USAID No.7200AA20APS00007 YP2 - Annual Program Statement.pdf

Issuance Date: March 30, 2020 Closing Date: March 29, 2021, 5:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time) Concept Note Submission Closing Dates: Refer to Individual Addenda

Subject: Annual Program Statement Number (APS) No.: 7200AA20APS00007

Program Title: YouthPower 2 (YP2)

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance: 98.001, Foreign Assistance for Programs Overseas

Pursuant to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended, the United States Government, as represented by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Bureau for Economic Growth, Education and Environment (E3) and supporting Bureaus are issuing YouthPower 2 (YP2) Annual Program Statement (APS). Through this APS, USAID aims to provide a vehicle for engaging with youth-led and youth-serving organizations, among others, and systems to generate cross-sectoral, positive youth development outcomes. The APS disseminates information to prospective Applicants so they may develop and submit Concept Notes in response to the addenda and ultimately to be considered for USAID funding. This APS describes and provides:

▪ The types of activities for which Concept Notes and Applications will be considered;

▪ Available funding, process, and requirements for submitting Concept Notes and Applications;

▪ The criteria for evaluating Concept Notes and Applications; and

▪ Relevant documentation and resources.

USAID’s E3 Bureau Office of Education (E3/ED) and supporting Bureaus anticipate awarding multiple grants and/or cooperative agreements as there is no predefined minimum or maximum number of awards.

Issuance of the APS does not constitute an award or commitment on the part of the U.S. Government, nor does it commit the U.S. Government to pay for costs incurred in the preparation and submission of Concept Notes or Applications. The actual number of assistance awards, if any, is subject to the availability of funds and the interests and requirements of Operating Units (OUs) as well as the viability of eventual Full Applications received.

The YP2 APS is not a Request for Applications (RFA). Rather, the YP2 APS requests Concept Notes in response to addenda published to this APS. Based on the submitted Concept Note(s), USAID will determine whether to request a Full Application from an eligible organization. To be competitive under an addendum to this umbrella APS, Concept Notes and Full Applications must be fully responsive to all directions under this APS except when specifically noted otherwise in the addendum.

It is the responsibility of the Applicant to ensure that the entire APS has been downloaded from www.grants.gov and USAID bears no responsibility for data errors resulting from transmission or conversion process. If you have difficulty registering on www.grants.gov or accessing the APS, please contact grants.gov Helpdesk at 1-800-518-4726 or via email at support@grants.gov for assistance.

Thank you for your interest in USAID programs.

Sincerely, Stella Alexander-Sergeeff Supervisory Agreement Officer, M/OAA/E3/EMD https://www.usaid.gov/ https://www.usaid.gov/who-we-are/organization/bureaus/bureau-economic-growth-education-and-environment https://www.usaid.gov/who-we-are/organization/bureaus/bureau-economic-growth-education-and-environment http://www.grants.gov/ http://www.grants.gov/ mailto:support@grants.gov

Annual Program Statement (APS) No.: 7200AA20APS00007

YouthPower 2 (YP2)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF ACRONYMS: 3

SECTION A: PROGRAM DESCRIPTION 4

BACKGROUND 4

YOUTH AGENCY, ASSETS, AND CONTRIBUTION 4

YOUTH ENVIRONMENTS 4

USAID INVESTMENTS IN YOUTH DEVELOPMENT 5

POSITIVE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT (PYD) 7

YP2 APS FUNDING PRIORITIES AND PROGRAMMATIC FOCUS 8

DESIRED PROGRAM OUTCOMES 10

SECTION B: FEDERAL AWARD INFORMATION 12

ESTIMATE OF FUNDS AVAILABLE AND NUMBER OF AWARDS CONTEMPLATED 12

START DATE AND PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE FOR FEDERAL AWARD 12

SECTION C: ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION 13

SECTION D: APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION 13

AGENCY POINT OF CONTACT 13

CONTENT AND FORMAT OF APPLICATION SUBMISSION 13

SECTION E: APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION 15

REVIEW OF CONCEPT NOTES AND FULL APPLICATIONS 15

CO-CREATION 15

MERIT REVIEW CRITERIA AND CONSIDERATIONS 16

SECTION F: FEDERAL AWARD AND ADMINISTRATION 17

SECTION G: FEDERAL AWARDING AGENCY CONTACT(S) 19

SECTION H: OTHER INFORMATION 19

List of Acronyms:

ADS: Automated Directive Systems AO: Agreement Officer AOR: Agreement Officer Representative APS: Annual Program Statement CDCS: Country Development Cooperation Strategies CLA: Collaborating, Learning and Adapting CoPs: Communities of Practice CSOs: Civil society organizations DCHA: Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance E3/ED: Bureau for Economic Growth, Education and Environment, Office of Education FP/RH: Family planning/reproductive health GH: Bureau for Global Health HEI: Higher Education Institution HIV: Human Immunodeficiency Virus ICT: Information and communications technologies LGBTI: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex LMICs: Lower-and middle-income countries M/B/IO: Mission/Bureau/Independent Offices M&E: Monitoring and Evaluation NCAGE: NATO Commercial and Governmental Entity OAA: Office of Acquisition and Assistance OMB: Office of Management and Budget OU: Operating Unit POC: Point of Contact PYD: Positive Youth Development RFA: Request for Applications USAID: U.S. Agency for International Development YP2: YouthPower 2 YP2LE: YouthPower 2 Learning and Evaluation

SECTION A: PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

This APS and addenda issued under this APS are authorized under the Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) of 1961, as amended. Any potential resulting award(s) will be subject to 2 CFR 700 and 2 CFR 200 – Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards.

