Request For Information (RFI) - CASA.pdf

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Request for Information (RFI) Number: 7200AA22RFA00001 Issuance Date: November 5, 2021 Response Date: November 19, 2021, by 5:00 p.m. EST Estimate Period of Performance: 5 years Location: Worldwide

Subject: Climate Adaptation Support Activity (CASA) Activity

Dear Partners, The Bureau for Resilience and Food Security of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is seeking feedback for a planned climate adaptation support activity. Attachment #1 provides the background and draft Statement of Objectives of the activity. The associated RFI questions are contained in Attachment #2.

Pursuant to FAR 52.215-3 Request for Information (Oct.1997), we request information and recommendations from all OASIS Unrestricted Pool 1 contract holders on a planned global activity to advance effective climate adaptation mainstreaming, programming, and scaling that improves the resilience of people and systems through demand driven, cross-sectoral support.

Responding to this RFI will not give any advantage to or preclude any organization or individual in any subsequently issued solicitation or Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), as comments/responses are strictly for information gathering purposes. This RFI does not constitute a solicitation or NOFO and in no way binds the Government to issue a solicitation or NOFO for this activity. Any future development activities related to this activity will be announced separately on https://beta.sam.gov/, https://ebuy.gov/, and/or https://grants.gov at a later date.

The RFI does not represent any award commitment on the part of the Government, nor does it obligate the Government to pay for costs incurred in the preparation and submission of any responses. Information received as part of this RFI shall become the property of USAID.

Therefore, proprietary information that cannot be shared should not be sent.

The RFI can be downloaded from https://beta.sam.gov/ and will be sent directly to Pool 1 contract holders. If you have any issue accessing the RFI, please contact climateadaptation@usaid.gov. Responses should also be submitted to USAID via email at climateadaptation@usaid.gov no later than the date and time shown above. See Attachment 2 for additional submission instructions.

Thank you for your interest in USAID’s activities. We look forward to receiving your responses.

https://beta.sam.gov/ https://ebuy.gov/ https://grants.gov/ https://beta.sam.gov/ mailto:climateadaptation@usaid.gov mailto:climateadaptation@usaid.gov

Sincerely, Olivia Ricks Contracting & Agreement Officer, RFS

USAID

Attachments:

#1 - Activity Background & Draft Statement of Objectives #2 – RFI Questions & Submission Instructions

Attachment #1: Activity Background & Draft Statement of Objectives

Activity Background:

Climate adaptation is vital to addressing climate impacts, supporting community, country and system resilience and meeting development objectives. Effective adaptation initiatives require Mission and Washington OUs to implement strategic adaptation mainstreaming, programming, and scaling across sectors and initiatives. Further adaptation action needs to be integrated into climate resilient development pathways in the context of issues such as energy access, urbanization, and a large adaptation deficit globally.1 USAID often operates in fast-moving and unpredictable environments, increasingly characterized by climate shocks and stresses, and requires adaptation support to strategically address climate risks and impacts. Necessary support for these adaptation efforts includes developing, sharing, and putting to use actionable information and forward-looking adaptation approaches.

The goal of the Climate Adaptation Support Activity is to support impactful adaptation across USAID by providing strategic support to USAID Missions and USAID/Washington Operating Units. The Climate Adaptation Support Activity (CASA) activity will serve as a demand driven, cross sectoral support mechanism to USAID that allows for flexible, rapid buy-in and easy access for Missions and USAID/Washington Operating Units. Under this Activity, the Implementer will provide a suite of services and products to USAID Missions, Washington, and partners to support adaptation mainstreaming, programming, and scaling to effect change at meaningful scales.

This Activity invests in continuing to build the adaptation knowledge base and actively helping decision makers, across sectors and scales, to use this knowledge base to take informed adaptation action. This support will include assessments, analytical work, thought leadership, inclusive capacity development, convening, partnership, and coalition strengthening. As guided by USAID Missions, the implementer may be asked to work directly with host country counterparts in government, civil society, or the private sector in support of Mission objectives.

This contract will be demand-driven; work may be funded through USAID/Washington and Mission funds.

This Activity is key for supporting the Agency’s forthcoming Climate Strategy and its focus on accelerating and scaling climate actions, catalyzing transformative shifts to climate-resilient pathways, mainstreaming adaptation across sectors and programs, and enabling equitable climate action. It aims to support adaptation action that advances development gains, prevents backsliding in the face of climate risks and recognizes women, youth, indigenous peoples, and marginalized populations as particularly vulnerable to climate risks and critical agents of change.

This activity will build on and move beyond past work to match the climate ambition of the USG and global community.

1 UNEP Adaptation Gap Report, 2021 https://www.unep.org/resources/adaptation-gap-report-2020

Recognizing that climate shocks and stresses do not occur in isolation, this activity also aligns with the Agency’s resilience approach, which holistically addresses risk and builds capacities to address a range of shocks and stresses. This activity will operate with recognition that climate impacts and options to address them are directly mediated by political, social, economic, health, conflict and environmental risks and contexts. Building resilience requires a focus on capacity strengthening that helps people, communities, and systems to absorb shocks, adapt, and transform as underlying conditions change. This Activity encompasses work that addresses the immediate challenges of and long-term resilience to climate and related risks. While maintaining a focus on climate risk and adaptation, the Activity is encouraged to consider the complex linkages among climate and other challenges, and address risks, both climate and non-climate risks, in a holistic manner.

