Attachment_J.1_Statement_of_Objectives.pdf

ATTACHMENT J.1

SECTION C – STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES

C.1 PURPOSE OF THE STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES (SOO)

This Statement of Objectives (SOO) provides the objectives of the contract and is included in this ‘Ghizaiat ~ Nutrition Activity’ Request for Proposal in lieu of a Statement of Work (SOW).

Contractors must propose a realistic and cost-effective technical approach to maximize the results described herein. This SOO will not become part of the final contract, but will be replaced by the final negotiated Performance Work Statement (PWS)/Technical Proposal submitted by the successful Contractor.

The purpose of this SOO is to implement a multi-sector nutrition activity, Ghizaiat, will work to improve the nutritional status of the Pakistani people especially women and children living in the newly merged districts (NMD) of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

C.2 SCOPE

Ghizaiat will be a five-year activity that will focus on increasing local production, commercialization and consumption of nutritious foods, and increasing households’ awareness of good nutrition and hygiene behaviors. Collectively, it will improve the nutritional status of the Pakistani people especially women and children.

Ghizaiat will work in selected districts among the NMD in KP, in close collaboration with the Government of KP (GoKP) and the private sector.

C.3 BACKGROUND

Agriculture accounts for 20.9 percent of Pakistan’s GDP: 6.5 percent from major crops (wheat, rice, cotton, and sugarcane), 11 percent from livestock, 2.3 percent from minor crops, and 0.6 percent from fisheries and forestry. In addition, the agricultural sector (along with ancillary industries) employs 42 percent of Pakistan’s labor force, provides livelihood to 62 percent of the population, and constitutes 65 percent of Pakistan’s export earnings. The livestock sector accounts for 59 percent of the value-addition in agriculture, and Pakistan is the world’s third largest milk producer with an annual milk production of almost 50 billion liters, providing more revenues than all cash crops combined. 1

Despite impressive levels of agricultural production and value added, the country is struggling with significant levels of food insecurity and stunting among children under five. Pakistan’s hunger levels are worse than its lower middle-income country status would suggest.2 According

1 http://www.fao.org/pakistan/fao-in-pakistan/pakistan-at-a-glance/en/

2 India and Bangladesh also fall into this category. 2010 Global Hunger Index. The Challenge of Hunger: Focus on the Crisis of Child Undernutrition. October 2010, page 14. http://www.globalhungerindex.org/pdf/en/2010.pdf. This phenomenon is sometimes called the ‘South Asian dilemma.’

http://www.fao.org/pakistan/fao-in-pakistan/pakistan-at-a-glance/en/ to the World Food Programme (2009), more than 48 percent of the population is food insecure.

However, there are significant geographic disparities in these statistics: 67.7 percent of the NMD is food insecure, compared to 61.2 percent in Balochistan, and 56.2 percent in the non-NMD sections of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.3

According to the 2017-18 Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS), 38 percent of children in Pakistan are stunted and 17 percent are severely stunted.4 Stunting increases with age, peaking at 48 percent among children age 24-35 months. A higher proportion of children are stunted in rural areas (41 percent) than in urban areas (31 percent). Stunting is inversely related with the wealth quintile; 57 percent of children in the lowest wealth quintile are stunted, compared to 22 percent in the highest quintile. The PDHS also indicates that 7 percent of children are wasted and 2 percent are severely wasted. Both stunting and wasting contribute to the high under-five mortality rate of 74 deaths per 1,000 live births.5

According to the 2011 National Nutrition Survey, nearly half of women of reproductive age suffer from anemia, 43 percent from vitamin A deficiency, 48 percent from zinc deficiency, and 49 percent from vitamin D deficiency. The micronutrient malnutrition of women is also affecting children, as a large percentage of Pakistani children under the age of 5 suffer from vitamin A deficiency (54 percent), zinc deficiency (39 percent), and anemia (62 percent).6

The NMDs are among the most impoverished and least developed areas in Pakistan, with 73 percent of the population7 classified as poor.8 The local economy is centered on pastoralism, with small agricultural plots in the existing fertile valleys. A fair portion of the population lives in barren, dry, mountainous areas where agricultural opportunities are even more limited.

