Request_for_Comments_-_Organizational_Development_Activity.pdf

USAID’s Uganda Organizational Development Activity – Draft SOW – Procurement Sensitive

Acronyms

ADS USAID’s Automated Directive Series

CDCS Country Development Cooperation Strategy

CLA Collaborating, Learning and Adapting

CMELP Contract Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plan

COP Chief of Party

COR Contracting Officer’s Representative

EA/ERP Employee Assistance/Employee Resilience Program

IP Implementing Partner

IR Intermediate Result

GOU Government of Uganda

GWLS Global Workforce Learning Strategy

LGBTI Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and/or Intersex

M&E Monitoring and Evaluation

MEL Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

MLC Mission Leadership Council

NPE Non-Permissive Environment

PWS Performance Work Statement

QASP Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan

RFP Request for Proposal

ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY

DRAFT STATEMENT OF WORK

1. PURPOSE

USAID/Uganda seeks support in building its existing “Mission of Leaders” activity and undertaking other organizational development improvements that will fortify its performance in implementing its 2017 to 2021 Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) in an adaptive, iterative manner consistent with the Mission’s vision for Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA).

The specific purpose of the activity for which support is being solicited is to enhance the organizational effectiveness (to support results) and adaptive capacity (to effectively drive and implement change) of USAID/Uganda and, to a lesser extent, its development partners in order to increase USAID effectiveness in achieving the development results set forth in its 2017-2021 CDCS.

2. SCOPE

USAID/Uganda’s organizational development efforts have focused on building the individual and institutional effectiveness that characterizes successful organizations worldwide, prioritizing interventions that position it to achieve the vision set forth in its CDCS. Significant progress has been made but USAID is ambitious to achieve greater heights of organizational effectiveness. Reaching greater heights will be particularly critical as USAID seeks to: (i) implement the CDCS’s programmatic integration which requires unprecedented levels of inter-office collaboration as well as the Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA) that underpins the CDCS’s adaptive management approach; (ii) productively absorb the influx of technical assistance from the Mission Technical Support Contracts; and (iii) improve the quality of its engagement with host country, other donors, other USG entities and other stakeholders.

The success of organizational development efforts will hinge on establishing a partnership of trust and collaboration between USAID and the Contractor; and collaboratively developing and implementing CLA practices that will ensure that contract interventions are continuously tailored to respond to what will be the evolving needs of the Mission and its broader network. To facilitate the partnership USAID is looking for, USAID will expect the Contractor to adhere to a set of key implementation principles throughout the life of the Contract. The principles are as follows:

• Organizational efforts are implemented within the framework of a clearly articulated vision of what the Mission intends to achieve with the Contractor’s support and the change management model that will be employed to achieve the vision. The vision and change management model will be developed by the Mission in participatory and interactive processes facilitated and recorded by the Contractor; and progress toward the vision will be tracked by the Contractor through baselines established by the Contractor and targets established by the Mission in processes facilitated by the Contractor.

• Contractor-developed semi-annual work plans:

o Reflect a results-based orientation;

o Take into account evidence and incorporate best practices from past experiences in

USAID/Uganda and elsewhere in organizational development, adult learning, management sciences and related fields; and o Are structured for continual learning, adaptive management and flexibility such that well-constructed feedback loops and “pause and reflect” moments are in place so that mid-course corrections in response to shifting circumstances can be identified and made quickly.

• An appropriate balance of proven and experimental methodologies is employed.

• Methodologies are tailored to the unique organizational culture of USAID/Uganda. Responding to participants’ self-defined priorities, these methodologies, while drawing on globally accepted best practices and approaches, are contextualized to Uganda and the complexities of the USAID/ Uganda work environment.

• Interventions are designed and delivered by the Contractor through responsive, learner-centered approaches and by relevantly skilled and experienced service providers who, in addition to facilitation and other organizational development expertise, are able to offer candid, forward-looking recommendations for continuous improvement and point out gaps that remain, as well as opportunities for future innovation.

• Approaches that, to the extent possible, include and develop the skills of Ugandan organizational development specialists in order to increase the relevance of contractor interventions to USAID’s local staff and to strengthen Ugandan capacity for organizational development.

• Careful attention is paid to the absorptive capacity of the Mission staff, and the overall timing, sequencing and rhythm of interventions as it relates to transition periods, major milestones and/or contextual shifts.

• Activities are directly relevant to USAID’s programmatic and operational objectives, avoiding an organizational development ‘for its own sake’ type of approach, consistently connecting with the broader development objectives that the organizational development activities are designed to serve.

3. BACKGROUND

3.1 Profile of USAID/Uganda

USAID/Uganda is one of the Agency’s largest bilateral Missions, with approximately $370 million in assistance directed toward supporting improvements in health and family planning, increasing the quality of education, accelerating broad-based economic growth and mitigating climate change, and promoting democracy, human rights and governance. Special programs are focused in the post-conflict regions of Northern Uganda.

