Deadline: 23-Mar-23
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is seeking applications for a cooperative agreement from qualified entities to implement the Quality Instruction Towards Access and Basic Education Improvement (QITABI) 3 program.
Goal (CDCS): Improved effectiveness of educational institutions
Purpose: Improved learning outcomes for students in primary and other targeted grades through quality education
Objectives
- This activity is designed to build on the success of past USAID investments through the QITABI and QITABI 2 mechanisms that had significant MEHE support. This activity will strengthen MEHE’s ownership, and desire for the development and strengthening of national level evidence-based quality education. QITABI 3 will build upon past partnership and collaboration with the MEHE and leverage the MEHE commitment to bring the quality early grade learning to national scale while providing the requisite technical assistance and financial resources to support the MEHE and relevant partners. This activity will maximize the current successes and leverage other stakeholders’ programs toward achieving a sustained positive impact on student learning outcomes at scale. The Recipient is therefore expected to engage with MEHE and CERD from the beginning and throughout the life of the activity.
- Literacy and numeracy assessments conducted under QITABI 2 in Lebanon in 2022 have shown that students in the early grades are not effectively learning basic reading and math skills due to a combination of factors including: fragmented policies on language of instruction; weak and inefficient systems for teacher performance and oversight; outdated textbooks; the absence of a unified evidence-based approach to reading in the early grades and the prevailing circumstances in the country (COVID-19 pandemic and economic situation) that have caused school closures and consequently a learning loss of over two years. Therefore the Recipient will work with MEHE and CERD to design and implement targeted interventions to improve reading, math and social and emotional learning outcomes for students, including children with disabilities by building the institutional capacity of government counterparts to deliver quality education services.
- Per the Mission’s Country Development Cooperation Strategy, USAID will continue to support the education sector within the context of the following Development Objective and Intermediate Results:
- Development Objective 2: Effectiveness of Educational Institutions Improved
- Intermediate Result 2: Learning outcomes improved, and
- Intermediate Result 3: Capacity to provide quality educational management systems improved.
Funding Information
- USAID intends to award one Cooperative Agreement pursuant to this notice of funding opportunity. Subject to funding availability and at the discretion of the Agency, USAID intends to provide a range between $87 – $97 million in total USAID funding over a five (5) year period.
Theory of Change and Activity Outcomes
- USAID’s theory of change for this activity holds that:
- if education systems, administrators and providers have the capacity to develop, implement and monitor policies and curriculum, and sustain teacher capacity to support learning outcomes; and
- if pre-service and in-service teacher training systems and teaching and learning materials integrate evidence-based methods for effective literacy, numeracy and social and emotional learning instruction guided by Universal Design for Learning principles6 ; and
- if teachers acquire effective literacy, numeracy and social and emotional learning instruction skills guided by Universal Design for Learning principles;
- then students, including children with disabilities, will have improved learning outcomes.
Eligibility Criteria
- USAID welcomes applications from organizations that have not previously received financial assistance from USAID.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.