Background There are almost 1.2 billion young people in the world today1, and approximately 90 percent of these youth live in developing countries, including both stable and fragile or conflict-affected contexts2.

USAID’s vision is for young people to be empowered to advance their own livelihoods and help solve their country’s development challenges.

Youth Agency, Assets, and Contribution At the heart of USAID’s positive youth development3 (PYD) approach is the belief that all young people have potential, and that when their assets are promoted, they can contribute to their communities in positive ways. Indeed, data from around the world suggest the positive contributions of youth who have the assets and agency to direct their lives and influence their communities:

▪ Interest in politics and civil service is on the rise among youth ages 18-24 in low-income countries;4

▪ When youth’s positive health behaviors and prevention are promoted, there are many health-related risky behaviors that begin during adolescence. Promoting behavior change early can have a triple dividend: immediate benefits for youth, positive effects on their future adult health, and improved health of future children;5

▪ Literacy among youth is rising, but young women lag behind;6

▪ Youth-related homicides disproportionately affect young men,7 but the evidence is growing for violence prevention through interventions such as life skills training, therapy, and mentorship. 8

Youth Environments Educated, healthy, employed, and civically engaged youth drive economic growth, resilience, peace and stability, democracy, improved health outcomes, and prosperity. However, when youth are not effectively engaged and their unique needs are not addressed, violence, unrest, and irregular migration can follow, resulting in untapped potential for a country’s growth and development9. Globally, youth face several development challenges and opportunities such as:

▪ Youth make up a quarter of the world’s population and almost 1 in every 7 youth are looking for employment.10

1 United Nations, “World Youth Report,” 2018 2 United Nations, “State of the World Population,” 2014 3 For more information about Positive Youth Development, please visit: http://www.youthpower.org/positive-youth-development-pyd-framework 4 The World Bank, “Development and the Next Generation," 2007, pp. 163 5 The World Health Organization, “Why Invest in Adolescent Health?”

6 UNESCO Institute for Statistics global databases, 2018 7 The World Health Organization, “Youth Violence,” 2016 8 The World Health Organization, “Preventing Youth Violence: An Overview of the Evidence,” 2015.

9 Social Development Direct prepared for Department for International Development, “Youth Exclusion, Violence, Conflict and Fragile States,” 2009 10 United Nations Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth. Employment. 2015 https://www.un.org/development/desa/youth/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2018/12/WorldYouthReport-2030Agenda.pdf https://www.unfpa.org/swop-2019 http://www.youthpower.org/positive-youth-development-pyd-framework http://www.youthpower.org/positive-youth-development-pyd-framework http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/556251468128407787/pdf/359990WDR0complete.pdf https://www.who.int/maternal_child_adolescent/topics/adolescence/why-invest/en/ https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/youth-violence https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/181008/9789241509251_eng.pdf;jsessionid=39229A25D98F92BEBC5026A66DF6D1A2?sequence=1 http://www.gsdrc.org/docs/open/con66.pdf http://www.gsdrc.org/docs/open/con66.pdf https://www.un.org/youthenvoy/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/YouthStatsEmploymentpdf.pdf

▪ One billion young people will enter the job market over the next ten years, meaning that five million new jobs will need to be created every month to maintain current youth employment.11

▪ Self-harm and interpersonal violence rates are highest for young women between the ages of 15 and 29 than at any other point in their life.12

▪ Youth in fragile states represent a higher percentage of the overall population than youth in stable, developing countries.13

▪ In the humanitarian sector, limited use of sex and age disaggregated data has consequences for everyone in need of emergency services, particularly adolescent girls.14

▪ Young persons with disabilities are more likely to face gender-based violence and less likely to have full and equal access to prevention and response services. So, when they experience violence, they often can’t access services.15

While youth face enormous challenges, they nevertheless represent the opportunity of today and tomorrow—as educators and innovators, entrepreneurs and investors, health professionals and scientists, politicians and peacemakers. This makes it doubly important to invest in them now—making it possible for future generations to not only survive but also thrive, and so that countries that invest in their youth can realize the vitally important ‘demographic dividend’16 these youth represent.17

Furthermore, U.S. investments in youth provide an opportunity to advance U.S. approaches in positive youth development and to foster democratic principles, religious freedom, and civic participation, ensuring that today’s generation of youth is equipped with the skills needed to lead stable democratic societies and resist authoritarian alternatives.

USAID Missions and Operating Units have become more deliberate in prioritizing youth engagement and integration in their Country Development Cooperation Strategies (CDCS), strategic plans, and activities.

