Attachment J.1 - Statement Of Objectives (SOO) HRASA.pdf

ATTACHMENT J.1

STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES (SOO) for

Feed the Future Haiti Resilience and Agriculture Sector Advancement (HRASA) Activity

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The goal of the Feed the Future Haiti Resilience and Agriculture Sector Advancement (HRASA) activity is to increase individual, household, and communities’ resilience through strengthened, well-functioning and inclusive markets. The purpose of HRASA is to establish and strengthen sustainable, inclusive agricultural market systems that are resilient to shocks and stresses. With a focus on market-based solutions, activities will be centered in two Resilience Focus Zones (RFZ); one is located in the southern Les Cayes region and the other in the North-North East-Central Plateau region. HRASA will pursue three integrated objectives, each linked to outcome indicator(s), to accomplish its goal.

1. Increased market system efficiency

2. Increased private sector investment and engagement across the market systems

3. Increased household and community ability to recover from shocks and stresses

Objective 1. Increased market system efficiency: Market systems are most efficient when they are competitive (system actors are able to innovate and add value to their products and services to match market demand), inclusive (the market system delivers sustainable benefits to all the system actors, including the poor and marginalized groups), and resilient (system actors and segments are able to absorb and overcome shocks and stresses affecting the market system). Where market systems work exclusively or inefficiently, people who are poor have fewer options to benefit directly from economic development and growth that are often concentrated within market-ready stakeholders. Such growth does not translate to optimal gains and profits since the most underserved and marginalized groups (who are also producers and consumers driving demand and supply forces) are excluded and under-utilized.

Alternatively, efficient market systems lead to increased productivity and profitability in the different segments of the market system, and production and market systems that are better adapted to recurrent shocks, stresses, and ongoing climatic trends. An efficient system engages all relevant market actors and ensures the inclusion of diverse segments of the population, with smallholder farmers, youth, and women so that they can participate in markets and fully contribute to economic growth. When access to market-based research and extension, information, inputs, goods and services; and transfer of assets, skills and technology is done at all levels of the market system, the system generates long-term growth and is able to sustain wealth and intergenerational livelihoods. All segments of an efficient market system are productive and profitable with all stakeholders receiving economic benefits. Outcome indicators measuring yield, sales, and adoption of new technologies will measure the success of this objective.

Objective 2. Increased private sector investment and engagement across market systems: Interventions that increase private sector investment and engagement across a market system translate into new market-based relationships between private businesses and smallholders that result in positive return on investment for the businesses and new opportunities for the marginalized smallholders and micro entrepreneurs. As firms expand investment and broaden their exchange of goods and services with more smallholders, the smallholders become the businesses’ suppliers and/or customers. This momentum can build toward a more inclusive market system benefiting a broader range of actors. When transfer of knowledge, technology and information flows efficiently between the private sector and farmers; the productive capacity of the smallholder farmers is built as they engage and benefit from the market system; and ultimately: (1) create sustainable linkages between market actors, including SMEs and smallholders, and agribusinesses in the supply chains, broadening the engagement in the market, and increasing its effectiveness and profitability, (2) manage risk to maintain market system function, (3) and ensure adaptability of the system to respond to changing opportunities and constraints. Outcome indicator measuring private sector investment will measure the success of this objective.

Objective 3. Increased household and community ability to recover from shocks and stresses: A well functioning market system can help build resilience capacities at household and community levels.

Participant households and communities have greater access to diversified livelihood opportunities, increased asset ownership, increased savings and access to financial services, increased access to market systems information, and improved early warning systems. These resilience capacities contribute to the households and communities’ abilities to absorb and adapt to shocks and stresses. Targeted groups, including youth and women are empowered to take advantage of those economic opportunities. Targeted participant households and communities have access to information needed to make strategic decisions to protect their assets and successfully recover from shocks and stresses. Outcome indicators measuring assets and access to finance will measure the success of this objective.

