Attachment 1_AIYA Program Description.pdf

Program Description Afghanistan Integrated Youth Activity (AIYA) 2024

This funding opportunity is authorized under the Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) of 1961, as amended. The resulting award will be subject to 2 CFR 200 – Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards, and USAID’s supplement, 2 CFR 700, as well as the additional requirements found in Section F.

INTRODUCTION

The Afghanistan Integrated Activity (AIYA) aims to empower Afghan youth, particularly girls and young women, by equipping them with market-relevant technical and soft skills. This initiative seeks to enhance income, food security, and economic resilience among participants. The overarching goal of AIYA is to improve learning outcomes and livelihood opportunities for young women and men. Expected outcomes include: 1) Improved post-secondary technical and vocational education or learning opportunities for youth, with a focus on market-relevant, skills-based learning within the agricultural sector and its related value chains. 2) Youth, particularly girls and young women, acquire market-relevant skills to improve livelihood opportunities and engage in climate resilient agricultural value chains in their home, community, or other settings.

BACKGROUND

Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, the country has experienced an economic and social disaster. The profound economic downturn following the takeover, exacerbated by the impact of an exceptionally severe drought, has accelerated Afghanistan's descent into poverty over the past decade, relegating it to one of the world's poorest nations. Girls and women, comprising half of the country's 40 million population, have been deprived of fundamental rights and freedoms, severely limiting their autonomy and involvement in public affairs1. While mobility and access to education and employment for young men is not restricted, they still are impacted by limited resources, lack of economic opportunities, and dwindling coordinated, comprehensive, and quality services (i.e. health, education, etc.). Food insecurity is a concern for most Afghans, with drought and other natural hazards and shortages in a skilled workforce impacting production and processing2. These factors combined limit opportunities for both young men and women in Afghanistan - where more than 60 percent of the country's population are youth under the age of 25 and 47 percent are under the age of 153.

Youth Context in Afghanistan According to the country's 2014 National Youth Policy, youth are defined as aged 18-35 years old. Young people in Afghanistan today have been active participants in almost all spheres of

1 UNDP. 2023. Afghanistan Socio-Economic Outlook 2 Data in Emergencies Monitoring brief, round 7 - Results and recommendations, January 2024 3 4Ws Service Mapping of the Adolescents and Youth Programs in Afghanistan - Adolescents and Youth Working

Group (AY WG) 2023 https://www.unicef.org/afghanistan/media/2196/file/afg-publication_youth-policy.pdf%20.pdf https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/afghanistan-diem-data-emergencies-monitoring-brief-round-7-results-and-recommendations-january-2024?_gl=1*9expeg*_ga*MjAzOTk2MDI2Ny4xNzA5MTY2OTEz*_ga_E60ZNX2F68*MTcwOTQ4MjIyMy41LjEuMTcwOTQ4MjY1MS41MS4wLjA.

https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/4ws-service-mapping-adolescents-and-youth-programs-afghanistan-adolescents-and-youth-working-group-ay-wg-2023#:~:text=Afghanistan's%20youth%20population%20is%20among,unemployment%2C%20poverty%2C%20child%20marriage%2C https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/4ws-service-mapping-adolescents-and-youth-programs-afghanistan-adolescents-and-youth-working-group-ay-wg-2023#:~:text=Afghanistan's%20youth%20population%20is%20among,unemployment%2C%20poverty%2C%20child%20marriage%2C

Afghan society and politics. Young Afghans have represented their country in international arenas, festivals, contests and sport events, bringing pride to the country with their achievements. Since the Taliban takeover in August 2021, there has been a reversal of these socio-political gains and democratic values. Youth participation in various social and political spheres has become more precarious and volatile. Inequality, fear, extrajudicial killings, house searches, discriminatory practices have increased, which have resulted in extreme uncertainty and despair, as well as a strong desire for outmigration among young people.

Afghanistan has many other challenges and obstacles to youth development. These challenges include: corruption; nepotism in employment and scholarships and exchange programs;

patriarchal behavior and discrimination towards youth; ethnic and identity politics; sexual identity, mismanagement; and a non-systemic approach to youth empowerment. Young women, young LGBTQ+ individuals, rural youth, and youth with disability have been particularly marginalized by all these factors, including pervasive gender-based violence and discrimination.

Youth Access to Education Currently, the Afghanistan education sector is in transition. The de facto authority has yet to publish a policy or strategy to guide the education sector therefore, the local level authorities have interpreted public statements on education differently, leading to a variety of community-specific responses. While some primary and secondary schools and higher education institutions (HEIs) have reopened in Afghanistan, girls and young women are not allowed to access educational opportunities after grade 6.4 Primary education has seen a drop in enrolments and the achievements in girls' secondary education have unraveled, with approximately 1.4 million girls out of school following the ban5. The Taliban prohibition against girls’ post-primary education has also resulted in a dramatic reduction in girls’ lower secondary and high school attendance since the pre-August 2021 academic year. Girls’ schools are closing across the country as part of the Taliban strategy to deny girls’ access to education while simultaneously expanding access to boys’ education. 6

Community-based education has expanded, with 60 percent of students being girls. However, sustainability is challenged by reliance on external funding. Youth and adult literacy rates are low, particularly for women, the extremely poor, and those in rural areas7. Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) enrolments have decreased by 18 percent, with girls and women most affected. Higher education has seen a significant drop in enrollments with a decline of over 30 percent in only two years8.

