Attachment 1_ Activity Design Paper.pdf

RFI Number 72048223RFI00001 All Youth Learning

ATTACHMENT 1: ACTIVITY DESIGN PAPER

I. Background:

The prolonged delivery of fragmented, inequitable, and poor-quality education services in the wake of COVID-19 and the 2021 military coup impacts Burma's ability to rebuild once democracy is restored. Burma’s youth (10-29 years old), particularly those in areas most affected by crisis and conflict, require both foundational literacy and numeracy skills and education and training that prepares them for the demands of the labor market. Youth need high-quality, flexible, and relevant educational options that are available close to home in order to acquire the basic skills to contribute to a more inclusive, transparent, and democratic Burma.

In many areas of the country, ethnic education systems, ethnic education organizations (EEOs), and other civil society organizations (CSOs) are providing this type of programming.

II. Activity Concept:

All Youth Learning will focus on expanding educational opportunities for youth at both the pre-and post-secondary levels. It will support non-state education systems and providers in their work to offer education to disadvantaged youth, particularly those who have been affected by crisis and conflict. Ensuring equity and diversity of beneficiaries and devising strategies to reach the most disadvantaged and marginalized will be top activity priorities.

The preliminary goal of the All Youth Learning activity is to strengthen the foundational literacy, numeracy, livelihoods, and life skills of targeted vulnerable youth in Burma, enabling them to become positive change agents as individuals, within their families and communities, and to the benefit of the larger society.

The preliminary purpose of the activity is to expand opportunities for Burma’s out-of-school and conflict-affected youth to receive quality foundational and livelihoods-oriented education and training.

The preliminary Theory of Change is as follows: IF Myanmar youth, especially those who are underrepresented and marginalized, have access to inclusive opportunities to improve their educational and livelihoods-related assets, and improve market-driven skills, and IF the enabling environment is supportive in providing opportunities for utilizing these assets, THEN they will be able to improve their social and economic well-being.

All Youth Learning will seek to strengthen both the foundational education and work- readiness skills of youth, and to provide other necessary and relevant wrap-around support. Since preparing youth for employment is a focus area of All Youth Learning, the activity must consider the enabling environment for youth employability. The activity will apply Positive Youth

RFI Number 72048223RFI00001 All Youth Learning

Development principles1 in ensuring that both the “supply side” of youth employment (educated, employable youth) and the “demand side” (employers) are considered. It will be important to forge linkages with businesses, industry, and local employers in areas where youth reside to ensure that training and skills development are relevant and respond to actual employer needs. In addition, All Youth Learning will seek to strengthen the capacity of local education organizations working to educate youth in line with the USAID Local Capacity Strengthening Policy2. Consideration of security and the evolving political crisis will be ongoing priority concerns; the activity must be designed with conflict-sensitivity in mind.

The following draft objectives aim to achieve the purpose of this activity:

Objective 1: Empower targeted vulnerable youth to build educational assets leading to employability.

Objective 2: Strengthen capacity of education and training institutions and organizations to provide relevant, marketable skills training.

Objective 3: Strengthen the enabling environment for youth to use educational assets and build leadership skills.

All Youth Learning will complement the support USAID has provided under Strengthening Basic Education for All (SBEA) with EEOs and CSOs by focusing on foundational skills for youth, some of whom may require alternative or second chance opportunities to access education. It will also complement post-secondary opportunities offered under USAID/Burma’s new Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship Activity (DISP) by providing youth who may not have completed secondary education, particularly those from marginalized communities, with the education, training, and life skills they need to build assets. All Youth Learning will be designed taking into account and collaborating with the work of CSOs, training institutions, and development partners with experience providing education for youth in Burma.

[End of Attachment 1: Activity Design Paper]

1 See the USAID Youth in Development Policy 2022 Update for more information: https://www.usaid.gov/policy/youth 2 USAID Local Capacity Strengthening Policy. https://www.usaid.gov/policy/local-capacity-strengthening https://www.usaid.gov/policy/youth https://www.usaid.gov/policy/local-capacity-strengthening