ATTACHMENT J.1 RING II Systems Strengthening - Statement of Objectives.pdf

STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES

Resilience in Northern Ghana (RING II) Page 1 of 12

1. PURPOSE

The purpose of the Resilience in Northern Ghana (RING) II - Systems Strengthening activity is to strengthen service delivery systems to attain measurable improvements in the nutrition and resilience of vulnerable populations in northern Ghana, particularly reproductive-aged women and children under five years old.

2. PERFORMANCE PERIOD AND COST

The performance period for the RING II - Systems Strengthening activity is five years and cuts across several USAID budget priorities, as follows:

● Global Health, specifically nutrition, maternal and child health, and family planning budgets, which work to prevent child and maternal deaths by helping women and children access essential, and often life saving, health services;

● Feed the Future, the U.S. Government's global hunger and food security initiative;

● Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Development Assistance account; and

● USAID Displaced Children and Orphans Fund, which provides financial and technical assistance for the care and protection of vulnerable children. This activity contributes to the U.S. Government Action Plan on Children in Adversity objective to promote nurturing care for the most-vulnerable newborns and young children

3. TARGET AREA AND POPULATION

The RING II - Systems Strengthening activity will target vulnerable populations, particularly reproductive-aged women and children under five years old living in the zone of influence (ZOI) of the USAID/Ghana Feed the Future Strategy, as follows:

Figure 1: Map of the Feed the Future Zone of Influence

Figure 2: Chart of the Feed the Future Zone of Influence

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Northern North East Upper East Upper West

Yendi; Mion; Karaga*;

Gushegu*; Nanton;

Sagnarigu*

East Mamprusi*;

Mamprugu Moagduri

Bawku Municipal; Bawku West; Garu;

Tempane

Daffiama Bussie Issa;

Nadowli-Kaleo; Sissala East; Sissala West; Wa East

Other districts may be considered in consultation with USAID. Proposals for additional district implementation will be based on poor indicators of population-level nutrition and resilience and strategic advantage.

4. BACKGROUND

4.a Problem Statement Persistent poverty and underdevelopment in northern Ghana have led to intractable adverse social and economic outcomes for the region’s population, particularly poor nutrition and vulnerability to climatic shocks, food insecurity, conflict and other disasters such as the COVID- 19 pandemic. Donor assistance has had some success but has failed to address systemic challenges hindering sustainable results. Through grants to Northern Region districts, the flagship RING project, implemented between 2013 and 2019, achieved significant results including increased consumption of a minimum acceptable diet among young children, household income, and practice of healthy behaviors. However, sustaining these gains are threatened by poor and inequitable delivery of social services such as health and nutrition, social welfare and protection, education, livelihoods and agricultural support. The quality and reach of these services are hindered by weak accountability systems, poor public financial management, inadequate budget allocations and limited engagement of the private sector and civil society, among others.

4.b Programmatic Context After more than two decades of democratic governance, political stability, and economic growth, Ghana is often cited as an African development role model. During this period, Ghana met its Millennium Development Goal to halve poverty and obtain lower-middle income status.

Furthermore, maternal and child mortality rates declined significantly and prevalence of childhood stunting, an indicator of chronic malnutrition, plunged from 35 percent in 2003 to 19 percent in 2014.

However, Ghana’s development trends mask the poor development outcomes of the mostly agrarian northern regions1 which comprise the largest number of people living in poverty nationwide. The recent Ghana Living Standards Survey estimates that of the 2.4 million Ghanaians living in extreme poverty, 75 percent live in northern Ghana and are unable to consume the minimum daily requirement of food per day, even if they spend all their income on

1 Prior to 2018, northern Ghana comprised three regions: Northern, Upper East and Upper West. In 2018, the government carved two additional regions - North East and Savannah - from the former Northern Region. Regional data in this document refer to the former regional make-up.

Resilience in Northern Ghana (RING II) Page 3 of 12 food.2 Increasing incidence and more prolonged periods of flooding and drought and unpredictable rain patterns disproportionately impact northern populations that rely on agriculture for their livelihoods.

These vulnerabilities lead to poor nutrition, the greatest risk factor of death and disability in the country,3 which is particularly persistent in the North. Fewer than half of households in Northern, Northeast, Savannah, and Upper East Regions consume three meals per day per household member during the lean season.4 Inadequate diet in Ghana contributes to micronutrient deficiencies, particularly of vitamin A and iron. Iron is the primary cause of anemia, which leads to developmental delays in children and pregnancy complications in women. The last Demographic Health Survey (2014) also found that 24 percent of pregnant women in Ghana were moderately anemic during pregnancy, and as much as 48 percent of women in northern Ghana experienced anemia.