C.4 PROBLEM STATEMENT

The following factors are the main constraints to the improved nutritional status of women and children living the NMD:

Low Production/Availability of Nutritious Foods: According to the FATA Agricultural Action Plan,9 only seven percent of the land is suitable for farming, yet only half of this is utilized. Fruit and vegetables are grown on less than six percent of the cultivated land, while

3 http://www.fao.org/pakistan/fao-in-pakistan/pakistan-at-a-glance/en/

4 2017-18 Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS). The "height for age" below -3 standard deviations of the median

5 UNICEF. 2009. State of the World’s Children.

6 IFPRI. Agriculture And Rural Economy in Pakistan: Issues, Outlook, and Policy Priorities, 2016.

7 Ministry of Planning, Development, and Reforms, Pakistan. Multidimensional Poverty in Pakistan, 2016

8 Individuals whose weighted deprivation scores (in health, education, living standard) are equal/greater than 33.3%.

9 FATA Secretariat & UNFAO, 2016 cultivation of nutrient-rich pulses is largely absent. Agricultural production is constrained by small landholdings (85 percent of farmers have less than 2 hectares), a tenant-based agriculture system, weak irrigation system (with 38.4 percent of the farmland irrigated), poor marketing opportunities, droughts, floods, and depletion of natural resources leading to soil infertility.10 As a result, wheat and maize productivity in the region is one-third of the national average.

Approximately 90 percent of households in the NMDs keep livestock, but most suffer from poor nutrition and disease resulting in low productivity. Consequently, the region produces enough to feed households for only 4-6 months in a year, and is thus a net-importer of food.

Reduced Food Stability through Conflict: The NMDs have faced a number of crises over the past two decades. With geographical proximity and community-level ties to Afghanistan, the region has suffered from the fallout of the conflict in Afghanistan, which has given rise to a precarious security situation and a series of military operations. Related hostilities and extremist violence have caused far-reaching disruption to economic activity and inflicted extensive damage on private property, public infrastructure and service delivery. As the FAO notes, a population is considered to be food insecure if it has inadequate access to food on a periodic basis due to ongoing political instability or economic factors,11 which are hard to control or predict. The disproportionate rates of stunting and maternal and child malnutrition are exacerbated by the protracted displacement as a result of conflict.

Weak Market Linkages and Inadequate Access to Food: Due to the low volumes of agricultural sales and poor infrastructure, agricultural value chains in the NMD are plagued with high levels of informality and poor coordination, which in turn hamper the profitability of associated agri-businesses. For example, vegetables are grown in the region but hardly meet the local demand, while fruits are sold at nominal profit, as there are no cold chain facilities where these can be stored.12

Moreover the unstable security situation has deterred the development of a vibrant private sector to sell agricultural/veterinary inputs, associated services, nutritious products, and purchase farmers’ produce. At the same time conflict has reduced opportunities from alternate revenue sources, such as commerce and mining, while increasing the prices of essential food commodities that are now among the highest in the nation. As a result, all districts in the NMDs are in the “low to extremely low” food access groups, and are considered to be food deficient.13

Poor Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Behaviors: In the newly-merged districts, 36 percent of people do not have latrine facilities available in their homes and open defecation is prevalent. In addition, approximately 50 percent of the internally displaced people and returnees are using unsafe sources of water. These poor hygiene and sanitation practices lead to recurrent

10 FAO, Women in Agriculture in Pakistan, 2015

11 http://www.fao.org/3/al936e/al936e00.pdf

12 FAO, Women in Agriculture in Pakistan, 2015

13 Sustainable Development policy Institute, Food Insecurity in Pakistan, 2009 infections such as diarrhea that exacerbate malnutrition by reducing a person’s capacity to absorb nutrients.

Discriminative Social Norms and Poor Food Utilization: Food utilization by women and children in NMD are compromised by local culture. Meals are first served to the male members of the family, followed by the elderly women, and then finally to the women and girls. Women and young girls often eat leftovers, which are nutritionally insufficient to meet their daily nutrient requirements, and make them more susceptible to nutritional deficiencies.14 However, other social norms such as early introduction of complementary food for children, that is high in carbohydrates and low in protein and micronutrients, leads to an unbalanced diet. According to the 2017/18 PDHS, only 3.6 percent of children are exclusively breastfed during their first six months. Thus among children aged 6-23 months, only 12 percent consume the minimum acceptable diet.15 Diets of rural, poor, marginalized families mainly consist of cereals and milk.

Eggs, other animal-source foods, and fresh vegetables rarely appear in the diets of the poor.