Programming and overall Mission operations are managed by a staff of over 150 Americans, Ugandans and third-country nationals, divided into a senior management office, four program and business support offices and four technical offices. More than 60 contractors and NGOs, henceforth referred to as Implementing Partners (IPs), help USAID deliver its assistance in Uganda. Together, USAID and the IPs engage and support a diverse range of local government agencies and NGOs. In many instances, especially in the health sector, USAID collaborates closely with other agencies of the United States Government and other donors. Among the leaders in a crowded donor community, donor engagement is and will continue to be a key success factor for USAID’s programming.

Staff members operate in a complex, politicized, often bureaucratically cumbersome environment in which the Mission is accountable to USAID/Washington, US Embassy Kampala, and variety of inter-agency coordinated special initiatives. Moreover, staff members are subjected to frequent change and transition. Some of the change results from shifting priorities and directions, largely driven from Washington. Other change is a by-product of the regular staff turnover of U.S. direct-hire managers who rotate to other posts, and higher-than-USAID-average turnover among Ugandan staff who often have attractive opportunities outside USAID/Uganda.

With both turnovers, and a staff growth spurt triggered by recent program expansion, a significant portion of staff is new to the Mission or has limited experience with Uganda (incoming American and third country national staff) or with USAID (incoming local staff). Despite overall staff increases, current staffing levels fall short of meeting ideal staff-to-portfolio ratios. The combination of the factors translates for many into heavy, frustrating workloads and high levels of stress.

The Mission recently finalized its 2017 to 2021 Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS).

The CDCS significantly increases the programmatic integration efforts initiated in the previous CDCS.

The integration is in response to the inter-sectoral nature of Uganda’s development challenges. It is intended to increase the effectiveness and amplify the magnitude of USAID results. For the CDCS Results Framework, see Attachment 1.

To fortify its capacity to implement the CDCS, USAID/Uganda anticipates several support contracts in addition to the Organizational Development Contract described herein. The anticipated support contracts, which provide USAID with a range of technical and logistics assistance, are described in operating factors below.

3.2 Context for Organizational Development

USAID is a global organization promoting international development. USAID/Uganda has been among the leaders in the Agency-wide reform effort and intends to maintain its role as a source of innovation and excellence in the years ahead. Its approach takes into account core Agency principles:

● USAID’s renewed focus on the local solutions essential to sustainability; evidence-based programming.

● USAID’s renewed emphasis on Science, Technology, Innovation and Partnership (STIP) to build high impact partnerships with the scientific community, the corporate world and others with an interest in identifying and scaling up innovative, breakthrough solutions to intractable development challenges.

● Recent efforts to reinvigorate the program cycle, including through constructive collaboration and continuous learning and adapting.

● Increased investment in staff care and talent management to ensure that USAID staff maintain the caliber of performance required to set the pace with regard to global development standards and, at the same time, contribute meaningfully to U.S. foreign policy objectives.

Additional information on the Agency-wide context in which the Contract will be implemented is provided in Attachment 2, “USAID Philosophies and Initiatives.”

Consistent with its reputation for innovation leadership within USAID, and forming the bedrock of its efforts to build a culture committed to CLA, USAID/Uganda has been designing, implementing and iterating a collection of organizational development activities since 2012. The activities are based on the beliefs that: (i) ALL staff have a leadership role to play, no matter where s/he sits in the organizational hierarchy; and (ii) to be successful in achieving its development objectives, leadership capacity must be built simultaneously at the individual, team and Mission-wide levels. Known as the “Mission of Leaders,” the activities sought to vitalize the enabling environment for CLA by improving communication and collaboration skills through greater awareness of and sensitivity to self and colleague operating styles;

strengthening teams and individual resilience for change (planned and unplanned); and building the other skills and organizational structures that enable CLA to take place.

To date, the mutually-reinforcing activities have included the following:

● Mission Leadership Charter: Through a participatory process implemented in 2012-2013, the Mission identified and agreed on a set of behaviors that, collectively practiced, would lead

USAID/Uganda to becoming a “Mission of Leaders.” Gathered together in a Mission Leadership Charter, the behaviors have been explored, practiced and assimilated through an ongoing program of annual interactive workshops and other regular exercises. Past contractors successfully developed and administered a “360-type” monitoring tool to measure individual and Mission-wide performance in realizing the ambitions inherent in the Charter. The Mission Leadership Charter can be found in Attachment 3. Given the ambition of USAID/Uganda’s new CDCS, it will be even more critical for staff to understand, live and – as needed – update the Charter in the years ahead.

● Organizational Diagnostics: A foundation of the Mission of Leaders has been a series of periodic ‘temperature checks,’ whereby USAID staff contribute to and receive the analysis for the performance of respective offices with regard to leadership and management; strategy and values; culture, inclusiveness and fairness; enabling environment; external and internal interface;

communications; and accountability. As noted above, periodic monitoring against the Mission Leadership Charter itself, as well as key informant interviews and activity evaluations, have also served as critical inputs to assessing organizational challenges and opportunities.