A recent micronutrient survey found that 36 percent of children under five years old were moderately anemic, rising up to 40 percent in the northern regions5. As a result, about one-quarter of Ghanaian children are at risk of growth and development deficits due to physical and cognitive stunting6. Childhood stunting rates peak at more than 40 percent in some northern districts, slowing children’s language, cognitive, physical, and socioemotional development.

Primary school children in northern Ghana score the lowest in the National Education Assessment, a standardized test of reading and math skills in Grade 4 and 6. A recent study, for instance, found that children from food insecure households in six districts in Ghana had lower literacy, numeracy, and short-term memory.7 It is estimated that development deficits, particularly those that occur in the first 1,000 days of life (from pregnancy to a child’s second birthday), result in a 63 percent loss in annual adult wages8, continuing the cycle of poverty and vulnerability.

Poor water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) practices contribute to diarrhoeal diseases, a leading cause of child morbidity and mortality in Ghana, including wasting, a sign of acute malnutrition. Although open defecation continues to be practiced throughout Ghana, between 56 and 72 percent of populations in the northern regions practice open defecation, compared with 18 percent nationally.9

2 Ghana Statistical Service (GSS). 2018. Poverty Trends in Ghana 2005-2017. Accra, Ghana 3 Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). Ghana profile. Seattle, WA: IHME, University of Washington, 2018. Available from http://www.healthdata.org/Ghana. (Accessed July 22, 2020) 4 World Food Programme. September 2017. Fill the Nutrient Gap Ghana 5 University of Ghana, GroundWork, University of Wisconsin-Madison, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust, UNICEF. Ghana Micronutrient Survey 2017. Accra, Ghana; 2017 6 Countdown to 2030, 2017.

7 Aurino E, Wolf S, Tsinigo E (2020). Household food insecurity and early childhood development: Longitudinal evidence from Ghana. PLoS ONE 15(4): e0230965. https://doi.org/ 10.1371/journal.pone.0230965 8 Early Childhood Development Country Profile: Ghana (2019). Countdown to 2030 women’s, children’s and adolescent health. https://nurturing-care.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Ghana.pdf 9 WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP). 2017. Available from https://washdata.org/data/household (Accessed July 27, 2020) http://www.healthdata.org/Ghana https://doi.org/ https://washdata.org/data/household

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Gender disparities exacerbate adverse social and economic outcomes. In northern Ghana, fewer than half of women are literate and up to 44 percent of women are underemployed compared to 33 percent of men in the region and 24 percent of women nationally.10 Female farmers are concentrated in the unskilled and low-income ends of value chains and tend to work longer hours due to their household responsibilities. Furthermore, up to 60 percent of women in northern Ghana desire family planning services to limit or space their births, an important pathway to resilience, yet only two-thirds of these women access these services.11 And, although reported rates of physical, sexual, and domestic violence in northern Ghana remain lower than in other regions12, populations in northern Ghana report the most accepting attitudes toward domestic violence.13

More recently, movement restrictions, closed borders, and broader global economic disruptions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in loss of household income, higher prices for food and basic goods, and reduced access to social services. Furthermore, poor quality and reach of basic services may exacerbate inequalities that can inflame domestic conflict and risk attracting violent extremism from neighboring countries. Without strong and coordinated systems in place, unanticipated economic crises and humanitarian disasters will continue to dampen the country’s self-reliance goals, with people in the northern regions facing the most dire impacts.

4.c Relationship to Government of Ghana Priorities The GoG addresses poverty and social inequities through its Coordinated Program of Economic and Social Policies, which places “particular emphasis...on strengthening social protection, especially for children, women, persons with disability, and the elderly.” Food and nutrition security programs are implemented across various ministries and agencies, including the Ministries of Food and Agriculture; Gender, Children, and Social Protection; and Health. For example, the GoG’s Planting for Food and Jobs program provides subsidized seeds and extension services to smallholder farmers. Between 2017 and 2018, the program created more than 1.5 million jobs in the agricultural sector,14 increased household food expenditures, and lowered poverty among rice farmers in the northern regions.15 The Ministry’s Women in Agricultural Development directorate implements programs that promote food-based nutrition

10 Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), Department for International Development (DFID), and the Government of the Netherlands (2020). Ghana Living Standards Survey 7: Main Report. Accra, Ghana. Data refers to the former Northern Region, which is now Northern, Savannah and North East Regions 11 Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), 2018. Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS 2017/18), Survey Findings Report. Accra, Ghana: GSS.

