CAYFHE Eswatini RFI.pdf

U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

100 Totius Street Groenkloof Pretoria, South Africa pretoriainfo@usaid.gov USAID.gov/southern-africa-regional

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

RFI Number: 720674RFI00001 Date of Issue: December 20, 2024 Closing dates for Responses: January 10th, 2025 (17:00 Local Time, Southern Africa) Anticipated Mechanism Type: TBD Anticipated Budget: TBD Responses to be submitted to: proposals@usaid.gov

Subject: Strengthening Services for Children, Adolescents, Youth and Families in the HIV

Epidemic in Eswatini Activity

To All Interested Organizations/Respondents:

Referring to FAR Part 10, FAR 15.201(e) and ADS 201.3.4.5 (c) the United States Government, represented by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) at its Mission in Southern Africa, is publishing the subject Request for Information (RFI).

A. PURPOSE OF THE RFI:

This RFI is issued solely for planning purposes. It does not constitute a Request for Proposals (RFP) or a Notice of funding Opportunity (NOFO). The RFI intends to:

● Allow stakeholders and interested organizations to provide information and suggestions for upcoming programming for Children, Adolescents, Youth and Families in the HIV Epidemic in Eswatini.

● Conduct market research about the capabilities and expertise of organizations currently working in support of achieving HIV epidemic control in Eswatini, and how that experience can be applied to this activity.

mailto:proposals@usaid.gov

B. ACTIVITY CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

B.1 Background:

Since the inception of the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program in 2003, USAID has supported building the capacity of families, communities and systems to care for children, adolescents, youth and families affected by HIV/AIDS in more sustainable ways in Eswatini. The global fight against HIV and AIDS is at a critical point, and it is essential to transition from an emergency response to a sustained response. Eswatini met the UNAIDS 90-90-90 goals in 2021 where the country reached 94-97-96 (2021 Eswatini Population-based HIV Impact Assessment Survey -SHIMS3) making it necessary to sustain the gains by ensuring that the people living with HIV (PLHIV) and on life-saving treatment are virally suppressed, closing equity gaps, and advancing the sustainability agenda. USAID is seeking to build on the gains so far and accelerate the path to respond and end the HIV/AIDS pandemic as a public health threat by 2030 and sustainably strengthen public health social protection systems.

USAID is in the process of designing a new Activity whose goal is to prevent new HIV infections and increase the resilience of children, adolescents, youth and families in the HIV epidemic in Eswatini. The Activity is anticipated to include a combination of evidence-based and high-impact service delivery interventions for HIV prevention and social protection targeting children, adolescents, youth and their families in the HIV epidemic; local partner capacity strengthening, and regional level social service system strengthening for long-term sustainability. Below is the draft Results Framework for this activity:

It is anticipated that the activity will provide community-based, child, adolescent and youth-focused, family-centered interventions to decrease vulnerability to HIV infection and support children and adolescents living with HIV (C/ALHIV) and caregivers living with HIV and their families. In addition to the two (2) objectives listed in the results framework above, each IR has illustrative outcomes as stated below:

Objective 1: Illustrative outcome indicators for this objective may include:

● Number of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) linked to HIV testing, care and treatment, and support to remain virally suppressed.

● Number of Adolescent Girls, Youth and Women (AGWY) accessing HIV prevention services

● Number of vulnerable youths receiving business startup support or participating in savings groups

Objective 2: Illustrative outcome indicators for this objective may include:

● Number of high schools providing life skills education

● Number of vulnerable out of school youth re-enrolled into school

● Number of community leaders reached with evidence based GBV prevention interventions

● Number of survivors accessing post violence care

● Number of service providers trained on LIVES

It is anticipated that the Activity will provide directly and/or facilitate provision of an evidence-based/informed, age-appropriate, comprehensive package of biomedical, behavioral, and structural interventions to mitigate the risk factors that may lead to HIV infection in adolescents and youth (AGYW and AYBM). Additionally, the activity would provide contextual interventions to shift community norms and perceptions in order to create an enabling environment that supports HIV prevention. The activity is also anticipated to provide comprehensive health and social protection services through case management for children and adolescents living with HIV, children with perinatal HIV exposure, children of parents living with HIV, especially those who are not virally suppressed or at risk of interruption in treatment, children who are orphaned due to HIV, children who have experienced sexual and other abuse, children of female sex workers, adolescent girls who are pregnant or are mothers, children in child-headed households, and children with disabilities.

USAID also seeks to support the Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini (GKoE) in efforts to lead and manage OVC and AGYW programming, in line with GKoE’s strategic priorities and USAID’s vision and approach for localization. This will ensure long-term sustainability of interventions.

