Final FFP FY 20 Multi-Year International Emergency APS Amendment 1 for Nepal.pdf

FINAL

SUBJECT: U.S. Agency for International Development/Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance/Office of Food for Peace Annual Program

Statement for Multi-Year International Emergency Food Assistance, Opportunity Number 72DFFP20APS00001

Amendment No. 01: Supplemental Guidance for Partners Engaging in Multi-

Year Emergency Food Security Activities in Nepal

Consistent with Section A: Program Description of Annual Program Statement

72DFFP20APS00001, the purpose of this amendment is to request concept paper submissions for Multi-year International Disaster Assistance (IDA) funding under the Multi-year Emergency

APS to address emergency and food security needs in the Karnali River Basin (significant part of

Karnali Province and some portions of Province 7 and 5). This is an area prone to both rapid and slow onset disasters. In order to have an award in place to respond prior to the needs arising from the 2020 monsoon season and to mitigate flood and landslide risks, and in line with the USAID/Nepal Karnali Water Security Activity (KAWAS), Food for Peace/Washington (FFP/W) and Food for Peace/Nepal (FFP/Nepal) is requesting concept papers by January 17, 2020.

Concept papers should budget for approximately $15 million in IDA funding over no more than three years. All applications should be submitted as per Section D: Application and Submission

Information of the APS, no later than 12:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on January 17, 2020 for consideration. FFP will consider concept papers received after this deadline only after reviewing those submitted on time, if sufficient or adequate responses were not received, and funding continues to be available.

FFP programs seek to reinforce the resilience of affected populations in both emergency and recovery contexts. FFP programming contributes to greater resilience through activities, such as cash for work tied to asset creation and rehabilitation of community infrastructure, community-based disaster risk reduction initiatives, or other activities that help to mitigate the impact of shocks and promote early recovery and food security. FFP is seeking applications for Nepal that propose to build household and community resilience as a means to decrease the future humanitarian caseload of vulnerable populations who are food insecure. Prioritization will be given to submissions that support both relief and recovery activities targeting the most vulnerable and food insecure populations within the proposed geographic implementation areas as indicated below. It is expected that interventions will respond to anticipated food security and nutrition needs arising from the monsoon season when communities are more prone to shocks and humanitarian needs are heightened.

BACKGROUND

Nepal is highly susceptible to a range of natural disasters — particularly floods, landslides and earthquakes. Nepal is one of the most hazard-prone countries in the world, ranking as the 4th1 most that is vulnerable to climate change. Its geographic location above the point where the

Indian Subcontinent and Eurasian tectonic plates collide, makes it particularly vulnerable to recurring large-scale earthquakes and multi hazards, ranking 11th globally.2 As of July 30, 2019, according to the Government of Nepal, an estimated 176,800 people’s food security has been significantly affected as a result of periodic flooding; of this group, 79,900 people (13,800 households) are currently deemed to be in need of assistance3. At least 12,000 households are estimated to have been displaced in six districts. Many households in flooded areas have lost food reserves from the winter harvest. In April 2015, the country suffered a devastating earthquake that killed nearly 9,000 people, injured 22,000 and destroyed nearly 600,000 homes. A World Bank post-disaster needs assessment estimated the damage at $5.15 billion, the losses at $1.9 billion, and recovery needs at $6.7 billion, roughly a third of the country’s economy. The risks associated with floods and droughts are compounded by their overlap in areas of high poverty and low access to water and sanitation services, such as in the Karnali

Province4. In Nepal, people living below the poverty line spend approximately 72 percent of total expenditures on food. Any exposure to a shock or stress is heightened for the most vulnerable who possess limited coping mechanisms.

A third of households in the Karnali Province are food insecure and 15% of the households consume less than 5 food groups, indicating poor household dietary diversity. Children are more vulnerable as 45% of them aged 6-23 months consume below the recommended level of minimum dietary diversity.5 Households in the mountain districts in Karnali Province are more seriously affected. Inadequate dietary diversity, combined with poor water, sanitation, and hygiene practices have attributed to stunting rates of 55 percent for children under 5 years, and

1 The Global Climate Risk Index 2019 analyzes to what extent countries and regions have been affected by the impacts of weather-related loss events (storms, floods, heat waves etc.). The most recent data available — for 2017 and from 1998 to 2017 — were taken into account.