The Taliban takeover worsened an already weak education system and little effort has been made since then to improve the quality of education. Enablers for quality education face

4 Taking a Terrible Toll: The Taliban’s Education Ban 5 OCHA. 2023. Afghanistan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan.

6 Girls Access to Education, Wave 4 survey, May, 2023 7 Afghanistan Education Sector Support Plan, 2024-2025, UNESCO, Draft

8 NISA 2022-2023

https://www.usip.org/publications/2023/04/taking-terrible-toll-talibans-education-ban challenges, with a decrease in qualified teachers and school infrastructure9. Some TVETs and all Teacher Training Colleges have been closed by the Taliban and many have been repurposed as part of the Taliban's plan to establish madrassas in each province and district.

USAID experience in implementing workforce development (WFD) activities indicate that most firms in growing sectors require eligible applicants to have, at a minimum, a secondary-level education, proficiency in reading, writing, basic mathematics, and soft skills for entry level employment. Therefore, it is important to continue to support educational attainment at the primary, secondary, and higher education levels or their equivalents for all genders.

Youth Unemployment Afghanistan has the youngest population in South Asia, with 48 percent of its citizens below the age of 15. Moreover, it has the largest youth bulge among all countries in the region and ranks third globally, following Uganda and Chad. More than one-fifth of Afghanistan's adult population falls within the age bracket of 15 to 2410. According to the 2023 Afghanistan Development Update11, the World Bank identified that nearly one in three young men aged 14 to 2412 are unemployed. Additionally, the unemployment rate among young females in the same age group is nearly twice as high. Moreover, Afghan women face challenges not only due to limitations on their physical mobility and unfamiliarity with the labor market resulting from their traditional marginalized economic roles, but also due to disadvantages stemming from their lack of education and literacy.13

It is estimated that the exit of a substantial portion of female workers from the formal workforce have resulted in economic losses of around $1 billion for Afghanistan14. As much as 90 percent of Afghanistan’s economy is in the informal and partially regulated sector. Many Afghan women have been employed in the manufacturing sector, mostly in home-based production (such as garment production and food processing)15. However, only 10 percent of households have home-based income-generating activities16. According to the 2024 World Bank Afghanistan Private Sector Rapid Survey, 27 percent of women-owned firms reported facing constraints due to a lack of funds from the international community, while only 14 percent of men-owned firms experienced the same issue. Moreover, women-owned businesses are 3.5 times more likely to close when faced with vulnerability shocks.

9 UNICEF School and Teacher Census, 2022.

10 Fragility and Population Movement in Afghanistan.

11 World Bank. 2023. Afghanistan Development Update: Uncertainty After Fleeting Stability 12 The Afghan labor law sets the minimum age for employment at 15 years to work up to 35 hours per week in non-hazardous work, allows 14-year-olds to work as apprentices, and prohibits children younger than 14 years from working under any circumstances.

13 World Bank. 2023. Afghanistan Development Update: Uncertainty After Fleeting Stability 14 World Bank. 2024. Afghanistan Private Sector Rapid Survey: An Assessment of the Business Environment-Round

15 OCHA. 2023. Afghanistan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan 16 UNDP. 2023. Afghanistan Socio-Economic Outlook https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/315481475557449283/pdf/108733-REVISED-PUBLIC-WB-UNHCR-policy-brief-FINAL.pdf https://thedocs.worldbank.org/en/doc/210d5f24dc33a3460beff3447fceadcf-0310012023/original/Afghanistan-Development-Update-20231003-final.pdf https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/child_labor_reports/tda2015/Afghanistan.pdf

The youth unemployment challenge exists in the context of other entrenched barriers to employment including the Taliban edicts stopping female students from continuing their education and the large-scale persistence of poverty–preventing youth work-seekers from poor families from making the necessary investments in their skills, education, and job-seeking activities. A high level of discouragement and hopelessness results in youth from poor communities disregarding the value of education.

Research suggests supporting Afghan youth financially through initiatives like vocational training and residential educational courses may help to address these challenges. Additionally, initiatives providing online education and skill development implemented by increasing internet accessibility could be promising solutions, particularly for young women.