Limited opportunities for active and productive participation in agriculture for women: In the NMDs, socio-cultural values limits women’s availability, access and utilization of food.

While women spend much of their lives within the walls of their households, they nonetheless contribute to 73.8 percent of the agricultural labor, notably arduous activities such as land preparation, seed cleaning, sowing, applying manure, fertilizers, pesticides, weeding, transplanting, threshing, harvesting, cleaning and storing food grains. However, lack of land ownership rights, vague inheritance practices, limited or no financial empowerment, and limited access to the outside world constrains women’s agricultural activities.16 Women are also not allowed to access agricultural and livestock extension services; hence they are often unaware of potential technologies that could assist them in increasing their agricultural production.

Women in NMD also have a limited role in the sale of farm produce. Socio-cultural barriers restrict women from freely interacting with outsiders and members of the opposite sex, reducing their exposure to markets and income earning opportunities. As a result of these low incomes, women farmers have reduced opportunities to improved agricultural inputs, modern farm implements and other technologies that would increase production. However, women do take an active role in managing kitchen gardens and growing vegetables and they have more control over the sale of garden produce, milk, chickens, eggs and processed foods.17 Experience in rural households has shown that women have a certain modest control over how these funds are channeled into household food purchases.

Impacts: According to the 2017-18 Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey, 2.9 percent of the women are underweight (with low body-mass index), and 58 percent are obese in the NMD.

14 Women in Agriculture in Pakistan, FAO, 2015

15 Pakistan Demography and Health Survey, 2017/18

16 FAO, Women in Agriculture in Pakistan, 2015

17 FAO, Women in Agriculture in Pakistan, 2015

Status of micro nutrients is dismal, with 66 percent of married women with vitamin A deficiency, 53 percent of pregnant women with zinc deficiency, and 64 percent with vitamin D deficiency18. The prevalence of stunting is also highest in the NMD with 52 percent of children under-five categorized as stunted.19

Given the strenuous nature of the agricultural work, low financial benefits for this work, high incidence of waterborne illnesses, and the fact that adult male family member of household eat first, women and children are more susceptible to nutrition deficiencies. Malnutrition can lead to impaired cognitive/scholastic performance and reduced physical productivity, which in turn reduces agricultural capacity and feeds into a vicious cycle.

C.5 ACTIVITY GOAL AND OBJECTIVES

Ghizaiat will sustainably increase the nutritional status of women and children living in the newly-merged districts through increasing the production and consumption of nutrient-rich foods, developing a profitable market for nutrient-rich foods, and increasing the awareness of the population on good nutrition and hygiene behaviors. Ghizaiat will work with the GoKP at the provincial and district levels and, with private and nonprofit entities will select and implement appropriate nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions adapted to the local context. The approach must sustainably increase the productivity of nutrient-rich foods, develop a robust local market for these products, and use effective communication mechanisms to measurably improve dietary diversity and good household hygiene practices. In doing so, the Contractor will intentionally promote a productive participation of women in agriculture and create market-driven and market-sustained economic opportunities for women, youth, and victims of war.

Nutrient-Rich Food Commodities

A commodity is defined as nutrient-rich if it meets any of the following criteria:

● Is bio-fortified;

● Is a legume, nut, or some seeds such as sesame, sunflower, pumpkin seeds, wheat germ, or sprouted legume seeds;

● Is an animal source food, including dairy products (milk, yogurt, cheese), fish, eggs, organ meats, meat, flesh foods, and other miscellaneous small animal protein (e.g., grubs, insects);

● Is a dark yellow or orange-fleshed root or tuber;

● Is a fruit or vegetable that meets the threshold for being a "high source" of one or more micronutrients on a per-100 calorie and per-100 gram basis.

Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture: Nutrient-Rich Value Chains: Technical Guidance Brief. Table 3, title modified. December 3, 2015. https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1864/nutrition-sensitive-

18 Government of Pakistan, National Nutrition Survey, 2011.

19 The "height for age" below -2 standard deviations of the median https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1864/nutrition-sensitive-agriculture-508.pdf agriculture-508.pdf

The expected results for both the goal and objectives are listed below:

Goal: Sustainably improve the nutritional status of women and children living in the newly-merged districts through increasing the availability, access, and consumption of diverse nutrient-rich foods.

● Number of children receiving minimum acceptable diet increased by 50 percent.

