Attachment B Draft SOW.pdf

DRAFT SO

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USAID/Pakistan - She Leads Pakistan Rises Activity

Attachment B: DRAFT STATEMENT OF WORK

INTRODUCTION

She Leads Pakistan Rises activity or SLPRA or the activity will increase women’s participation in Pakistan’s economy by supporting women-led businesses (WLBs),1 including start-ups and micro,2 small and medium enterprises (MSME). The activity will achieve this through four mutually reinforcing objectives that will aim to address underlying root causes obstructing WLBs from progressing. The objectives of She Leads Pakistan Rises activity include: a) increase access to economic resources; b) improve operational performance and supply chain linkages; c) increase climate change resilience and adaptation by WLBs; and d) develop the entrepreneurship ecosystem that enables WLBs to start, expand, and innovate. The activity will also address enabling environment challenges WLBs face and improve their engagement with public and private sector business forums.

BACKGROUND

Assisting women towards the realization of their full economic potential is in itself an essential goal for an activity designed with cross-cutting gender equality outcomes in mind. This concept is more ambitious, however, because women are a massively underutilized resource in Pakistan, we posit that deliberately investing in their success will deliver a positive shock to this country’s economy.

Women comprise 48 percent of Pakistan's population but their participation in the formal economy is significantly lower, with only 23 percent participating in Pakistan’s labor force. This is the lowest level of women’s economic participation in South Asia.3 This low economic engagement is undoubtedly in part responsible for the gap between Pakistan’s GDP growth rate and the upper limits of its potential: it has been estimated that the country can grow by 7.1 percent or add almost $30 billion in GDP with a broad increase in women’s economic participation.4 Because women typically demonstrate household spending and investment priorities that are different from those of men, women’s empowerment helps address broader health, education, and poverty reduction goals, which implies a positive multiplier effect resulting from bringing more women into the economy.5

The role of women in Pakistan’s non-agricultural economy is limited to traditional jobs such as teachers, nurses, and doctors in the services sector, while less than 4.3 percent of women

5 Research by Bose-Duker et al (2021) has shown that the gender of the household head is important in determining household resource distribution and investment; children receive substantially larger resource shares in female-headed households than in male-headed households, implying a link between women’s wealth creation and human capital investments. Bose-Duker, T., Henry, M. & Strobl, E. Children’s Resource Shares: Male Versus Female-Headed Households. J Fam Econ Iss 42, 573–585 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-020-09743-3

4 Shining The Spotlight — Gender-lens Investments Enable Women Entrepreneurs to Thrive in Pakistan

3 Source: Pakistan Bureau of Statistics: Labor Force 2020-21

2 Micro enterprises are included only if they aspire to grow to small or medium enterprises.

1 Women led business in the context of this scope is defined as a business that is at least 51 percent owned, operated and controlled on a daily basis by one or more females.

USAID/Pakistan - She Leads Pakistan Rises Activity venture into entrepreneurship. This disparity is not due to lack of motivation or good ideas. It is the result of a wide range of technology, finance, education, cultural, and market access barriers, as well as the pronounced digital divide in Pakistan that disproportionately affects women.6 In 2012, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data ranked Pakistan “very low” on women’s entrepreneurship: only 1 percent of women were engaged in entrepreneurial activities as opposed to 21 percent of men. Observations and research suggest that this figure has not significantly changed in the intervening years. Similarly, Pakistan’s rank of 145 out of 146 countries places it at the bottom of the World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Index 2022.

Pakistan also performs poorly in the Economic Participation and Opportunity Sub-index, ranked at 145.7 As dreadful as these indicators may be, the inevitable conclusion is that investments in Pakistani women could have enormous upside.

Gender-based challenges are symptomatic of women’s status in Pakistan’s patriarchal society, such as limited access to finance, control over finance, ownership of assets, restricted mobility, restriction to menial labor, limited decision making, child-care responsibilities and unpaid work as family labor. Both socio-cultural and regulatory constraints in Pakistan perpetuate low female participation in entrepreneurship. According to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), women-owned and led small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in emerging economies face an estimated credit deficit of nearly $1.5 trillion which makes it extremely challenging for WLBs to establish and grow. In Pakistan, only 8 percent of MSMEs are owned by women, and there are large gaps in women’s access to finance given that overall credit to the SME sector is less than 7 percent of all commercial lending. Studies indicate that 50 to 70 percent of the loans given to women in Pakistan are used by their male relatives8. Many microfinance institutions employ practices such as requiring women to identify male guarantors or obtain written permission and signatures from their husbands/fathers before they can qualify for a loan or open a bank account. Women also face additional legal constraints that impede their ability to become entrepreneurs, such as registering a business, inheritance laws and lack of anti-discrimination laws based on gender or marital status.