Agriculture and Livelihoods The primary source of income for the majority of the Afghan population is rooted in agriculture17. It is the main livelihood for rural households and a pathway to poverty reduction, food security and ultimately a key driver of inclusive economic growth. Afghanistan is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, suggesting a future of higher temperatures, reduced rainfall, and higher evapotranspiration with an increased frequency of extreme events such as flooding and droughts. Snowmelt, which provides 80 percent of water in Afghanistan, is projected to occur earlier and more rapidly due to climate change and glacier melt, disrupting river flows and amplifying the impacts of drought18. Variability in surface water greatly impacts irrigation systems as 85 percent of abstractions of surface water in the country are for irrigation19. These climate impacts have downstream consequences for vulnerable communities, ecosystems and water resources for livelihoods, drinking, and food security.

Water stress is preventing many farmers from scaling up their economic activities. Afghan farmers have been exploring various initiatives within the agricultural sector to boost farm income, including crop diversification, emphasis on high-value crops, and commercial farming.20 Effective farmland management plays a crucial role in optimizing resources, improving efficiency, and adopting sustainable practices, such as selecting high-quality crop varieties, implementing efficient irrigation systems, and employing proper fertilizer application, pest and disease management, harvesting, and post-harvesting activities.

The agricultural sector faces a significant shortage of skilled and professional labor, creating a noticeable gap in the market. This shortage can be attributed to various factors, including the brain drain following the 2021 Taliban takeover, lack of a skilled workforce, and overall

17 Najam W, Ibiyemi T, Aziz S, Najam R, Gichohi-Wainaina WN, Oldewage-Theron W. Social Determinants of Rural Household

Food Insecurity under the Taliban Regime. Nutrients. 2023 Mar 30;15(7):1681. doi: 10.3390/nu15071681. PMID: 37049521;

PMCID: PMC10097274

18 Climate change risk profile: Afghanistan.

19 FAO. Aquastat Main Database.

20 Leao, Izabela, Mansur Ahmed, and Anuja Kar. 2018. Jobs from Agriculture in Afghanistan. International Development in

Focus. Washington, DC: World Bank https://www.climatelinks.org/sites/default/files/asset/document/2016%20CRM%20Fact%20Sheet%20-%20Afghanistan_2.pdf http://www.fao.org/aquastat/statistics/query/index.html;jsessionid=AF5241439D7553A6DCA877CF23B264F6 challenges in the country's economic development21. As the demand for labor surpasses the available workforce, wages for agricultural workers have risen faster than non-farm wages, resulting in higher labor costs for growers and potentially impacting their profitability22. The absence of linkage between skilled graduates, service providers, and farmers can lead to inefficient resource utilization, limited knowledge and skills resulting in a lack of innovation and advancement in agricultural practices, reduced access to markets, and limited ability to sell products for a livelihood23. To overcome these challenges, it is crucial to establish linkages between skilled graduates, service providers, and farmers through various means, such as training and educational programs focusing on practical skills and knowledge relevant to climate-adapted agriculture. These programs can enhance practical knowledge and skills, enabling graduates to provide better services on the farm.

CONNECTION TO USG, USAID, AND USAID/AFGHANISTAN POLICIES AND STRATEGIC

PRIORITIES

This integrated youth activity will advance USAID/Afghanistan’s Strategic Framework overarching goal: Advance the resilience of Afghan people, especially women and girls. This activity will directly contribute to and advance the following Special Objectives and sub-results:

● Special Objective 1: Promote fundamental freedoms, rights, and inclusion.

○ Strengthen capacity of local organizations.

● Special Objective 2: Promote the right to safe, equitable, and quality education for Afghan children and youth, particularly girls and young women.

○ Restore Afghan girls’ rights to secondary education.

○ Expand market-relevant higher education opportunities for youth, especially young women.

● Special Objective 4: Improve livelihoods, with particular focus on women, youth, and climate change.

○ Enhance food security through climate-resilient agriculture.

○ Increase economic opportunities for vulnerable communities, especially women and youth.

AIYA is expected to advance the Mission’s cross-cutting priority on youth, as well incorporate gender, localization, and climate resilience into all aspects of design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. Furthermore, this activity should advance the U.S. Integrated Country Strategy Goal 2.2–Promote the inclusion of a diverse and well-equipped Afghan workforce.

In addition to advancing the U.S. Integrated Country Strategy and the USAID/Afghanistan Strategic Framework, AIYA should support and advance USG and USAID policies, strategies, and frameworks. Please see the Programmatic Approaches section for alignment of USAID policies

21 Serat, Saeedi, Khoshal, personal communication, Feb 25, 2024 22 Serat, Saeedi, Khoshal, personal communication, Feb 25, 2024 23 Jalil, Serat, Atmar, Khoshal. "Prevalent Challenges Confronting commercial farming, Agricultural Institutes and Service

Providers: A focus group discussion”, Jan 26, 2024.

https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ICS_SCA_Afghanistan_31OCT2023_PUBLIC.pdf https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ICS_SCA_Afghanistan_31OCT2023_PUBLIC.pdf with AIYA technical requirements.

