J.1 Statement of Objectives (SOO).pdf

ATTACHMENT J.1

SECTION C – STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES

C.1 PURPOSE OF THE STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES (SOO)

This Statement of Objectives (SOO) provides the objectives of the contract and is included in this Por la Protección de Defensores y Periodistas (PDP) Request for Proposal in lieu of a

Statement of Work (SOW). Contractors must propose a realistic and cost-effective technical approach to maximize the results described herein. This SOO will not become part of the final contract, but will be replaced by the final negotiated Performance Work Statement

(PWS)/Technical Proposal submitted by the successful Contractor.

The purpose of this SOO is to implement a human rights activity, PDP, that will improve the capacity and effectiveness of governmental and non-governmental actors whose charge it is to protect Mexican journalists and human rights and environmental defenders, supporting an enabling environment in which they can safely, without fear of harm or harassment, foster an informed civic space, promote transparency, and hold governmental authorities accountable.

C.2 SCOPE

This activity, with an overall estimated cost between $12 million and $15 million and will be for a base period of five years. It will work with key national-level GOM institutions and in at least five priority states, including the possibility of the greater Mexico City area. The contractor must propose a minimum of five states to focus its efforts, using an analytic framework that includes prevalence of aggressions against journalists and defenders, capacity of local counterpart institutions, presence of civil society organizations and journalists networks, political dynamics, and opportunities to coordinate with and leverage other USAID and USG efforts. While proposed states and a framework for analysis must be included in the PWS, final state selection will be negotiated with USAID post-award.

C.3 BACKGROUND

C.3.a GENERAL BACKGROUND AND COUNTRY CONTEXT

Violence against journalists, human rights defenders,1 and environmental defenders2 in Latin

America has increased continuously over the past decade. In 2019, 13 media professionals were killed in Mexico making it the most dangerous country in the region for journalists. As of

November 5th, 16 journalists have already been killed in 2020. Meanwhile, 18 human rights and environmental defenders were killed in Mexico in 2019 and 13 thus far in 2020. Mexico is also

1 https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/SRHRDefenders/Pages/Defender.aspx 2https://www.unenvironment.org/explore-topics/environmental-rights-and-governance/what-we-do/advancing-environmental-rights/who https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/SRHRDefenders/Pages/Defender.aspx https://www.unenvironment.org/explore-topics/environmental-rights-and-governance/what-we-do/advancing-environmental-rights/who https://www.unenvironment.org/explore-topics/environmental-rights-and-governance/what-we-do/advancing-environmental-rights/who the third deadliest in Latin America for environmental defenders. The vast majority of these murders remain unresolved.

In addition to physical violence, journalists, human rights advocates, and environmental defenders face legal harassment, smear campaigns, intimidation, stigmatization, and delegitimization. The nature of journalists’ work exposes them to localized violence and intimidation from organized criminal groups seeking control of strategic geographies and narratives. Meanwhile, civil society activists - whether human rights advocates or environmental defenders who advocate for vulnerable and marginalized populations, and exercise freedom of expression - often find themselves in conflict with corrupt local officials, powerful business interests, and non-state actors that feel threatened by their activities.

The criticism and stigmatization of journalists has increased the proliferation of attacks and threats, including physical attacks and online harassment, which can escalate or incite violence.

Legal recourse for journalists, human rights activists, and environmental defenders is generally limited. Inefficient legal and institutional frameworks for protection, particularly at the local level where the majority of journalists and human rights and environmental defenders work, are compounded by high levels of impunity. Ultimately, a well-functioning justice system that sanctions offenders and protects victims is vital to the long-term solution to human rights abuse in Mexico. More immediately, targeted protection measures and strengthened prosecution of offenders are also needed to address a problem that is at crisis levels.

C.3.b DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGE

Rising levels of violence against journalists and human rights and environmental defenders undermines their ability to safely carry out a core function of democracy. The ability of government institutions to provide effective protective services and effectively investigate and prosecute aggressions must be strengthened.