The COVID-19 pandemic raised new barriers to building inclusive and prosperous economies and societies. Lockdowns and rapid digitization ravaged economic sectors that disproportionately employed women. At the same time, COVID’s effect of accelerating digitization of marketplaces also presents an opportunity for WLBs in emerging economies to resolve restricted mobility, access to technology, and access to market challenges. In 2021, despite having 193 million cellular and 113 million 3G/4G subscribers, Pakistan was ranked 90 out of 120 countries in the world – the lowest ranking in South Asia and the second lowest in Asia on the gender digital divide. Pakistan’s gender gap in internet access is at 65 percent, and the gender divide in mobile phone access stands at 51 percent.9 Lower access to internet and mobile also results in limited ability of WLBs in Pakistan to leverage automation and

9 Economist Intelligence Unit Inclusive Internet Index; https://impact.economist.com/projects/inclusive-internet-index/

8 Safavian,Mehnaz S..Are Pakistan's women entrepreneurs being served by the microfinance sector : conference edition : Conference edition (English). Washington, D.C. : World Bank Group. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/445631468087850168/Conference-edition

7 This sub-index contains three concepts: the participation gap, the remuneration gap and the advancement gap.

6 Source Pakistan Bureau of Statistics: Labor Force 2020-21

USAID/Pakistan - She Leads Pakistan Rises Activity digitalization to their advantage. Given this status, even modest investments in Information and communication technology (ICT) access for women can have immediate impact.

WLBs are deeply under-represented in domestic and global supply chains in most emerging economies like Pakistan. Evidence suggests that including WLBs in public and private corporate supply chains can advance WLBs participation in the country’s economy.10 The Gender-Responsive Procurement in Asia and the Pacific report also substantiates that government procurement can be a major incentive for companies to become more gender responsive and the government can play an important role in shifting the private sector to gender responsiveness. In order to include WLBs in supply chains, the government and private sector need to be proactive.

The entrepreneurship ecosystem in Pakistan has grown from only two major business incubators and accelerators in 2012 to 24 incubators and accelerators, 80 coworking spaces, and approximately 20 formal investors in 2019. However, gender parity remained elusive, as out of the $165 million raised by start-ups in Pakistan between 2015-2019, only 3 percent was attributed to WLBs.11

Climate change poses immense risks to enterprises of all sizes in Pakistan’s economy. These risks include damage or degradation to a company’s assets, climate-related price volatility and shocks, regulatory changes inspired by climate policy, and impacts on a company’s reputation or legal liability stemming from climate-averse business operations. Much of the country’s enterprise sector operates on thin cost and revenue margins and is not well-positioned to invest in climate adaptation. As such, Pakistan’s women-led businesses are vulnerable to all aspects of climate change and are at risk of losing competitiveness to companies and markets that are investing in resilience.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Pakistan has one of the lowest rates of female entrepreneurship in the world. Women-led businesses have enormous potential and yet are deeply underrepresented as a share of the country’s economy. Women entrepreneurs have the capacity to generate sustainable advances for Pakistan in terms of GDP growth, job creation, productivity, and market development.

Investing in women's entrepreneurship is good for Pakistan. This investment is not happening.

Investment is among the top problems preventing women’s enterprises from liftoff, but the discussion in the background section has also highlighted failings in terms of information and communication technology, business networks, business development services, market access, enhanced vulnerability to environmental and economic shocks, customs and culture, as well as laws and policies that reinforce inequality and dampen competition. To ensure effective

11 Invest2Innovate - i2i, Ambreen, Kalsoom, Areej, Pakistan startup ecosystem report 2019, https://we-fi.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/i2i-Pakistan-Startup-Ecosystem-Report-2019-1.pdf

10 Gender-Responsive Procurement in Asia and the Pacific, An Opportunity for an Equitable Economic Future, UN Women and the Asian Development Bank, https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2022-12/GRP-Report-14-11-22.pdf

USAID/Pakistan - She Leads Pakistan Rises Activity participation of women in Pakistan’s economy, this activity will pair business enabling environment work with efforts to increase WLBs access to capital and digital technology, increase climate change resilience and adaptation, improve operational performance, develop supply chain linkages, and support Pakistan’s burgeoning entrepreneurship ecosystem. By focusing on women-led businesses, the potential can be tested for this nascent sector and encourage many positive economic spillovers:

● Product and service diversification: as WLBs are more likely to innovate for women consumers than are businesses owned by men; diversification can help this market develop new products and services, as well as broaden its base of consumers

● Demonstration effect around business finance: as women borrowers tend to perform well globally, a new class of borrowers could help innovate financial products and services in Pakistan

● WLBs-pioneered changes to norms and culture around doing business, which implies innovations in the role and organization of enterprises

Most importantly, wealth creation for women often leads to a change in household saving and investment patterns that would prompt a virtuous development circle of family investments in health and education, which pays dividends across generations. Investing in women is not only good for business but also essential for Pakistan’s socio-economic development.