12 Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Ghana Statistical Services (GSS) and Associates (2016), Domestic Violence in Ghana: Incidence, Attitudes, Determinants and Consequences, Brighton: IDS. Accessed 6/27/2020 at http://www2.statsghana.gov.gh/docfiles/publications/DV_Ghana_Report_FINAL.pdf 13 More than 60 percent of women in the Northern Region believe a husband is justified in beating his wife in various circumstances, compared to 32 percent nationwide. Source: Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), 2018. Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS 2017/18), Survey Findings Report. Accra, Ghana: GSS.

14 Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Operational Performance: Planting for Food and Jobs (2017-1018).

http://mofa.gov.gh/site/images/pdf/PFJ.pdf 15 Mohammed Tanko, Salifu Ismaila & Saeed Abu Sadiq | Goodness Aye (Reviewing editor) (2019) Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ): A panacea for productivity and welfare of rice farmers in Northern Ghana, Cogent Economics & Finance, 7:1, DOI: 10.1080/23322039.2019.1693121 http://www2.statsghana.gov.gh/docfiles/publications/DV_Ghana_Report_FINAL.pdf http://mofa.gov.gh/site/images/pdf/PFJ.pdf

Resilience in Northern Ghana (RING II) Page 5 of 12 education, value addition through food processing and preservation, and gender mainstreaming in agricultural policies, programs, and projects.

The public health system provides vitamin supplements to adolescent girls, pregnant women, and young children as part of routine maternal and child health programs to mitigate high rates of micronutrient deficiency during pregnancy and early childhood. The system also conducts child growth monitoring and promotion and treats malnutrition at community-level health posts.

Recent attention to early childhood outcomes prompted the government to develop Early Childhood Care and Development Standards to guide service providers, including those in the health sector, on the developmental milestones of children from birth to three years of age and improve the quality of care of young children. Furthermore, the GoG recently added contraceptives to the country’s list of essential health commodities, paving the way for public financing of a variety of modern contraceptives through the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) benefit package.

Ghana’s established social protection system contributes to mitigating poverty and its impacts.

The country finances its own Ghana School Feeding Program, implemented by the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection. As of 2019, the program reached an estimated 2.6 million children living in impoverished communities, with daily nutritious meals. Ghana’s national cash transfer program, Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), targets cash to extremely poor households, including those with pregnant women and children younger than one year of age. Ghana’s NHIS covers 42 percent of the population and waives membership fees to poor and other target populations.16

4.d Relationship to USAID Priorities in Ghana The USAID/Ghana Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS), 2020-2025 guides programming to achieve three development objectives, as follows:

16 Figure reported by the National Health Insurance Agency during a national workshop in March 2020.

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The RING II - System Strengthening activity intervenes across all three development objectives, contributing to achieving the following sub-intermediate results:

IR 1.3: Healthy, skilled citizens contribute to economic growth

● 1.3.1: Citizens adopt improved health practices

● 1.3.2: Citizens seek care for optimal health

IR 2.2: Local authorities manage policy implementation for efficient service delivery

● 2.2.1: District Authorities program yearly budgets that meet identified priority community needs

IR 2.4: Citizens demand responsive governance

● 2.4.3: Citizens demand quality services

IR 3.1: Government improves equitable delivery of quality services in health, education and agriculture

● 3.1.2: Local government authorities effectively administer financial resources

● 3.1.3: Private sector invests in low-cost quality services

● 3.1.4: Citizens advocate for government to deliver quality services equitably

IR 3.3: Citizens adopt improved practices to advance their well-being and resilience

● 3.3.1: Farmers adopt improved agronomic practices

● 3.3.2: Farmers link to profitable market systems

● 3.3.3: Citizens adopt improved nutrition, sanitation and hygiene practices

● 3.3.4: Most vulnerable households use community support and social services

● 3.3.5: Parents send their children to school year round

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The RING II - Systems Strengthening activity forms part of the Ghana Food Security Project (GFSP), which aims to “strengthen Ghana’s capacity to independently address poverty, hunger, and malnutrition.” By supporting local actors to develop and implement their own multisectoral solutions to malnutrition and food insecurity, the Activity advances the USAID Journey to Self- Reliance approach of promoting “locally-sustained results, help countries mobilize public and private revenues, strengthen local capacities, and accelerate enterprise-driven development.”