PURPOSE, OBJECTIVES, AND ANTICIPATED RESULTS

Given the large youth population and the current state of access to education and training, coupled with issues like youth unemployment, and opportunities in agriculture and other livelihood sectors pivotal for economic growth, the sustainability of investments across all sectors requires a skilled population capable of leading and managing enterprise and sectoral growth. Furthermore, the success of Afghan businesses will depend on finding a supply of skilled people for all economic sectors, including startups, local private businesses, and multinational corporations.

With this in mind, AIYA will support the following goal, objectives, and desired results in support of the USAID/Afghanistan Strategic Framework:

Table 1: AIYA Results Framework

USAID/Afghanistan Goal: Advance the resilience of the Afghan people, especially women and girls.

AIYA Goal: Improve learning outcomes and livelihood opportunities for young women and men.

Objective 1: Youth complete market-relevant post-secondary education and training opportunities.

Objective 2: Youth complete market-relevant secondary equivalent education and training opportunities.

Desired Results from Objective 1:

1.1: Increased access to post-secondary learning opportunities for youth to acquire knowledge, skills, and experience needed for increased economic opportunities.

1.2: Improved delivery of in-service/continuing professional development for post-secondary instructors.

1.3: Strengthened capacity of providers of post-secondary learning opportunities to provide market-relevant education and training.

Desired Results from Objective 2:

2.1: Expanded provision of functional literacy and numeracy skills training for youth, particularly young women.

2.2: Expanded training opportunities for youth to gain employability and entrepreneurial skills and knowledge in climate-resilient livelihood sectors.

2.3: Enhanced quality of existing informal and alternative education and training opportunities and providers.

Desired cross-cutting results across objectives:

● 3.1: Enhanced partnerships with the private sector to improve youth and women agri-business and other market relevant skills.

● 3.2: Improved youth awareness of career opportunities and pathways to pursue market relevant training and support services.

● 3.3: Increased use of cash transfers or other innovative approaches for youth to achieve self-identified educational, employment, and/or entrepreneurship goals.

● 3.4: Improved access to extension services and other forms of community education and outreach.

Objective 1: Youth complete market-relevant post-secondary education and training opportunities.

To achieve objective 1 USAID seeks to support programs that reach young people, particularly young women, who have already attained a secondary degree, or its equivalent, and provide them with post-secondary educational or training learning opportunities. AIYA seeks to improve access to, and the quality and relevance of a variety of post-secondary learning opportunities that are vocationally focused. As a result, graduates will be equipped with skills for employment or entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector and its related value chains. Successful interventions to achieve this objective may focus on engaging and empowering youth for meaningful employment or entrepreneurship opportunities, and career development, whether that is with the private sector or home-based.

USAID envisions a multi-pronged approach under this objective: 1) focused student support to access and complete post-secondary education, training, and career opportunities; 2) TVET or other post-secondary educational institution and/or private sector training capacity strengthening to provide market-relevant education and training; and 3) engagement with private sector actors, which may include local agriculture commodity organizations and/or unions.

USAID seeks programs that enhance the quality and relevance of post-secondary vocational education, resulting in graduates equipped with the necessary skills for entrepreneurship or employment in the agricultural sector and its related value chains. This may include opportunities for young people to gain hand-ons skills through project-based learning, internships, apprenticeships, and/or service learning opportunities. For the educational institutions and providers, along with improvements in curricula and pedagogy, this may include improving operational capacities to ensure sustainable business models, finance, human resources, or other capabilities that enable them to deliver training without donor assistance, or to be able to access financing after the end of this activity.

With post-secondary education opportunities limited for young women in Afghanistan, USAID is interested in supporting innovative approaches to ensure Afghan women can access and successfully complete post-secondary learning opportunities. Looking at the broad definition of higher education24 - this can include multiple learning modalities (in-person and distance25) that lead to recognized certificates, certifications, diplomas, and/or degrees. By increasing the number of young Afghan women who are actively enrolled in post-secondary education opportunities, USAID seeks to ensure young Afghan women will be able to find local employment or livelihood opportunities.

Due to the current political and security realities in Afghanistan, USAID seeks to support programs that are inclusive and accessible for all learners. This may require supporting young Afghans to enroll in online, in-person, and/or hybrid education opportunities, as well as application of universal design for learning to these learning opportunities.

The intention behind the need to provide students with support to successfully enroll and complete post-secondary learning opportunities is to ensure equitable access to education and empower youth with the skills and knowledge necessary for meaningful employment, entrepreneurship, and/or career development. This support may take a variety of forms, including, but not limited to:

● Scholarships, grants (unconditional cash transfers), and/or other forms of financial assistance;

● Soft skills development;

● Mentoring, career counseling, coaching;

● Opportunities to engage with their communities;

● Supportive learning environment and;

● Mental health and psychosocial support.

In working with TVET or other post-secondary education and training providers, AIYA may support programs to update curriculum and pedagogy, including on content related to climate change adaptation and mitigation, and to enhance hands-on, practical learning experiences. As a result, students will be equipped with the skills required for employment in the agricultural sector and its related value chains. This support may take a variety of forms, including, but not limited to:

● Providing training for current instructors and new recruits with expertise in the field with pedagogy, assessment techniques, classroom management, and the integration of technology into teaching practices to effectively impart skills and knowledge to students.