● Number of women of reproductive age consuming a diet of minimum diversity is increased by 50 percent

Objective 1: Improved production of nutrient-rich foods

● Number of hectares under improved management practices or technologies with USG assistance increased by 50 percent.

● Yield of target agricultural commodities or animal products within target area increased by at least 20 percent.

Objective 2: Increased market opportunities for nutritious foods

● Value of annual sales of farms and firms receiving USG assistance increased (Offeror must propose an ambitious but realistic target).

Objective 3: Improved household’s nutrition and WASH behaviors

● Percentage of households with soap and water at a handwashing station commonly used by family members increased by 50 percent.

● Number of children under six months of age exclusively breastfed, increased by 50 percent.

● Number of children under five and women of reproductive age reached with nutrition and sanitation interventions. (Offeror must propose an ambitious but realistic target).

C.6 PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT RESULTS AND INDICATORS

The Performance Work Statement (PWS) must incorporate interventions that:

(a) Fully address the problems laid out above;

(b) Meet all of the specific objectives and provide a realistic, yet ambitious, plan for hitting the proposed performance targets;

(c) Provide a clear strategy for meeting the overarching goal in a manner that will sustain results beyond the life of the activity; and

(d) Address gender inequalities which negatively impact nutrition of females and focus on improving the nutritional status of adolescent girls and women of reproductive age.

The PWS must provide a variety of innovative solutions to address the challenges of malnutrition as discussed above. The PWS must demonstrate an understanding of USAID/Pakistan’s priorities and strategy, as described in the Country Development and Cooperation Strategy (CDCS). The PWS should include specific, achievable targets over the five year implementation period. The Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plan must include at least the following indicators to measure program results. The Offeror may propose additional indicators as stated in Section L:

https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1864/nutrition-sensitive-agriculture-508.pdf

Indicators/Targets

Prevalence of women of reproductive age consuming a diet of minimum diversity

Prevalence of children 6-23 months receiving a minimum acceptable diet

Prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding of children under six months of age

Percentage of households with soap and water at a handwashing station commonly used by family members

Number of households benefiting directly from USG interventions

Yield of targeted agricultural commodities within target areas

Number of hectares under improved management practices or technologies with USG assistance

Value of annual sales of farms and firms receiving USG assistance increased

Percentage of female participants in USG-assisted program with increased access to productive economic resources (assets, credit, income or employment)

C.7 ACTIVITY PARAMETERS

C.7.1 Gender

Advancing gender equality between females and males, and empowering women and girls to participate fully in, and benefit from the development of their societies is vital to achieving USAID’s development objectives. As per USAID’s Gender Equality and Female Empowerment (GEFE) and the ADS 205, it is important that the awardees of this contract work with USAID/Pakistan, its implementers, and the Government of Pakistan to ensure the needs of women and girls are met, and that women and men are provided equal opportunities to prosper.

Globally, malnutrition is one of the greatest threats to public health. In households which are vulnerable to food insecurity, women are at greater risk of malnutrition than men. Malnutrition in mothers, especially those who are pregnant or breastfeeding can set up a cycle of deprivation that increases the likelihood of low birth weight, child mortality, serious disease, poor classroom performance and low work productivity. At specific stages in the life-cycle, women require more dietary iron than men, and when pregnant or breastfeeding, they should consume more protein. Still, they typically eat a lower quantity and variety of nutritious foods than their male counterparts. In rural, developing communities, a woman’s nutritional needs are compounded by the multiple responsibilities which she has in the field and at home as a worker, mother, and caretaker.

Despite their vulnerability to malnutrition, women are in a unique position to improve nutrition in their households. They are responsible for growing, purchasing, processing and preparing most of the food which is consumed. Yet vulnerable women, especially those in female-headed households, frequently have limited access to nutrition information and the resources they need to improve food security, such as income, land, equipment, financial services and training.

Gender dimensions matter because initiatives to improve nutrition cannot achieve lasting success without taking into consideration the social, economic and biological differences between men and women and, in particular, the gender inequalities which stand in the way of good nutrition.

Research has found that projects which promote gender equality and the empowerment of women significantly improve nutrition and well-being for the entire household.

With this end in mind, Ghizaiat will not only promote increased production of nutritious food but will also focus on enhancing women’s economic empowerment through an increased access to productive assets, production and marketing skills, and financial services. These efforts will be complemented by social behavior change communication interventions focusing on removing the gender inequalities within a household which lead to a compromised nutritional status of women and the girl child.