STRATEGIC LINKS TO COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT AND COOPERATION STRATEGY AND

APPLICABLE USAID POLICIES AND STRATEGIES

She Leads Pakistan Rises activity is aligned with USAID/Pakistan’s new 2024-2028 Country Development Cooperation Strategy Development Objective 1 (DO1) “Broad Based Climate-Resilient Economic Growth”, More specifically She Leads Pakistan Rises activity will contribute to Intermediate Result (IR) 1.1 “ Inclusive access to economic opportunities enhanced” and IR 1.3 “Climate change mitigation actions advanced”.

This activity aligns with USAID’s Economic Growth Policy by taking a systemic approach to improving economic governance, removing constraints related to markets and inclusion, and driving enterprise-driven development for WLBs. Drawing on the best practices outlined in the policy, She Leads Pakistan Rises will reform the legal and regulatory environment; champion private enterprises; and unlock private capital. She Leads Pakistan Rises also presents opportunities to execute the USAID Private Sector Engagement Policy’s call to “engage early and often” with the private sector.

This activity aligns with the USAID’s 2023 Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Policy (GEWE Policy) in three out of four strategic objectives by advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment to reduce gender disparities; increase women’s agency; and advance structural changes that address the root causes of gender inequality and promote equitable gender norms.

USAID/Pakistan - She Leads Pakistan Rises Activity

She Leads Pakistan Rises activity also aligns with the first-ever interagency U.S. Strategy on Global Women’s Economic Security that aims to foster equal access to education, innovation, quality jobs, and decent work, including through entrepreneurship, for women and girls around the world. The strategy aims to envision a world in which everyone has equitable opportunities for job placement, advancement, quality of life, and leadership, pursuing it along the following lines of effort:

1. Promoting Economic Competitiveness through Well-paying, Quality Jobs;

2. Advancing Care Infrastructure and Valuing Domestic Work;

3. Promoting Entrepreneurship and Financial and Digital Inclusion, Including Through

Trade and Investment; and

4. Dismantling Systemic Barriers to Women’s Participation

This activity also aligns with Mission Pakistan Goal 3: Foster Inclusive Economic Growth and Sustainable Development in the Integrated Country Strategy released in 2021. More specifically, SLPRA supports Mission Objective 3.1 | Pakistan accelerates inclusive, private sector-led economic growth and imports more U.S. goods and services and Sub-objective 3.2.5: The economic empowerment of women and other marginalized groups increases.

This activity will also support objectives under the U.S.-Pakistan “Green Alliance” framework under which the two countries collaborate to meet the climate, energy, water, and economic needs of the present and future. By supporting inclusive economic growth, this activity will advance the private sector’s ability to invest in climate resilience and adaptation.

SCOPE OF WORK

The purpose of this five-year activity is to increase women’s participation in Pakistan’s economy by supporting women-led businesses (WLBs), including start-ups and micro, small and medium enterprises12 (MSME). She Leads Pakistan Rises activity will have a national focus. The activity will follow the startup and SME definition as per the National SME Policy 2021.13

The Theory of Change for the proposed activity is that, If USAID invests in women-led businesses to improve access to economic resources14 and address enabling environment impediments, then WLBs participation in the mainstream economy will increase, employment opportunities will be created, and incomes will increase, leading to greater, sustainable and inclusive economic growth in Pakistan.

USAID’s principal counterparts in this endeavor include, but are not limited to: the National Commission on the Status of Women; the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives; the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication; the Ministry of Climate Change, women chapters of chamber of commerce and industry and business

14 Economic resources in this scope include capital, markets, technology, and employment opportunities.

13 SME definition as per SME Policy 2021; Small enterprise (SE), annual sales turnover up to PKR 150 million; Medium enterprise (ME), annual sales turnover above PKR 150 million to PKR 800 million; and Startup is a small enterprise or medium enterprise up to five years old.

12 enterprise for this scope of work means a for profit company already registered or registered through the activity..

https://www.state.gov/reports/united-states-strategy-on-global-womens-economic-security/ https://www.state.gov/reports/united-states-strategy-on-global-womens-economic-security/

USAID/Pakistan - She Leads Pakistan Rises Activity associations, multinational corporations, large enterprises, high-growth SMEs, and financial and non-bank financial institutions. The interventions are expected to build on previous USAID/Pakistan results and recommendations, lessons learned from previous USAID and other development-organization activities in the areas of economic growth, private sector development, climate change mitigation, access to capital, access to digital technology, entrepreneurship and other relevant areas.

Interplay Between Objectives

While each objective of SLPRA has discrete and distinct results, activities, and indicators, the four objectives are intended to be implemented through a Systems Approach15 which maximizes and contributes to results across the entire activity. In particular, the Contractor must use interventions in each objective to achieve tangible and sustainable results as detained in work requirements below. The Contractor will implement activities in a way that strengthens areas where these objectives overlap. She Leads Pakistan Rises activity will advance not only the individual capacity of key stakeholders, but also their capacity to work together both within and across objectives. The activity will also have a “flexible” objective that allows the Mission to build adaptability and flexibility into implementation and help Pakistan respond to economic shocks and opportunities.