2 UNICEF

3 https://reliefweb.int/disaster/fl-2019-000083-npl

4 https://www.unicef.org/nepal/emergency

5 mVAM Bulletin #4: September 2018 https://germanwatch.org/sites/germanwatch.org/files/Global%20Climate%20Risk%20Index%202019_2.pdf https://www.unicef.org/nepal/emergency https://reliefweb.int/disaster/fl-2019-000083-npl https://www.unicef.org/nepal/emergency wasting rates at just under 8 percent6. With limited access to improved agricultural inputs, such as seeds, new technologies (particularly relating to food safety and post-harvest storage), irrigation and market opportunities, farmers are unable to become self-reliant and food secure and rely on negative coping mechanisms to deal with shocks and stresses effectively. Resource constraints challenge livelihood opportunities in the province where only 13 percent of the agricultural land is irrigated versus the national average of 47.5 percent. The recent emergence of Fall Armyworm (FAW) in Southeast Asia, and confirmation of the crop pest in Nepal, has created an additional potential strain on food security in affected provinces. Given Karnali’s proximity to areas where FAW has been reported, humanitarian and development actors have raised concerns about the potential consequences to the resource-constrained agricultural sector.

Gender, caste, and ethnicity-based social exclusions are deeply embedded in Nepali society and are a determinant of poverty, hunger, and undernutrition. National averages mask the socio-economic variations by ecological zones and the pronounced inequality by wealth. Despite improving economic conditions in the country as a whole, Nepal continues to struggle to reach the most vulnerable — women, children, elderly persons, persons with disabilities, ethnic and caste minorities, the poor and those living in remote areas with limited access to markets and basic services.

Out migration as a means of survival remain prevalent amongst households in Nepal. Over one-third of households in the hills of Karnali Province and Province 7 depend on income from wage labor outside Nepal and more lower caste households rely on income from migrant wage income than higher caste.7 Although the remittances have kept many families afloat, allowing households additional purchasing power which has contributed to food security (remittances are predominantly used to purchase food according to a World Bank report)8, recent studies have pointed to the negative social consequences that have resulted due to the dependence upon out migration. Exploitation remains significant; female migrants are more likely to be victimized and further isolated upon their return due to the stigma associated with being sexually violated. The gains in household income from remittances are transitory and sustainable escapes from poverty remain elusive for the vast majority of Nepalis, particularly in the Karnali Province. In a 2018 Case Study conducted by the Overseas Development Institute

(ODI), poverty backsliding hovers at 25 percent of Nepali households, increasing to close to 50 percent of historically marginalized populations where the incidence of poverty is more prevalent and widespread.

6 DHS 2016

7 Resilience Measurement Quarterly Brief, PAHAL, March 2019

8 Male Outmigration and Women’s Work and Empowerment in Agriculture, The Case of Nepal and

Senegal, June 2018, World Bank and FAO http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/653481530195848293/Male-outmigration-and-womens-work-and-empowerment-in-agriculture-the-case-of-Nepal-and-Senegal http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/653481530195848293/Male-outmigration-and-womens-work-and-empowerment-in-agriculture-the-case-of-Nepal-and-Senegal

Key Areas of USAID/FFP Focus

To enhance food and nutrition security, reduce future humanitarian caseload, and improve the resilience of communities to recurrent shocks in the Karnali Province, FFP will support concept papers that focus on the following:

● Decreasing food insecurity through improved livelihood opportunities, increased agricultural production and access to productive water. FFP aims to build resilience and improve self-reliance of vulnerable populations through targeted support to farmers.

FFP will support efforts to improve and diversify livelihoods, increase agricultural production, diversify crops, and/or increase income. Increased food security in the

Karnali Province is dependent on increased access to productive water, so access to water should be considered by the applicant. An illustrative list of water activities includes: multi-use water systems (MUS) that provide domestic and productive water, surface water irrigation canals, wastewater collection at previously constructed water points, snow/rain harvesting, greywater management, or watershed management

(integrated water resource management).