2.0 BACKGROUND

Haiti’s circumstances of chronic poverty compounded by recurrent stresses and shocks makes a focus on resilience all the more important. USAID defines resilience as “the ability of people, households, communities, countries, and systems to mitigate, adapt to, and recover from shocks and stresses in a manner that reduces chronic vulnerability and facilitates inclusive growth.” Within USAID and the 1 wider development community, there is now recognition that Haiti has been unable to recover from a pattern of recurrent shocks over decades because local populations are unable to manage the risks they face and adapt and recover to pre-shock levels of well-being when a shock occurs. These recurrent stresses and shocks include covariate level shocks (such as earthquakes, droughts, floods, animal and crop pests and diseases, price and market shocks, community violence), idiosyncratic shocks (sickness, death, family abandonment), and ongoing stressors (such as limited and erratic rainfall, low soil fertility, rapid population growth, corruption, limited to no public service delivery, underdeveloped markets) that continuously undermine development gains despite ongoing development assistance.

These shocks and stresses compound chronic rural poverty and set back progress in agriculture.

Twenty-five percent of Haiti’s 11.1 million population lives on less than $1.90 per day and 59 percent, or approximately six million people, lives below the national poverty line of $2.41 per day. Agriculture, central to the Haitian economy, employs 60 percent of the population in rural areas. However, it only generates 25 percent of GDP. Only 45 percent of the country’s food needs are met by local production, while the deficit is covered by imports. Remittances from the diaspora are important in the Haitian economy. At USD$3.2 billion in 2018, remittances accounted for 34.3percent of GDP - - three times higher than any other category of capital inflows such as Official Development Assistance (ODA) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Haitians utilize the lion’s share of these resources to purchase

1 https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1866/Policypercent20percent26percent20Programpercent20Guidancepercent20-percent20Buildingpercent20Resiliencepercent20topercent20Recurrentpercent20Crisis_Decpercent202012.pdf consumer goods, mostly imported.

Many farmers are small-scale subsistence farmers, producing just enough to meet family needs on plots that average less than one hectare. The most vulnerable are the poorest households living below the national poverty line of $2.41 USD/day. They are food insecure as they have very limited financial resources and/or assets and they are the most affected by shocks. They generally allocate 70 percent of their income to food and are the most impacted when food prices increase. They often use negative 2 coping strategies when stresses and shocks occur, such as selling their livelihood assets (animals), and cutting down fruit trees that were planted to provide cash (mangoes) for charcoal production. As some of the poorest households do not own land, they often sell their labor or work a plot of land where half of the output is provided to the landowner (“De moitié”).

The main cereal crops grown in Haiti are maize, rice, and sorghum, which also make up key food staples. Cereal crops are a critical contributor to Haiti’s nutritional status as they supply around 37.5 percent of the population’s total caloric and intake. Legumes, roots, tubers and fruits are also important components of Haiti’s agri-food systems and play a strategic role for nutrition and income generation.

Animal production is important for nutrition and income generation and represents strategic assets for most Haitian farmers during times of household crisis.

Haiti is classified as one of the countries with the highest climate risk and natural disaster indices in the world. The growing threat of weather-related shocks and stresses coupled with inadequate coping 3 mechanisms and contingency planning make Haitian farmers extremely exposed to the effects of weather-related shocks inhibiting long-term economic growth and food security. With significant 4 numbers of households facing the impacts of recurrent shocks and increasing numbers of people dependent on humanitarian assistance, the need is all the more pressing for climate resilience strategies to mitigate and address the impact of climate change.

Unemployment, underemployment, and migration, especially among the youth, are common in both RFZs. Approximately 40 percent of Haiti’s population of 11.1 million is between the ages of 10 and 29, while an estimated half are under the age of 21. Evidence cited in an assessment of Haitian youth USAID carried out in 2016 indicated that economically empowered young people are critical to Haiti’s sustainable development. The Assessment identified several factors that affect youth: the economy, education, social support structures, health, well-being, juvenile justice, crime and violence, and climate change affecting the environment. More specifically, findings from the assessment indicate that the Haitian youth development landscape is complex, dynamic and challenging; however, that educated, healthy, economically empowered, socially connected, resilient, and active young people remain Haiti‘s best hope for sustainable development.