USAID’s efforts focus on context-specific interventions that advance youth priorities in partner countries.

USAID recognizes the importance of building and supporting young people’s potential by providing them with the skills, assets, and competencies to be productive citizens in their country’s journey to self-reliance. By deliberately working across sectors and engaging youth as active participants in their own development, USAID seeks to address common risk factors and empower youth to be the leaders of today and tomorrow.

USAID Investments in Youth Development USAID has a long-standing history of prioritizing youth needs and investing in youth development, supporting initiatives in multiple sectors, including, but not limited to, health, education, agriculture, environment, economic growth, and democracy, human rights and governance. Since 1994, USAID/Washington has supported several global youth programs in addition to several Mission-based activities and programs focused on youth around the world.

11 The International Labor Organization. (2015). “Solutions for Youth Employment”.

12 The World Health Organization. (2016). Global Health Estimates (GHE) Summary Tables.

13 OECD. (2015). “Report on States of Fragility.”

14 Women’s Refugee Commission. (2014). “I’m Here: Adolescent Girls in Emergencies.”

15 Population Reference Bureau. (2019). “The Path to Equality for Women and Young Persons with Disabilities:

Key Messages.”

16 Demographic dividend is "the economic growth potential that can result from shifts in a population's age structure, mainly when the share of the working-age population (15 to 64) is larger than the non-working-age share of the population (14 and younger, and 65 and older), as defined by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

17 USAID. (2012). Youth in Development Policy: Realizing the Demographic Opportunity. p. 5.

https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/documents/publication/wcms_413826.pdf https://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/GHE2016_Deaths_WBInc_2000_2016.xls https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/development/states-of-fragility-2015_9789264227699-en#page86 https://www.womensrefugeecommission.org/resources/document/1078-i-m-here-report-final-pdf https://www.prb.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/prb-we-decide-key-messages.pdf https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1870/Youth_in_Development_Policy_0.pdf

Through these and other programs, USAID has worked to strengthen local, national, and global youth systems to achieve sustainable, positive youth outcomes across multiple sectors and multiple contexts, as well as to increase youth engagement in humanitarian and development efforts. These programs have also helped identify youth development challenges and build the evidence base in the area of youth development and inclusion. USAID is dedicated to integrated, gender-responsive, conflict-sensitive, evidence-based youth programs, evaluations, and policies.

In 2012, USAID released its Youth in Development Policy. The Policy’s goal is to improve the capacities and enable the aspirations of youth so that they can contribute to and benefit from more stable, democratic, and prosperous communities and nations. The Policy defines youth as individuals between the ages of 10 and 29. While youth development programs often focus on young people between the ages of 15 and 24, the Policy recognizes that USAID youth programs likely engage a broader cohort of youth, with the critical understanding that the transition from childhood to adulthood is not finite or linear and varies across and within countries.18 USAID implements its Youth in Development Policy by promoting and utilizing PYD approach to its youth development activities.

USAID’s youth programming over the last 25 years has enabled the Agency to identify development challenges, demographic needs and trends, and to establish deep learnings in this space. Accomplishments from USAID’s youth development body of work include the creation of new platforms for connecting youth changemakers and youth development practitioners; improved dialogue on key PYD issues in order to share results, challenges and promising practices; and analytical tools and resources on youth development challenges. For more details on these accomplishments see: YouthPower.org.

In addition, youth practitioners have learned important lessons from USAID’s previous youth work.

These include:

▪ Integration of youth voices into USAID programs and activities continues to be an important priority and increased effort is needed to incorporate youth as valuable partners in development activities and to include youth perspectives throughout the program cycle from design to implementation and evaluation.

▪ Deliberate cross-sectoral youth programming remains a challenge, due to program “silos” and lack of awareness of the value-added of cross-sectoral youth programming in all program areas.

▪ Evidence around cross-sectoral impact in PYD is lacking.

▪ There is a need for greater familiarity with and understanding of the value of PYD and how to incorporate it within programming.

▪ Violence makes people poor, but poverty is not the principal driver of political violence. Rather experiences of injustice, discrimination, and corruption are.19

▪ Many familiar approaches for vocational training and civic engagement programs are unlikely, in isolation, to have much effect on stability. A new approach is needed, one that tackles the sources of instability, not just the symptoms.20

▪ More efforts are needed to design youth activities that better engage and support youth with specific needs such as young women and girls, youth with disabilities, lesbian, gay, bisexual, 18 USAID. (2012). Youth in Development Policy: Realizing the Demographic Opportunity. p. 2

19 Mercy Corps. (2015). Youth & Consequences: Unemployment, Injustice and Unemployment.

https://www.mercycorps.org/sites/default/files/MercyCorps_YouthConsequencesReport_2015.pdf.

20 Ibid.

https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1870/Youth_in_Development_Policy_0.pdf https://www.google.com/url?q=http://yp.org&sa=D&ust=1579038212653000&usg=AFQjCNFdBBZOd6BQ_otuwAF-XIoj6GltCg https://www.mercycorps.org/sites/default/files/MercyCorps_YouthConsequencesReport_2015.pdf transgender and intersex (LGBTI) youth, and youth in crisis and conflict areas. Additional efforts are needed to address youth mental health and psycho-social support, as well as socio-emotional considerations.