C.3.c RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER ACTIVITIES

This activity requires the Contractor to undertake close collaboration with host governments, other donors, and other counterparts. The Contractor will seek opportunities to collaborate with other donors working in the same geographic area to create synergies and complementarity.

Similarly, the offeror will work with relevant USG activities with which this activity will need to work in tandem.

USAID Activities

This activity will build upon USAID/Mexico’s investments in protection through ProVoces and complement its Strengthening Freedom of Expression in México activity, implemented by

Article 19. The activity will also complement USAID’s Investigative Journalism activity

(implemented under its transparency portfolio), which helps journalists better utilize data, investigate corruption-related issues, and introduce physical and digital security protocols to their work. With environmental defenders a frequent target of harassment and attacks, this activity will explore partnerships with USAID’s sustainable landscapes portfolio. It will forge linkages to USAID’s regional ProSAFE journalism activity managed by the Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean. Close collaboration with USAID’s newly launched justice activity will also be critical, specifically to address systematic impunity in the justice system and more effectively sanction offenders at the state level (under Component 3: Prosecution). In addition, engagement with FEADLE and the FGR will be coordinated with the Department of Justice

Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development Assistance, which provides training and case mentoring for FGR prosecutors.

Other USG and Donor Coordination

While USAID is an active donor in this space, other bilateral donors and private foundations

(including the Ford and MacArthur Foundations) also fund activities to support protection efforts carried out by the NPM.

C.4 DEVELOPMENT HYPOTHESIS

IF the GOM has greater capacity to protect journalists and human rights and environmental defenders, prevent aggressions, AND prosecute crimes against them WHILE citizen demand for justice and accountability increases, THEN journalists and human rights and environmental defenders can operate more safely to effectively fulfill their vital function to advance an informed civic dialogue in Mexico.

C.5 CONTRACT OBJECTIVES

This activity will improve the capacity and effectiveness of governmental and non-governmental actors that protect Mexican journalists, human rights, and environmental defenders, supporting an enabling environment in which they can safely, without fear of harm, engage in informed citizenship and hold governmental authorities accountable. USAID envisions that the resultant contract will be divided into three components:

Objective 1: Prevention - Government systems strengthened and individual skills developed to more effectively prevent abuses against human rights and environmental defenders and journalists

Objective 2: Protection - Improve the Efficiency and Effectiveness of the State to Protect human rights and environmental defenders and Journalists

Objective 3: Prosecution - Decreased Impunity for Crimes Committed Against Journalists, Human Rights and Environmental Defenders.

C.6 RESULTS AND INDICATORS

USAID expects this activity to enhance protection measures for journalists and human rights defenders, prevent violence or threats against them, and more effectively sanction crimes committed against journalists and human rights defenders. This requires implementation and institutionalization of more efficient internal processes within GOM institutions key to this goal.

This also requires improving collaboration, skills, and services offered by civil society organizations and / or associations providing related assistance to journalists and human rights defenders. While offerors may propose additional indicators linked to their proposed approach, at minimum they must present sufficient indicators to measure the following:

Objective 1: Prevention Efforts Improved

● Enhanced, more accessible services available to and used by journalists and human rights and environmental defenders to assess and manage their physical, digital, and psychosocial safety and well-being

● Increased popular support for the role of journalists and human rights and environmental defenders

● Increased access to justice for journalists and human rights and environmental defenders wrongfully charged through the misapplication of social morality laws and others that limits the role of journalists and human rights and environmental defenders.

● Increased citizen oversight and advocacy over the protection and prosecution systems, and implementation of the law as it relates to freedom of expression.