Women in rural Haiti face multiple vulnerabilities, having less means to shield themselves from unfavorable economic, ecological, and health risks due to lack of access to resources, knowledge, and circumstances. In rural Haiti, women and men are interdependent actors with gendered division of labor though gender roles are changing and cannot be generalized. However, traditionally, men have been responsible for land clearing, tilling, and using heavy machinery while women are responsible for weeding, harvesting, and marketing products within the informal sector. Rural women are often full

2 Coordination Nationale de la Sécurité Alimentaire (CNSA)) 2017

3 Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery For reference data on this point please visit https://www.gfdrr.org/haiti 4 Note that “coping” mechanisms often include risky behaviors such as migration to other areas or abroad for work or sending children to be “fostered” by others - essentially contributing to domestic servitude through the “restavec” practice.

time market traders in addition to agricultural laborers and spend twice as much time as men on domestic chores (15 hours vs. seven hours weekly), with up to five hours a day collecting firewood and several hours a day fetching water. Women and men are estimated to be engaged in formal and informal productive work (including commercial and agricultural activities) at rates of 66 percent and 48 percent respectively. The 2008 Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) report notes that slightly more than 10 percent of women in rural areas work on their own farms. The report asserts that female agricultural workers are not paid as their labor is seen as ‘auxiliary’ labor supplementing that performed by the male head of the family. Furthermore, it notes that men dominate higher-income agricultural export activities and women play a crucial role in post harvest marketing and sale, but their access to more lucrative roles in the value chain are limited by low access to business support services, credit, and export-oriented collectives. However, despite receiving little support from the state, market women have become the backbone of domestic agricultural commerce, with informal networks across the country selling locally sourced agricultural products and providing small amounts of credit to local farmers. Known as “Madames Sara”, these women provide a critical market linkage between rural producers and urban consumers.

Haitian micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are critical to Haiti’s economy, including in the two RFZs. While Haiti’s unemployment rate is estimated at more than 40 percent, MSMEs account for more than 80 percent of current Haitian employment. USAID support to MSMEs in recent years helped create more than 25,000 permanent jobs and a recent study conducted under the USAID Local Enterprise and Value Chain Enhancement (LEVE) project shows a return of $2.98 to the Haitian economy for every $1 invested in growing sectors.

Concerning private sector investment and access to and use of financial services, private sector investment is very limited in rural areas and Haiti’s rural populations still have limited access to formal financial services. Even though there has been an increase in the number of clients of microfinance institutions (including credit unions), only a limited number of clients in rural areas access formal agricultural credit with products adapted to their cash flow needs. Where those services exist, interest rates are high, impeding investment in adaptive capacity of the most vulnerable households.

This activity will focus on two distinct geographic areas referred to as Resilience Focus Zones. The two RFZs have an estimated total population of 1.2 million - RFZ 1 (North) having an estimated 56 population of 703,000 and RFZ 2 (South) with an estimated population of 465,000. The Northern RFZ includes part of the North Department, the North-East and the three northernmost communes of the upper Central Plateau. The Northern part of this zone includes humid plains (Plaine du Nord, Saint-Raphael), a drier plain in the North-East (Maribaroux plain). A mountain range separates the Northern range of the RFZ from its Southern part that includes several communes of the Upper Central Plateau. The plains and surrounding hillsides are characterized by the production of many crops, including cereals, legumes, vegetables, plantain, roots, tubers, and various tree crops. Farm animals represent strategic assets and an important source of income there. The mountain range bordering the Upper Central Plateau had been an important coffee production area in the past.

Animal husbandry is also important in the area. The average farm size in the Northern RFZ is less than one hectare, although larger farms can be found, particularly in the plains and in the Central Plateau. The Northern RFZ has been affected by a severe drought in recent years and this has reduced agricultural production as most of the farmers rely on rainfed agriculture. Parts of this region

5 Please refer to Attachment J.6 Resilience Focus Zones, for the mapping of the RFZs.

6 Please refer to Attachment J.7 The List of Communes in the RFZs, for a list of the communes covered in the RFZs.

have also been subject to flooding caused by sporadic heavy rainfalls and by hurricanes. While extensive irrigation systems exist in some areas, they are either in disrepair or are poorly maintained.