● Work Preference Profiling: Staff members’ awareness of their own and their colleagues’ unique work style and preferences are heightened in order to improve the quality of individual and organizational communications, decision-making and performance through the use of the Insights DiscoveryTM tool and interactive methodologies.

● Leadership Training: USAID/Uganda offers staff a tailored (and annually-updated) week-long, in-Uganda leadership development course, modeled after the Agency’s Emerging Leaders Program. Hosting the course in Uganda allows the Mission to reach approximately 30 staff annually and create the critical mass necessary for Mission-wide impact, while providing further opportunity to deepen familiarity and ownership of the Mission Leadership Charter.

● Executive Coaching: Leaders in supervisory positions have access to a fixed number of in-person and remote coaching sessions, based on self-defined needs that emerge from day-to-day experiences as well as the diagnostic activities undertaken in other activity components.

● Staff Transition Management: To better capture learning and facilitate smooth staff transitions, the Mission implements a staff transition strategy that includes video-taped exit interviews for dissemination to new and already on-board staff.

● Chiefs of Party Engagement: Beginning in early 2015, USAID/Uganda began to expand the Mission of Leaders program beyond its own staff to also include Chiefs of Parties (CoPs) of IPs.

In monthly meetings with the CoPs, relationships between, and collaboration among, USAID and its IPs is facilitated around key cross-cutting themes.

● Organizational Structures & Business Processes: Spurred by expanded staffing, strategic program shifts and/or opportunities for enhanced organizational effectiveness, USAID/Uganda has selectively created purpose-specific teams. Often, these teams are time-limited. Examples include Project Management Teams, Task Teams and Working Groups designed to advance key programming objectives, coordinate cross-cutting efforts and/or complete finite tasks on behalf of the Mission. At other times, teams may be more permanent, such as the Mission Leadership Council (MLC). This group, charged with overall strategic oversight and direction for the Mission, is composed of approximately 20 representatives from across the Mission including:

senior Mission management; U.S. direct hire staff serving in Office Director positions as well as Senior Ugandan staff members from each office; and the Mission’s Organizational Learning Advisor and Liaison Specialist. Finally, the Mission has actively pursued improvements in business processes. The primary objectives of business process improvements have been to clarify roles, tools and systems, while smoothing workflows and increasing efficiencies.

USAID/Uganda is pleased with the impact its organizational development efforts have had thus far. The Mission Leadership Charter has broad buy-in among Mission staff and its behaviors have been absorbed into the Mission’s DNA. Organizational diagnostics have helped track the institutional health of the Mission and served as a tool for maintaining accountability between managers and staff. By increasing staff awareness of how personality types and interactions affect work performance, Insights DiscoveryTM has led to more productive office relationships. Diagnostic tools administered since the Mission began its organizational development efforts document the success of efforts to date. There have been clear, and at times dramatic, improvements in staff perceptions regarding the institutional health of their offices and the Mission as a whole. At the macro-level, the percentage of staff “happy” with the Mission increased by 20 percent between 2014 and 2016.

Additional information relevant to the Agency’s and USAID/Uganda’s organizational development efforts is included at: Attachment 4: “Guiding Principles for Implementing USAID/Uganda’s Country Development Cooperation Strategy;” and Attachment 5: “Lessons Learned from USAID/Uganda’s Organizational Development Initiative.”

4. PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES AND ILLUSTRATIVE RESULTS

4.1 Goal and Objectives

Goal: to enhance the organizational effectiveness (to support results) and adaptive capacity (to effectively drive and implement change) of USAID/Uganda and, to a lesser extent its development partners, in order to increase USAID effectiveness in achieving the development results set forth in its 2017-2021 CDCS.

Six objectives support the achievement of the Contract purpose:

1. Capacity and Effectiveness

2. Diagnostic Tools

3. Collaboration and Engagement

4. Rollout to Partners and Counterparts

5. Learning

6. Flexibility

Objective 1: (Capacity and Effectiveness) -- Strengthen individual, team, cross-team and Mission-wide capacity to more fully realize the Mission of Leaders objectives and Mission-wide organizational effectiveness, particularly with regard to CLA, external engagement and partnership, and achieving the programmatic integration described in the CDCS (approximately 50 percent of effort)

The interventions designed and implemented to achieve this objective will be core to the individual, team, cross-team and organizational shifts at the heart of the Mission’s organizational development aspirations.