Activities for this focus area could also include training on agricultural methods, governance of newly constructed or rehabilitated infrastructure, financial literacy and planning, or social and behavior change programming for WASH, nutrition, and/or agriculture that is developed through an evidence-based, participant-centered process.

With the recent identification of Fall Armyworm in Nepal, awareness campaigns and training for farmers may be proposed as well as training on Integrated Pest

Management techniques9.

● Building resilience and increasing self-reliance to recurrent shocks through community-based watershed protection, natural resource management, and disaster risk reduction. As recurrent floods and mudslides are common in the targeted area, FFP aims to mitigate future disasters and enhance community resilience through targeted watershed management and disaster risk reduction activities that aim to stabilize hillsides, prevent erosion and landslides, protect and rehabilitate land, and reduce flooding. Illustrative activities may include asset creation activities which support a range of food security-related disaster risk reduction efforts such as soil and water conservation, the development and rehabilitation of degraded lands, the repair of irrigation systems, and rehabilitation of flood and mudslide protection infrastructure.

9 Applicants are encouraged to review USAID guidance on FAW. https://www.agrilinks.org/post/feed-future-tools-combat-fall-armyworm-africa https://www.agrilinks.org/post/feed-future-tools-combat-fall-armyworm-africa https://www.agrilinks.org/post/feed-future-tools-combat-fall-armyworm-africa

Also valid for consideration: working with local disaster management committees in conducting vulnerability and capacity assessments followed by implementing disaster risk reduction measures such as protection measures and evacuation planning for people, assets and livestock, disaster risk management training, creating and testing disaster risk management plans, information and early warning dissemination, planting of broom grass or other stabilizing plants, source water protection, riverbank protection, and placement of gabions in specific catchment areas.

Resilience capacity building to recurrent shocks should also contribute to USAID’s focus on the Journey to Self-reliance by building the capacity of newly elected local government officials as a result of Nepal’s federalist system of government and the recently-passed Disaster Risk Management Act. In order to ascertain sustainability, implementation may include working with local water user groups, training local government officials, or otherwise meaningfully engaging with the local government over the lifetime of the award.

The applicant may reference and incorporate learning gained from the OFDA-funded, FAO-implemented project, entitled “Building Resilience to Landslides through Support for Community-Based Rehabilitation and Mitigation Actions and the Establishment of

Early Warning Systems in Nepal.”

● Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI). Female empowerment - promoting women and girls’ self-determination - and transforming gender relations and social inclusion for the better are vital for attaining equitable food security. Gender and Social Inclusion is a cross-cutting programmatic requirement. The offeror must submit an original, thoughtful, and succinct narrative – no longer than two pages – in an annex describing the ways in which the offeror will incorporate GESI into the performance of this agreement, including internal management and staffing, annual work planning, carrying out specific interventions, and monitoring and evaluation. In identifying modalities, the offeror should explain how the modality choice can impact gender dynamics or resource allocation. Gender and social disparities are strongly entrenched in the social structure of Nepal. Interconnected caste, ethnic, and gender-based exclusion continues to pose structural constraints to food security. As per US government’s policy on Gender

Equality and Female Empowerment, 2012 and the ADS 205, institutional accountability with significant budget and human resources must be allocated to more fully integrate

GESI-related initiatives to achieve activity goals and outcomes.

http://un.info.np/Net/NeoDocs/View/8169 http://un.info.np/Net/NeoDocs/View/8169 http://un.info.np/Net/NeoDocs/View/8169 http://un.info.np/Net/NeoDocs/View/8169 http://un.info.np/Net/NeoDocs/View/8169 http://un.info.np/Net/NeoDocs/View/8169 http://un.info.np/Net/NeoDocs/View/8169 https://www.usaid.gov/documents/1865/gender-equality-and-female-empowerment-policy https://www.usaid.gov/documents/1865/gender-equality-and-female-empowerment-policy https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1870/205.pdf

The offeror is strongly encouraged to refer to gender analysis and social inclusion documentation, including but not limited to:

1. USAID/Nepal’s Gender and Inclusion Assessment (2007).

2. For more detailed information on how to integrate gender in submissions, please see the Multi-Year Emergency APS (in draft)

3. Gender best practices in emergency settings—such as those outlined in IFRC’s Minimum

Standard Commitments to Gender and Diversity in Emergency Programming

Geographic and Population Targeting Priorities

FFP is soliciting Concept Papers under this APS amendment for the Karnali River Basin area that targets Karnali Province and some municipalities in Provinces 5 and 7 that lie along the Karnali

River Basin and which are prone to both rapid and slow onset disasters. The districts Mugu, Jumla, Kalikot, Accham, Dailekh, Surkhet, Kailali and Bardiya in those respective provinces should be prioritized for multi-year emergency programming. See map for more detail.

The targeting approach should ensure that vulnerable households, are the primary beneficiaries of the activity. Further, targeting should consider those households that are most susceptible to recurrent shocks experienced in the Karnali region of Nepal with the goal of reducing the future humanitarian caseload caused by future shocks and/or stresses.

http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/pnadq654.pdf.

http://www.ifrc.org/Global/Publications/Gender%20and%20Diversity/IFRC-%20Gender%20Diversity%20MSCs%20Emergency%20Programming-EN.pdf http://www.ifrc.org/Global/Publications/Gender%20and%20Diversity/IFRC-%20Gender%20Diversity%20MSCs%20Emergency%20Programming-EN.pdf http://www.ifrc.org/Global/Publications/Gender%20and%20Diversity/IFRC-%20Gender%20Diversity%20MSCs%20Emergency%20Programming-EN.pdf

Offeror should consider how the social dynamics (e.g. related to gender, youth, between different identity groups) in the targeted communities have informed the proposed targeting strategy; how the activity has integrated the principle of “do no harm” into its targeting design and implementation strategy; how the activity proposes to mitigate and/or address any negative impacts of the activity’s targeting; and how targeting individuals within a household or community will impact (positively or negatively) household and/or community dynamics.

Concept notes should be specific about how the activity design accounts for gender roles in the targeted population and any asymmetries that may result in disproportionate vulnerability, access to services, or ability to participate in and benefit fully from the activities proposed within this application.

Coordination

Submissions should be closely coordinated with existing and planned interventions in the target geographic area which leverage or complement other existing or planned programs and should demonstrate how the proposed emergency interventions are intended to result in improved recovery and resilience. Applicants must describe how they will closely coordinate or complement on the ground programming from USAID including, but not limited to, existing

Feed the Future (FTF) programs, KAWAS and recent Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance

(OFDA) pilots. Finally, the applicant must ensure close collaboration with all levels of the

Federal structure of government and other development partners active in the region at the time of implementation..

Modalities

Under this APS amendment, FFP has identified the following mechanisms toward providing the most appropriate and effective emergency food assistance response.2

The following modalities (in no particular order) are available for providing appropriate and effective food assistance. Each proposed intervention must be justified by linking the objective of the intervention, including which participant/beneficiary group the intervention is designed to assist, to the feasibility and appropriateness of the chosen modality. Include discussion on the context-specific reasons for use of the proposed modalities. Please see the Final - FY 20 FFP

Multi-Year International Emergency Food Assistance (MYE) APS, Section A (pages 5–7) for further information on modalities.

Conditional/Unconditional Cash Programming https://www.usaid.gov/food-assistance/what-we-do/emergency-activities https://www.usaid.gov/food-assistance/what-we-do/emergency-activities

● Conditional Cash Transfers (Cash-for-work) can be used to construct or rehabilitate community infrastructure for productive water, disaster risk reduction, or watershed protection that will be sustainably maintained after the end of the program. Applicants should consider how the infrastructure will be sustainable and help communities create sustainability plans where applicable. Cash-for work activities should be coordinated with other relevant interventions (i.e. KAWAS). Applicants proposing “for-work” activities to improve household food security should refer to FFP/OFDA guidance outlining the suitable types of emergency For Work activities for USAID funding in humanitarian contexts. See FFP Supplemental For Work Guidance.