In the past ten years, USAID has made significant investments in various sectors in this region, especially agriculture.

The Southern RFZ includes Plaine des Cayes, Plaine de Torbeck and surrounding hillsides, along with a part of the South Coast. Farmers in this RFZ grow a combination of crops, depending on the local ecosystems, including cereals, legumes, vegetables, roots and tubers, fruits, cacao, and vetiver. The average farm size is similar to that of the Northern RFZ, less than one hectare. Livestock is also an important part of the livelihoods mix in this RFZ that hosts the most important cattle market in Haiti.

Less affected by drought than the Northern RFZ, this area is however more prone to hurricanes.

3.0 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

Contract Management: This activity will be managed by the Economic Growth and Agriculture Development Team in USAID Port-au-Prince Haiti. The Office of Acquisition and Assistance, USAID/Haiti will provide technical and administrative oversight to the Contactor through the designated Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR).

Anticipated Period and Place of Performance: The Feed the Future Haiti Resilience and Agriculture Sector Advancement (HRASA) activity will be a five-year contract (2021-2026).

Geographic Code: USAID Haiti has authorized the use of Geographic Code 935 for procurement of research services related to food security and climate change under this contract. In accordance with ADS 310.3.1.1, revised February 6, 2012, code 935 refers to any area or country, including the recipient country, but excluding any country that is a prohibited source. The authorized geographic code for procurement of all other goods and services under this contract is 937. In accordance with ADS 310.3.1.1, revised February 6, 2012, code 937 refers to the United States, the recipient country, and developing countries other than advanced developing countries, but excluding any country that is a prohibited source. Please see ADS 310 for further details.

Grants Management and Country Implementation: USAID Haiti has authorized the use of grants under contract (GUC) during implementation of this contract. Given the financial constraints and under-resourcing that impede market systems performance, the Contractor could develop a grants mechanism and may set aside a maximum of $5,000,000 of its total budget for grants. No funds will be provided through grants to government partner entities. All grants issued under the contract must be to local non-governmental organizations. Grants may include performance-based or any other innovative approaches to giving grants that mitigates fraud, promote accountability, and improve effectiveness and efficiency. While HRASA could support local partners through the small grants, it is anticipated that HRASA will also use a range of tools to achieve the program’s objectives. Target grant recipients could include academic institutions, producer organizations and private sector firms that support the objectives of HRASA. These grants could support capacity building, private sector engagement, technical assistance needs, equipment, and other areas deemed critical to system improvements. Selection of grantees will be done in consultation with USAID to ensure compliance with USAID requirements for approval of grants with non-government entities.

Commodity Focus: The market systems targeted under HRASA must include at least four of the following commodity categories:

Cow milk and/ or cow meat

● Small ruminants

● Poultry (eggs and or meat)

● Cereals

● Legumes (beans/peas)

● Ground nuts

● Tree nuts

● Roots and Tubers

● Fruits

● Vegetables

4.0 PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS

USAID is using a Statement of Objectives (SOO) framework for this solicitation to incentivize innovative approaches, solicit ideas from experts in the industry, allow for greater flexibility, and improve results and impact. In accordance with the SOO, Offerors must propose a Performance Work Statement (PWS) that is informed by their background knowledge of the RFZ and technical expertise and include a robust, specific, integrated context-appropriate set of activities that will achieve the objectives of this program. The Offeror must clearly describe how and why an activity will achieve the expected results. The Offerors may also include a results framework to demonstrate the logical relationships between activities and expected results. Indicators listed in the table below are required and must be included in the Performance Work Statement. The Offerors must also propose additional standard and custom indicators tailored to the proposed development approach. For objective one, the Offeror must propose indicators that measure market competitiveness, market inclusion and market resilience. For objective 2, the Offeror must include indicators that capture private sector investment and engagement across a market system, positive return on investment for the businesses and new opportunities, especially for the marginalized smallholders and micro entrepreneurs. Under objective 3, Offerors must propose indicators that measure households and communities’ abilities to absorb and adapt to shocks and stresses, and to productively participate in the proposed market systems (see table below).