Ghizaiat will also contribute to the key elements of the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI)20 to ensure that women in the target households acquire both the required skills to increase productivity and the knowledge to increase consumption of nutritious foods. The key elements will include 1) decision making over use of income; 2) behavior change around division of labor between men and women to make sure women’s workload in the household does not significantly increase as a result of investment in nutritious foods production; and 3) equitable access to finance for female and male smallholder farmers.

The Contractor is expected to demonstrate compliance with USAID’s GEFE Policy, ADS 205, and shall explicitly state how their proposal will address gender inequalities, such as the ones mentioned above, and work towards improving the nutrition status of women, children, and other vulnerable populations. The Contractor is expected to carry out a detailed Gender Analysis and submit a Gender Integration Plan for fulfilling the goals and objectives of this activity. In the performance management plan, data will be disaggregated by sex, and custom indicators will be used where appropriate.

C.7.2 Youth

Youth is a cross-cutting issue identified in the Mission’s CDCS. Ghizaiat will improve the nutrition situation of young people, especially young women. The Contractor will ensure that this activity works with other USAID-funded activities to complement/advance USAID/Pakistan’s focus on youth programming. The Contractor will incorporate into the PWS and subsequently, the work plan:

20The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) measures the empowerment, agency, and inclusion of women in the agriculture sector in an effort to identify ways to overcome obstacles and economic constraints limiting their inclusion in agriculture. For more information on WEAI go to https://www.feedthefuture.gov/the-womens-empowerment-in-agriculture-index/ https://www.feedthefuture.gov/the-womens-empowerment-in-agriculture-index/ https://www.feedthefuture.gov/the-womens-empowerment-in-agriculture-index/

• How the activity will address increasing opportunities for constructive youth participation to improve nutritional status of focus populations;

• How youth will specifically be prioritized within this activity, and how the Offerors will integrate a youth development approach into the logical framework and workplan of Ghizaiat.

The guiding principles for incorporating these efforts in the work plan will be to recognize youth participation as vital for effective programming, to specifically address gender equality interventions, and to embrace innovation and technology by and for youth.

C.7.3 Local Systems

The Contractor will engage with local systems21 to facilitate system interactions without assuming responsibility for performing them directly. The Contractor must recognize that the strength of local systems and its prospects for sustainability depends on its ability to operate unaided, and that intervening too heavily robs local actors of opportunities to craft a true local solution. Local people understand their situations far better than external actors. The Contractor will be expected to regularly seek out local perspectives, paying particular attention to the voices of marginalized populations and apply those lessons in a practical way to maximize results. The Contractor will build on the understanding of a system’s contours elicited during the mapping phase, and incorporate discrete interventions that will strengthen local systems and produce sustainable results. The Contractor must partner with local institutions and advisors to the greatest extent possible.

C.7.4 Self-Reliance and Sustainability

It is USAID policy that each country must lead its own development journey, but we can help partners by prioritizing programs that foster stability, incentivize reform and innovation, strengthen in-country capacity, and mobilize domestic resources, including private capital.

There are two pillars of self-reliance and sustainability, 1) commitment and 2) capacity.

Commitment represents “how well a country’s laws, policies, actions, and informal governance mechanisms -- such as cultures and norms -- support progress towards self-reliance. Capacity addresses “how far the country has come in its journey across the dimensions of political, social, and economic development, including the ability to work across these sectors.”

The Contractor will effectively and accurately assess both the commitment and capacity of counterparts in the NMDs to work in relevant political, social, and economic sectors including its overall ability to work across these sectors. The finding of this assessment will be expected to inform the choice of interventions the contractor will implement to promote self-reliance while advancing the goal of Ghizaiat. While Ghizaiat will not focus on the commitment angle for self-reliance, it will implement interventions to build its counterpart’s capacity to continue addressing malnutrition. Among other things, the Contractor must particularly consider market- and demand-driven private-sector partnerships to help ensure long-term sustainability of solutions meant to address the many complex and interconnected challenges outlined above.

21 https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1870/LocalSystemsFramework.pdf https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1870/LocalSystemsFramework.pdf

C.7.5 Environmental Compliance Considerations

Compliance with USAID’s Environmental Regulations is a legal requirement as well as Agency policy. To be in accordance with USAID environmental compliance procedures, the Contractor must address the following:

● The Contractor verifies current and planned activities annually against the scope of the approved environmental documentation.