▪ Communities of practice (CoP) champions have served as a valuable resource for subject matter expertise, generating ideas for activities, evaluating project proposals, disseminating information to the broader community and providing support to youth-led and youth-serving organizations.

▪ Small youth-centered learning and research grants can provide on-the-ground insights into PYD programming that might not be possible through larger research work. However, nascent youth-led and youth-serving organizations in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) need further support and capacity building in order to be able to engage with funders and to implement research grants effectively.

▪ More concerted effort is needed to ensure the sharing and integration of best practices and lessons learned across youth development programs.

▪ There is a strong need to engage the private sector in youth interventions, but engaging employers in training and other youth employment interventions has proven to be a challenge. Increased efforts to train employers on the benefits of PYD could be useful.

▪ While some programming has successfully supported youth at the individual level, there has been less programming that targets the enabling environment. More effort is needed around systems level programming.

Over the years, USAID has improved the quality of its youth programming and Agency’s implementing partners increasingly understand the nuances of PYD. USAID continues to build on the lessons learned from previous youth programming via this APS. Under this background, USAID seeks to support partners proposing new ideas and solutions for youth development challenges through submission of Concept Note(s) responding to addenda under this Annual Program APS.

Positive Youth Development (PYD) PYD is both a philosophy and an approach to adolescent development. While there are several definitions of PYD, in the context of USAID’s assistance instruments, it is defined as follows:

Positive youth development engages youth along with their families, communities and/or governments so that youth are empowered to reach their full potential. PYD approaches build skills, assets and competencies; foster healthy relationships; strengthen the environment; and transform systems.21

PYD is an intentional, holistic, age- and developmentally appropriate, gender-transformative, and prosocial approach to youth development. It promotes the building of assets of young people and communities and strengthens protective factors to achieve greater resilience and both short- and long-term desired youth outcomes. PYD recognizes and enhances young people’s strengths, fosters positive relationships, promotes gender equality, and provides opportunities and support for youth to utilize and build on their strengths and their leadership. PYD transitions away from traditional approaches of responding to young people in a risk or problem frame and moves toward proactively building skills, fostering healthy relationships, and supporting youth to be active partners in development efforts. Youth programs that utilize a PYD and/or assets-based approach have increasingly demonstrated positive results across multiple sectors. PYD is centered on creating a positive enabling environment for young people, envisioned as a youth ‘ecosystem’ that supports youth at the individual, family, community, and national levels. PYD engages youth within their communities, schools (including formal, nonformal, and informal

21YouthPower.org. https://www.youthpower.org/positive-youth-development.

https://www.youthpower.org/positive-youth-development education settings), higher education institutions, organizations, peer groups, and families in a manner that is productive and constructive. Efforts to engage youth involve elevating their voices and providing meaningful opportunities for them to contribute to resolving issues and promoting positive change in their communities and nations.

While the youth experience has many shared elements globally, there are important variations in the needs and vulnerabilities of youth according to a young person’s intersectional22 identities such as age, disability, gender identity, and developmental stage, as well as cultural, linguistic, socio-economic, and environmental factors. It is therefore crucial that PYD interventions consider the distinct and diverse experiences, identities, opportunities, and needs of youth to create conditions in which all youth can thrive.

YP2 APS Funding Priorities and Programmatic Focus When USAID intends to support a variety of creative approaches for developing methodologies to assess and implement activities, the Agency may use an Annual Program Statement (APS) to generate competition for these awards. When used, USAID will publish an APS at least once a year, either with an open-ended response time or a closing date of at least six months after issuance.

More specifically, the YP2 APS is designed to provide a vehicle to engage with, among others, youth-led and youth-serving organizations and systems broadly and creatively, to support cross-sectoral, positive youth development outcomes.

Theory of Change:

The YP2 theory of change hypothesizes that when cross-sectoral programming:

▪ Intentionally engages youth, families, schools, communities, and systems in age- and developmentally appropriate activities;

▪ Builds market-driven skills and assets;

▪ Provides youth access to health and relevant education services, civic and economic opportunities, and safe spaces; and

▪ Fosters a sense of belonging, pro-social norms and behaviors, gender equity and healthy relationships

THEN development investments will result in sustainable outcomes that:

▪ Reduce poverty;

▪ Build resilient, stable, democratic, and self-reliant societies;

▪ Reduce grievances, violence, and inter/intra-communal conflict;

▪ Improve individual health, nutrition, education, protection, and well- being outcomes; and

▪ Strengthen societies and economies for generations to come.

Engaging Youth as Partners and Leaders:

Young people are well-positioned to advocate for their own needs in policies and programs to ensure that youth-friendly services are free from coercion, discrimination, and violence. Youth engagement also facilitates positive social change to address the needs of their communities, now and in the future.