Offerors must propose yearly targets for all indicators in the Performance Work Statement and clearly describe the results and outcomes to be achieved under this proposal. All indicators and targets will be further developed as part of the Activity Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plan (AMELP). The Offeror must provide approaches for measuring progress towards achieving the proposed targets that take into consideration the Haiti context.

Purpose: Establish and strengthen sustainable, inclusive agricultural market systems that are resilient to shocks and stresses

Objectives Minimum required indicators

Objective 1:

Increased market system efficiency

EG 3-10 Yield of targeted agricultural commodities among program participants with USG assistance (disaggregated by age, sex, smallholder/non-smallholder)

The Fee Distribution Schedule must include both implementation management and development results achievement. For development results, the payment of fee should at minimum be distributed across proposed targets set for the following three standard and custom indicators (see Feed The Future Handbook for more details on the standard indicators).

1) Objective 1: Indicator EG 3.2-26 - Value of annual sales of farms and firms receiving USG assistance (disaggregated by Producer: smallholder, Producer; non-smallholder, Firm; microenterprise, Firm; small and medium enterprise, Firm; large enterprise or corporation)

2) Objective 2: Indicator 3.1-14 - Value of new USG commitments and private sector investment

EG 3.2-26 Value of annual sales of farms and firms receiving USG assistance

(disaggregated by Producer -smallholder, Producer – non-smallholder, Firm – microenterprise, Firm - Small and medium enterprise, Firm- Large enterprise or corporation)

EG 3.2-24 Number of individuals in the agriculture system who have applied improved management practices or technologies with USG assistance

Objective 2:

Increased private sector investment and engagement across market systems

EG 3.1-14 Value of new USG commitments and private sector investment leveraged by the USG to support food security and nutrition

Objective 3:

Increased household and community ability to recover from shocks and stresses

Custom Indicator - Percent of participant farmer households with increased asset ownership as a result of USG assistance (PIRS attached)

EG 3.2-27 Value of agriculture-related financing accessed as a result of USG assistance [IM-level] leveraged by the USG to support food security and nutrition

3) Objective 3: Custom Indicator - Percent of participant farmer households with increased asset ownership as a result of USG assistance.

Baseline data for some of the minimum required indicators are available in the Haiti Feed the Future Interim assessment and the resilience baseline respectively conducted in 2016 and 2020. Depending 7 8 on the selected commodities and additional indicators included in the Performance Work Statement, the successful Offeror must complete the baseline through quick post-award surveys in both RFZs.

5.0 CONSTRAINTS AND RISKS:

Innovation: Sustainably advancing agriculture sector development in Haiti will require innovation and out-of-the box thinking and approaches adapted to the local context. Innovation refers to new technologies, new ways of delivering goods and services, more cost-effective adaptations to existing solutions, new ways of implementation of existing proven solutions, policy changes, social or behavioral innovations. Universities and other institutions involved in research support this need for continued innovation in any agricultural market system. When human and institutional capacity for formulating and implementing targeted market-oriented research are built, those institutions can help address key bottlenecks in value chains and take advantage of existing opportunities to develop transformative market systems.

Local Stakeholder Collaboration: Strategic and proactive engagement among key stakeholders within an industry or sector improves the identification and definition of critical economic and social development problems; strengthens the design and implementation of promising solutions to those problems, including the use of market-based approaches; and increases the sustainable impact of our respective interventions. The activity will work and collaborate with the Government of Haiti (GOH), the private sector, donors, local governments, community leaders, industry associations, producer groups, and other relevant institutions.

Collaboration with other USAID activities/development partners: USAID recognizes that the activity is pursuing ambitious results in a difficult environment. Building resilience of people and systems to recurrent crises by expanding agricultural and other sector-related economic growth, improving governance and natural resources management, and improving health and nutrition outcomes requires a multi-sector approach and will involve combining interventions from many different sectors that have traditionally been implemented in isolation. Within USAID/Haiti, this collaborative method that is the core of the Mission resilience approach which currently includes the Office of Humanitarian Assistance (OHA), Economic Growth and Agriculture Development (EGAD), Health, Democracy and Governance (DG), and the Infrastructure, Energy and Engineering (OIEE) offices. These offices are expected to contribute to and collaborate on activities covering food security, nutrition-sensitive agricultural market systems that can provide access to nutritious and diverse foods, access to credit and other economic opportunity activities, and apply sustainable natural resources management approaches to ensure sustainable practices to build resilience.