● Where activities demand environmental management expertise, appropriate qualifications, proposed approaches and resources for compliance are addressed in technical and cost proposals.

● As required by the Initial Environmental Examination (IEE)/Environmental Documentation Form (EDF)/Environmental Assessment (EA), the Contractor develops an Environmental Monitoring and Mitigation Plan (EMMP) fully responsive to all IEE/EDF & EA conditions, unless this already exists in 22 CFR 216 documentation or will be developed by program staff.

● Integrate an EMMP into annual work plans, making any necessary adjustments to activity implementation in order to minimize adverse impacts to the environment.

● Budgets and work plans integrate the EMMP.

Environmental Compliance must be included in the MEL Plan and in evaluations. As environmental compliance is a vulnerability factor for operations, it will be necessary to include environmental concerns in activity oversight systems to ensure environmental compliance in operations.

C.7.6 Geographic Focus

Ghizaiat will focus on the NMDs of KP province. The Contractor will be expected to propose specific districts within this area, based on the following criteria:

1. Prevalence of stunting among children under five;

2. Opportunity for livestock and horticulture production;

3. Opportunity to establish sustainable linkages to input and output markets, structured in a way to attract private sector interest and investments that establish sustainable upstream and downstream market linkages upon which producers and consumers can rely;

4. Need for additional nutrition programs; and

5. Opportunities to collaborate with other health and WASH programs.

The Contractor will be expected to collaborate closely with other USAID’s health and agricultural development activities wherever possible. Given the presence of many nutrition and/or agriculture programs funded by other donors in the KP province, the Contractor will also be expected to avoid any duplication. Rather, the Contractor shall demonstrate how Ghizaiat will complement or collaborate with such programs. Please see the additional details in Attachment J.15 “FATA(NMD) KP Fact Sheet”.

C.7.7 Adaptability and Flexibility

The ability to respond to the changing security situation and other salient factors within the enabling environment will be critical for this activity. The Contractor must clearly show how implementation will adapt as operating environments become less or more permissive. Given the nature of activity objectives and the fluid security situation in target geographic areas and communities, the successful offeror will create flexible, agile mechanisms for adaptive management, correction, and response to ensure continuity of operations, implementation, achievement of results, and “Do No Harm (DNH)” principles.

C.7.8 Conflict Sensitivity and Do No Harm

Upon start-up, the Contractor must conduct a conflict analysis to get a thorough understanding of the conflict context in the target geographic areas. To ensure all forms of citizen engagement are safe, productive, and do not exacerbate existing tensions or conflict, the Contractor will use the findings of the conflict analysis to mainstream conflict sensitivity into all interventions. The Contractor will include a robust DNH analysis that demonstrates an understanding of the nuanced context of the conflict in each proposed targeted area and thoughtful consideration of any risks associated with the proposed assistance program. Conflict-sensitivity and DNH must be reflected in the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) plan and ongoing analyses must be incorporated to inform how interventions will adapt to the changing context.

C.7.9 Science Technology Innovation and Partnerships (STIP)

STIP related efforts often focus on making investments more cost-effective, reaching many more beneficiaries at little or no additional cost, accelerating the timeline for obtaining results, and/or bringing ground-breaking innovations to scale. The Contractor is expected to leverage resources from stakeholders (especially the private sector) and development partners to use STIP approaches for nutrition messaging, guiding small farmers, and better linking agriculture, livestock, nutrition, and health service providers with the community for cost effective extension services.

C.7.10 Transparency and Accountability

Fostering transparency and accountability is an important focus area for the U.S. Mission in Pakistan. The Contractor is expected to consider how to contribute to improved transparency and accountability within the scope of the activity. This can range from small-scale activities, such as sharing of monitoring data with local participants, to much larger-scale programs that focus on policy-level changes. The Contractor should describe how the activity is expected to contribute to improved transparency and accountability in this section.

C.7.11 Host Government, Donor, and Other Counterpart Collaboration

This activity requires the Contractor to undertake close collaboration with host governments, other donors, and other counterparts. As previously mentioned in the Local Systems section, the Contractor would work with them, not to perform their duties, but to support them for sustainability and self-reliance. The Contractor will leverage their resources such as their penetration in the community, their networks for messaging, and their local knowledge to better understand the context and constraints. The Contractor will seek opportunities to collaborate with other donors working in the same geographic area to create synergies and complementarity.