Objective 2: Protection Mechanisms Strengthened

● Improved quality and transparency of GOM protective services, including more efficient case management systems, communications with petitioners and users of the GOM protection system, and development and use of security protocols

● Differentiated approaches integrated into GOM protection services, incorporating gender, risk assessment, or other factors that may require tailored services and victim care

● Improved interagency coordination between the NPM and relevant federal and state authorities involved in protection measures, safety, and work conditions for journalists, human rights and environmental defenders

● Data-driven NPM operations that inform its strategic planning, budgeting, human resource management, and monitoring and evaluation

Objective 3: Prosecutions Increased

● Improved quality and quantity of FEADLE and state attorneys general investigations into crimes against journalists and human rights and environmental defenders

● More efficient case processing, leading to reduced backlogs in investigations, prosecutions and sanctions of crimes against human rights and environmental defenders

A list of illustrative indicators, derived from past and ongoing USAID activities is included in

Attachment J.11. The Contractor will develop final baselines and targets in consultation with

USAID, but must indicate proposed baselines and targets where available or appropriate. In addition, the Contractor is required to include at least one standardized “F” indicator from the

Bureau for Foreign Assistance (F).

C.7 ACTIVITY PARAMETERS

C.7.a Gender and Marginalized Populations

The Contractor must detail how it will support activities primarily designed to benefit and meet the unique needs of marginalized populations, as these pertain to the local context and challenges mentioned above. To address gender mainstreaming, the Contractor must analyze how programs will be tailored to maximize gender and social inclusion, i.e. the disproportionate threats and the occurrence of human rights violations against women and girls as well as the LGBTQ community.

Per ADS Chapter 205, all USAID activities are required to take into account not only the different roles of men and women, but also the relationship between and among men and women, as well as the broader institutional and social structures that support them. The analysis must not focus only on numbers but how interventions are likely to impact individuals differently based on their gender roles and cultural norms. The Contractor must consider how and where it could support the implementation of a differential approach.

C.7.b Local Systems

To increase the likelihood of sustainability, the Contractor must support the local system3 in the contexts in which it works. Local system refers to those interconnected sets of actors -governments, civil society, the private sector, universities, individual citizens and others - that jointly produce a particular development outcome. Whether the local system will own the outcomes produced under this contract after it is finished must be a key consideration for planned activities. The Contractor must set aside a minimum of 7 percent of its total budget to provide Grants Under Contracts (GUCs), most of which will go to entities within the local system.

C.7.c Flexibility

The Contractor must ensure technical and programmatic flexibility within and across program components to respond to changing circumstances in the area of human rights within the scope of this contract. The contractor will outline its approach to keep abreast of changes in the situation on the ground, such as a political economy analysis or other assessments, and how it will maintain the flexibility to accommodate changes. The Contractor must include such situational analyses and scenarios as part of its regular reporting and engage with USAID to make appropriate programmatic adjustments.

C.7.d Innovation

This activity offers fertile terrain for innovation. Innovation refers to new technologies, new ways of delivering or financing goods and services, more cost-effective adaptations to existing

3 https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1870/LocalSystemsFramework.pdf https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1870/LocalSystemsFramework.pdf solutions, new ways of increasing implementation of existing proven solutions, policy changes, shifts, or nudges based on insights from behavioral economics, social or behavioral innovations.

The Contractor must address innovation in its approach.

C.7.e Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA)

The contractor must incorporate a collaborating; learning and adapting (CLA) approach that: a) generates, captures, shares, and applies information and knowledge to support and improve development outcomes; b) promotes collaborative learning and exchanges with relevant institutions, stakeholders, and development partners; and c) uses information to improve the cost-effectiveness of interventions over the life of the activity. PDP must build on lessons learned from previous and current/existing human rights activities, including those of other donors that have demonstrated successful approaches to achieve the objectives described in this SOO.

C.7.f Private Sector Engagement

Within the local system, the private sector has the potential to play a key role. The Contractor must address the potential role that the private sector can play to produce and sustain a development outcome. See USAID’s Private Sector Engagement Policy:

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

C.7.g Security

The security of beneficiaries and the contractor’s staff is of utmost concern to USAID/Mexico.

Given the escalation of violence in Mexico, it is imperative that the Contractor develop a security plan that ensures institutionalized processes to track the security context in different states, evaluates the risks to beneficiaries and the Contractor’s staff, and implements steps to mitigate risks.

[END OF ATTACHMENT J.1]

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