This HRASA activity is an integral component of the overarching Development Objective 2 (DO2)

7 Interim Assessment Report for Feed the Future Zone of Influence: Feed the Future Haiti Zone of Influence Interim Assessment Report November 2016 8 Resilience baseline: https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00WRCX.pdf program. The underlying assumption for resilience within the DO2 program is that by deliberately layering, sequencing, and integrating efforts, the collective activities will produce greater and more sustainable results than any single activity could do in isolation. HRASA and all other USAID activities in the RFZs will be required to contribute collaboratively to the DO2 results framework, transformative outcomes and operational principles.

Private Sector Engagement: USAID is committed to collaborating with the private sector in alignment with the USAID Private Sector Engagement Policy published in December 2018. This solicitation seeks to foster activities that are characterized by extensive collaboration with the private sector through the implementation of market system development approaches in order to achieve greater development impact. By partnering with USAID, the private sector is able to leverage USAID and our partners’ expertise, assets and working relationships in a manner that advances business success and fosters the broader economic growth and poverty reduction that is vital to sustaining such success. By partnering with the private sector, USAID and our partners are able to leverage private sector markets, activity, expertise, interests, and assets in a manner that solves critical development problems and promotes effective market-led development. Through strategic and ongoing collaboration, the private sector, USAID, and our partners are better able to increase the impact, reach, sustainability, efficiency, and effectiveness of our business and development investments and help countries achieve self-reliance.

Nutrition Sensitive Market Systems: Current key nutrition statistics in Haiti from the Demographic Health Survey show a level of 21.9 percent of children stunted, 9.5 percent of children underweight, and 3.7 percent children wasted. These figures have been consistently improving for more than 20 years except for stunting which has hit a plateau in the last 5 years.

The GOH October 2019-February 2020 food security map indicates that up to 35 percent of the population in the RFZs are in a food security crisis mode. This situation is expected to get worse with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Agricultural production and market systems have the potential to lead to improved nutrition by increased access to diverse and nutritious diets.

Climate Sensitive Market Systems: Climatic shocks and stresses, such as drought, increasingly irregular rainfall patterns, hurricanes, severe storms, and recurrent flooding have been a constant and growing challenge to agricultural production in Haiti. Significant changes in average temperature and precipitation can adversely affect crop and livestock productivity, post-harvest handling, and storage, all of which have serious implications for rural households’ income and well-being.

Two Defined RFZs: Interventions under this activity must be carried out in areas identified within the two RFZs, with greater focus on the North Northeast-Central Plateau region (Northern RFZ).

Offerors should refer to the maps of the RFZs and list of communes. The two RFZs are in geographically separate and in disparate locations, thus the Offerors should develop distinct strategies to effectively work and achieve results in each RFZ. USAID recognizes that it may be useful on occasion for Offerors to include in their solutions partnerships with businesses and entities located outside of the two RFZs.

Shock-Responsive Programming and Adaptive Mechanisms: USAID recognizes that many of the interventions under this activity will be implemented in zones of recurrent crisis.

It is in the interest of the Contractor to build in programmatic and operational flexibility into their activities to allow quick response to unanticipated challenges which consistently occur in Haiti. This could include, but is not limited to, crisis modifiers that allow for an integrated crisis response between the humanitarian and development sectors. The Contractor should refer to the USAID’s Shock Responsive Programming Guidance. An adaptive shock responsive approach will allow for agile 9 approaches for responding to situations that can occur in Haiti during project implementation and to allow for adjustments depending on the impact from the shock.

Marginalized Populations: The HRASA activity is primarily designed to meet the unique needs of and support marginalized populations to meet their potential.

