USAID BAA Process - English.pdf

USAID/MEX BAA EOI - CO-CREATION WORKSHOP: SUMMARIZED

PROCESS (English)

USAID/Mexico Call for Expressions of Interest (EOI) to Decrease Deforestation Through Improved Livelihoods

Issuance Date: March 9, 2021 Opportunity Number: BAA-MEX-DDTIL-2021 Submission of Questions: March 18, 2021 12:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time Expressions of Interest Due: March 31, 2021 12:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time

Introduction

USAID’s Sustainable Landscapes (SL) programs seek to ensure that land is sustainably managed to achieve resilient, low emissions development. Through its SL assistance, and this Addendum to the Broad Agency Announcement (BAA-E3-SUSTAINABLELANDSCAPES- 2020), USAID/Mexico seeks partners to research, develop, test, scale-up, and evaluate innovative approaches to decrease deforestation, add value to sustainable productive systems, diversify and improve rural livelihoods in selected landscapes in southern Mexico.

Solutions Sought

Through this Call for EOIs and the subsequent co-creation process, USAID/Mexico seeks to identify partners who can successfully research, develop, test, and evaluate innovative approaches to decrease deforestation in the Calakmul region and other selected landscapes in southern Mexico (Lacandona Jungle and Sierra Madre regions in Chiapas and Sierra Sur region in Oaxaca). Applicants are asked to consider the approaches described above and use their own knowledge and experience to generate solutions that can be tested and evaluated during the implementation of proposed activities in the selected landscapes.

Specifically, USAID is seeking solutions that can be tested across landscapes with a variety of stakeholders. Solutions should enable and empower community co-owned cooperatives and businesses, community and forestry enterprises (CFE), ejidos, and communities (with a particular focus on women and youth). Solutions should adopt economically-viable and sustainable business models that provide services, diversify income and/or add value to sustainable land use products and value chains for improved and resilient rural livelihoods while reducing deforestation and GHG emissions.

In addition, USAID is seeking to develop systemic approaches that integrate policy and practice across multiple land uses within the identified landscape(s). This may include issues such as governance, market access, community ownership, and value-added products that can have a transformational impact on deforestation and sustainable land use in Mexico.

USAID seeks creative approaches and new partners, and looks to organizations submitting EOIs to bring new thinking and genuine interest in collectively designing, testing and evaluating solutions that will leverage USAID resources to advance the key objectives outlined above.

The BAA Process

A. Stage 1: Submissions of Expressions of Interest (EOI)

a. Who May Apply

EOIs may come from organizations in the natural resources management sector, including technical assistance providers, community forest and smallholder producer organizations, private sector, civil society and non-governmental organizations, businesses buying and selling sustainably-sourced products, investors, asset managers, intermediaries, academia, thought leaders, and other entities that have experience and capabilities in line with the objectives of this solicitation.

Applicants should be willing to meaningfully discuss challenges and to collectively develop, and then test and evaluate potential market-based solutions to reduce deforestation and promote sustainable livelihoods, taking into account challenges and opportunities that include access to markets, community governance, access to finance, market failures or distortions, capacity to implement sustainable agriculture, livestock and forestry practices, policy and regulatory barriers, and consumer demand, among others.

b. Expressions of Interest Submission Guidelines

EOIs should illustrate the submitting organization’s (and/or consortium’s) interest, capabilities, and experience in sustainable land management, community forestry, enhancing economic opportunities and capacity building with small producers, sustainable value chain development, green finance, blended finance, land use policy, and/or other areas relevant to the objectives and challenges outlined in this solicitation. Previous experience with USAID is not required.

EOIs must be submitted no later than 12:00 Central Daylight Time on March 31, 2021 to BAAMexico@usaid.gov.

Submissions must:

• Be in English or Spanish;

• Be no more than three (3) pages in length, with text no smaller than 12 point;

Times New Roman font with 1-inch margins;

• Include a cover page (not counted against page limit) with the following information: Applicant Name/Group, Contact Information, and Response Title;

and

• Include two submission attachments in email, one in .doc and one in .pdf format.