Interventions should fully incorporate the operational principles outlined in C.2 above – including a tailored, interactive, learner-centered and culturally appropriate approach – while evolving in concert with Mission needs. Interventions should also seek to continuously help Mission staff deepen the practices associated with the Mission Leadership Charter and the CDCS Guiding Principles. Services may, at times, be combined into a single event (e.g. retreat, workshop or training course) or may be reflected through directed technical assistance efforts provided in the context of ongoing processes and periodic initiatives (e.g. coaching, meeting facilitation, mentoring, collaborative process definition and organizational design/structures). USAID expects that interventions will be a well-considered mix of the “tried and true” and the “cutting edge/experimental,” reflecting the Contractor’s experience with best practices in government and industry and demonstrating the contractor’s commitment to exploring and breaking through to new frontiers.

To achieve this objective, the Contractor must deliver the following results:

(a) Leadership and related skills of USAID at the staff and organizational levels further developed (complementing otherwise-provided efforts to deepen technical capacity).

● Continue and deepen application of Insights DiscoveryTM as a tool to improve individual, team, cross-team and Mission-wide capacities in leadership, communications, decision-making and performance.

● Provide complementary leadership training and targeted skills-building in communications, running effective meetings, negotiation, consensus-building, stakeholder engagement, partnership, advocacy and other skills required for organizational effectiveness. (“Hard” skills development.)

● Facilitate discussions and other activities to deepen consensus around and the practice of values included in or consistent with the Mission Leadership Charter, such as respect, inclusion, listening, etc.; and to result in a mind-shift in which Mission staff are able to think more holistically and more systematically about development and their role in it. (“Soft” skills development.)

● Facilitate discussions, skills building and other activities to help staff better understand and practice the CDCS Guiding Principles; and to understand and take advantage of the relationships between the Mission Leadership Charter and the CDCS Guiding Principles.

● Help Mission staff identify and acquire other new competencies that will be required to implement the integrated CDCS; to optimize the use of resources obtained through the Mission Technical Support Contracts; and to undertake other new ways of doing business.

● Provide individualized executive coaching.

● Facilitate and otherwise support the establishment and ongoing effectiveness of intra-Mission mentorship activities.

● Recommend and, with USAID/Uganda’s approval, implement other interventions in support of the result.

(b) Cohesion of USAID/Uganda teams, cross-teams, task-specific groups, and the Mission as a whole deepened.

● Design and deliver workshops and other teambuilding activities to further promote a shared Mission-wide vision for the CDCS and its future directions, a culture consistent with the Mission Leadership Charter, and a common set of practiced values.

● Facilitate and otherwise support the establishment and ongoing effectiveness of collaboration platforms.

● Provide support for strengthening internal communication systems and individual skills to increase Mission cohesion and strengthen Mission ability to implement its integrated strategy.

● Help the Mission develop and realize improvements to staff transition efforts for exiting/incoming Foreign Service officers, as well as Ugandan and Third Country National, through facilitation, orientation, materials development and other support.

● Support activities and tools to build awareness of the five-year CDCS, enabling all staff, as well as key partners, to understand the overall strategic vision as well as their role in achieving (or adapting) it.

● Recommend and, with USAID/Uganda’s approval, design and implement other interventions in support of the result.

(c) USAID/Uganda capacity for leading internal and external change strengthened

● Provide research and build awareness of relevant change models and conceptual frameworks.

● Provide technical assistance and related support in designing and implementing change efforts.

● Build skills and enhance competencies for staff and partners in identifying and implementing opportunities for catalyzing change within individual (self), colleagues and the broader development context, linking as appropriate with CLA efforts elsewhere in the Mission.

● Recommend and, with USAID/Uganda’s approval, design and implement other interventions in support of the result.

(d) Support to USAID/Uganda in smoothing and enhancing staff transitions at all levels provided.

● Conduct, analyze and disseminate learning from departing staff.

● Support activities to enculturate new staff.

● Support activities to help the Mission create space for new team members to contribute to

USAID’s evolving culture.

● Recommend and, with USAID/Uganda’s approval, design and implement other interventions in support of the result.

(e) Efficiency and effectiveness of USAID/Uganda-prioritized business processes increased, enhancing fit with roles, structures, etc.

● Provide technical support for diagnosing strengths and weaknesses of program cycle, administrative, procurement and financial management business processes.

● Provide technical support for strengthening and streamlining program cycle, administrative, procurement and financial management systems.

(f) USAID/Uganda organizational structures and accompanying collaborative mechanisms better support optimal implementation of its integrated CDCS.

● Provide technical support to assess the effectiveness of structures in place.

● Provide technical support to assist in designing and operationalizing structural improvements should they be necessary.

(g) As requested by USAID, and in cooperation/complementarity with USAID staff and the Mission Technical Support contractors, Mission Staff Care1 efforts supported.

● Provide individual and team professional coaching and relationship-building services when called to do so.

● Fill Staff Care gaps not addressed otherwise by USAID or its other available resources.

