Request for Information (RFI) No. 72061521R00026-PAVE.pdf

Postal Address:

U.S. Agency for International Development USAID Kenya P.O. Box 629 Village Market 00621 Nairobi, Kenya

Courier Address:

USAID/Kenya c/o American Embassy United Nations Avenue, Gigiri, Nairobi, Kenya

Pouch Address:

American Embassy 8900 Nairobi Place Department Of State Washington D.C. 20521-

Tel: 254-20-363-2000 Fax: 254-20-363- 2680 / 2682 https://www.usaid.gov/kenya https://www.usaid.gov/east-africa-regional

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

Reference: Request for Information (RFI) No. 72061521R00026

Issue Date: September 14, 2021

Response Due Date: September 28, 2021

Closing Time: 5:00p.m. Nairobi, Kenya Local Time

Industry Day: To be determined

Title: Input into USAID/Kenya and East Africa’s Preventing and

Addressing Violent Extremism (PAVE) Program Planning

The United States Agency for International Development, Kenya and East Africa (USAID/KEA) Mission is in the process of designing its next phase of preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) programming, that is, the Preventing and Addressing Violent Extremism (PAVE) program. It is expected that this program will be implemented over a period of three years from 2022-2024 with the possibility of two option years. USAID/KEA seeks to incorporate feedback from a wide range of sources in the planning process with the aim of optimizing the resultant program design for the greatest P/CVE impact.

To this end, USAID/KEA is issuing this Request for Information (RFI) for the purpose of offering industry and stakeholders an opportunity to review, comment on, and provide responses in support of USAID/KEA’s future P/CVE programming. The RFI is an attempt to reach out to the market in an effort to determine the scope of industry capabilities and interest and will be treated as information only. Background information and some specific questions that USAID/KEA seeks input on, are provided in the attachment to this notice.

Please note that this is not a Request for Proposals (RFP) or Request for Applications (RFA) and therefore should not be construed as a commitment by the U.S. Government or USAID to issue any solicitation or Notice of Funding Opportunity, or ultimately award a contract or assistance agreement on the basis of this RFI, or to pay for any information voluntarily submitted as a result of this request. USAID is not seeking technical or cost proposals at this time. Do not submit any proposal/application at this time in response to this RFI. Responding to this RFI does not give any advantage to any firm or organization in any subsequent competition. Responses will not be returned but will be held confidentially.

USAID reserves the right to respond to any, all, or none of the comments and questions submitted. USAID’s responses (if any) will be posted on www.grants.gov and beta.sam.gov. Please continue to monitor the site for any updates to this RFI. The briefing materials for the planned industry day will be posted on the RFI page. Please submit any clarifications regarding this RFI and your submissions in response to this RFI via email to ke-pave@usaid.gov with the subject entitled: “RFI: Preventing and Addressing Violent Extremism

(PAVE).

Although responses to this RFI may come from any source, USAID intends to restrict eligibility for any possible Solicitation to local entities. For purposes of this RFI “local entity” means an individual, a corporation, a nonprofit organization, or another body of persons that: (i) is legally organized under the laws of Kenya; (ii) has as its principal place of business or operations in Kenya; (iii) is at least seventy-five percent (75%) owned and controlled by individuals who are citizens or lawful permanent residents of

Kenya; and (iv) is managed by a governing body and management team at least seventy-five percent

(75%) of whom are citizens or lawful permanent residents of Kenya. For purposes of this RFI, ‘at least seventy-five percent (75%) owned and controlled’ and ‘managed by’ includes, without limitation, beneficiary interests and the power, either directly or indirectly, whether exercised or exercisable, to control https://www.usaid.gov/kenya https://www.usaid.gov/east-africa-regional https://www.usaid.gov/east-africa-regional http://www.grants.gov/ https://beta.sam.gov/ mailto:ke-pave@usaid.gov the election, appointment, or tenure of the organization's managers or a majority of the organization's governing body by any means.