22 Intersectionality is defined as the complex and cumulative way that the effects of different forms of discrimination combine, overlap, and intersect—especially in the experiences of marginalized people or groups. https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/intersectionality-meaning https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/intersectionality-meaning

USAID supports programs and activities that engage youth as partners and leaders in meeting education, economic growth, security, health, democracy, human rights, and governance objectives through advocacy, civil society strengthening, leadership development, and cross-sectoral programming. For example, by providing safe spaces for structured interaction with youth holding opposing political or ideological views, youth are empowered to break down religious, gender, ethnic, community, and individual-level divides. Through partnership and collaboration with universities, youth-led organizations, and civil society organizations (CSOs), youth can receive locally relevant leadership and advocacy skills to organize campaigns in support of non-violent engagement in transition processes and more actively engage as leaders for change in their own communities.

By harnessing youth talents and engaging with youth as partners, they will have opportunities to further develop their assets and to contribute positively to their communities. Youth can be an effective vehicle for teaching community members about healthy practices and can help provide required services for their community. Youth can serve as positive role models for their community’s next generation of youth, teaching life skills to younger students in after-school clubs.

The YP2 APS seeks to provide flexibility to collaborate with youth and their communities, institutions, sectors and systems (including higher education institutions, non-formal education providers, private sector, government, CSOs- including youth-led and youth-serving organizations, faith-based organizations) to build sustainable partnerships around key development challenges and opportunities.

This APS is designed to catalyze, facilitate, and support such collaboration.

Integrate a Holistic and Cross-Sectoral Design Approach:

Youth development outcomes are affected by a multitude of factors or determinants within and outside any single sector. These factors affect young people’s choices, opportunities, and outcomes. USAID seeks to strengthen and ensure the effectiveness of youth programming by moving investments away from single-sector, problem-focused responses and toward cross-sectoral PYD investments that help countries support youth in reaching their full potential.

A cross-sectoral approach encompasses interventions in multiple sectors (such as health, education, agriculture, environment, economic growth, democracy, human rights and governance, etc.) and allows for cross-fertilization and production of synergies. For example, an education program that aims to develop soft skills among youth (such as goal setting) might also incorporate family planning concepts.

This cross-sectoral collaboration would benefit youth by promoting their health as well as influencing their success in the learning environment.

Cross-sectoral programs that include objectives related to economic development and education or democracy and governance, along with interventions aimed to improve health outcomes, can achieve multi-sectoral outcomes of interest. Using a holistic PYD approach can help increase youth self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-efficacy, which are linked to multiple outcomes of interest, including improved knowledge and behaviors related to reproductive health and HIV.23 For example, an evaluation of the Empowerment and Livelihood for Adolescents (ELA) program, which targeted 14- to 20-year-old girls in

23 Alvarado, G., Skinner, M., Plaut, D., Moss, C., Kapungu, C., and Reavley, N. (2017) A Systematic Review of Positive Youth Development Programs in low- And Middle-income Countries.

https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00MR58.pdf https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00MR58.pdf

Uganda and focused on life skills, vocational training, and recreational activities, found that the program had significantly increased self-employment, pregnancy-related knowledge, HIV knowledge, and condom usage.24

Another example from the Bangladeshi Association for Life Skills, Income, and Knowledge for Adolescents (BALIKA) project suggests outcomes can include a significant reduction in the likelihood of child marriage, as well as increased positive health, educational, economic, and social outcomes for girls.

In BALIKA, in-school participants received tutoring in mathematics and English, whereas out-of-school participants received computer or financial training. All participants received training on gender rights and negotiation, critical thinking, decision-making, and livelihoods skills, and met weekly with mentors and peers in safe, girl-only locations.

In another example, a multi-faceted HIV prevention program in Zimbabwe included a comprehensive assessment of sexual behaviors and biological measures, while also addressing food security. The randomized control trial showed long-term benefits related to food security, an increased number of participants receiving their own income, and a reduction in the risk of engaging in sex in exchange for food, money, or other resources.25

Another example of a successful cross-sectoral program is Street Smart, a Ugandan-based HIV intervention youth program. The evaluation of the program suggested that aiding youth in finding employment, in conjunction with HIV prevention, provided sustained support to young people to prevent HIV infection.26

YP2 APS will support innovative, cross-sectoral programming that both directly addresses priority development challenges for and with youth, and fills knowledge and solution gaps that traditional, single sector-based USAID programming does not address. YP2 APS supports working across a variety of systems or technical sectors that collaborate to promote efficiency and create synergies that go beyond what any one sector or system might achieve working in isolation.

Desired Program Outcomes USAID anticipates that the YP2 APS will support the Agency’s efforts to mainstream youth in development, carry out more effective youth and development programs, advance the PYD evidence base and learning agenda, and elevate youth engagement.

Desired program outcomes may include but are not limited to:

▪ Strengthened host-country systems and programs to achieve sustainable, cross-sectoral positive outcomes for and with youth in health, education, agriculture, environment, economic growth, peace and security, democracy, human rights and governance.