The RING II - Systems Strengthening activity will support USAID/Ghana’s contribution to reduce the number of stunted children globally by at least two million, as articulated through the USAID Multisectoral Nutrition Strategy (2014-2025). The program’s focus on engendering healthy and positive nutrition practices is essential to the goals of the USAID Ending Preventable Maternal and Child Deaths strategy, which strives toward the global target to reduce child mortality to 25 deaths per 1,000 live births and maternal mortality to a global average of 70 deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030. Furthermore, the RING II - Systems Strengthening activity’s efforts to promote children’s development and protection, particularly in early childhood, aligns with the U.S. Government strategy for Advancing Protection and Care for Children in Adversity, which advances nurturing care for the vulnerable newborns and young children; family-based care for vulnerable children who are, or are at risk of, living outside of family care; and protections from violence against children.

4.e Relationship to USAID and other donor-funded programs The RING II - Systems Strengthening activity will directly complement an existing grant to the GoG to administer a grants program to the 17 target districts. Complementary USAID programming will also increase domestic resource mobilization and introduce innovative financing models at national and sub-national levels, including within the 17 RING II implementation districts. The RING II - Systems Strengthening activity will coordinate with and leverage USAID’s programs that focus on market systems to increase inclusive agriculture-led economic growth in northern Ghana through competitive, stronger, and more resilient markets.

While the RING II - Systems Strengthening activity strengthens equitable access to services, other USAID programs will strengthen quality and accountability, particularly in the health and education sectors. Ghana was recently designated as a priority country under the Water for the World Act of 2014, which makes WASH a U.S. foreign policy priority. In Ghana, USAID will strengthen private sector engagement, financing, and public and private WASH service delivery, with a focus on northern Ghana. Furthermore, complementary USAID programming will also address climate change vulnerabilities, which disproportionately impact northern Ghana, by promoting climate-smart agriculture and renewable energy technologies targeting small businesses and farmers.

The World Bank is a major donor to the health and social protection sectors nationwide. The U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) funds programs that improve the incomes and resilience of poor farmers and small-scale rural entrepreneurs in northern Ghana and partners with the World Bank to support the government’s cash transfer program, LEAP.

Furthermore, the World Food Programme’s efforts to reduce food insecurity include systems strengthening support for the national school feeding program and electronic vouchers for healthy, supplementary food targeting pregnant women, nursing mothers, and vulnerable children under two years. UNICEF partners with the national and local governments to improve

Resilience in Northern Ghana (RING II) Page 8 of 12 child health, nutrition, and WASH; provides operational and management support to the LEAP program; and recently introduced a grants program to 60 districts (including several of the RING II target districts) to strengthen public social services.

5. PROGRAMMATIC OBJECTIVES

Objective 1: Local governments plan, finance, and deliver services that respond to the population’s needs

Achieving population-level nutrition and resilience to economic and other shocks requires quality social services that are accessible particularly to the most marginalized populations.

Domestic resource mobilization for nutrition and other social services are essential to demonstrating country commitment to resource and scale up national nutrition programs.

Furthermore, transparent resource tracking and results reporting are critical to social accountability.

Ghana’s decentralized governance structures deliver various social services, including health;

agricultural support; water, sanitation and hygiene; education and social protection. However, service delivery is often unresponsive to population’s needs, is of poor quality, and has marginal reach, particularly to rural and poor populations. For example, a 2018 study found that district agricultural support budgets changed marginally over a six-year period, while expenditures as a proportion of agricultural households declined, partially because of political incentives to prioritize sectors with more visible outcomes.17

With the aim to expand the reach of quality services that promote household nutrition and resilience, the activity will facilitate the adoption of approaches that enable target districts to develop realistic annual plans that reflect constituent needs and priorities; use data effectively for planning and decision making; develop and implement rational budgets; increase revenue for social service priorities; strengthen public financial management practices; and effectively partner with private sector and non-governmental entities to achieve their priorities. The activity will support districts to integrate performance and quality improvement approaches into its program monitoring processes, building on existing tools such as the district performance assessment tool administered annually by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.

The disruption of essential services during COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdowns demonstrated the importance of building the resilience of service delivery systems to withstand shocks. The activity will support local governments to plan and budget innovatively for shocks, such as humanitarian disasters, climate-related incidents, or disease outbreaks that can cause significant human consequences and constrain services that ensure the nutrition, livelihoods and well-being of affected populations when they need them the most.