Responses (comments, suggestions, and enhancements) to this RFI are due to the USAID/KEA Office of

Acquisition and Assistance identified below by September 28, 2021 5:00 p.m., Nairobi time. Interested parties shall provide an electronic copy of their response - electronic submissions, in Microsoft Word or

Adobe Acrobat formats are acceptable. The Agency server is unable to accept Zip files and therefore respondents may not send any files in this format. Please email responses to ke-pave@usaid.gov with the subject title, RFI: Preventing and Addressing Violent Extremism (PAVE)

Responses to this RFI must be succinct, specific, clear, and written in English; limited to not more than 7 pages; use 12 point Times New Roman font; and be single-spaced with one-inch margins.

USAID/KEA, at its discretion, may hold a Conference or “Industry Day” with selected entities that respond to this RFI at a date to be determined by USAID after the Responses Due Date specified on the cover page.

USAID/KEA will review all responses to the PAVE RFI. The quality and depth of responses will help to inform USAID’s future procurement approach and will serve as one of the bases for selecting invitees to the aforementioned Industry Day, should it occur.

USAID/KEA may contact a respondent to clarify elements of their response, request additional information, or discuss other related aspects. Exchanges during the RFI stage will be used to inform USAID/KEA solicitation and design of any future procurement.

If a solicitation is issued, it will be announced on the Grants.Gov website http://www.Grants.Gov or on beta.sam.gov at a later date and all interested parties must respond to that solicitation announcement separately from any response to this announcement. This RFI does not in any way commit the U.S.

Government to issuing a solicitation or restrict the U.S. Government’s approach on a future solicitation.

This Notice can be viewed and downloaded from the internet at www.grants.gov and on beta.sam.gov.

Thank you for your interest in the subject request for information.

This request does not constitute an award 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 a response. Any funding obligation is subject to the availability of funds.

Enclosures:

Attachment 1: USAID/KEA Preventing and Addressing Violent Extremism (PAVE) Program Background

Information and Questions

Attachment 1 mailto:ke-pave@usaid.gov http://www.grants.gov/ https://beta.sam.gov/ http://www.fbo.gov/ http://www.grants.gov/

USAID/Kenya and East Africa Preventing and Addressing Violent Extremism (PAVE) Program

Background Information and Questions

Background

Preventing the growth and spread of violent extremism (VE) is key to a country advancing along its development journey. In 2019, USAID updated its countering violent extremism (CVE) policy and approach to improve the implementation of P/CVE interventions to ensure that they are more targeted, effective, and can demonstrate results. The USAID Policy for Countering Violent Extremism Through

Development Assistance calls for a fresh approach to “strengthen the ability of countries and communities to prevent and address VE challenges with the intent of reducing the influence and threat of violent extremist organizations (VEOs)”.1 Drawing on evidence and rigorous learning, the updated policy calls upon the

Agency to approach VE as part of a complex ecosystem and to design P/CVE programming to strengthen and influence local institutions and communities systemically to prevent and counter VE, rather than address individual drivers of VE, such as unemployment or illiteracy. This represents a significant shift from the

Agency’s original cutting-edge 2011 policy - The Development Response to Violent Extremism and

Insurgency - which focused on addressing the individual drivers of VE, that is, the specific factors that facilitate radicalization and recruitment to VE.

The updated policy calls us to focus P/CVE programming: on the problem, that is VE challenges; target at the hyper-localized level; respond and adapt to local contexts; and leverage critical local partners. The new criteria includes: (i) Targeted - This calls for targeting programming on specific geographic region(s) and/or population segments susceptible to VE; (ii) Focused - Include an explicit program objective(s) responding to the localized VE context and threats; (iii) Measurable - Integrate CVE-specific monitoring, evaluation, learning, and research components and adapt programming using complexity-awareness; and (iv) Support

Partners Development Journey - Intentionally enhance local partner capacity, include local management components, and/or increase local ownership in order to have P/CVE impact, while considering political will.