1 USAID is striving for a 21st Century work environment in which the Agency’s workforce feels valued, and where employee resilience, wellness and work-life balance are integral parts of the USAID culture. USAID's Staff Care Program promotes a range of programs and initiatives that assist with this effort. Further details are available at https://staffcare.usaid.gov/.

https://staffcare.usaid.gov/

Objective 2: (Diagnostic Tools) --Develop, administer and help USAID benefit from diagnostic tools that will: (i) measure the individual, team, cross-team and Mission-wide effectiveness in practicing desired behaviors; and (ii) inform and help shape future organizational development interventions (approximately 10 percent of effort)

An inherent part of the organizational development approach USAID/Uganda seeks to build upon is that of periodic assessment of emerging issues and opportunities within the Mission’s work culture and climate. In addition to informing planned interventions, this continuous assessment helps to gauge staff and stakeholder relationships, engagement and effectiveness with the intention of utilizing the assessment itself as an intervention. USAID/Uganda believes the process of collecting data on individual, team and organizational dimensions, analyzing and sharing that data with the target participants – across all categories – contributes to awareness of organizational dynamics, strengths and weaknesses, validates and/or challenges assumptions about overall performance, as well as providing an opportunity for share ownership for these various elements of organizational effectiveness. While the nature and source of the data may vary, whether through perception surveys, ethnographic/observational approaches and/or other means, this data in itself will serve as a key input to the process of organizational change.

To achieve this objective, the contractor must deliver the following results:

(a) Administration of Insights DiscoveryTM facilitated

● Administer Insights DiscoveryTM and help individual USAID staff understand their respective results so that they can use their understanding to improve individual, team, cross-team and Mission-wide performance.

● Explore and make recommendations as to the use of additional Insights DiscoveryTM tools as well as other tools that may contribute to Contract objectives; and follow up with introducing and helping USAID apply any tools agreed upon jointly with USAID.

(b) Tool(s) that assess assimilation of behaviors that are defined in the Mission Leadership Charter developed, administered and used as a basis for interventions that benefit staff and Mission-wide effectiveness.

● Conduct periodic ‘360’ perception-based surveys developed by the Contractor and approved by USAID to gauge staff perceptions of how well individuals, teams and the organization as a whole are ‘living the Mission Leadership Charter and the CDCS Guiding Principles.’

● Explore and make recommendations as to the use of other tools to complement the ‘360’ perception surveys; and follow up with introducing and helping USAID apply any tools agreed upon jointly with USAID.

● Facilitate USAID staff in using tool(s) to help to: (i) diagnose areas of disconnect (widely different perceptions about a certain behavior and/or party); and (ii) highlighting areas needing further attention and focus through future interventions.

(c) Other relevant diagnostic tools agreed upon by the Contractor and USAID/Uganda developed, administered and used as a basis for interventions that benefit staff and Mission-wide organizational effectiveness.

Periodic diagnostics that reveal staff, team and Mission performance around key dimensions of organizational development are of a high priority in both informing intervention design as well as tracking overall progress in the organizational changes sought under this Contract. This includes diagnostic strategies that might capture the Mission’s connections/relationships to external stakeholders and partners, as well as diagnostic lenses of the partners themselves.

Objective 3: (Collaboration and Engagement) -- Strengthen the quality of engagement and organizational collaboration between and among USAID/Uganda and its external stakeholders in order to maximize the effectiveness of USAID/Uganda resources (approximately 20 percent of effort)

USAID/Uganda operates within a complex, interrelated and, sometimes, interdependent ecosystem that includes host country counterparts, IPs, other donors, other USG agencies and various other stakeholders.

In many cases, it is necessary for only a small sub-set of the ecosystem for collaborate effectively. In other instances, a much broader swath of the ecosystem must coordinate, cooperate and/or collaborate to maximize the effectiveness of USAID and other resources. Thus, the stronger the relationship within the ecosystem, the more powerful the development impact is likely to be. Productive cross-sectoral and cross-organizational relationships are particularly critical to the success of USAID/Uganda’s integrated strategy.

USAID/Uganda also intends to use the Contract to help it take maximum advantage of the contracts it has, or will have in place, to support its internal programmatic and administrative operations. Support from the Contractor will include helping USAID/Uganda build the relationships and put in place the communications and other mechanisms that will help it productively integrate staff from these other support contracts into its internal operations; and helping USAID/Uganda to build and continuously strengthen inter-support contractor relationships to benefit USAID/Uganda’s performance. Brief descriptions of the support contracts are provided in No.5 below, under the heading of “Relationships with Other Mission Support Contracts.”

To achieve this objective, the Contractor must deliver the following results:

(a) Mutual understanding and organizational collaboration between USAID/Uganda and its individual IPs, as well as among USAID/Uganda and defined collectives of its IPs, strengthened in order to advance the achievement of CDCS objectives and to widen the culture of learning and adaptation.

● Facilitate workshops and other interventions to increase mutual understanding and organizational collaboration.

● Help design and operationalize communication platforms.

● Develop tools and capacity for joint stakeholder analysis, constituency building, problem resolution, and similar organizational/political tools for effective implementation.

