Deadline: 13 April 2020
The U.S. Agency for International Development Mission in the Philippines (USAID/Philippines), invites applications from Philippine organizations to carry out activities that will improve democratic governance in the Philippines through greater integrity of its electoral processes enhanced by increased political participation of the citizenry and civil society organizations.
This Political Participation activity aligns with USAID’s Indo-Pacific Vision, Governance Pillar, under the Objective of Strengthening Democratic Systems, and the IPS Transparency Initiative (IPTI). It aligns with IPTI’s goal of strengthening political and electoral system integrity. The activity will support and enhance civil society’s capacity for election monitoring and voter assistance, bolstered by structural interventions, to increase their effectiveness in overall electoral oversight.
Additionally, this activity seeks a reinforcement of democratic systems, through strengthened civic engagement. Voting is by itself civic engagement of the highest form. Volunteerism in elections, assistance to voter-empowerment through education and improved information on registration procedures, candidate profiles and election issues each are contributory to strengthening electoral integrity, reinforcing democratic mandates of governing officials and concretizing citizens’ fundamental and preeminent role and stake in a democracy.
This activity’s overall outcome is further aligned with USAID Philippines’ newly adopted Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS), 2019-2024, Development Objective (DO) 1: Democratic Governance Strengthened.
Objectives
- Citizen oversight of electoral processes bolstered
- Expected outcomes include:
- Neutral third-party monitoring of electoral processes such as voter registration and election-related procurements, precinct monitoring and including media monitoring supported;
- Capacitation interventions to prepare CSO stakeholders and networks for engagement in election processes including increasing their familiarity with a range of automated systems, as well as the vetting, selection and validation of appropriate technologies for automated or hybrid electoral systems, voting, counting and post-election auditing supported;
- Oversight activities and broad based information and advocacy campaigns focusing on critical electoral issues such as campaign financing, the registration and oversight of political parties, including those vying for party-list seats, the role and activities of the media, including social media, during elections, and rapid manual audit proceedings to promote a more transparent and fair electoral process supported;
- Parallel vote tabulation and/or quick count operations, including overseas voting, supported;
- CSO election coalition organized and coordination strengthened.
- Availability and accessibility of information to promote informed voting increased
- Expected outcomes include:
- Accessible and reliable information platforms covering the full-range of election-related matters from voter registration, voting technology and procedures, campaign, candidate and policy issues and information, election monitoring updates and post-election reporting and assessment through the use of effective and appropriate information technology to reach the broadest audience, and increase real-time interaction with the public in a manner that advances election transparency, voter empowerment and a factbased information environment developed and supported;
- Consultations, dialogues, town halls meetings, debates, candidate fora, etc. around election issues, party and candidate platforms, party-list and candidate selection criteria and similar discussions to promote informed voting supported;
- Information platforms and tools to popularize and simplify technological, legal and other technical election-related matters in a timely manner and with the widest dissemination strategy to support informed participation of citizens and election stakeholder groups supported;
- Public opinion polling and focus groups discussions to, among others, provide insights regarding issues of and other matters of interest in the electoral process, supported;
- Specialized assistance for the first Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) parliamentary elections provided
- Electoral reform and reform constituency-building supported
- Expected outcomes include:
- Planning and coordination efforts of among CSOs and other election reform stakeholder groups in media, academia, think-tanks, policy centers and the private sector in relation to the development of a reform agenda and operationalization of a process of legal, policy and structural reform advocacy in elections supported;
- Broad-based consultation and information gathering and dissemination initiatives with local communities and organized local groups on electoral reform matters supported;
- Establishment of a venue/s for the discussion and deliberation on key electoral reform issues between policy makers and electoral reform stakeholders in government and nongovernment organizations supported;
- Institutionalizing CSO election reform oversight mechanisms through effective strategies building on past electoral reform interventions supported;
- Activities designed to strengthen the political participation of women, seniors, indigenous persons, PWDs, detainees, TB positive persons, LGBTIQ persons, religious minorities, linguistic minorities, and members of key sectors (i.e. farmers, laborers, fisherfolk and urban poor/informal settlers) and the advancement of their agenda in electoral processes supported.
Funding Infortmation
- Estimated Total Program Funding: $3,000,000
- Award Ceiling: $3,000,000
- Award Floor: $2,500,000
Eligibility Criteria
- Only Philippine organizations as defined below are eligible for an award under this Addendum.
- Applications must be from qualified local, non-governmental Philippine entities, such as private, nonprofit organizations (or for-profit companies willing to forego profits), including private voluntary organizations, universities, research organizations, professional associations, and relevant special interest associations.
- USAID defines a local organization as one that:
- Is organized under the laws of the Philippines;
- Has its principal place of business in the Philippines;
- Is majority-owned by individuals who are citizens or lawful permanent residents of the Philippines, or is managed by a governing body, the majority of whose members are citizens or lawful permanent residents of Philippines;
- Is not controlled by a foreign entity or by an individual or individuals who are not citizens or permanent residents of Philippines.
For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=325533