24 The USAID Education Policy defines higher education as “ range of both university and non-university institutions (teacher training colleges, community colleges, technical institutes, polytechnics, distance learning programs, and academically-linked research centers) within a diversified postsecondary education system.

25 https://www.edu-links.org/resources/delivering-distance-learning-emergencies https://www.usaid.gov/policy/education https://www.edu-links.org/resources/delivering-distance-learning-emergencies

● Providing TVET or other instructors with access to educational resources, such as textbooks, online courses, instructional videos, and teaching aids, to enhance their knowledge and teaching effectiveness.

● Career guidance and placement services to help students transition from education to employment.

● Engaging the private sector to align TVET curriculum and other learning opportunities with industry needs and provide internship/apprenticeship opportunities for young people.

● Developing industry partnerships with agricultural businesses, farms, unions, and cooperatives, to provide students with opportunities for internships, apprenticeships, and real-world experiences.

Results desired under this objective include, but are not limited to:

● 1.1: Increased access to post-secondary learning opportunities for youth to acquire knowledge, skills, and experience needed for increased economic opportunities.

● 1.2: Improved delivery of in-service/continuing professional development for post-secondary instructors.

● 1.3: Strengthened capacity of providers of post-secondary learning opportunities to provide market-relevant education and training.

Objective 2: Youth complete market-relevant secondary equivalent education and training opportunities.

To achieve objective 2 USAID seeks to support programs that provide young people, particularly young women, who have not yet attained a secondary degree or its equivalent, with market-relevant education and training opportunities. Under this objective, AIYA will focus on providing or improving the quality of existing informal and alternative training opportunities in vocational, entrepreneurship, food security, climate resilient agriculture, and related value chains, as well as the soft skills and workforce readiness skills needed to be employed by the private sector.

Afghan girls have been denied their right to secondary school education due to the Taliban ban.

Afghan youth, especially young women, face numerous challenges compounded by the bans on girls’ education, closure of secondary schools and TVETs, ongoing droughts, natural disasters, security threats, limited infrastructure, economic instability, and gender disparities leading to persistent youth unemployment. The agriculture sector and other areas related to green skills offer significant growth prospects, driven by increasing demand for food, livestock products, and cash crops. Approaches to achieve this objective may include a focus on climate literacy to improve sustainable food and agriculture practices that increase productivity, protect resources, enhance livelihoods, and build resilience.

AIYA-supported training and education opportunities should be designed and delivered in a way that accommodates the location (including in the home), schedule, and safety needs of youth, particularly girls and young women. Successful training opportunities will be practical and hands-on, and may include innovative and flexible approaches such as demonstrations, apprenticeships, “on the job” mentoring, peer based learning via cooperatives or learning circles, and/or hybrid or distance learning.

USAID seeks to support programs that integrate the acquisition of foundational skills, such as financial literacy and soft skills. USAID believes such skills are both relevant and necessary to improve youth’s ability to successfully participate in training and future employment opportunities. Promoting youth agency and voice by engaging them in the design and decision making on what skills, where, when, in what modality, and for what type of future employment or career will be critical, especially given the skills needed to continuously adapt their plans to current and anticipated shocks and stressors.

USAID seeks to support programs that propose solutions to overcome barriers for youth to access economic opportunities including approaches to address the lack of essential business skills, market linkages, and financial management that hinder their ability to establish and manage successful enterprises including access to finance. To improve resilience to climate shocks, approaches that promote climate-smart agriculture to increase productivity, adapt to climate change, and reduce emissions are needed.

AIYA aims to support young people to have the information, knowledge, and skills to pursue market relevant employment and careers while being prepared to adapt to and be resilient in the face of anticipated contextual shifts from shocks such as climate change, insecurity, and political shifts. Types of support may include but not be limited to:

● Training and access to finance to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities.

● Coaching in climate-smart agriculture, home gardening, food budgeting, conservation agriculture, skills training.

● Mentoring for climate-resilient businesses and climate-adaptive livelihood training.

● Identify and train community based mentors/ facilitators/ master trainers to provide demonstrations and other types of hands-on vocational, entrepreneurial, food security, innovative and climate resilient agricultural approaches in homes, farms, and nearby private enterprises.

● Increase mentors/facilitators/master trainers access to and use of agricultural inputs and equipment to advance learning in innovative and climate resilient agricultural techniques.

● Partnership with the private sector to test and potentially scale up hybrid distance learning approaches that combine face to face training with ongoing individual or peer based learning approaches enabled by videos.

● Integration of youth agency, soft skills, and relevant foundational skills into skill development and vocational training opportunities.

● Provision of home based training via extension workers or peer mentors/coaches in agriculture, enhancement of food security, and other home based industries.

● Connection to private service providers to improve quality agricultural inputs.