Statement of Objectives:

Areas of potential technical support, aligned with the logic framework, are outlined below, and intended to be relevant across a range of programs, sectors, and geographies. This Activity can be used to inform and adjust current programming and strategies, inform the design of new programming and strategies, and meet partners’ information, convening and capacity needs.

Since this Activity is demand-driven, the following should be seen as illustrative examples and not prescriptive nor comprehensive. This Activity is intended to be flexible such that it can respond to evolving adaptation priorities and contexts among USAID and its partners (i.e.

government, civil society, private sector, and community). The Activity will also provide technical support to USAID and partners for access to adaptation finance, implementation of adaptation priorities (e.g., as defined in NDCs and NAPs) and other priority adaptation needs identified by USAID.

Note: As a demand-driven, cross-sectoral activity, this work will address a range of adaptation issues.

1. Objective 1: Increase actionable information to support the design and implementation of impactful adaptation approaches, interventions and systems shifts.

Actionable information on climate risk and adaptation options for different groups and entities is essential to support strategic and impactful programs, approaches and decision making. USAID Washington, Missions, and country and implementing partners require a strong foundation of evidence, best practices, and contextual understanding to inform effective programs and strategies, mobilize partnerships and coalitions, and access climate finance opportunities.

Further, this information needs to incentivize action by being demand-driven, targeted to actual decision-making demands, and translated and tailored for ready use by USAID, host country governments and partners. The information may be targeted by geography, sector(s), timeframe, and other parameters as required. Well-designed and delivered information that addresses immediate challenges and long-term resilience to climate and related risks is key for strategic adaptation programming and for mainstreaming adaptation across USAID and its partners.

An important lesson from the USAID ATLAS project was that significant gaps remain in understanding the risks from climate change and the adaptation options available, especially at local levels and for discrete groups.2 Information about climate risk and adaptation options is critical to informing the assumptions and approaches used in development initiatives. This includes a need for information related to effecting systems shifts, for example, information to support shifting agriculture production systems to maintain productivity through evolving climate conditions. All products should be designed with a focus on the ready uptake of findings by target audiences. The implementer should engage with local institutions to the extent possible to ensure information products are relevant, promote local information sharing and support local capacity strengthening. The implementer will emphasize participatory approaches, which may include but are not limited to engaging effectively with women, youth, Indigenous Peoples, and other groups that are often marginalized, in the process of designing, conducting, and ensuring uptake of findings to inform programming, strategies and decision making.

2. Objective 2: Identify strategic and forward-looking adaptation and resilience approaches to support sustainable, scalable, and innovative adaptation.

With climate change impacts accelerating and evolving in nonlinear ways, strategic and forward-looking adaptation and resilience approaches that anticipate these changes and how to address them are critical for USAID programming. These approaches must be informed by the lessons from the global community and USAID’s adaptation portfolio. This objective includes synthesizing the evidence base, conducting applied and multidisciplinary research, exploring under-analyzed and emerging areas of adaptation, and supporting robust adaptation monitoring, evaluation, research and learning at USAID. This work may apply to issues such as synergies and trade-offs in adaptation and sustainable development pathways, transformative adaptation options, the relationship among climate and the broader risk environment, climate justice and equity considerations, locally led and inclusive adaptation approaches, and climate-related migration, among others. This objective also includes examining the needs and options for systems shifts to support resilience.

3. Objective 3: Expand inclusive capacity building, convening and partnership and coalition strengthening to support impactful adaptation action.

This objective aims to catalyze adaptation action and link the information and learning from other project work to action. Addressing the climate crisis requires mobilizing partnerships and coalitions and enhancing capacity across stakeholders and including groups who historically have not been included. Knowledge-sharing through strategic approaches, including peer learning, participatory co-creation, and new partnerships, is a cornerstone of this Activity. The aim of this objective is to encourage adaptation innovation and scaling and grow USAID staff and partners’ expertise in designing and scaling adaptation programming and initiatives. Work related to this objective will make essential investments to build capacity and strengthen

2 USAID, 2020. Final Report: Five Years’ Progress on Climate Resilient Development (ATLAS Final Report). P. 32.

https://www.climatelinks.org/sites/default/files/asset/document/2020_USAID_ATLAS_Five-Years-Progress-on- Climate-Resilient-Development.pdf partnerships among USAID staff, implementing and country partners, the private sector, and the larger adaptation community.

The implementer will further provide other types of technical assistance to support adaptation programming and mainstreaming at meaningful scales, including supporting access to climate finance through capacity, analytics and convening activities. These efforts will include cross-sectoral learning and sharing, coalition building and participation from stakeholders at the regional and international levels. Activities will work to the maximum extent possible with and through local and regional institutions to build and transfer technical expertise, knowledge, and experience.