In your EOI, please include the following sections outlining your ideas of how to support sustainable landscapes and reduced deforestation in Mexico, while improving rural livelihoods:

• Problem Statement

• Organizational Background and Experience: A brief background of your organization (and consortium members if applicable) and a description of how your organization's experience is relevant to the objectives, context, and challenges outlined in this solicitation. If applicable, you may also provide examples of how you have achieved similar results through implementing creative or innovative approaches to novel problems through other activities/initiatives carried out by your organization.

• Target Partnerships: Specify partners (e.g. community-based organizations, producer groups or ejidos, private sector buyers, investors, market catalyzers, etc.) that the proposed solution could engage and how they will collaborate in the process of designing and selecting interventions.

• Proposed Solution(s): A clear and concise summary of the proposed solutions to be tested and evaluated that address the problem as defined above.

• Resource Leverage Plan: Resources you (and your consortium if applicable) could bring to a USAID partnership (capital, products or services, existing programs, etc.)

or a plan to leverage additional funding.

c. EOI Selection Criteria

The following criteria will be applied to all EOIs. Submissions are not evaluated against other submissions, but solely against the evaluation criteria outlined below:

1. Technical approach: Creative, informed, and realistic thinking based on research and past experience that is likely to result in the increase in the value of forested land (this could include both incentives and disincentives), reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation, and the increase and diversification of the livelihoods of smallholder producers.

2. Impact: The extent to which the proposed ideas show potential to be transformative and upon design, testing and evaluation are likely to result in reduced deforestation and/or forest restoration within the Calakmul region or other priority landscapes in southern Mexico while improving rural livelihoods. Proposed solutions should also seek to strengthen income diversity coming from environmentally sustainable products and services.

3. Partnership additionality: Strengths of the applying organization as a partner, including its ability to make a unique contribution to the development challenge. USAID seeks to connect disparate communities, i.e. investors, large-scale buyers, agroforestry input providers, community agriculture, silvopastoral and forest enterprises, technical service providers, market catalyzers and consumers.

4. Diversity of perspectives and capabilities: USAID seeks to bring together a diverse set of co-creators to enable broader thinking and innovation. Additionally, USAID values experience implementing activities, developing successful business approaches, and catalyzing new ideas effectively.

USAID will review and select EOIs in accordance with the criteria set forth above. USAID reserves the right not to review any EOIs that do not meet the criteria or submission guidelines. Please note that due to the expected number of EOIs, USAID is unable to provide specific feedback on those EOIs that are not selected to move forward.

Organizations selected to move forward will continue onto Stage 2 of the co-creation process.

B. Stage 2: Co-Creation

a. Co-Creation Workshop

USAID and participants will gather to collaboratively build on initial ideas and collectively begin to develop concept papers that will achieve the objectives of this addendum. EOI applicants selected to advance in the co-creation process must be available to participate in the virtual co-creation workshop.

USAID anticipates having the co-creation workshop for two weeks in April (April 19- 30). There will be three sessions per week for approximately four hours each. Also, throughout the weeks of the co-creation workshops, teams are expected to dedicate additional hours per day outside the workshop for strategic internal conversations, decision making, and relationship building amongst other participant organizations.

Please note, an invitation to co-create and attend the workshop is not a guarantee of funding nor moving forward to the next stage. Up to two experienced technical experts from submitting organizations must be available to participate in the workshop.

Organizations invited to participate in the co-creation workshop are eligible to take the lead in developing a concept paper to submit after the workshop. Given the size of this potential award, USAID invites participants, through the co-creation process, to form coalitions building on strengths and experience at various levels, such as program management, technical advising, services, etc. Organizations are also free to join the coalitions of other invitees as partners. Third parties, i.e., those not invited to co-creation, may also be invited to join coalitions as partners.

Please note that costs associated with participating in the co-creation workshop, including labor, will not be paid for by USAID.

For a complete look at solicitation visit the links: https://bit.ly/3epfhbC and https://bit.ly/38qXZa