● Recommend and, with USAID/Uganda’s approval, design and implement other interventions in support of the result.

(b) USAID/Uganda absorption of the Mission support contractors facilitated to improve USAID/Uganda operations

● Facilitate workshops and/or offer other interventions to help USAID staff examine how their roles can change as a result of the Mission support contracts.

● Train and support other interventions to help USAID staff acquire the organizational skills required to succeed in any role changes resulting from the Mission support contracts.

● Facilitate workshops, meetings and other efforts to facilitate constructive relations between

USAID/Uganda and its respective support contractors.

● Facilitate workshops, meetings and other efforts to facilitate constructive relationships and productive collaboration among the suite of USAID/Uganda support contractors, including

Mission Technical Support contractors, the “Learning” contractor, the PEPFAR Support contractor, and the (Organizational Development) Contractor.

● Together with USAID, develop and track indicators or progress toward absorption of the Mission support contracts.

(c) Collaboration among USAID/Uganda and its suite of support contractors facilitated to improve

USAID/Uganda operations.

● Participate in and facilitate workshops and other interventions to help USAID and its service providers (i.e., support contractors) define respective roles and responsibilities; and to coordinate, cooperate and collaborate collegially and effectively, including joint planning, implementation, learning and reflecting, and adapting in instances in which it makes sense to do so.

(d) The quality of partnership between USAID/Uganda and its local counterparts in government and civil society strengthened in order to advance the achievement of CDCS objectives and to widen the culture of learning and adaptation.

● Help design and operationalize communication platforms.

● Develop tools and capacity for joint stakeholder analysis, constituency building, problem resolution, and similar organizational/political tools for effective implementation.

(e) Teamwork and cohesion among USG agencies strengthened in order to advance the achievement of CDCS objectives and to widen the culture of learning and adaptation.

● Help design and operationalize communication platforms.

● Develop tools and capacity for joint stakeholder analysis, constituency building, problem resolution, and similar organizational/political tools for effective implementation.

● Recommend and, with USAID/Uganda’s approval, design and implement other interventions in support of the result.

Objective 4: (Rollout to Partners and Counterparts) -- Help USAID/Uganda extend its leadership and organizational development practices to its IPs, support contractors and other key stakeholders to further maximize the effective of USAID/Uganda resources (approximately 10 percent of effort)

USAID/Uganda seeks to create a community of stakeholders that: (i) shares its commitment to CLA and the CDCS that CLA supports; and (ii) recognizes the value of inclusive leadership and organizational excellence in meeting the CDCS objectives. The creation of such a community will bolster USAID/Uganda’s ability to deliver and amplify the results envisaged under the CDCS.

USAID/Uganda’s aspiration is to extend its community to all key partners, including IPs, support contractors, GOU counterparts, and so forth. Thus, USAID/Uganda will call on the Contractor to provide a limited amount of organizational development support to identified partners. (The support provided under Objective 4 differs from that provided under Objective 3 in that Objective 4 support targets the recipient’s internal operations whereas Objective 3 promotes collaboration between and among USAID and its partners.)

Given that USAID can only be as effective as the effectiveness of its IPs and support contractors, the Mission has a particular stake in extending its community to these organizations. Under this Contract, the Contractor will provide a sampling of organizational development support as indicated in the bullets below. However, to further advance efforts to build a shared community, selected IP and support contractor mechanisms will include clauses that make USAID/Uganda funding available for organization development support beyond the limited amount provided under this Contract, with services to be procured directly by the benefiting organization, using the respective organization's solicitation policies and practices. The Contractor selected to implement the Contract described herein may be an eligible bidder in these solicitations but will be given no special preference among bidders by USAID/Uganda or the soliciting organization.

To achieve this objective, the Contractor must deliver the following results:

(a) IPs, support contractors, and, to the extent resources are available, other stakeholders are oriented to the benefits of inclusive leadership and organizational development.

● Introduce USAID-selected IPs and support contractors to the value of organizational development and inclusive leadership

● Complete Insights DiscoveryTM Profiles for three to five members of USAID-selected IP and/or support contractor teams.

● Conduct one one-day workshop for USAID-selected IPs and/or support contractors on an organizational development topic the respective IP and/or support contractor has chosen.

(b) Other partners are oriented to the benefits of inclusive leadership and organizational development should funds be available.

• Introduce other partners to the value of organizational development and inclusive leadership, through consultations, workshops and other means, as requested by USAID.

• Recommend and, with USAID/Uganda’s approval, design and implement other interventions in support of the result.