Results desired under this objective include, but are not limited to:

● 2.1: Expanded provision of functional literacy and numeracy skills training for youth, particularly young women.

● 2.2: Expanded training opportunities for youth to gain employability and entrepreneurial skills and knowledge in climate-resilient livelihood sectors.

● 2.3: Enhanced quality of existing informal and alternative education and training opportunities and providers.

Cross-cutting

Across the proposed AIYA objectives, USAID envisions that there will be an opportunity to identify and integrate synergies across the two objectives to support priorities elaborated by young people and their local communities to have a sense of “ownership”, build resilience and bring lasting changes in their lives. These cross-cutting results include, but are not limited to:

● 3.1: Enhanced partnerships with the private sector to improve youth and women agri-business and other market relevant skills.

● 3.2: Improved youth awareness of career opportunities and pathways to pursue market relevant training and support services.

● 3.3: Increased use of cash transfers or other innovative approaches for youth to achieve self-identified educational, employment, and/or entrepreneurship goals.

● 3.4: Improved access to extension services and other forms of community education and outreach.

THEORY OF CHANGE

Applicants should propose a contextually relevant theory of change to achieve the goal, objectives, and desired results envisioned under AIYA. USAID/Afghanistan encourages applicants to move beyond a simple if/then theory of change and instead, articulate outcomes, entry points, interventions, and assumptions that are context specific. Applicants may find this Theory of Change Workbook a useful resource.

https://usaidlearninglab.org/resources/theory-change-workbook-step-step-process-developing-or-strengthening-theories-change

PROGRAMMATIC APPROACH

Given the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021 and the unprecedented challenges the education system faces, USAID/Afghanistan will maintain flexibility to pivot interventions, and to change or expand the geographic focus of interventions upon short notice. Therefore, USAID seeks to support programs that demonstrate the ability to be proactive and responsive in planning for and accommodating potential changes.

USAID anticipates funding allocations within the AIYA budget: higher education (50 percent), basic education (40 percent), agriculture (6 percent), and democracy (4 percent). As a result the AIYA program will need to effectively manage and account for these funds, including following applicable reporting and earmark guidance. Guidance for education funding can be found in the USAID Education Policy Implementation Guidance; for democracy and governance in the User's Guide to Democracy, Human Rights and Governance Programming, and for agriculture/economic growth in the Indigenous Peoples Agriculture and Food Security Guidance and the Guidance and Tools page for Feed the Future.

While cost share is not a requirement of AIYA, Applicants should also make note of any cost share and/or leverage from other sources to supplement AIYA.

Target Populations Young women and young men ages 15 -29 (at least 60 percent of participants should be young women). USAID seeks to support programs that take an intersectional perspective on support for marginalized youth - including, but not limited to: extremely poor youth, young LGBTQ+ individuals, rural youth, and youth with disability, as well as other dimensions of intersectionality of young people.

Geographic Focus USAID/Afghanistan intends to finalize geographic targeting post award with the successful applicant. See Section D for additional information.

Programmatic Approaches and Alignment with USAID Priorities USAID/Afghanistan encourages applicants to review the USAID Policy Registry, which includes all current development policies, strategies, and vision statements. The Policy Registry aligns with the five global challenges in USAID’s Policy Framework: Driving Progress Beyond Programs.

While many of the current USAID policies, strategies, and frameworks may be relevant to the AIYA activity, USAID/Afghanistan highlights the specific policies and related technical priorities relevant to AIYA below. Applicants should demonstrate how the following are incorporated into their overall technical approach:

Challenge: Address economic headwinds by promoting inclusive economic growth https://www.usaid.gov/policy/education https://www.usaid.gov/democracy/document/users-guide-democracy-human-rights-and-governance-programming https://www.usaid.gov/democracy/document/users-guide-democracy-human-rights-and-governance-programming https://www.usaid.gov/document/indigenous-peoples-agriculture-and-food-security-guidance https://www.feedthefuture.gov/guidance-and-tools-for-global-food-security-programs/

Relevant Policies/Strategies Technical Priorities

The goal of the USAID Youth in Development Policy is to “increase the meaningful participation of youth within their communities, schools, organizations, economies, peer groups, and families, enhancing their skills, providing opportunities, and fostering healthy relationships so they may build on their collective leadership.”

Positive Youth Development (PYD) engages youth along with their families, communities and/or governments so that youth are empowered to reach their full potential. PYD approaches build skills, assets and competencies; foster healthy relationships;

strengthen the environment; and transform systems.

Applications should reflect the PYD in their approach, demonstrating how youth will be engaged in decision making, and identify and address new and impactful interventions.

The USAID Education Policy, provides an Agency-wide vision and direction for supporting partner countries in strengthening their capacity to deliver quality learning opportunities for children and youth.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL): UDL26 is a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn.

Applications should reflect the use of the principles of UDL in designing and implementing interventions to ensure an inclusive learning environment for all.

