Deadline: 6-Jul-23
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is seeking applications for a Cooperative Agreement from qualified entities to implement the five years program to “Improve Livelihoods and Enhance Economic Development” (ILEED) in Gaza.
The purpose of the gender analysis is to help the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/West Bank and Gaza (WBG) identify and understand key gender inequalities, issues, and related constraints in WBG. The recommendations that stem from the analysis aim to enable USAID to achieve greater gender equality and social inclusion within priority program sectors, as aligned with the Mission’s development objectives, intermediate results, sub-intermediate results, and activity planning.
Program Goal: The overall goal of the program is to support vulnerable communities by improving livelihoods, increasing access to basic needs, and enhancing economic development.
Activity Components
- Component 1: Improved livelihoods for vulnerable communities and households
- Component 2: Increased access to resources and basic commodities to promote community development and resilience.
- Component 3: Emergency Response
Funding Information
- Award Ceiling: $60,000,000
- Award Floor: $60,000,000.
- The anticipated period of performance is five years. The estimated start date will be upon the signature of the award, on or about September 28, 2023.
Key Personnel
- Chief of Party (COP)
- The Chief of Party will be responsible for the strategic and technical direction, overall coordination and management of the Activity, including oversight of financial and award management. The COP will serve as the principal interlocutor with USAID and key stakeholders, partners, donors, and other government agencies. The COP will ensure the program meets stated objectives and reporting requirements in a timely manner. The COP takes the leadership role in coordination among various partners, sub-awardees and grantees.
- Minimum required qualifications:
- Master’s degree in international development, sustainability, law, or any other, or another field relevant to the Activity.
- At least ten years of experience in managing and leading large, complex resilience/humanitarian assistance activities in developing countries.
- At least three of the ten years of experience must be in building resilient communities programming.
- Experience maintaining relationships with a broad range of stakeholders such as donors, implementing partners, non-governmental organizations and private sector entities.
- Strong verbal and written communication, analytical, interpersonal, organizational, and team management skills.
- English language proficiency, including excellent English communication skills and advanced writing capabilities.
- Desired qualifications:
- Arabic language skills.
- Experience in managing similar programs in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
- Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP)
- The DCOP will report to the COP and will provide management support for all aspects of the project including, but not limited to, overseeing operations and finance, ensuring quality of work and achieving results, abiding by USAID rules and regulations, safeguarding project personnel and property, meeting reporting requirements and representing the project on behalf of the COP when required.
- Minimum required qualifications:
- Master’s degree in international development, or another field relevant to the Activity.
- At least seven years of experience in senior management positions, preferably managing and leading large, complex resilience/humanitarian assistance activities in developing countries.
- Experience in managing field operations, maintaining relationships and managing subawards and partnerships with a broad range of stakeholders, including donors, implementing partners, and private sector entities.
- Fluency in Arabic and English.
- Desired qualifications:
- Experience in managing similar programs in the MENA region.
- Livelihoods Improvement Team Leader
- The Livelihoods Improvement Lead will work closely with the DCOP to support all aspects of the improved livelihoods component, management of all aspects of the project related to livelihoods improvement, including but not limited to managing technical staff, overseeing the status and progress of the different activities, coordinating amongst implementing partners, ensuring adequate and timely reporting requirements are met, and representing the project in technical level meetings.
- Minimum qualifications required:
- Bachelor’s degree in development, or related field.
- At least 7 years working experience in the field of resilience, livelihoods improvement, job creation and development of vulnerable communities.
- Experience working with vulnerable communities and an understanding of the local context.
- Experience working in developing and/or humanitarian contexts.
- Strong communication skills, both verbal and written.
- Fluency in Arabic and, at least, working level in English.
- Desired qualifications:
- Experience in using assessment and measurement tools and developing materials for livelihood improvement activities.
- Experience in developing monitoring and evaluation systems for livelihood development programs is highly desired.
- Strong leadership skills and the ability to develop relations with technical staff, local counterparts, donors, and other stakeholders.
- At least four years of work experience in the MENA region
- Community Development and Resilience Team Leader
- The Community Development and Resilience Lead will work closely with the DCOP to support all aspects of the community development and resilience components, management of all aspects of the project related to community development and resilience, including but not limited to managing technical staff, overseeing the status and progress of the different activities, coordinating amongst implementing partners, ensuring adequate and timely reporting requirements are met, and representing the project in technical level meetings.
- Minimum qualifications required:
- Bachelor’s degree in development, or related field.
- At least 7 years working experience in the field of resilience, community development, and humanitarian assistance.
- Experience working in the resilience and humanitarian sectors and an understanding of the local context.
- Strong communication skills, both verbal and written.
- Fluency in Arabic and, at least, working level in English.
- Desired qualifications:
- Experience in using assessment and measurement tools and developing materials for resilience and humanitarian assistance programs.
- Experience in developing monitoring and evaluation systems for resilience and humanitarian assistance programs is highly desired.
- Strong leadership skills and the ability to develop relations with technical staff, local counterparts, donors, and other stakeholders.
- At least four years of work experience in the MENA region
- Senior Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Specialist
- The Senior Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Specialist will be responsible for the leadership, oversight and management of all efforts related to performance monitoring, internal evaluation, learning, and oversight of activities associated with the external evaluation managed by USAID.
- Minimum required qualifications:
- Minimum of seven years of experience in performance measurement, evaluation and research, learning, and knowledge sharing: including indicator selection, target setting, reporting, database management, Data Quality Assessment (DQA), MEL capacity building, facilitating learning events, report writing, Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA), and developing Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plans (MELP).
- Demonstrated past success in supporting the design, implementation, and efficiently operating activity’s MEL systems from activity initiation to closeout stages at the fieldlevel.
- Experience in designing a data capture and reporting system that includes alerts when the activity is not achieving its targets or when participants/subs are not achieving their goals.
- Experience collecting and analyzing qualitative and quantitative data using methods that are suitable for changing and complex environments.
- Experience in managing MEL teams and supporting the MEL capacity building of subpartners’ staff.
- Experience in coordinating MEL efforts with partners
- Fluency in written and spoken Arabic and English.
- Desired Qualifications:
- Experience working in the MENA region.
- Note: All Key Personnel will be submitted for review and approval of the Agreement Officer after award. Key personnel will not be evaluated prior to award.
Eligibility Criteria
- Qualified U.S. and Non-U.S. Non-Profit Organizations (NGOs), and Public International Organizations (PIOs) are eligible to apply for funding under this NOFO.
- Note that U.S. and Non-U.S. For-Profit Organizations may apply for funding under this RFA. Potential for-profit Applicants should note that, pursuant to 22 CFR 226.81, the payment of fee/profit to the prime recipient under grants and cooperative agreements is prohibited. However, if a prime recipient has a subcontract with a for-profit organization for the acquisition of goods or services (i.e., if a buyer-seller relationship is created), fee/profit for the subcontractor may be authorized.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.