Objective 5: (Learning) --Facilitate the learning that will help USAID/Uganda better understand the advantages, disadvantages, and impact of its collective and respective organizational behaviors;

and adapt accordingly (approximately 5 percent of effort)

USAID/Uganda considers itself a laboratory for testing and developing leadership and organizational methodologies. It wants to: (i) understand the effectiveness and impact of various interventions, individually and collectively, in order to iteratively hone and prioritize the interventions to improve its performance; (ii) learn, share learnings with, and engage in conversations with others in USAID, with other stakeholders and with others who have an interest in leadership and organizational development;

and (iii) better understand the relationship between its leadership and organizational development efforts and its effectiveness as a development assistance agency.

To achieve this objective, the Contractor must deliver the following results:

● Develop and implement a plan for monitoring, analyzing, increasing understanding, and making recommendations with regard to factors (i) and (iii) above. The plan should recognize that the Mission considers practicing CLA and the behaviors of the Mission Leadership Charter, and building internal and external partnerships, as key components of its performance in achieving the results envisaged in the CDCS.

● Provide support to ensure that learnings inform and lead to iterative improvements in the individual and collective behaviors underpinning USAID/Uganda’s performance.

● Support activities such as webinars, articles, workshops, etc. to facilitate USAID/Uganda’s dialogue with other stakeholders inside and outside of USAID/Uganda.

Objective 6: (Flexibility) --Respond to emergent leadership and organizational development needs (approximately 5 percent of effort)

USAID/Uganda cannot at this time anticipate all of its leadership and organizational development needs.

This is, in part, because it is still in the early stages of breathing life into a CDCS which, in many ways, will require new ways of doing business. But it’s also because USAID/Uganda anticipates that, over the course of the Contract, new methodologies, tools, approaches, etc. will become known to it.

USAID/Uganda will expect the contractor to keep USAID/Uganda abreast of emerging methodologies, tools, approaches, etc. and to support USAID in making decisions on which might be most compatible with USAID/Uganda’s needs and resources.

5 OPERATING FACTORS

5.1 Sustainability: USAID/Uganda is committed to make continuous improvements in its performance and, therefore, has an interest in sustaining the culture of organizational learning and adapting that the Contract is intended to strengthen. The successful bidder will highlight its plans for building the organizational development capacity within USAID/Uganda and within the Ugandan organizational development community that will enable USAID to continue the constructive evolution of its organizational culture beyond the life of the Contract in increasingly self-sufficient and/or cost-effective ways.

5.2 Capacity Building: Building on current and past investments, and in alignment with USAID/Uganda’s CDCS, the Contractor will emphasize the capacity building of the Mission staff and, to a lesser extent, its extended team, including IPs, support contractors, host country partners, etc.

Successful bidders will emphasize both “learning by doing” and coaching approaches to capacity building and adaptive change management rather than mere training. Capacity built must be defined, measurable and impactful.

5.3 Other Mission Support Contracts: The Organizational Development Contract is one of a suite of contracts providing direct services to USAID/Uganda to strengthen the quality of the Mission’s performance in delivering development results. The remaining contracts in the suite are described below.

Holders of the contracts are expected to collaborate closely in delivering their services. Collaboration will include but not be limited to tasks such as: jointly helping USAID to measure and better understand the link between the support contracts and the Mission’s performance in delivering results; sharing “learnings” in how best to support the Mission and its partners; and --a task for which the Organizational Development Contractor will have particular responsibility-- helping USAID ensure that the suite of contract operations are synchronized in ways that are efficient and effective. To promote joint planning, USAID/Uganda intends to, over time, ensure that the support contractors are on a harmonized planning cycle.

There is a degree of overlap between the respective statements of work among the support contractors.

An Annex will be included in the final solicitation seeking to clarify respective roles and responsibilities, particularly with regard to the areas of overlap. Respective roles and responsibilities will be refined once all contracts are in place and joint discussions among the support contractors and USAID can begin. It is likely that respective roles and responsibilities will evolve as the contracts mature and the needs of the Mission progress to reflect its adaptive management approach.

USAID/Uganda Support Contracts (not including the Contract described herein):

1. The Learning Contract: The Learning Contract provides support related to creating a culture of evidence-based learning and adaptive management in order to increase USAID/Uganda effectiveness in delivering development results. In its third year of implementation, its primary aims are to strengthen monitoring and evaluation systems; improve learning and capacity for adaptive management; and help USAID/Uganda to strengthen collaboration and coordination with host country counterparts and other partners. The Learning Contract also supported the development of the CDCS.

2. The President’s Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Support Contract: The PEPFAR Support Contract will provide services similar to those USAID is receiving under the Learning Contract and to those USAID anticipates receiving under the Technical Support Contracts indicated in the bullet below. The solicitation has been formally issued and USAID expects to make an award in 2017.

3. The Technical Support Contracts: The Mission anticipates solicitation of Technical Support Contracts that will bolster USAID staff: (i) with long-term and short-term technical expertise to fill existing gaps in staffing; and (ii) support services, such as video-conferencing, events planning and so forth. The solicitation has yet to be announced.