Similarly, the offeror will work with relevant USG activities with which this activity will need to work in tandem.

C.7.12 Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA)

Ghizaiat must incorporate a collaborating; learning and adapting (CLA) approach that: a) generates, captures, shares, and applies information and knowledge to support and improve development outcomes; b) promotes collaborative learning and exchanges with relevant institutions, stakeholders, and development partners; and c) uses information to improve the cost-effectiveness of interventions over the life of the activity. Ghizaiat must build on lessons learned from previous and current/existing nutrition-sensitive agriculture activities, including those of other donors that have demonstrated successful market system approaches to achieve nutrition outcomes for the poor.

C.7.13 Grants under Contract (GUC)

The Contractor may use a Grants Under Contract (GUC) component of up to $2 million in its Technical Approach. The proposed grants program will provide monetary and in-kind grants to NGOs that result in capacity building of sector actors, and leverage investment from the private sector to support the Ghizaiat objectives. Specifically, this grants program will support farmers to increase their productivity, and engage the private sector and civil society organizations in improving nutritional status in the target areas. The grant program will ensure local participation in the implementation of the contract, and will serve to leverage resources from program participants for an opportunity to maximize results. Grants may be allocated through a competitive or non-competitive process or through a public-private partnership.

C.7.14 Private Sector Engagement

In its private sector engagement policy22, released in 2018, USAID defines private sector engagement as a strategic approach to planning and programming through which USAID consults, strategizes, aligns, collaborates, and implements with the private sector for greater scale, sustainability, and effectiveness of development or humanitarian outcomes. The offeror will be expected to adopt this strategy in the development of his/her proposal and also during the development of the annual work plans. During the implementation, Ghizaiat will mobilize market-based solutions for more-sustainable outcomes; deepen collaboration with the private sector, and leverage private-sector expertise, innovation, and resources to address malnutrition in the newly-merged districts. In doing so, Ghizaiat will seek private sector-led opportunities to increase the production of nutritious foods; create a sustainable and profitable market of nutritious foods for all producers, and raise the communities’ awareness on good nutrition practices. The successful engagement of the private sector throughout Ghizaiat will be expected

22 https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1865/usaid_psepolicy_final.pdf https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1865/usaid_psepolicy_final.pdf to increase the sustainability of the results achieved and support the newly-merged districts’ journey to self-reliance on addressing malnutrition.

C.8 GUIDING PRINCIPLES AND OPERATING CONSTRAINTS

C.8.1 Branding and Marking In this activity (Ghizaiat), the Contractor must ensure USAID’s ADS 320 Branding and Marking standards are met; as well as USAID’s Graphic Standard Manual.

C.8.2 USG Public Diplomacy The USG is committed to a long term partnership with Pakistan that is built on a foundation of mutual interest, respect, and trust. Communications and outreach are essential elements of the USG public diplomacy strategy to ensure the Pakistani public is well-informed about USG civilian assistance programs in Pakistan. The Contractor’s communication activities will be consistent with the public diplomacy strategy as implemented by the U.S. Embassy Islamabad.

C.8.3 Cultural Context Working closely with USAID/Pakistan, the Contractor must be able to apply a deep understanding and knowledge of all aspects of Pakistani society to gain visibility and personalize USG civilian assistance programs. Materials and components of the contract should be based on an agreed-upon definition of the target audiences and delivered in the appropriate language.

C.8.4 Language and Translation Appropriate translation, into Urdu or local languages, is critical to the success of Ghizaiat. The vast majority of the activities under the contract will not be in English, these will be dictated by the target audiences. The Contractor must have access to the necessary resources to ensure timely and quality translation; all translations need to be thoroughly vetted by the Contractor prior to submission to USAID/Pakistan.

C.8.5 Sustainability By training the local partners in how to carry out nutrition sensitive activities more effectively, the Contractor will work with private sector and government counterparts, leading to an increased sustainability of ongoing USAID/Pakistan nutrition activities.

C.8.6 Flexibility The Contractor must remain flexible and able to adjust to rapidly changing political situations.

The Contractor must also be able to utilize innovative and creative approaches to quickly respond to demands of USAID/Pakistan.

[END OF SECTION C]

https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/320.pdf https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1869/USAID%20Graphics%20Standards%20Manual%20and%20Partner%20Co%20Branding%20Guide%20February%202016.pdf