Gender. The HRASA activity will be tailored to maximize gender and social inclusion consistent with the Women’s Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment (WEEE) Act, enacted on January 9, 201910

, USAID’s gender policy ADS 205 , and USAID Haiti’s Development Objective Two (DO2) Gender 11

Analysis , which is provided as an attachment to this solicitation. Per ADS Chapter 205, all USAID 12 activities are required to consider the different roles of men and women, the relationship between and among men and women, and the broader institutional and social structures that support them. Despite the multiplicity of challenges regarding mainstreaming and integrating gender, there are also opportunities that need to be explored. The USAID Haiti DO2 Gender Analysis covers all of its economic and food security programs. The Contractor will identify and explore approaches that demonstrate attention to those findings and recommendations relevant to achieving HRASA program goals.

Youth. Young men and women are engaged in the agri-food system in a variety of ways — through formal and informal wage work, unpaid family labor, self-employment — and across all levels of value chains. Youth earn “mixed livelihoods” from various sources — on-farm, off-farm, and non-farm — and with self-employment and migration playing particularly important roles. When trained and empowered, youth tend to favor modern agriculture practices, use of technology, and opportunities with relatively higher returns than staple crops. With the growing youth population in Haiti, alleviating youth unemployment and underemployment in the RFZs is critical.

Productive Infrastructure: Affordable, reliable and sustainable productive infrastructure is the foundation for resilient, inclusive, sustainable growth and essential to a country’s self-reliance. Haiti has been affected by a long and severe drought in the last years. The effects of the drought are exacerbated by limited access to irrigation water and inappropriate maintenance of the existing systems that often fall into disrepair after donor projects that rehabilitate them come to an end. In addition, access to water for farmers who tend to work the most marginal lands is often limited. Innovative strategies are needed to ensure continuous and inclusive provision of water to both irrigated and rain-fed areas.

Ability to learn and adapt program approaches (learning and adapting): Evidence shows that the outcome of an activity will be enhanced when the programming is coordinated, grounded in evidence, and adapted throughout implementation to improve effectiveness and performance. The Contractor must demonstrate how Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) practices will be incorporated into the

9 https://usaidlearninglab.org/sites/default/files/resource/files/shock_responsive_programming_guidance_compliant.pdf 10 The WEEE Act makes gender analysis mandatory under federal law. The WEEE Act emphasizes the importance of gender integration in development projects especially in the area of economic growth initiatives. It focuses on the positive outcomes of women’s entrepreneurship and economic empowerment in U.S.-funded projects, which is presented as a crucial accelerator of sustainable development.

11 The official USAID’s policy on gender equality and women’s empowerment expands on the legal definition for gender analysis provided by the WEEE Act and gives more instructions regarding gender integration in program design.

12 Please refer to Attachment J.4 for the DO2 Gender Analysis.

activity.

The Contractor must propose a thorough Monitoring and Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Plan that will contribute to the Mission-wide Performance Monitoring Plan (PMP) and the Economic and Food Security Enhanced Project. The final activity MEL plan shall include required (as applicable) indicators from both the PMP and Project MEL Plan. Close monitoring based on USAID best practices, including a balanced set of outcome and output indicators, will be required for this activity. Proposed indicators must meet Agency and Mission’s Feed the Future and Resilience reporting requirements. Finally, the Contractor must take into consideration the need for continued monitoring and evaluation of activities in instances where there might be constraints to in-person site visits, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic and/or in instances of political unrest. The Contractor must indicate the monitoring approaches it plans to utilize for safe execution of the MEL plan.

Sustainability/Local Systems: The GOH has limited capacity and commitment, making self-reliance and sustainability a challenge. Therefore, it is even more essential to emphasize achieving well functioning local systems. The Journey to Self-Reliance (J2SR) country snapshot highlights the 13 challenge with both the capacity and commitment of the GOH. Nevertheless, HRASA must leverage opportunities to support the GOH, including national and local governments, and community institutions on the journey to self-reliance; and also leverage the private sector as a way to support sustainability of program gains. To increase the likelihood of sustainability, the Contractor must support the local systems in the context in which they work. Local systems refer to those interconnected sets of actors – government, civil society, the private sector, universities, individual citizens and others – that jointly produce a particular development outcome. Whether the local system will own the outcomes produced under this contract after it is finished must be a key consideration for planned activities.

Security: The security of beneficiaries and the Contractor’s staff is of utmost concern to USAID/Haiti.