Interventions in support of this objective will primarily contribute to achieving strategic Intermediate Results 2.1 and 3.1 of the USAID/Ghana Country Development Cooperation

17 Resnick, Danielle, 2018. "The devolution revolution: Implications for agricultural service delivery in Ghana:," IFPRI discussion papers 1714, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

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Strategy.

Objective 2: Local government, non-governmental, and private entities collectively implement solutions to attain measurable improvements in the nutrition and resilience

Local civil society, private sector and other non-governmental entities offer innovation, technical know-how, funding and other benefits that can enhance the quality, reach and cost-effectiveness of service delivery. A recent landscape assessment18 found that in 2016 as many as 26,000 social enterprises operated in Ghana, and at least 40 percent of owners were female and working primarily in education (36%), agriculture (33%) and health and social care (26%). A USAID/Ghana report19 also highlighted the potential of involving local farmers in the school feeding programs run by the more than 60 low-cost private schools operating in northern Ghana.

A myriad of Ghanaian civil society, faith-based and non-governmental organizations fill service delivery gaps, often reaching the most underserved with localized approaches that meet their specific needs. However, these entities often serve communities independently, and with limited coordination and engagement with local government. Furthermore, technical, operational, coordination and financing gaps impede them from scaling up successful approaches and leveraging public-private partnerships for sustained impact.

In support of USAID’s New Partnerships Initiative, the RING II - Systems Strengthening activity will facilitate partnerships between the target districts, civil society, private sector and other non-governmental entities to implement and scale-up local multisectoral solutions to poor health, nutrition, food security and household resilience to shocks. Interventions will result in outcomes identified in the conceptual framework of the USAID Multisectoral Nutrition Strategy, particularly:

a. Appropriate maternal and infant and young child feeding and care, including early, exclusive, and continued breastfeeding; appropriate complementary feeding; early childhood care and development; and dietary diversity for pregnant and lactating women and children

b. Sustainable household food security, including agriculture production and income generation for dietary diversity; and social protection and safety nets

c. Access to effective health services, particularly nutrition (maternal, child and adolescent);

family planning; and antenatal, postnatal and newborn services

d. Healthy environments, particularly clean water and sanitation

Funded interventions will target reproductive-aged women and young children, leverage community-based structures and use private-sector approaches, when feasible and appropriate to promote the sustainability of the intervention.

The Contractor may utilize a Grants Under Contract to introduce local, non-governmental entities to USAID programming in accordance with the principles of the New Partners Initiative.

The grants may be used to (1) implement and expand the reach of program interventions; and (2)

18 British Council (2016). The State of Social Enterprise in Ghana. Accessed on 10/29/2020.

https://www.britishcouncil.org.gh/sites/default/files/social-enterprise-bc-report-ch3-ghana-digital.pdf 19 USAID/West Africa ASSESS Project (2019). Assessment of Low-Cost Private Schools in Feed the Future/RING II Districts in Northern Ghana.

https://www.britishcouncil.org.gh/sites/default/files/social-enterprise-bc-report-ch3-ghana-digital.pdf

Resilience in Northern Ghana (RING II) Page 10 of 12 build the institutional capability and position up to three local entities to be direct recipients of USAID awards by the end of the implementation period. Institutional strengthening interventions may span financial (including business development), operational and management domains.

Interventions in support of this objective will primarily contribute to achieving strategic Intermediate Results 1.3, 3.1, and 3.3 of the USAID/Ghana Country Development Cooperation Strategy.

Objective 3: Citizens influence local service delivery to respond to their needs

Citizen engagement improves access to and quality of services by enabling responsiveness, transparency, and accountability in the delivery of social services. Citizens can generate ideas, contribute to decision making, monitor implementation, provide feedback on service delivery, raise concerns, and share responsibilities. Local governments are encouraged to facilitate the preparation of local or community development plans to assess community-level needs to inform district sectoral plans. However, citizens often do not participate in the delivery of local services because of social norms about the societal roles of women, youth, and other underserved groups;

limited citizen understanding of complex government processes; and distrust of local leaders, among other factors. The RING II - Systems Strengthening activity will promote active citizen participation in service delivery and local government accountability to its constituents for equitable delivery of social services that respond to population needs, particularly the most underserved. It will address barriers to participation of women, young people and other key users of social services by strengthening existing or piloting new platforms that prioritize their engagement. The activity will mobilize citizens and civil society groups to acquire and enact knowledge, skills and confidence to work alongside and hold accountable local governments to equitably deliver quality social services.

