in incorporating gender considerations and programming in national-level WASH policy, though putting gender-related programming into practice has been highly variable.
- Expected results:
- Improved gender-sensitive policy implementation and monitoring at national, regional, and local government levels.
- More women employed in leadership roles in the sanitation and hygiene sector.
- Illustrative indicators:
- GNDR-8: Number of persons trained with USG assistance to advance outcomes consistent with gender equality or female empowerment through their roles in public or private sector institutions or organizations.
- IR 2 – Increased demand for gender inclusive basic sanitation and hygiene products, services, and behaviors.
- Though Ethiopia has been among the countries with the greatest progress in reducing open defecation between 2015 and 2020 (from 32 % to 17%)17, using the Community-Led Total Sanitation and Hygiene (CLTSH) approach implemented by health Extension workers (HEWs), no significant improvements of improved/basic sanitation status have been documented over the years.
- Sub-IR 2.1 – Effective sanitation and hygiene SBCC and marketing strategies developed and scaled
- When it comes to sanitation and hygiene, CLTSH is central to the GOE’s strategy. Despite dramatic progress in lowering the rate of open defecation in Ethiopia during the MDG period, CLTSH is proving to be inadequate for stimulating household investment in superior sanitation options and maintaining open defecation free gains.
- Expected results:
- Improved harmonization and standardization of WASH SBCC and marketing tools and approaches
- Market actors develop evidence-based marketing and business strategies.
- Illustrative indicators:
- Number of strategies developed.
- Number and type of SBC and marketing and communication tools and materials developed.
- Sub-IR 2.2 – Increased market-based promotion of improved sanitation and hygiene products and services.
- To address demand challenges, this Activity will take a social marketing approach, enabling market actors to utilize formative research (when needed) and market data as a tool to better understand the factors that motivate consumers.
- Expected results:
- Increased household demand for improved sanitation and hygiene products and services.
- Improved household practices and adoption of key hygiene behaviors (toilet use, Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM), hand washing at key times, safe storage and treatment of water).
- Illustrative indicators:
- HL.8.2-1: Number of communities verified as open defecation-free (ODF) as a result of USG assistance.
- HL.8.2-2: Number of people gaining access to a basic sanitation service as a result of USG assistance (disaggregated by male and female).
- IR 3 – Increased equitable supply of diverse and affordable basic sanitation and hygiene products and services
- Sanitation and hygiene products and service-providers must be able to deliver high quality, reliable services that the consumer is willing to pay for and is cost effective to achieve viability. Historically, sanitation and hygiene products and services have been primarily delivered by the public sector, or built by households themselves, both of which have achieved limited sustained gains.
- Sub-IR 3.1 – Increased supply of affordable quality sanitation and hygiene products that meet the needs of men, women, and youth.
- Affordable quality sanitation specifically refers to improved sanitation facilities not shared with other households. Hygiene products may include, but are not limited to soap, handwashing facilities, and menstrual hygiene products.
- Expected results:
- Some of the results anticipated under this sub-IR include the following:
- Effective supply chains/value chains established.
- Taxes for sanitation products are reduced.
- Illustrative indicators:
- PSE-3: Number of private sector enterprises with improved participation in the local economy as a result of USG assistance.
- Number of WASH products sold (disaggregated by type).
- Sub-IR 3.2 – Increased gender equitable access to finance for consumers and enterprises.
- A lack of access to financing options remains a major challenge in Ethiopia to scale up basic sanitation in households. Many consumers face financial constraints and are unable to cover the full cost of sanitation products, especially outside of the harvest season.
- Expected results:
- Number of local financial institutions, including microfinance institutions, offering business loans to sanitation businesses increased.
- Share of customer’s income spent on purchasing sanitation and hygiene products decreased (affordability increased) over time.
- Illustrative indicators:
- HL.8.4-1 Value of new funding mobilized to the water and sanitation sectors as a result of USG assistance.
- PSE-4: Value of private sector resources leveraged by the USG to support U.S. Foreign Assistance Objectives.
