Deadline: 14-Dec-20
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is seeking a Concept Note from prospective applicants for the USAID/Ethiopia Integrated Youth Activity to empower youth to advance their own social, economic, and civic development.
USAID/Ethiopia seeks an integrated, holistic approach – incorporating basic education, higher education, and family planning resources. Simultaneously, the activity seeks to strengthen the capacity of Ethiopian higher education institutions, youth-serving organizations, and health and financial service providers to support economic and social opportunities for youth.
The Integrated Youth Activity (IYA) addendum seeks to support a youth-owned, youth-led, and youth-managed system through which Ethiopian youth aged 15-29 will be empowered to advance their own social, economic, and civic development.
USAID prioritizes learning and adaptive management. In keeping with the aim of the YP2 APS, USAID looks to IYA to contribute towards building the evidence base to advance the Positive Youth Development (PYD) field.
It strongly emphasizes synthesis and dissemination of findings and results from the research and learning activities. USAID also encourages the Applicant to include channels for ongoing analysis of results that can be used by worldwide partners in planning future needs in a range of contexts. These channels may also serve to share best practices and lessons learned that will inform future youth programming.
Funding Information
- USAID/Ethiopia anticipates supporting one award of up to a total of $60 million over the life of the award(s).
- The anticipated period of performance for the award made under the IYA Addendum to the YPS APS is five years.
Theory of Change
The Theory of Change for this activity is:
- IF grassroots-based youth networks are strengthened and established to serve as a platform for youth to become more resilient to shocks and to promote development for themselves and their communities; and
- IF youth become more civically engaged in society to exercise their voice, agency, and leadership constructively; and
- IF youth acquire employability and entrepreneurship skills and are linked to economic opportunities; and
- IF there are youth-friendly services that support youth’s health, social, and economic well-being.
THEN, youth will be empowered to advance their own economic, civic, and social development, be more resilient in the face of shocks and crises, promote development within their communities and regions, and contribute more robustly to Ethiopia’s peace,
Results
This IYA addendum seeks to achieve the following results:
- Establish and strengthen democratic and representative local, regional, and national youth groups and networks to promote resilience and economic, civic, and social development;
- Establish a Youth Empowerment Fund that can flexibly support local solutions for community economic and social development, as well as respond to shocks, including COVID-19 response and recovery efforts;
- Increase youth capacity for advocacy and agency in local, regional, and national policy dialogue and development initiatives;
- Increase economic prospects for youth by strengthening the capacity of Ethiopian higher education institutions to address the social and economic challenges faced by youth, as well as through skills development and access to finance;
- Expand youth access to essential services, particularly family planning services, that are more youth-friendly.
At the end of the five-year activity, USAID/Ethiopia expects that:
- The resiliency of engaged youth and associated organizations is strengthened;
- Youth will have increased access to market relevant workforce and entrepreneurship skills and employment services;
- A successful, grassroots-based model of engaging youth as decision-makers and leaders in the development of their communities will be established;
- Youth will have a greater voice and role in governance and civic affairs;
- Youth will have access to more and higher-quality youth-friendly services;
- Youth will have increased knowledge of family planning, and unmet need for family planning among youth declines;
- The capacity of local youth organizations and public and private-sector youth-serving organizations will be strengthened; and
- Partnerships between U.S. and Ethiopian higher education institutions will be created and supported to improve human and institutional capacity, especially for the provision of career services, linkages with the private sector, and/or family planning services.
Eligibility Criteria
- U.S. and non-U.S. public, private, for-profit, and non-profit organizations, as well as institutions of higher education (especially minority-serving institutions), public international organizations, and non-governmental organizations are eligible to submit a concept note.
- USAID/Ethiopia’s higher education funds must be responsive to a Congressional directive on U.S.-Host Country Higher Education Partnerships for Capacity Building and must:
- support institutional capacity development of a host country higher education institution18 , and
- Involve a partnership with at least one U.S. higher education institution and at least one host country higher education institution. USAID seeks the participation of the U.S. higher education community in this activity, either as a Prime Recipient or member of a consortium
For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=329594