Interventions in support of this objective will primarily contribute to achieving strategic Intermediate Result 3.1and 2.4 detailed of the USAID/Ghana Country Development Cooperation Strategy

6. DESIRED OUTCOMES

The primary outcomes and illustrative indicators, as per the USAID/Ghana Country Development Cooperation Strategy are:

a. Government improves equitable delivery of quality services in health, education and agriculture, as measured by percent of the poorest 40 percent of the population or underserved populations who use essential health services, disagregated by sex and age;

percent of public spending on social sectors services; and

b. Citizens adopt improved practices to advance their well-being and resilience, as measured by women’s minimum dietary diversity; percent of children 0-6 months exclusively breastfed; percent of households with soap and water at a handwashing station commonly used by family members; and percent of women with sole or joint decision making over food and cash-crop farming, livestock, as well as, autonomy in agricultural production.

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7. PROGRAMMING CONSIDERATIONS

a. Gender Equity and Female Empowerment: Gender-based discrimination at the household, community, and institutional levels can have significant negative impacts on nutritional outcomes. Conversely, women's empowerment contributes to better nutritional status of mothers and children. Meeting the particular nutritional needs of women in relation to reproduction and the lifecycle, during adolescence and prepregnancy, as well as during pregnancy and lactation ─ a time of increased nutrient requirements and need for rest─ is critical. Proposed implementation approaches should identify and respond to gender gender gaps and disparities that exacerbate the region’s poverty and sluggish development and embed female economic empowerment to address gender gaps in the target population’s livelihoods, health and wellbeing, education, and decision-making.

Gender considerations must be reflected in performance reporting, monitoring and evaluation with appropriate gender indicators promoted and measured, and with person-level indicator data disaggregated by sex, and, when appropriate, by age, consistent with the USAID Evaluation Policy.

b. Climate Change: Climate change is a cross-cutting issue that can have significant impacts on regional, national, and local development efforts in all sectors. Nutrition, health, agriculture, and food security are especially vulnerable to the effects of temperature and rainfall fluctuations, drought, flooding, and other conditions of climate change. A USAID/Ghana Climate Risk Management Assessment identified (1) increasing temperatures; (2) variable and unpredictable seasonal rainfall; and (3) increased flooding and frequency and magnitude of drought that severely impact the target populations and pose significant risks to program implementation. Implementation approaches should embed climate risk mitigation strategies and support target populations to strengthen their own climate risk mitigation measures. The Contractor must measure and report on outcomes of climate mitigation strategies through it’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plan.

c. Conflict: Yendi, Mion, Bawku Municipal, Sissala West, and Nadowi- Kaleo experience recurring conflict. Economic inequality and a lack of secure employment opportunities help to exacerbate conflict dynamics in Ghana. Unemployment, underemployment, and precarious employment, especially in Ghana’s rural areas and the north, increase the risk of youth mobilization for conflict.

8. GRANTS UNDER CONTRACT

Grants to non-governmental organizations (non-profits or for-profits) are anticipated under the RING II - Systems Strengthening activity to strategically support local entities to engage in program implementation and strengthen institutional capacity of these entities, which may include host-country faith-based, non-governmental, social enterprises, and for-profit entities, to work directly with USAID in the medium to long-term (i.e. full and open competition). USAID defines a local entity as a corporation, a nonprofit organization, or another body of persons that:

(1) is legally organized under the laws of; (2) has as its principal place of business or operations in; (3) is majority-owned by individuals who are citizens or lawful permanent residents of; and

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(4) managed by a governing body the majority of who are citizens or lawful permanent residents of a country receiving assistance from USAID.

9. MONITORING, EVALUATION AND LEARNING (MEL)

The RING II - Systems Strengthening activity will implement rigorous performance management and learning to guide decision-making within the program and contribute to the global community of practice. In addition to other reporting requirements, the Contractor will also report on standard indicators in the Standard Foreign Assistance economic growth indicator reference sheets and the Feed the Future Indicator Handbook. Through the MEL Plan, the contractor would also assess program impacts on gender norms and underserved populations, including women and girls, youth, and people with disabilities. Furthermore, the award would collect and disaggregate data by sex, age, geography and other factors, as appropriate.

[END OF STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES]

https://usaidlearninglab.org/library/standard-foreign-assistance-indicators https://www.agrilinks.org/post/feed-future-indicator-handbook