Given the escalation of security incidents in Haiti, it is imperative that the Contractor develop a security plan that ensures institutionalized processes to track the security context in the operating RFZs, evaluate the risks to beneficiaries and the Contractor’s staff, and implement steps to mitigate risks.

Environmental Compliance -Initial Environmental Evaluation (IEE): Activities performed under HRASA must comply with USAID’s environmental regulations as mandated in 22CFR216.

Climate Risk Management (CRM): is required for all USAID-supported activities, with limited exceptions. Climate risk has the potential for negative consequences on activity objectives and/or outcomes due to changing climatic conditions. The contractor will need to articulate practices and interventions that can enable climate resilient approaches to succeed and support the sustainability of the investments made under this activity.

Automated Directives System (ADS): The Contractor must comply with ADS guidance, including information management and security policies. Guidance and policies include, but are not limited to, those established by the USAID’s Office of Security and Office of Privacy, the Chief Information Officer (CIO), Open Data Policy, and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Implementers are required by law to comply with branding and marking rules (ADS 320). Offerors bidding on HRASA must

13 https://selfreliance.usaid.gov/docs/roadmaps/USAID_FY_2020_Haiti_Country_Roadmap_en_US.pdf submit and negotiate a Branding Implementation Plan and a Marking Plan that will outline the events and materials the contractor will use to deliver the message that the contract is from the American people.

Languages: Although English is the primary language considered for this contract, work will also be required in languages other than English, specifically French and Haitian Creole. All reports, deliverables and communication materials submitted to USAID must be in English.

Illustrative (not comprehensive) List of Documents with Potential Relevance to the New Activity

1. Feed Future Indicator Handbook: https://www.agrilinks.org/post/feed-future-indicator-handbook

2. Resources for Market System Resilience Measurement:

https://www.marketlinks.org/resources/market-systems-resilience-measurement-resources-0

3. Resilience Capacity Measurement:

https://www.fsnnetwork.org/sites/default/files/Methodology_Guide_Nov2018508.pd f and https://spark.adobe.com/page/rSG16suIleW7d/

4. Youth, Women and Market Systems Development in agriculture and Supporting Markets:

https://www.marketlinks.org/sites/marketlinks.org/files/resources/awe_co6_landscape_ana l ysis_case_studies_final_report_8-04-2020-1.pdf

5. Resilience baseline: https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00WRCX.pdf

6. Interim Assessment Report for Feed the Future Zone of Influence:

https://cg-281711fb-71ea-422c-b02c-ef79f539e9d2.s3.us-gov-west-1.amazonaws.com/u ploads/2018/03/Haiti_Feed_the_Future_Zone_of_Influence_Interim_Assessment_Repor t.pdf

7. USAID Haiti Mission Result Framework:

https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1862/USAID-Haiti-Strategic-Framework-20 18-2020.pdf

8. USAID Haiti Development Objective Two Gender Analysis (attached) https://www.agrilinks.org/post/feed-future-indicator-handbook https://www.marketlinks.org/resources/market-systems-resilience-measurement-resources-0 https://www.fsnnetwork.org/sites/default/files/Methodology_Guide_Nov2018508.pdf https://www.fsnnetwork.org/sites/default/files/Methodology_Guide_Nov2018508.pdf https://spark.adobe.com/page/rSG16suIleW7d/ https://cg-281711fb-71ea-422c-b02c-ef79f539e9d2.s3.us-gov-west-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/2018/03/Haiti_Feed_the_Future_Zone_of_Influence_Interim_Assessment_Report.pdf https://cg-281711fb-71ea-422c-b02c-ef79f539e9d2.s3.us-gov-west-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/2018/03/Haiti_Feed_the_Future_Zone_of_Influence_Interim_Assessment_Report.pdf https://cg-281711fb-71ea-422c-b02c-ef79f539e9d2.s3.us-gov-west-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/2018/03/Haiti_Feed_the_Future_Zone_of_Influence_Interim_Assessment_Report.pdf https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1862/USAID-Haiti-Strategic-Framework-2018-2020.pdf https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1862/USAID-Haiti-Strategic-Framework-2018-2020.pdf