For this activity, USAID would like to work within the following programmatic considerations:

● Capacity building of local organization to sustain effective service delivery for children, adolescents and youth (AGYW, ABYM and OVC) populations

● Systematic identification of the most vulnerable children, adolescent girls, boys and young women and men

● Sustainability to protect program gains into the foreseeable future

● Meaningful engagement of youth

● Use of innovative approaches to streamline services and create efficiencies

● Inclusivity of underrepresented groups

● Promotion of gender equality and mitigate structural and other gender inequalities

● Child safeguarding - to protect vulnerable children from further abuse, neglect, violence and exploitation USAID is therefore seeking information from organizations that have experience with:

i. Working with children and families living with and affected by HIV.

ii. Providing health and/or social services to children, adolescents and youth, in particular AGYW that are at the highest risk of contracting HIV.

iii. Case management and community mobilization, especially in areas of health, economic strengthening, education programs, nutrition, GBV/VAC, child welfare and safeguarding and capacity development of grassroots organizations.

iv. Collaborating with clinical partners to provide and monitor referrals to HIV prevention, testing, and treatment services.

v. Conducting community norms change activities with AGYW, and their communities, including male partners, to address and impact social norms that increase risk for HIV and violence for

AGYW.

C. SPECIFIC QUESTIONS INTO WHICH USAID SEEKS INPUT:

USAID seeks responses to the following questions to solicit information that will assist in assessing/validating current assumptions and refining the design of the activity. The draft Program Description is attached.

1. What are the key barriers and development challenges in HIV prevention and social protection interventions at national and local levels, especially in the identified program implementation areas.

2. Which interventions would have the greatest impact in significantly reducing new HIV infections among AGYW and other vulnerable populations? What would be the measure (s) of success?

3. What new interventions and/or innovations should USAID consider to reduce new infections among AGYW?

4. Which economic strengthening model would be most effective in providing support to AGYW and Caregivers, resulting in long-lasting impact?

5. Which human resources model would be recommended for supporting combination prevention interventions at community level?

6. Which current DREAMS and OVC interventions should be transitioned to government as part of sustainability, what would be the process?

7. How can this Activity support building capacity of community and locally based organizations to play a bigger role in providing a sustainable HIV response for children and adolescents in Eswatini?

D. INSTRUCTIONS FOR RESPONDING TO THE RFI:

Part I-Narrative Statements: Respondents are not required to respond to all the questions above but should select and tailor which of the questions they respond to, based on areas where they have the most useful insights and expertise to provide USAID/Eswatini with information to achieve the purpose of the RFI.

Response to Part I “Narrative Statements” shall be submitted electronically in the English language in writing specified by the due date and time indicated on the cover page not to exceed 5 pages using a 11-point font size, single spaced, 1-inch margin. Interested parties may respond to at least one or up to all seven (7) of the questions listed in Section C: SPECIFIC QUESTIONS INTO WHICH USAID SEEKS INPUT, based on areas where respondents have the most useful insight and/or expertise. Responses to each question may not exceed 500 words. Please indicate each question in your response including the corresponding number from the list.

Part II - Capabilities Statement: In addition to the 5 pages, respondents are requested to send an additional one (1) page (11-point font size Calibri, single spaced, 1-inch margin) Capabilities Statement which describes their experience specifically in Eswatini indicating their institutional capacity to implement a program or components of a program as conceptually described in this RFI. This one-page statement should include all the following information:

● Technical capacity to successfully provide assistance in one or more component(s) of the RFI (respondents may respond to one or multiple components based on their expertise).

● Understanding the PEPFAR program and the unique context of the operational environment in Eswatini in dealing with HIV/AIDS.

● Experience with direct implementation of PEPFAR programs using donor funds.

● Corporate experience managing multi-million-dollar annual budgets.

● Organizational capacity to oversee human resources, finances, subcontracts, logistics and donor relations; and

● Existing or potential associations, consortiums, and partnerships (local, regional, or global) in the

HIV/ AIDS/ TB health sec.

Part III- Industry Day Conference: USAIDUSAID anticipates holding an Industry Day Conference regarding this Activity likely in Mbabane, Eswatini. The primary purpose of the Industry Day is to address questions about the anticipated funding opportunity. The secondary purpose of the Industry Day Conference will be for interested organizations and Implementing Partners to network and connect for potential collaboration. USAID will communicate the details of the Industry Day once they are finalized.

Interested parties are encouraged to monitor the US Embassy Facebook page for updates on this.

Responses to this RFI must be sent to the following email address: proposals@usaid.gov with the subject line: “720674RFI00001 Strengthening Services for Children, Adolescents, Youth and Families in the HIV Epidemic in Eswatini Activity” no later than the due date and time specified on the cover page of this document. Telephone calls, postal mail and hand-carried documents will not be accepted.

mailto:proposals@usaid.gov

Please do not submit applications or proposals, resumes or marketing material as they will be discarded and your broader RFI responses will not be considered. Responses will be held confidential. Proprietary information should not be sent. Submissions will not be acknowledged, nor will responses be returned.

USAID reserves the right to use or not to use any information provided for planning purposes.

Thank you for your interest in USAID programs.

Kerry West Regional Agreement Officer