4. Other Learning: In addition to the contracts described above, USAID/Uganda has a track record of proactively pursuing a diverse offering of USAID- required and supplementary Agency-wide trainings. Foundational trainings, such as Programming Foreign Assistance, Activity Officer’s Representative/Contracting Officer’s Representative Certification, and Evaluation for Program Managers, have been offered at the Mission in the past few years. USAID/Uganda staff also participates in various required trainings worldwide, as well as trainings focusing on various international development specialties, such as: youth, gender, science and technology, agriculture, and health. At the same time, the Mission recognizes periodic gaps in skills development opportunities and/or offerings for its staff, particularly those that would enhance staff performance, productivity and engagement. In some cases, these have been addressed via targeted ‘soft skills’ training workshops, while in others, the Mission has yet to provide appropriate interventions to fill these essential capacity gaps.

5.4 Gender: The March 2012 “USAID Gender Equality and Female Empowerment Policy, available at https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1865/GenderEqualityPolicy_0.pdf, recognizes gender and female empowerment as “core development objectives, fundamental for the realization of human rights and key to effective and sustainable development outcomes.” USAID’s commitment to promoting gender equality and female empowerment is further reinforced in ADS Chapter 205, “Integrating Gender Equality and Female Empowerment in USAID’s Program Cycle,” which is available at https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1870/205.pdf. Given USAID’s stalwart commitment to integrating gender equality and female empowerment throughout the Agency’s strategic planning, project design and implementation, and monitoring and evaluation processes, it is incumbent upon USAID/Uganda, as well as its implementing partners and support contractors, to model gender equality and female empowerment in internal operations and external communications. Accordingly, the Contractor will: (i) incorporate the principles of gender equality, female empowerment and social inclusion in all aspects of its internal operations; (ii) based on the findings of a “Gender, Youth and Social Inclusion Analysis” conducted early during the course of the Contract and described in No. 7 below, support USAID/Uganda staff in reflecting on the Mission’s performance in modeling the gender norms it espouses and in developing and implementing an action plan for continuously improvement in modeling https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1865/GenderEqualityPolicy_0.pdf https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1870/205.pdf gender equality and female empowerment; (iii) develop, track, analyze and report on results indicators that it and USAID/Uganda determine appropriate for gender-disaggregation in order to measure the Mission’s performance in gender equality and female empowerment; and (iv) support USAID/Uganda IPs and support contractors in similar ways if and as called upon by USAID/Uganda.

5.5 Youth and other vulnerable groups: USAID’s June 2011 “Policy on Diversity in the Workforce, Equal Employment Opportunity, and Non-Discrimination,” included at Attachment 6, commits USAID to practicing equal opportunity in all employment practices, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, disability, marital status, parental status, or political affiliation. The links below describe USAID’s commitments to promoting inclusion in its programs as well.

Youth: https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1870/Youth_in_Development_Policy_0.pdf

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Individuals https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1874/LGBT%20Vision.pdf

Persons with Disability https://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/democracy-human-rights-and-governance/protecting-human-rights/disability

It is incumbent upon USAID/Uganda, as well as its implementing partners and support contractors, to not only adhere to Agency policy but also to model, in internal operations and external communications, the inclusion it promotes through its programs. Accordingly, the Contractor will: (i) incorporate the principles of social inclusion in all aspects of its internal operations; (ii) based on the findings of a “Gender, Youth and Social Inclusion Analysis” conducted early during the course of the Contract and described in No. 7 below, support USAID/Uganda staff in reflecting on the Mission’s performance in modeling the norms it espouses and in developing and implementing an action plan for continuously improvement in modeling inclusionary norms; (iii) develop, track, analyze and report on results indicators that it and USAID/Uganda determine appropriate for disaggregation for measuring the Mission’s performance in internal inclusion; and (iv) support USAID/Uganda IPs and support contractors in similar ways if and as called upon by USAID/Uganda.

5.6 Ability to learn and adapt (collaborating, learning and adapting): The Contractor’s ability to learn and adapt will be critical to the success of the Contract; thus, the Contractor must build adaptive learning into Contract implementation. The Contractor must demonstrate, in the Semi-Annual Work Plan, how it plans to ensure that the implementing team, systems, and processes are well-developed for advancing an adaptive approach, to ensure that the learning that emerges can be translated to improvements in Contract implementation. The Contractor must describe the rapid feedback loops and evidence collection methods that will inform Contract course corrections and decisions.

The Contract is expected to contribute to USAID/Uganda’s CDCS’s commitment to a multi-faceted CLA approach to achievement of more effective development. The CLA model is based on the understanding that efforts yield more effective results if they are coordinated and collaborative, test promising, new approaches in a continuous yet also rapid, targeted search for generating improvements and efficiencies and build on what works and eliminate what does not. The Contractor will both support and practice

CLA.

Collaborating: Facilitating collaboration internally and with external stakeholders to promote leadership in organizational development and economic development (e.g., enhancing existing stakeholder…