24 Bandiera, O., Buehren, N., Burgess, R., Goldstein, M., Gulesci, S., Rasul, I., & Sulaiman, M. (2015). Women's Empowerment in Action: Evidence from a randomized control trial in Africa. Retrieved from http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~uctpimr/research/ELA.pdf 25 Dunbar, M. S., Kang Dufour, M. S., Lambdin, B., Mudekunye-Mahaka, I., Nhamo, D., & Padian, N. S. (2014).

The SHAZ! Project: Results from a Pilot Randomized Trial of a Structural Intervention to Prevent HIV among Adolescent Women in Zimbabwe. PLoS One, 9(11), e113621. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0113621) 26 Rotheram-Borus, M. J., Lightfoot, M., Kasirye, R., & Desmond, K. (2012). Vocational training with HIV Prevention for Ugandan Youth. AIDS and Behavior, 16(5), 1133-1137. doi:10.1007/s10461-011-0007-y).

The areas/sectors of programming could involve, but are not limited to:

○ Health (HIV prevention, care and treatment; reproductive health; family planning;

preparing for partnering and parenting; mental health/psycho-social support;

drug/substance abuse prevention and rehabilitation; maternal and child health; nutrition;

and malaria).

○ Education (basic education, including literacy and numeracy in both formal and non-formal spaces; safe spaces for youth affected by crisis and/or conflict; work readiness;

social and emotional learning or soft skills; digital literacy; youth leadership; access to quality secondary education, vocational training, accelerated education, catch-up and remedial programs; and higher education programs).

○ Agriculture (food security, rural development)

○ Environment (natural resource management; global climate change; water and sanitation)

○ Economic Growth (employment; livelihoods and economic strengthening;

microenterprise and value chain development; youth workforce development; career development; entrepreneurship; access to higher education, financial, and business development services; and investment capital).

○ Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (support for youth in crisis and conflict contexts; demobilization; civic education/participation; youth in peacebuilding;

rehabilitation from trauma; countering violent extremism; violence prevention; leadership development; rule of law and governance; human rights education; combating trafficking in persons; and support for young journalists and citizen journalism).

▪ Gender equitable and inclusive youth development programs and systems that engage and serve all youth. USAID encourages gender equality and inclusion of marginalized populations to be addressed and integrated within program activities in every technical sector/area. While this APS refers to the term “youth” throughout the document, it encompasses the notion of inclusion and gender differentiation along the lines specified in USAID Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Policy. USAID supports youth programming that is inclusive, equitable and gender responsive. In addition:

○ Specific topics for gender equality may include: preventing and mitigating gender-based violence and trafficking in persons; fostering women and girls’ leadership; enhancing equity; shifting gender norms; empowering adolescent girls and young women; and constructive engagement of men/boys.

○ Specific topics for inclusion of marginalized populations may include: youth with disabilities; refugee and displaced youth; LGBTI youth; ethnic and religious youth minorities in the pursuit of political rights and civil liberties; equal opportunities; and non-discriminatory access to public goods and services.

▪ Locally owned and locally led youth development programs and systems that achieve sustainable outcomes through partnerships and leveraging of resources. Strategically, YP2 APS outcomes will be best achieved within a country context by building local ownership and fostering partnerships across organizations and sectors. USAID strongly encourages YP2 APS Applicant(s) to partner with local actors and leverage external resources to promote sustainable, long-term development impacts. This could involve direct support to local youth-led and youth-serving organizations, as well as government and non-government institutions, agencies, or regional associations. This may also involve partnering with the private sector to: 1) ascertain problems and issues that warrant attention; 2) mobilize and apply private sector expertise, capabilities, and resources; and 3) build a robust development cooperation between targeted sectors and industry.

https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1865/GenderEqualityPolicy_0.pdf https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1865/GenderEqualityPolicy_0.pdf

USAID also supports collaboration with other donors and multi-laterals, both local and international, to avoid duplication of efforts and allow for more efficient, catalytic, and effective programming.

USAID is interested in broad collaboration to identify and address key youth challenges; identify and harness youth talents, contributions, and opportunities; mobilize and apply local expertise;

enhance capabilities; leverage resources; build robust relationships with local systems; and build upon lessons learned from previous investments in youth.

▪ The PYD evidence base is further advanced. USAID encourages each YP2 award to contribute towards building the evidence base to advance the global PYD field. USAID resources place strong value on sharing and applying best practices and lessons learned from program implementation in order to strengthen youth development programs globally and advance the PYD learning agenda. USAID welcomes sharing best practices and lessons learned through the YP2 Learning and Evaluation (YP2LE) Learning Network, YouthPower and YouthLead websites, and other related networks.

SECTION B: FEDERAL AWARD INFORMATION

Issuance of this APS and/or related addenda under this APS do not constitute an award commitment on the part of the U.S. Government, nor do those commit the U.S. Government to pay for any costs incurred in the preparation or submission of questions, comments, suggestions, Concept Notes, and/or Full Application. Applicants submit Concept Notes/Applications at their own risk, and all preparation and submission costs are at their expense.