● Unconditional Cash Transfers can also benefit vulnerable populations unable to participate in For Work activities. Examples include but are not limited to households with one or more members abroad for transitory labor, pregnant or lactating women

(PLW), the elderly, disabled, or other identified vulnerable households.

Essential Complementary Food Security Activities

“Essential Complementary Activities”, as described in this APS, are discrete activities that contribute to the stabilization of household/community availability of, access to, and utilization of nutritious foods. Essential Complementary Activities may contribute directly to food security and/or indirectly to the achievement of the emergency-related food security and nutrition objectives when they are programmatically linked to the transfer modality used.

For activities proposing Essential Complementary Activities, applicants must clearly articulate how these activities will enhance food security and nutrition, and how these activities will complement or coordinate with similar activities being implemented by other response actors.

Essential Complementary Activities may include, but are not limited to the following sectors and activities therein:

● Agricultural input vouchers could be used to restore seeds, tools, and/or other agricultural assets among vulnerable farming households who are more susceptible to recurring shocks. FFP prefers that applicants connect farmers and input suppliers, supporting both the supply and demand sides of the input market, rather than solely distributing vouchers directly beneficiaries. Applicants should ensure adequate suppliers with certified seed and quality inputs are willing and able to travel to targeted areas.

● Strengthen community-based savings and loan groups in areas prone to recurrent shocks. Interventions may include complementary training such as financial literacy. If included, financial literacy training should go beyond the traditional focus on savings https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1866/USAID-OFDA_for-Work_Guidance_Feb_2018.pdf and credit and include components of risk sharing mechanisms such as insurance, contingency funds, and other risk mitigation measures as appropriate.

● Restore and support livelihood activities lost due to recurrent stresses. Partners may include introducing alternative livelihood opportunities if they are able to effectively demonstrate feasibility beyond the scope of the multi-year emergency intervention.

● Nutrition and nutrition-sensitive activities focused on the key drivers of malnutrition in the region, including the promotion of dietary diversity, appropriate infant and young child feeding and care practices, and improved hygiene and sanitation practices.

● Disaster Risk Reduction activities that can be directly linked to improving food security that strengthen people’s capacity to anticipate, cope with, and recover from future shocks and stresses, including those focused on planning or social and behavior change.

Food vouchers and local, regional, and international procurement (LRP) of food are not suitable under this amendment.

Key Personnel

Staff with substantive experience in emergency food security activities, especially ones focused on DRR and with multi-year funding, are required. Applicants will not be evaluated on or required to submit key personnel at the Concept Paper stage, but will be required to submit key personnel for approval at the full application stage.

Chief of Party responsible for overall management of the programming must have experience in effectively managing humanitarian and/or DRR activities. Please see the APS for full COP requirements.

The applicant should propose an M&E Lead responsible for developing and implementing an

M&E system and plan, including a database to store and aggregate collected data. Please refer to the APS for further M&E Lead requirements.

Other technical specialists that correspond to key interventions proposed by the applicant may be required by the full application including, but not limited to, a DRR specialist if there is a substantial DRR component and/or a Water Technical Advisor (engineer) if a substantial water component is proposed. A dedicated Gender Advisor, knowledgeable of local context and specializing in food security and emergencies, would be advisable as well. USAID will provide additional information and any minimum experience requirements at the outset of the full application merit review stage.

Submission of Concept Papers

FFP will accept concept papers that support multi-year emergency interventions in the Karnali

Province, including certain target Districts in Province 7 and 5 (as highlighted in the map) by

January 17, 2020. As noted, the concept papers should budget for no more than $15 million in

IDA funding over three years. The format outlined in Section D of the FFP APS For Multi-Year

Emergencies will apply for concept paper submissions with the additional allowance of the GESI annex. Each concept paper will be evaluated using the merit review criteria described in

Section E of the FFP APS. Submissions should be closely coordinated with existing and planned interventions in the target geographic area which leverage or complement other existing or planned programs and should demonstrate how the proposed emergency interventions are intended to result in improved recovery and resilience.