Capacity development, knowledge management and communications A major focus of this objective is to strengthen the capacity of USAID and its partners to identify climate risk and adaptation options and design and implement adaptation initiatives. Capacity development activities should lead to improved individual and/or organizational performance in managing climate risk and taking adaptation action. The Activity will use capacity development and knowledge management approaches that promote innovation and experimentation among USAID and partners and encourage a learning culture. Communications and knowledge management efforts should be targeted to and accessible by diverse groups.

Convening to mobilize partnerships and coalitions This objective aims to catalyze and strengthen impactful partnerships and coalitions for envisioning and implementing adaptation action in response to USAID’s and partners’ identified needs. Scaling proven adaptation actions must involve a full range of stakeholders from various sectors, geographies, and skill sets. Effectively addressing climate risk requires USAID to leverage the skills, reach and finance of new and existing partners and coalitions. Through mobilizing partnerships and coalitions, USAID can target priority systems, sectors and geographies and work across all levels to achieve key adaptation outcomes in the near term and initiate adaptation pathways for long-term resilience.

Principles:

The activity will be guided by the following principles:

1. Promote gender equity, youth engagement, inclusive development, and equitable, inclusive climate action: Accessible and inclusive approaches that empower local communities and the marginalized groups within them -- in particular, women and Indigenous Peoples -- are vital to achieving climate resilient development. Diverse and representative groups should be supported and empowered as sources of action and agents of positive change.

2. Promote locally led development: Ensure diverse ways of knowing and local knowledge, skills and experience are embedded in planning and deliverables. Meaningfully engage with local actors and use and develop local consulting and research capacity in USAID host countries as guided by USAID Missions.

3. Focus on sustainability and scaling: Consider how to achieve sustainability and scaling in evolving social, political, economic, ecological and climate contexts. Include approaches such as locally led development, coalitions strengthening, climate finance access, and civil society and private sector engagement and digital technologies to support sustainability and scaling.

4. Pursue adaptation, mitigation, and human well-being co-benefits: Seek opportunities for adaptation initiatives to contribute to other USAID development objectives including greenhouse gas emissions reductions and carbon sequestration.

5. Elevate nature as an adaptation solution: Promote the use of nature-based solutions for adaptation that simultaneously strengthen climate resilience, reduce emissions, and conserve ecosystems and ecosystem services. Emphasize nature-based solutions such as actions to protect, manage, and restore ecosystems and ecosystem services (including managed systems like agricultural lands).

6. Recognize that climate risk and adaptation occur in complex contexts: Promote identification of the range of risks that people and systems face and how climate is embedded in and interacts with the broader risk environment. Strive to identify systems approaches for adaptation action that navigate complex risk environments and socio-political realities. Consider co-creation across humanitarian, development, and peace actors to promote effective adaptation solutions and reduce the unintended consequences of siloed approaches.

Agency policies relevant to these principles include:

● Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment Policy

● New Partnerships Initiative

● Policy on Promoting the Rights of Indigenous People

● Private Sector Engagement Policy https://www.usaid.gov/GenderEqualityandWomensEmpowermentPolicy#:%7E:text=The%202020%20Gender%20Equality%20and,%2C%20their%20families%2C%20their%20communities%2C https://www.usaid.gov/npi https://www.usaid.gov/indigenous-peoples/usaid-policy-on-indigenous-peoples https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1865/usaid_psepolicy_final.pdf

Attachment #2: RFI Questions & Submission Instructions

In response to the following questions, please share information on how USAID can best provide the support needed to strengthen and expand adaptation mainstreaming, programming, and scaling. Respondents are free to answer any or all the questions below. In your responses, please provide any relevant sources for the information, including peer-reviewed or grey literature, expert opinion, project evaluation reports and other documents. Please note, there is a three-page limit for responses.

1. How could this Statement of Objectives better capture and prioritize the work needed to support adaptation mainstreaming, programming, and action at scale across USAID’s development sectors?

2. To what extent do you think this activity will help USAID address the principal barriers to and opportunities for adaptation action? How could it be strengthened?

3. How can this activity better contribute to meeting USAID’s objectives of supporting adaptation programming and mainstreaming at scale while meeting inclusion, equity, and diversity objectives, promoting locally led development, and preventing maladaptation?

4. How can this Activity operationalize and efficiently manage a demand-driven approach that also engages and empowers local organizations and experts to implement tasks under this mechanism?

5. What aspects of the Statement of Objectives require clarification?

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUBMITTING RESPONSES/COMMENTS:

Please send all responses to this RFI via email to climateadaptation@usaid.gov by the date and time indicated in the cover letter with the subject line “RFI No. 7200AA22RFA00001 USAID/RFS Climate Adaptation Support Activity.”

Respondents will only receive an electronic confirmation acknowledging receipt of response and will not receive individualized feedback on any suggestions. Specific questions about this RFI should be directed only to the email address identified above.

The submitted response and/or questions should include the following information:

Reference Number: RFI No. 7200AA22RFA00001 USAID/RFS Climate Adaptation Support Activity Date:

Name/Email:

Affiliation/Organization:

Address:

[End of RFI # 7200AA22RFA00001] mailto:climateadaptation@usaid.gov