The USAID 2023 Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Policy compels USAID staff and partners to ensure that all programs advance gender equality and women’s empowerment including equal and safe access to and control over resources.

This activity should contribute to reducing gender disparities by increasing adolescent girls’ and young women’s access to economic opportunities and educational services. AIYA aims to address gender and other social inequalities and support young women’s empowerment in the design of interventions.

Through its Private Sector Engagement (PSE) Policy, USAID has issued an Agency-wide call to action and mandate to work hand-in-hand with the private sector to design and deliver our

USAID/Afghanistan envisions that engagement and partnerships with the private sector will help improve the effectiveness of interventions under this activity and ensure that degrees, non-degrees, short-courses, or certification and training programs will meet the workforce development needs of the private sector.

26 https://www.edu-links.org/resources/incorporating-principles-universal-design-learning-education-activities https://www.usaid.gov/policy/youth https://www.usaid.gov/policy/youth https://www.youthpower.org/positive-youth-development-pyd-framework https://www.usaid.gov/policy/education https://www.edu-links.org/resources/incorporating-principles-universal-design-learning-education-activities https://www.edu-links.org/resources/incorporating-principles-universal-design-learning-education-activities https://www.usaid.gov/gender-policy https://www.usaid.gov/gender-policy https://www.usaid.gov/gender-policy https://www.usaid.gov/gender-policy https://www.usaid.gov/gender-policy https://www.usaid.gov/policy/private-sector-engagement/executive-summary https://www.usaid.gov/policy/private-sector-engagement/executive-summary https://www.edu-links.org/resources/incorporating-principles-universal-design-learning-education-activities development and humanitarian programs in all sectors.

Challenge: Respond to complex emergencies, build peace and resilience, and invest in lasting food security.

Relevant Policies/Strategies Technical Priorities

The forthcoming and updated USAID Resilience Policy encourages all programs to build on local assets, skills, relationships, and services to strengthen resilience to shocks and stresses, including climate emergencies, economic volatility, and conflict.

This activity will use a resilience lens to improve adaptive management practices to be responsive to shocks and stresses and to strengthen the capacity of individuals and communities to adapt and innovate. This activity should integrate approaches in education and livelihood that builds on and further strengthens youth and their community’s resilience to the many ongoing and shifting shocks and stressors they face everyday.

USAID’s Center for Education Transforming Systems in Times of Adversity: Education and Resilience White Paper illustrates the important role education can play in building individual and community resilience.

The guidance provides how to design and implement programs that advance gender equality and women’s empowerment, achieve climate change adaptation and mitigation outcomes and promising programming examples and practices in conflict integration from Feed the Future investments to date.

The U.S. Government’s Global Food Security Strategy 2022- 2026 aims to end global hunger, poverty, and malnutrition.

Conflict Sensitivity and Preparedness requires that partners take into account conflict dynamics in all programs in order to support the mission’s overarching goal of building the foundation for a more stable, cohesive and resilient Afghanistan. In an effort to ensure interventions are conflict-sensitive, interventions must be designed, monitored, and periodically reviewed in light of the changing conflict dynamics to ensure that: a) they do not inadvertently create or exacerbate conflict; b) they factor in the possible impact of existing or potential conflict on staff, implementing partners and the activities themselves; and c) they seek appropriate opportunities to mitigate tensions and support or consolidate peace and reconciliation.

Activity implementation must involve a thoughtful situational analysis and reflect consideration of any risks that may result from this activity, including ensuring appropriate safeguards are in place to avoid intensifying conflict drivers or creating harmful situations for participants. Under this activity, actions must be included to mitigate against any risks to do harm and ensure communities and youth will not be placed at greater risk as a consequence of this activity. Do no harm principles should also be reflected in the approach to monitoring, learning, and adapting. Plans and resources for the https://www.usaid.gov/policy/resilience https://www.edu-links.org/resources/transforming-systems-times-adversity-education-and-resilience-white-paper https://www.edu-links.org/resources/transforming-systems-times-adversity-education-and-resilience-white-paper https://agrilinks.org/activities/guidance-and-tools-global-food-security-programs-fy-2022-2026#:~:text=The%20U.S.%20Government's%20Global%20Food,hunger%2C%20malnutrition%2C%20and%20poverty.

https://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/agriculture-and-food-security/us-government-global-food-security-strategy https://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/agriculture-and-food-security/us-government-global-food-security-strategy https://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/agriculture-and-food-security/us-government-global-food-security-strategy safeguarding of participants, data, and staff are required.

Challenge: Help countries withstand the effects of a changing climate and secure a net-zero future

Relevant Policies/Strategies Technical Priorities

The USAID Climate Strategy 2022-2030 takes a “whole-of- Agency '' approach and calls on all corners of USAID to play a part in USAID response to climate change.