DETAILED WORK REQUIREMENTS

She Leads Pakistan Rises activity will promote opportunities for women-led business (WLBs) in Pakistan to increase economic participation by addressing the following themes under four objectives:

Objective 1: Strengthen Business enabling environment for women-led businesses It is imperative that policymakers at the public and decision makers at private levels take on concerted and vigorous efforts to create an inclusive enabling environment that enables WLBs to thrive and contribute to the economy. This activity will work with government partners at the federal and provincial levels and private sector partners to implement the legal, policy, regulatory and procedural changes and recommendations that obstruct WLBs from accessing capital, markets, technology, and employment opportunities. She Leads Pakistan Rises activity will also develop the leadership capacity of women entrepreneurs in business networks and Chambers of Commerce, with a goal of more effective advocacy and participation. The activity will also work to improve the regulatory environment for investments in Pakistan in support of WLBs, by helping to develop and refine the operating frameworks for local venture capital funds and demonstrating ways to diversify investment risk in WLBs and early stage startups.

The interventions under SLPRA will seek to work with all stakeholders to identify and address the policy, regulatory, and operational barriers for women-led businesses.

15 A systems approach includes systems thinking (attention to how connections between parts influence the behavior of a whole) and systems practice (the application of systems thinking and tools to real-world problems).

USAID/Pakistan - She Leads Pakistan Rises Activity

Task 1.1: Situational and stakeholder analysis for WLBs barriers Under this task, the Contractor must conduct a situation and stakeholder analysis that will form Annual Work Plan activities. This analysis should identify the legal, policy, regulatory, procedural, operational and other barriers that hamper the progress of WLBs. This analysis should also identify barriers and constraints for WLBs on business entry, optimal business operations and management, access to economic resources (capital, markets, technology, and employment opportunities) and investment exits. The Contractor must also identify top five to ten barriers relating to the public and private sector that, if improved, will strengthen the enabling environment for WLBs. The Contractor must also provide recommendations for addressing the barriers and the stakeholders responsible for implementing the recommendations. The recommendations will form work plan-level interventions subject to approval from the USAID.

Task 1.2: Deliver technical assistance to strengthen the business enabling environment for WLBs The Contractor must, in consultation with USAID, provide technical assistance to public and private sector stakeholders to implement the recommendations for removing barriers for WLBs.

The Contractor must provide a combination of technical assistance for enterprise-level organizational change management. To the extent possible, technical assistance should be an opportunity for the relevant partners to learn by doing and institutionalize the learnings.

Task 1.3: Analyze the impact of Climate Change on WLBs Based on the research and analysis already available on the impact of climate change on businesses, the Contractor must identify climate change adaptation and mitigation measures can be implemented to minimize the carbon footprint of WLBs such as moving to renewable energy, reducing inefficiencies and waste, green building designs, and sustainable supply chains.

The Contractor must incorporate the findings into actionable interventions for the WLBs assisted through the activity.

Task 1.4: Improve the organizational capacity of women’s chapters of Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Business Associations The Contractor must work with women chapters of the chamber of commerce & industries and business associations to identify the weaknesses and develop their capacity to improve organizational effectiveness. The Contractor must deliver support to drive improvements to organizational capacity with key partners. Efforts to improve organizational capacity could look at organizational elements such as business processes, information and decision flows, and overall internal organizational structure. These changes will be aimed at empowering the members within the Chambers/ Associations to drive the execution of the activities identified in this and other objectives.

Task 1.5: Deliver technical assistance to improve the policy and procedure to increase public procurement from WLBs The Contractor must work with the host government to identify and address the policy and implementation barriers faced by WLBs to participate in public procurement. The Contractor

USAID/Pakistan - She Leads Pakistan Rises Activity must advocate the host government to develop goals to include women in public procurement.

Expected Results

● Reduced legal, policy, regulatory, procedural, operational and other barriers for WLBs;

● Improved participation of WLBs in economy through institutionalized changes;

● Reduced carbon footprint of WLBs through targeted interventions;

● Improved management and organizational performance of women’s chapters of the

Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Business Associations;

● Improved public procurement policy for WLBs.

● WLBs developed and implemented carbon reduction strategies

Objective 2 - Improved Access to Economic Resources The Contractor will directly improve access to economic resources for 4,000 Pakistani WLBs.