Note: This APS is not a request for Concept Notes. Applicants must provide Concept Notes in response to, and in accordance with the instructions provided in a specific addendum to this APS. Specific information and instructions for Concept Notes submission under this APS will appear in individual addenda. Addenda will be the exclusive source of funding through this APS and will be posted on www.grants.gov.

Estimate of Funds Available and Number of Awards Contemplated USAID’s E3 Bureau Office of Education (E3/ED) and supporting Bureaus anticipate awarding multiple grants and/or cooperative agreements as a result of this APS. The actual number of assistance awards, if any, under this APS is subject to the availability of funds and the interests and requirements of Operating Units (OUs), as well as the viability of eventual Applications received. There is no predefined minimum or maximum number of awards USAID OUs will support through this APS.

Start Date and Period of Performance for Federal Award Concept Notes/Full Applications must offer a period of performance in accordance with the guidance provided in an addendum. The initial period of performance must be 60 months or less.

Type of Instrument Awards that result from this APS may take the form of a grant (including but not limited to a fixed-amount award) or cooperative agreement (including, but not limited to, framework agreements or Leader with Associates awards). Each addendum will define the types of award instruments available for potential partners. The Shock Responsive Programming and Adaptive Mechanisms guide can help inform how to make an award that can be responsive to a context subject to recurrent crises or conflict.

http://www.grants.gov./ https://usaidlearninglab.org/library/shock-responsive-programming-and-adaptive-mechanisms

SECTION C: ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

This APS is open to all entities unless otherwise specified in addenda. All interested organizations are restricted to submitting only one Concept Note as the Prime Applicant. If more than one Concept Note is received with the same Prime Applicant, USAID will seek written clarification from the relevant entity regarding which Concept Note should be considered for review. If clarification is not resolved within five

(5) business days, all Concept Notes submitted by the Applicant will be deemed ineligible.

Please note that Applicants can serve as sub-awardees or supporting partners on multiple Concept Notes.

Cost sharing requirements will be specified at the individual addenda level issued under this APS.

SECTION D: APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

Agency Point of Contact For any questions regarding this general APS, contact YP2APS@usaid.gov. Questions regarding a specific addendum, including Concept Notes, must be submitted to the contact listed in that addendum.

The Agency will furnish promptly to all prospective Applicants, as an amendment to this APS, any information concerning this APS given to a particular prospective Applicant, if that information is necessary in submitting Applications, or if the lack of it would be prejudicial to any other prospective Applicant.

If an award is made, the Agreement Officer (AO) will appoint an Agreement Officer’s Representative (AOR) at that time to provide technical and administrative oversight of the specific award during implementation.

Content and Format of Application Submission This YP2 APS reflects USAID’s interest in supporting and diversifying PYD programming and partnerships with youth-led and youth-serving implementing partners, while supporting ideas with high potential for transformative impact. The YP2 APS is unfunded and serves as a general umbrella APS, to which any USAID Mission or Operating Unit (OU) can post specific addenda or funding opportunities that are focused on cross-sectoral PYD challenges. An addendum highlights a specific program or activity, where technical assistance or partnership opportunities are communicated by a USAID Mission or OU.

NOTE: USAID will only consider Concept Notes that are submitted in response to addenda to this APS. USAID will not accept or consider any Concept Notes submitted in response to the YP2 APS.

Applicants interested in pursuing an opportunity posted as an addendum should follow the instructions and guidance set forth in the specific addendum. This APS is not supported by specific funds; therefore, the amount of resources made available under this APS will depend on the scope of the YP2 addenda, the concepts received, and the availability of funds.

Concept Note Submission:

A Concept Note is a short document, not to exceed five (5) pages, submitted in English in which the Applicant provides an overview of its idea. Concept Notes must be submitted electronically and in accordance with the instructions provided in the specific YP2 APS addendum.

mailto:YP2APS@usaid.gov

Concept Notes/Full Applications are strongly encouraged to address the needs of youth across a minimum of two technical sectors (i.e. reproductive health and voluntary family planning, education, agriculture, environment, economic growth, democracy, human rights and governance, etc.) in the range of contexts where USAID operates.

Concept Notes/Full Applications are also strongly encouraged to significantly engage and collaborate with youth-led and youth-serving organizations.

Concept Notes must align with the priorities outlined in the YP2 APS and the YP2 addendum. Preference will also be given to Concept Notes that demonstrate a commitment and strategy for sharing evidence, best practices and lessons learned with the wider youth development community, notably the YP2LE Learning Network.

USAID prioritizes working with partners that gather robust data as part of their program design and implementation in order to inform ongoing monitoring, evaluation, and learning. This allows the YP2 community to contribute to the global policy dialogue on PYD, cross-sectoral youth development, and youth engagement. YouthPower has developed a toolkit (See resources listed under Additional Information on Award Administration) that provides guidance on how to apply a PYD approach to monitoring and evaluation, as well as illustrative PYD indicators and tools. Preference will be given to partnership Concept Notes that propose metrics and data gathering that include PYD indicators and tools to measure activity outcomes.