The Advancing Climate-Resilient Education Technical Guidance builds on the USAID 2022–2030 Climate Strategy and the 2018 USAID Education Policy to support USAID Missions and partners who seek to integrate climate action and awareness into education programs and are committed to achieving climate-resilient education systems and fostering climate-resilient learners. It outlines how to identify opportunities for climate action that respond to known climate hazards through mitigative, adaptive, and transformative actions.

Challenge: Stem the tide of authoritarianism, counter corruption, fight digital repression and disinformation, and spur democratic renewal

Relevant Policies/Strategies Technical Priorities

USAID's Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DRG) Strategy highlights the centrality of participation and accountability to the achievement of human rights and democratic governance.

USAID/Afghanistan encourages applicants to consider intervention approaches that support behavioral changes, human dignity, promote greater social cohesion, cooperation and inclusion of marginalized groups that can provide direct and positive alternatives for youth especially for girls. The applicant should also collect and analyze data to identify limitations and trends in pathways to education, assess program quality, and monitor the effectiveness of interventions.

The DRG strategy and USAID’s Gender Equality and Female Empowerment Policy are mutually reinforcing in their emphasis on the principles of inclusiveness and accountability.

Cross-cutting Technical Priorities

Assumptions This Activity is based on: (1) lessons learned from previous and on-going education, livelihoods, and democracy and governance activities; (2) lessons learned from activities funded and https://www.usaid.gov/policy/climate-strategy https://www.edu-links.org/resources/advancing-climateresilient-education-technical-guidance https://www.usaid.gov/democracy/democracy-human-rights-and-governance-strategy https://www.usaid.gov/democracy/democracy-human-rights-and-governance-strategy https://www.usaid.gov/democracy/democracy-human-rights-and-governance-strategy implemented by other donors; (3) recent reports and analysis of basic education, higher education, economic growth, agriculture, and climate change impacts in Afghanistan; (4) previously issued Requests for Information; and (5) USG and USAID policies/strategies/frameworks on youth, education, agriculture, democracy, and foreign assistance to Afghanistan.

While USAID believes the Activity is feasible and selected objectives and results are achievable, USAID/Afghanistan anticipate achievement of the above objectives and results will be constrained by key risks to implementation in the conflict-affected, crisis-prone and challenging operating environment of Afghanistan ever since the Taliban takeover in August 2021.

As such, a complexity-aware approach will be needed to factor in the many risks outside the manageable interest of the Activity. Critical assumptions that have informed the design of this Activity and will be factored in on a continuous basis over the course of implementation include the following:

● Security conditions will be unpredictable and fluctuate over time, with variation across provinces, communities, and travel routes. Terrorist organizations will continue to operate inside of Afghanistan. Security conditions may rapidly change. As a result, there will be an ever-present risk of learners, educators, and education institutions being targeted for attacks.

● Access to communities, particularly rural communities, will continue to improve incrementally. However, accessibility will be highly dependent on engagement with community leaders.

● Parents and communities will continue to support access to education for both young women and men.

● Communities and schools are willing to benefit from the interventions funded by USAID.

● In the near term, the ban on girls’ secondary and higher education will continue, with some districts and provinces keeping schools open. In the medium-term, some form of secondary and/or higher education will be made available for adolescent girls and young women, but this will be heavily constrained by conditions set by Taliban-appointed authorities.

● The declining trend in education at primary and secondary levels will continue while community-based alternative, hybrid, home and even accelerated education is likely to continue to expand as an alternative delivery mechanism for women and girls, boys and men.

● Education needs of young women will change and become dire as the education ban is prolonged, such that getting women back into secondary and higher education will become more difficult, and remediating lost learning will take exponentially longer, thus more costly in the long run.

● Current Taliban restrictions on the women’s movement will undermine female involvement in education.

● USAID implementing partners will be able to engage in technical discussions and coordination with Taliban-appointed authorities at the national, provincial and district levels, but provision of technical assistance or other support to Taliban-appointed education or agriculture authorities will require prior approval by USAID/Afghanistan.

● Given the challenging operating and political environment of Afghanistan and evolving education landscape, USAID understands that education approaches and interventions will need to be negotiated at the most local level, expanding engagement as needed beyond the Ministry of Education. Therefore we assume AIYA will engage with the Deputy Ministry of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (DM-TVET), the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Agriculture as needed to advance USAID’s objectives. As part of this negotiated approach and to mitigate the risk of undue influence by Taliban authorities, AIYA will use targeted assessments to align training with market relevant skill needs and tailor technical and soft skills training to available and viable agricultural livelihoods prospects.

● Political will and capacity of Taliban-appointed authorities to maintain a public education system will be limited. Commitments and actions to ensure equal access and quality of education for girls and young women will be limited.

Crisis Response Approach USAID’s 2018 Education Policy defines a crisis as a country, region, or community that has been directly or indirectly affected by a crisis due to population displacement, reallocation of government resources, or diminished capacity. Crises may also include natural hazards, health epidemics, lawlessness, endemic crime and violence, climate vulnerabilities, destruction of infrastructure and unforeseen limitations on access to learning from human-made or natural disasters.