BHA RFI No. 720BHA24RFI00002 Strengthening Global Protection Capacity.pdf

SUBJECT: Request for Information

RFI NUMBER: 720BHA24RFI00002

ACTIVITY TITLE: Strengthening Global Protection Capacity Activity

ISSUANCE DATE: August 30, 2024

CLOSING DATE: September 30, 2024

CLOSING TIME: 2:00 PM EST

The United States Government, represented by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) is designing a new protection activity that may focus on strengthening the humanitarian protection workforce.

This Request for Information (RFI) has the following purposes:

1. To gather ideas, strategies, and/or approaches on how to improve delivery of humanitarian protection sector services to disaster-affected communities.

2. To solicit capability statements from interested entities.

Please carefully review the Purpose and Submission Instruction sections to ensure your technical observations and inputs align with USAID objectives and information needs. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. This RFI is issued in the sole attempt to request input from the general public in an effort to inform the potential scope and determine breadth of industry capabilities and interest. It does not constitute a solicitation Notice of Funding Opportunity or a Request for Proposals. Responses to this RFI will not be considered as proposals/applications and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract/agreement. Responses are strictly voluntary and USAID will not pay for information provided in response to this RFI. Respondents are directly and fully responsible for bearing all incurred expenses associated with preparation and submission of their RFI responses.

Responses to this RFI will not be returned and respondents will not be notified of the result of the review.

RFI No. 720BHA24RFI00002, Strengthening Global Protection Capacity Activity

SECTION I: PURPOSE

A. Overview

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) is publishing this Request for Information (RFI) in order to obtain information and input from all interested and qualified U.S. and non-U.S. non-profit or for-profit Non- Governmental Organizations (NGOs). USAID/BHA seeks to incorporate feedback from a wide range of stakeholders in its planning process, with the aim of investing in the global community’s ability to implement protection sector activities in humanitarian crises.

B. Background

USAID/BHA and humanitarian actors around the world are facing an increasing number of complex emergencies as climate crises and protracted conflicts continue to rise. There are currently 103 million forcibly displaced persons worldwide1, including in Syria, Ethiopia, Yemen, Myanmar, and countries across the Sahel, among other places. Beyond displacement, ongoing violence as well as the increasing frequency, scale, and intensity of climate-related events are taking a heavy toll on communities, posing immediate threats to safety, lives, and livelihoods -particularly of the most vulnerable. The complex needs that arise within these challenging humanitarian contexts require a robust and competent workforce with emergency-specific skills and the ability to engage in disaster planning and response efforts.

USAID/BHA is exploring the design of new activity aimed at growing and strengthening the workforce that provides protection services in disasters. Protection sector services - such as community-based services, casework, counseling, facilitation of group psychosocial support models, and conducting safe space activities - can only succeed with qualified, trained personnel. Improving the quantity and capacity of the protection sector workforce is the most critical factor in improving humanitarian protection responses. While many protection actors are experienced in building capacity during response, there is a critical need to also focus on anticipatory actions that make it easier to scale up protection services, including through the social service workforce. As social service workers can play a crucial role in helping respond to humanitarian emergencies, USAID/BHA is interested in understanding the opportunities that may exist to leverage and capacitate the broader social service workforce which is “an inclusive concept referring to a broad range of governmental and nongovernmental professionals, paraprofessionals, and volunteers who work with children, youth, adults, older persons, families and communities to ensure healthy development and well-being.”2 Expanding and strengthening the capacities of the social service workforce at the local level and community actors would allow for a more localized protection workforce equipped to prevent and respond to cases of abuse, neglect, exploitation, and gender-based violence in humanitarian settings.

1 United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), Global Humanitarian Overview 2023, UNOCHA, December 2022.

2 Briefing Paper on the Definition of the Social Service Workforce, Global Social Service Workforce Alliance, 2018

USAID/BHA seeks information regarding best practices, lessons learned, and community-driven experiences related to the topics described in the RFI to better design a globally relevant activity focused on growing and strengthening the workforce that provides protection services in disasters.

SECTION II: SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

A. General Instructions to Submit a Response

Responses to the RFI must be succinct, specific, clear. All submissions must be written in English using Times New Roman font, size 11. Responses shall not exceed seven (7) pages. Respondents can only submit ONE response per individual or organization.

Responses to the RFI must be submitted electronically to the following email address:

miharris@usaid.gov with the following subject line “RFI No. 720BHA24RFI00002, Strengthening Global Protection Capacity Activity” by no later than the date and time stated on the cover page.

B. Submission of Technical Information/Contributions

USAID/BHA requests input from all interested parties to provide experience and evidence-based suggestions to the specific questions outlined below. Technical contributions may not exceed five (5) pages (included in the 7-page limit) and may directly respond to the questions presented below or address other areas deemed important. Responses to each question are optional and a respondent may select to answer all nine (9) questions or to which questions it chooses to respond.

1. What are the key requirements to successfully scale up the humanitarian protection workforce as a crisis escalates? What are the biggest challenges in doing so?

2. What experience, degrees, and training do you consider key requirements for humanitarian protection staff? Are organizations successfully recruiting and retaining staff based on these requirements, or are they having to hire staff with fewer or different qualifications to address staffing shortages?

3. Where (or among which roles) do you see the biggest competency gaps in providing protection services in emergency settings? How would you recommend addressing those gaps?

4. Which roles are commonly the least supported in terms of resources (human/financial), research, or capacity support? Why do you think that is and what is needed to better support these roles?

5. Are there workforce pools or groups that are not being effectively leveraged for staffing or providing protection services in humanitarian responses that should be? What are the barriers to engaging them?

6. What are the barriers to engaging the social services workforce, including social workers, in humanitarian responses, and what would it take to better engage them?

mailto:miharris@usaid.gov

7. Which global or organizational guidance, tools, or approaches are the most useful and/or effective in supporting personnel to apply their social service experience and skills to a humanitarian response context? How could they be more useful? What guidance or tools do not exist, but would be helpful?

8. Describe the most significant challenges to engaging community members (including those without explicit experience in social work) as humanitarian protection staff or volunteers?

9. What approaches should USAID consider to effectively address global capacity or resource workforce gaps in the delivery of humanitarian protection services?

C. Submission of Capabilities Statement

Please do not exceed two (2) pages (included in the 7-page limit). Please be succinct and address the following:

1. Contact Name, Title and email address

2. Identify which organization you represent and its Business Designation (small business, NGO, non-USG, educational institute, etc.)

3. Explain if the organization is local, regional or international and types of protection services provided and/or activities implemented.

4. Confirm if your organization has experience in humanitarian preparation / disaster risk reduction and response, and if so, describe this experience.

5. Any other context you would like to provide.

D. Disclaimer

USAID reserves the right to use any, all, or none of the information submitted in response to this RFI in a future solicitation/funding opportunity. Thus, respondents must clearly mark or label all proprietary information contained in their submission. USAID will not disclose proprietary information unless required by law. Failure to properly mark or label proprietary information may result in an inappropriate use of such information.

If a solicitation/funding opportunity is issued, it will be announced on www.sam.gov and/or www.grants.gov at a later date, and all interested parties must respond to that solicitation/funding opportunity announcement separately from any response to this announcement.