Sub-objective 2.1: Increased Access to Capital:

There is a significant dearth of angel investors, venture capital and private equity funds in Pakistan whereas, commercial banks in Pakistan do not provide products and services suited to the needs and requirements of SMEs. This problem is especially acute for WLBs, as it is magnified by gender-specific and disadvantageous norms, legal impediments, and structural constraints. Women entrepreneurs with good ideas face limited options to finance those good ideas, often these ideas need business and or investment development services to refine their business and financial plans to make these ideas creditworthy and bankable from investors' lens. SMEs in Pakistan already primarily rely on personal savings, private sources (family and friends), or re-invested business earnings to invest, innovate, and grow. This is inadequate, even before considering gender-related impediments to firm growth. This objective will focus on improving sustainable access to capital for WLBss. Under SLPRA, the Contractor shall:

● improve the operational performance and financial viability of WLBs;

● develop the capacity of WLBs on developing investor ready business and financial plans to understand and evaluate financial needs, reporting requirements, and performance to run more profitably from investors lens;

● work with financial service providers, including local commercial and microfinance banks, non-bank financial institutions, and fintechs to develop traditional and digital financial services that improve access for WLBs;

● prepare WLBss to receive capital through alternative sources including angel/seed investors, venture capitalists, private equity funds, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, and other investment platforms;

● create a sustainable mechanism beyond the life of the activity that can provide sustainable access to capital for WLBs.

Tasks 2.1.1 Conduct a capital need assessment and access to capital specifically for WLBs

USAID/Pakistan - She Leads Pakistan Rises Activity

To guide the work under objective 2, the Contractor must conduct an assessment of capital need and access to capital specifically for WLBs to answer the following questions:

1. What is the current access to capital for WLBs?

2. What is the potential for providing access to capital to WLBs (market size)?

3. Which are the most viable sectors among WLBs to access capital?

4. What are the key barriers and/or constraints to access capital for WLBs?

5. What opportunities exist to access low cost financing in the form of debt.

6. Who are the current market players providing access to capital?

7. Who are the current market players interested in addressing this missing market, and what are their needs?

8. Who are the stakeholders the activity can engage to make progress on these barriers?

The assessment must be used to determine the work plan interventions aimed for improving the access to capital for women and WLBs. The work plan interventions must be approved by

USAID.

Task 2.1.2: Deliver technical assistance to improve organizational capacity and financial viability of WLBs The Contractor must deliver technical assistance to WLBs to improve their organizational capacity to access capital. This technical assistance should improve areas such as: strategic planning, operational management and capacity, and financial management. The Contractor must develop a framework for providing technical assistance according to the type of capital requirements i.e. angel/ seed investors, venture capitalists, private equity funds, the U.S.

International Development Finance Corporation and other investment platforms.

Task 2.1.3: Develop the institutional capacity of financial institutions and other private sector investors (collectively finance providers) for improved access to capital for WLBs The Contractor must deliver technical assistance to finance providers to develop products and services for WLBs that are suited to their capital needs. The Contract must also provide technical assistance to the finance providers to understand the WLBs sector, conduct due diligence, develop the capacity of staff, etc. The Contractor must incentivize finance providers to extend capital to WLBs by using USG-provided funding. This funding must be offered in a manner that (a) ensures the desired outcome; (b) maximizes leverage of non-USAID funds; (c) minimizes the potential for significant market-distortions, and; (d) ensures additionality.

Task 2.1.4: Engage private investment firms Under this task, the Contractor must engage private investment firms (domestic and international) to conduct the feasibility of an Enterprise Fund focused on WLBs. The Contractor must use the feasibility to complete the task 2.1.5.

Task 2.1.5: Leverage private sector funds for WLBs The Contractor must establish and operationalize a private investment fund (Enterprise Fund) to attract at least $ 50 million in investment capital during the last year of SLPRA that can continue

USAID/Pakistan - She Leads Pakistan Rises Activity to provide sustainable access to capital to the WLBs after the completion of SLPRA. The Contractor must ensure that the fund is operationalized and managed by the private sector. The Contractor must use a portion of USAID's funds (up to 30 percent of the contract value including the fund structuring cost) to provide seed capital to the fund. The Contractor must leverage the remaining capital from the private sector. The Contractor must ensure that 75 percent of the fund's investments goes to WLBs (including startups). USAID does not expect any return from the funds’ investment back to USAID or the US Government Treasury, and any returns generated from the fund will be reinvested in the fund. If the Contractor is unable to establish and operationalize the fund during the life of the Activity, the alternate utilization of the amount set aside for USAID’s seed capital will be determined by USAID.

Expected Results:

● Increased access to capital for WLBs;

● Improved performance and financial viability of WLBs;

● WLBs demonstrate greater sophistication and capability in pitching for financial support;

● Improved capacity of financial providers to facilitate greater WLBs financing to upgrade and expand their businesses;

● Increased productive use of financial capital by WLBs;

● Sustainable access to capital for WLBs post life of activity.