- IR 4 – Improved coordination and learning among sanitation and hygiene actors including the private sector
- Co-design, collaboration and learning are essential aspects of strengthening the enabling environment for WASH demand and services and further act to remove barriers. Building on the substantial learnings gained under Transform WASH, this Activity will seek to strengthen strategic collaboration among partners, systematically generate and capture best practices and, most importantly, help market actors test new approaches and identify potential adaptations based on what works and what does not.
- Sub-IR 4.1 – Increased knowledge base to bring market-based sanitation innovations and gender inclusive approaches to scale
- Along with strengthening demand and ensuring a sustainable supply of improved sanitation products, supporting innovations to go to scale through improved knowledge management and evidence-based business decision-making was one of the focus components of USAID T/WASH.
- Expected results:
- Enhanced knowledge sharing/dissemination among sanitation sector actors.
- Enabling environment created for learning and exchange programs for sanitation professionals to utilize evidence-based research and best practices.
- Illustrative indicators:
- Number of knowledge products produced and distributed to relevant sanitation sector actors.
- Number of forums, workshops, and seminars delivered for public and private sector actors in the sanitation sector (national and regional level).
- Sub-IR 4.2 – Sanitation and hygiene sector MEL system and evidence-based business decision-making strengthened.
- Improving access to safely managed water supply and sanitation services, ending open defecation and adopting appropriate hygiene practices, including menstrual health and hygiene, in households, communities, and institutions in rural and urban areas requires establishment of strong monitoring, learning, and evaluation.
- Expected results:
- Market based sanitation monitoring guideline developed and implemented.
- Capacitated government staff on MBS monitoring.
- Illustrative indicators:
- % of woredas with updated sanitation and hygiene MEL system.
- % of woredas reporting quality data timely (sanitation and hygiene).
- Sub-IR 4.3 – Gender inclusive sanitation and hygiene coordination strengthened.
- Effective coordination and collaboration are the key factors for the successful implementation of the proposed activity. The MSP is one of the coordination mechanisms to leverage resources, harmonize tools, share best experiences, and scale up promising practices. However, due to the limited resources and capacity at subnational level, this platform is weak and is not functioning as anticipated at the subnational level.
- Expected results:
- Regular WASH stakeholders meetings held.
- Sufficient resources allocated by the public sector to convene and maintain coordination platform(s).
- Illustrative indicators:
- Number of regular learning forums established/conducted on WASH and gender.
- Number of WASH and gender regular subnational WASH institutional coordination meetings conducted.
Geographic Focus
- Market based sanitation implementation is about ensuring that all the materials, information, and services necessary for latrine construction can be easily accessed by households and other players in the sanitation supply chain. Selection of MBS intervention areas require key considerations that favor market facilitation: sanitation coverage, settlement type and population density, physical conditions and socio-economic situations, presence of MFIs, availability of access to roads, conditions for rural market development, status as OWNP woreda, and presence of businesses involved in the import, manufacture, production, distribution, and sale of sanitary products.
- Geographic areas with an enabling environment favorable to private sector participation, such as careful provision of subsidies for the poor or reduction of fiscal barriers (e.g. import tariffs and taxes) to enhance the viability of sanitation enterprises, are preferred and considered low hanging fruit. The final selection of geographies will take into account existing opportunities, previous investments (e.g. Transform WASH), and overlap with other USAID supported activities that are currently engaged at the priority regions. The primary focus areas of the Activity will be in Oromia, Amhara, SNNP (South West,South Ethiopia and Central Ethiopia), Tigray, Sidama, and Somali regions. It is also advisable for the activity to focus on geographies that fall within the Feed the Future Zones of Influence in Ethiopia in these regions.
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligibility for this NOFO is not restricted.
- USAID welcomes applications from organizations that have not previously received financial assistance from USAID.
- Faith-based organizations are eligible to apply for federal financial assistance on the same basis as any other organization and are subject to the protections and requirements of Federal law.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.