To this end, USAID/KEA is considering support for a Kenyan organization(s) herein also referred to as the

‘successful applicant(s)’ to co-create and deliver a program that will prevent and address VE in select counties - Kilifi, Kwale, Lamu, Mombasa, and Tana River at the coast and Garissa, Isiolo, Mandera, Marsabit, and Wajir in northeastern (hereafter referred to as the PAVE focus counties) - in partnership with youth, women, civic groups, religious leaders, the private sector, county governments, and national-level ministries, departments, and agencies.

USAID/KEA requires that the successful applicant be a legally registered Kenyan entity(ies) that has credibility; is well anchored in the 10 focus counties and has good relationships with communities in the target areas therein; has a comprehensive understanding of the community dynamics; has networks, influence, knowledge, and skills, including the religious literacy and/or capacity to undermine VEO ideological claims; has experience in partnering/working with the Government of Kenya (GoK) and county governments on P/CVE; and has sub-granting capability.

PAVE seeks to tap into the ingenuity, knowledge, and access of a Kenyan organization(s) that is deeply connected to and has access to individuals and communities that are vulnerable to radicalization and recruitment to VE in the focus counties. Cognizant that not many Kenyan organizations have worked with

USAID directly and that there is a steep learning curve to working with the Agency, USAID/KEA will simplify access to any solicitation(s) and make it easier for partners to bring forward ideas and innovation in line with the Agency’s New Partnership Initiative. In addition, the successful applicant(s) will receive

1 See the USAID Policy for Countering Violent Extremism Through Development Assistance, 2020.

https://pages.usaid.gov/countering-violent-extremism https://pages.usaid.gov/countering-violent-extremism https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1870/VEI_Policy_Final.pdf https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1870/VEI_Policy_Final.pdf organizational capacity development and coaching, as needed, to optimize working with USAID and meet contractual requirements. Given the sensitive nature of P/CVE work and engaging in environments that have VEO activity, the successful applicant(s) will receive additional training, as necessary, in security measures, developing a security plan, and clear protocols on how field personnel can be supported in challenging situations.

Programmatic Focus

The VE threat in Kenya has evolved over time from an international agenda targeting U.S. and foreign interests in Kenya by foreign violent extremists, to the radicalization and recruitment of Kenyans and the targeting of Kenyan interests and infrastructure. VE that leads to terrorism inhibits the full realization of

Kenya’s potential and the country’s progress on its journey to self-reliance, stability, prosperity, and regional engagement.

The GoK response to VE has gone through a number of phases. 2011-2016 saw GoK engaged in a securitized counterterrorism response against al-Shabaab. Since the attack on the Westgate Mall in 2013, followed by the Garissa University College attack in 2015, GoK in 2016 identified the need to deploy a

“networked, local, socio-economic-religious response”2, thereby making an all-of-society, multistakeholder, devolved CVE approach, a priority. This gave rise to the development of the National

Strategy to Counter Violent Extremism (NSCVE) “to rally all sectors of Kenyan social, religious, and economic life to emphatically and continuously reject violent extremist ideologies and aims in order to shrink the pool of individuals that terrorist groups seek to radicalize and recruit.”3 It was launched in 2016 as a living document that would be adjusted to fit the emerging lessons and tackle evolving threats. The

NSCVE is principally focused on prevention through enhancing community resilience, disrupting pathways to radicalization and recruitment to VE and VEOs, enhancing social cohesion, and developing national and county government capacity. It is also focused on disengagement and reintegration. The NSCVE was revised in 2018-2019 to reflect the evolving threat; better account for county and local needs; have a stronger awareness of gender dynamics; focus on different forms of VE; and simplify the structure in order to evaluate its impact. 47 county governments together with county-level national government administration officials (NGAOs) co-led the development of County CVE Action Plans (CAPs) to cascade and contextualize the NSCVE. The county governments and NGAOs coordinate the implementation of the

CAPs through County Engagement Forums (CEFs) that include civil society, religious leaders, and the private sector. Only a few counties have demonstrated the commitment to finance the implementation of the CAPs from county budgets and by establishing directorates to coordinate and oversee implementation.