Sub-objective 2.2: Improved business performance, climate resilience and adaptation, and supply chain linkages Most WLBs in Pakistan operate in the informal, lower value-added service sectors and home-based businesses. Basic financial literacy, business skills, and business acumen would help these firms grow sustainably. She Leads Pakistan Rises activity will build on the business development service provider networks to improve the operational performance of WLBs. Key focus areas will include international certifications, digital marketing, cloud services, supporting business operational policies, processes and procedures. She Leads Pakistan Rises activity will also focus on climate resilience and adaptation to explore ways to reduce damage or degradation to a company’s assets, climate-related price volatility and shocks, regulatory changes inspired by climate policy, and impacts on a company’s reputation or legal liability stemming from climate-averse business operations. Additionally, SLPRA may work to build domestic and global supply chain linkages when opportunities present themselves; worldwide, women-led businesses earn less than 1 percent of all government and corporate contracts to vendors.

Task 2.2.1: Need assessment for growth and competitiveness of WLBs To guide the work under Objective 2 (including intervention in sub-objective 2.1), the Contractor must conduct an assessment for the WLBs sectors that answer the following questions:

● What are the sub-sectors with the strongest potential to create jobs, increase exports, mobilize investments, enhance growth and promote broad-based climate resilient economic growth?

● What are the key barriers or constraints to growth within the top five sub-sectors?

USAID/Pakistan - She Leads Pakistan Rises Activity

● How are the stakeholders in the sub-sectors organized?

● Where are the levers in the system that offer the greatest opportunity for impact to address those key barriers or constraints?

● Who are the stakeholders the activity can engage to make progress on these points of opportunity?

Through these sector assessments, the Contractor must identify:

● the key barriers to growth and competitiveness;

● the key linkages and connectors; and

● the quality and quantity of potential stakeholders and beneficiaries

The assessment must identify work plan level interventions to address the identified growth and competitiveness challenges and support WLBs to create jobs, increase exports, mobilize investments, enhance growth and improve climate resilience. The work plan interventions must be approved by USAID.

Task 2.2.2: Business development services to enhance performance The Contractor must help beneficiary firms prioritize skills deficits and thereafter deliver demand-driven business development technical assistance, training and small grants to WLBs to improve their business skills, financial and operational business performance during the life of the activity. The Contractor must develop a competitive system and process to identify, select and support WLBs, the technical assistance must be provided on a cost-share basis.

Task 2.2.3: Support climate change resilience and adaptation for WLBs The Contract must also provide support through technical assistance and small grants to WLBs to improve climate change resilience and adaptation. The Contractor must also assist WLBs evaluate climate change impacts and adaptation measures, as well as help WLBs develop a business case and identify financing sources for adaptation investments. The Contractor must also assist WLBs capitalize on emerging climate-related business opportunities.

Task 2.2.4: Improved supply chain linkages The Contractor must help WLBs to create linkages with multinational corporations and large scale enterprises working in Pakistan to include WLBs in their supply chains on a sustainable basis. The Contractor must also provide mentoring, technical assistance and small grants to WLBs to improve their ability to assimilate into the corporate supply chain, improve the quality of products and services and ensure consistency in service delivery, through adoption of advanced technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT) devices etc. The Contractor must also provide technical assistance and small grants to WLBs to increase their capacity for public procurement in conjunction with Task 1.5.

Task 2.2.5: Improve organizational culture - Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) The Contractor must work with partner multinational corporations, large scale enterprises and small and medium enterprises to improve organizational culture and introduce and implement DEIA practices. The contractor must try to leverage private sector resources (corporate social responsibility funds) to implement the DEIA practices. The contractor must also develop a

USAID/Pakistan - She Leads Pakistan Rises Activity mechanism of reporting under the task that can be advocated to be implemented at regulatory level.

Expected Results:

● Improved business performance of WLBs resulting in increased jobs, revenue for WLBs;

● Improved supply chain linkages for WLBs through improved organizational capacity and quality of goods and services;

● Increased private and public procurement from WLBs;

● Improved DEIA practices in Pakistani entities to increase participation of women and other marginalized groups in the workforce.

Sub-objective 2.3: Increased access to markets and reduced gender digital divide Broadening access to the internet and developing digital skills will position women with better opportunities to start new businesses, improve their product/service quality, sell products to new markets, find better-paid jobs, and access financial services. She Leads Pakistan Rises activity will work with Pakistan’s ICT sector and Fintechs to close the gender digital divide specifically related to WLBs by improving access and use of the internet, training on digital skills and use of digital tools in business, and improving access to digital and e-commerce platforms, such as Amazon, Google, Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms.

Task 2.3.1: Assessing the digital opportunities for women and WLBs The Contractor must conduct an assessment to map the digital divide and identify the digital development opportunities for women and WLBs in Pakistan. The Contractor must also map the stakeholders working on the issue and identify the gaps and areas of complementarity that SLPRA may engage in. The Contractor must also identify where and how private sector resources may be leveraged to reduce the digital divide and expand opportunities for women and WLBs. The assessment must be used to determine the work plan interventions aimed for improving the digital divide for women and WLBs. The work plan interventions must be approved by USAID.