Collaborating, learning, and adapting (CLA) is fundamental to USAID investments. Applicants are strongly encouraged to apply CLA throughout the award’s lifecycle to ensure that efforts are coordinated with others, grounded in a strong evidence base, and iteratively adapted to remain relevant throughout implementation.

Questions regarding Concept Notes should be sent to the USAID Point of Contact (POC) named in the specific YP2 APS addendum.

Applicants should submit only the information and materials specified in the addendum, following all directions and requirements set forth within. Applicants should not submit any alternative document or narrative as a substitute for a Concept Note or Application; materials in any other format will not be accepted or reviewed.

USAID encourages prime Applicant(s) to have an issued DUNS number, www.sam.gov registration, and a for non-U.S. organizations, a NATO Commercial and Governmental Entity (NCAGE) code27 as early as possible, although this is not required at the Concept Note stage. The registration process for a DUNS number, sam.gov, and/or NCAGE may take many weeks to complete. Therefore, Applicants are encouraged to begin the process as early as possible.

Resources on obtaining a DUNs number can be found at:https://www.grants.gov/Applicants/organization- Registration/step-1-obtain-duns-number.html and http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform.

Non-U.S. Applicants can find additional resources for registering in SAM, including a Quick Start Guide and a video on how to obtain a NCAGE code, on www.sam.gov, navigate to Help, then to International Registrants.

27 A NCAGE code is a five-character alpha-numeric identifier assigned to entities located outside the United States.

http://www.youthpower.org/resources/positive-youth-development-measurement-toolkit http://www.sam.gov/ https://www.grants.gov/ https://www.grants.gov/applicants/organization-https://www.grants.gov/applicants/organization-https://www.grants.gov/applicants/organization-http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform http://www.sam.gov/ http://www.sam.gov/

SAM: Quick Start Guide for New Grantee Registration:

https://www.sam.gov/sam/transcript/Quick_Guide_for_Grants_Registrations.pdf

SAM: Quick Start Guide for International Registrants https://www.sam.gov/SAM/transcript/Quick_Guide_for_International_Entity_Registration.pdf

SECTION E: APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION

Review of Concept Notes and Full Applications Once a Concept Note has been submitted in response to an addendum under the YP2 APS, USAID will conduct an initial review of the Concept Note using the criteria outlined in the Merit Review Criteria and Considerations section of this APS, as well as the criteria stated in the individual addendum. The awarding Mission or Operating Unit of the YP2 APS addendum will review submissions.

The purpose of the initial review and related communication is to determine whether USAID wishes to engage in further discussions regarding the proposed approach and activities. The initial review and communication will result in one of three outcomes:

● A decision to forego further consideration of the approach proposed in the Concept Note;

● A decision to provide the Applicant an opportunity to submit a revised Concept Note (this is very rare); OR

● An invitation to engage in more in-depth and specific co-creation discussions aimed at further developing the proposed approach and determining whether to request a Full Application.

Co-Creation A critical component of the YP2 APS is the co-creation process. USAID seeks extensive communication with prospective partners so it can jointly explore and define key challenges and problems, and then jointly develop promising solutions to those issues.

The co-creation process is characterized by potentially extensive engagement and communication between USAID and any key project partner(s). Key project partners as well as organizations (public or private) who are interested in providing material, financial, or intellectual support to the proposed activity may be invited to interact during the process. Co-creation brings together participants to create solutions to specific development challenges. When using co-creation, USAID teams work alongside partners and potential implementers collaboratively to define the problem, identify new and existing solutions, build consensus around areas for action, and/or refine plans to move forward with programs and projects. As its name implies, co-creation relies on collaboration with a diverse set of actors, allowing for a more equitable distribution of both the responsibility and ownership of outputs across all partners.

For Applicants under any associated addendum and seeking to receive USAID funding to implement the proposed activities, USAID’s discussions with those Applicants will take place within the parameters of publicly available information.28 These parameters provide ample room for extensive, robust discussions regarding the development problem in question, best practices, lessons learned in the relevant technical sectors and cross cutting considerations, developing and testing innovative scale up approaches and

28 “Publicly available information” is anticipated to consist of information available on public websites, the information published in the overriding APS as well as the specific addendum to which the Applicant has applied, and general information available in the news or other public repositories.

https://www.sam.gov/sam/transcript/Quick_Guide_for_Grants_Registrations.pdf https://www.sam.gov/SAM/transcript/Quick_Guide_for_International_Entity_Registration.pdf pertinent evidence, research and evaluations, and various other matters.

Once a Concept Note naming the Applicant is submitted under an APS addendum, USAID can meet with and ask the Applicant (and other partners, if the Concept Note is proposing partnerships) extensive and highly detailed questions about the content of the Concept Note. Such questions are essential to USAID’s review of the Concept Note and USAID’s determination of whether the proposed Concept Note warrants further discussion and development.

However, USAID cannot engage in highly specific, detailed activity design with the entity seeking an award of USAID funding until after USAID decides whether or not the Concept Note meets the minimum criteria under this APS, and any additional criteria under addendum, and warrants further consideration and development. Submission of a qualifying Concept Note is needed first.

If the Concept Note meets the criteria set forth in both the YP2…