Task 2.3.2: Increasing digital access The Contractor must provide support through technical assistance and training to increase access to digital tools, technologies and opportunities to women and WLBs.

Task 2.3.3: Improving the access to markets The Contractor must provide demand driven technical assistance to WLBs to improve their access to traditional and digital markets (domestic and international). The Contractor must identify the challenges faced by WLBs in accessing local and international markets. The Contractor must design work plan interventions to address the challenges and improve capacity of WLBs.

Expected Results:

● Pakistani women and WLBs have improved access to internet and digital skills to participate in the economy;

USAID/Pakistan - She Leads Pakistan Rises Activity

● Increase digital capacity of women and WLBs;

● Increased access to markets for WLBs.

Objective 3: Strengthen startups ecosystem She Leads Pakistan Rises activity envisions supporting women in entrepreneurial activities to become more competitive, investment-worthy, profitable, and sustainable by engaging with key stakeholders in the entrepreneurship ecosystem including incubators, accelerators, and private sector investors. In partnership with the private sector, the activity will provide opportunities through seed funding, competitive grants, co-investment funds with the private sector, loans and credit guarantees through the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, and business competitions for WLBs to start, grow and innovate their businesses. The Contractor must strengthen 1,000 Pakistani women led startups.

Task 3.1: Startup ecosystem analysis The Contractor must conduct an analysis of Pakistan’s current entrepreneurship ecosystem to identify demand and supply side stakeholders. The Contractor must present challenges and opportunities specific to women-led businesses under the analysis. Based on the analysis the Contractor must identify work plan level interventions to support the entrepreneurship ecosystem for WLBs. The work plan interventions must be approved by USAID.

Task 3.2: Support women-led startups The Contractor must provide support to women-led startups through technical assistance, mentoring, training, networking opportunities, and small grants to enable them to grow, access capital, commercialize and become sustainable.

Task 3.3: Leverage private sector resources for women-led startups The Contractor must provide technical assistance to leverage resources from domestic and international angel and venture capital investors for women-led startups. The Contractor must identify areas of potential collaboration with investors that will address challenges women-led startups face. Partnerships under this task should also include opportunities to engage the Enterprise Fund created under Objective 2.

Expected Results:

● Pakistani women-led startups have increased access to opportunities to enable them to succeed.

● Women led startups have increased access to mentorship, training, and networking opportunities.

● Women led startups have increased access to investors and funding opportunities.

Objective 4: Supporting Pakistan’s response to economic shocks and opportunities Objective 4 will be achieved through the Supplemental Technical Assistance (STA) line item of the contract. The Contractor must dedicate up to $ 2 million for the objective. The Contractor must only provide services that fall within the scope of work of this contract and that are based on as and when STA need is identified by USAID. Activities undertaken under Objective 4 must

USAID/Pakistan - She Leads Pakistan Rises Activity advance Pakistan’s economic stewardship, and when involving the private sector, should primarily support WLBs.

Supplemental Technical Assistance under Objective 4 will be used for two purposes:

1. Scaling up Assistance Based on factors such as project performance, demonstrated need or interest among potential beneficiary organizations, and available funding, USAID may issue Supplemental Technical Assistance to expand work under Objective 1, 2 or 3.

2. Responding to Unforeseen Events and Opportunities Pakistan is expected to continue to be impacted by economic shocks, only some of which may be predictable at the time of the award. Based on demonstrated need and available funding, Supplemental Technical Assistance will be used to provide assistance to the Government of Pakistan (GOP), and/or the private sector to better navigate and respond to these shocks.

While specific activities undertaken under Objective 4 will be determined by the nature and scope of the economic shock, as well as the needs of the GOP, illustrative activities that will be implemented under this objective include:

● Training and capacity building

● Assessments

● Technical Assistance

● In-kind support

● Grants

Expected Results Specific expected results will be defined at the STA level, but must support the successful achievement of the goal and objectives of the She Leads Pakistan Rises activity.

Adaptive Management & Monitoring and Evaluation The Contractor must ensure that SLPRA remains responsive to new information and contextual changes and recommend appropriate adjustments. This includes consultations with USAID, the government, local government partners, private sector, donor organizations and other stakeholders as well as the effective use of iterative assessments and key data points from monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) and collaboration, learning, and adapting (CLA) efforts.

The Contractor’s approach to adaptive management should also examine how to best take advantage of the flexibility of this mechanism to respond to targeted technical needs or other unanticipated requests as they may arise. MEL will be a key component of the activity’s approach to adaptive management and its CLA agenda. The Contractor must develop a systematic method for collecting and analyzing performance data and other information to

USAID/Pakistan - She Leads Pakistan Rises Activity track progress toward planned results, ensure effective management and oversight, and enable data-based decision-making and refinements to SLPRA.

The Contractor must guarantee that sufficient human and financial resources are allocated for MEL and CLA, including the development and launch/release of outreach materials such as videos, to promote activity accomplishments and the replication of success.

Performance indicators (including baselines, targets, outputs, and outcomes) should consider existing standard indicators where appropriate or feasible. Methodologies must address data collection, quality, and analysis and follow USAID standards of validity, integrity, precision, reliability, and timeliness.

At a minimum, the Contractor must plan on collecting data for the following indicators:

Objective 1: Strengthened business enabling environment

● Number of laws, policies, regulations, or standards formally proposed, adopted, or implemented as supported by USG assistance

Objective 2 - Improved Access to Economic Resources

● Percentage of female participants in USG-assisted programs designed to increase access to productive economic resources (assets, credit, income or employment) (GNDR-2)

Sub-objective 2.1: Increased Access to Capital

● Amount of funding mobilized (in USD) as a result of USG assistance

● Number of private sector enterprises with increased access to finance due to USG assistance ( EG 2.12)

● Total number of clients benefiting from financial services provided through USG-assisted financial intermediaries, including non-financial institutions or actors (EG. 4.2-1)

Sub-objective 2.2: Improved business performance, climate resilience and adaptation, and supply chain linkages

● Number of full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs created with USG assistance (EG. 3-9)

● Number of firms receiving USG funded technical assistance for improving business performance (EG. 5.2-1)

● Number of institutions with improved capacity to assess or address climate change risks supported by USG assistance (EG. 11-2)

● Number of firms receiving USG-funded technical assistance to advance supply chain sustainability for enhanced trade

Sub-objective 2.3: Increased access to markets and reduced gender digital divide

● Number of organizations receiving USG assistance for improved compliance with global environmental standards.

● Number of private sector firms that have improved management practices or technologies as a result of USG assistance (EG 5.2-2)

USAID/Pakistan - She Leads Pakistan Rises Activity

Objective 3: Strengthen startups ecosystem

● Number of private sector enterprises with improved participation in the local economy as a result of USG assistance (PSE 3)

Custom indicators will be used to track key results along with the objectives of She Leads Pakistan Rises activity. Indicators may range from input, process/output, outcome and impact level. Indicators that will be developed will take into consideration key aspects of diversity, temporal scales, spatial scales, socio-economic and participation of stakeholders, institutional and legal factors. Qualitative and quantitative data collection methods will be employed to assess the performance of the identified indicators. The Contractor must also work beyond minimum compliance standards and develop a tailored approach that supports continuous learning and activity adaptations to maximize impact. The Contractor may propose additional indicators during work planning.

TECHNICAL GUIDELINES AND CONSIDERATIONS

Flexibility, Learning, and Adapting: Pakistan continues to be a complex operating environment as the country navigates both the impacts of floods and the ongoing political and economic uncertainty. She Leads Pakistan Rises activity must use an approach that incorporates mechanisms and tools to provide evidence to support adjustments in implementation and includes adaptive management practices and contingency plans to ensure responsive programming and uninterrupted operations. Furthermore, the Contractor must be agile to take requests from USAID meant to address changing circumstances and unanticipated events that impact the achievement of the objectives of this activity that could enhance its results. This may include disaster preparedness, response and recovery, assistance to key stakeholders, taking advantage of new or changing market opportunities necessary to achieve the objectives in a changing environment.

Gender and Inclusion: In Pakistan, the prevailing patriarchal and traditional rigid social norms and perceptions regarding masculinity, femininity, and gender roles create unequal expectations for men and women with respect to income generation, educational and professional achievement, and political participation. Gender stereotypes lead to persistent vertical and horizontal segregation in the labor market with women employed mostly in lower paid jobs and less likely to work in managerial positions.

Since She Leads Pakistan Rises activity is exclusively designed for women led businesses. The activity must promote best practices of inclusive development, demonstrating how the institutional capacity building, policy development, and access to capital work under the contract will affect men and women differently and how the approach will positively leverage the capacities and potential of men and women of different ages. The Contractor will be responsible for a Gender and Social Inclusion analysis and Gender And Social Inclusion Action Plan early in the life of the project that will be critical to ensuring that interventions are conducted in a gender sensitive and inclusive manner.

USAID/Pakistan - She Leads Pakistan Rises Activity

She Leads Pakistan Rises activity must also ensure the inclusion of marginalized people and clear benefits for historically excluded groups, including but not limited to persons with disabilities, LGBTQI+ people, and religious and ethnic minorities. The Contractor cannot only address gender barriers but must also address other forms of inequality and social exclusion.

Pakistan’s economic resiliency will be strengthened when it is able to capitalize on diverse and unique perspectives, ideas, approaches, and contributions from across society.

In addition, the activity must advance USAID’s vision for a world in which young people have the agency, rights, influence, and opportunities to pursue their life goals and contribute to the development of their communities. The activity is a “youth-relevant” activity as defined in the 2022 USAID Youth in Development Policy Update.