In light of the national and county government efforts to date and drawing on what we have learned from

P/CVE programming in Kenya and East Africa, PAVE seeks to prevent or reduce the likelihood that vulnerable youth and women in at-risk communities will get involved in violence/VE. To this end, PAVE will work on four integrated components to reduce the risk of recruitment into and support for VE and to enhance the capacity and commitment of our partners in the county and national governments, civil society, youth, women, and faith-based organizations, and the private sector to prevent and counter the VE threats they face. This RFI seeks information on three of the integrated components. Submissions must describe how the PAVE program will integrate all three components, that is, the systems approach, community engagement, and analytics.

● Component I - Systems Approach: PAVE will support an intergovernmental systems approach that brings together national and county governments in the focus counties. This intergovernmental framework will partner with youth, women, civic groups, clerics, and the private sector in a nuanced

2 Ambassador Dr. Martin Kimani, Special Envoy for CVE and NCTC Director, Press Release on the Launch of the Mombasa

County Action Plan, May 16, 2017.

3 National Strategy to Counter Violent Extremism, 2016.

interfaith engagement to prevent and counter VE in the focus counties. The systems approach will also include a participatory community research component to enhance local capacities and build or strengthen a sustainable network that can continue to partner with the national and county governments, academia, civil society, and other stakeholders. This is particularly critical, as communities notice early signs of VEO activity long before law enforcement and government officials.

● Component II - Community Engagement: This component seeks to enhance the agency and capacities of communities, youth, women, civic groups, clerics, and the private sector to disrupt VE radicalization and recruitment pathways and networks in the focus counties, including online extremism. Taking a place-based approach, activities under this component will work with communities and individuals making a distinction between sympathizers/supporters and those who are likely to get recruited and involved in violence/VE.

● Component III - Analytics: PAVE will support research and analysis on VE risks, resilience, trends, and trajectories to help P/CVE stakeholders anticipate how VE will evolve; make timely and strategic pivots for effective programming as the context and dynamics change; and draw lessons and good practice from the community engagement and intergovernmental partnerships and interventions. The analytics will include Kenya and limited East Africa data, maps, analysis, and a resilience index for the focus counties. The regional data and analysis will be limited to the transnational/cross-border VE dimensions to enhance understanding of the VE threat and dynamics in Kenya to program more effectively.

Questions

Answers to the following questions, describing how your organization could respond, are recommended for consideration. USAID/KEA will not review expressions of interest that do not address all three components as described above.

a. To achieve the PAVE purpose stated herein, how will you co-create an integrated program comprising the three components to prevent or reduce the likelihood of vulnerable youth and women supporting or getting recruited into VE from the focus counties?

● How will you target the PAVE program within the focus counties? That is, which geographic areas and population segments will you focus on within the focus counties? How will you do this without stigmatizing, increasing vulnerability, or incentivizing radicalization and recruitment to VE?

● What are the specific objectives of your integrated PAVE program that respond to the VE threat and context in the focus counties?

● How will you partner with and enhance the capacity and commitment of the county and national governments towards an intergovernmental security and P/CVE framework in the focus counties? How will you support civic groups, youth, women, and faith-based organizations, and the private sector to prevent and counter the VE threats they face?

b. How will you integrate disrupting online extremism to the interventions under Component

II - Community Engagement?

● What role, if any, are online VEO networks and extremism playing in radicalization and recruitment to VE in the focus counties?

● How will you undermine online VEO ideological claims?

● How would you work with tech companies and the private sector to disrupt online extremism?

c. How will you build a body of indigenous, appropriate, and timely research and analytics4 that will inform programmatic interventions and draw lessons and good practice from the same interventions, the evolution of VE and P/CVE, and the changing context and dynamics?

● How will you include a participatory community research component, enhance local research and analysis capacities, and build or strengthen a sustainable network that can continue to partner with the national and county governments, academia, civil society, and other stakeholders?

● What would a resilience index for the focus counties look like? What would it measure over the life of the program?

● How will you make the data and analytics readily accessible and digestible for key

P/CVE stakeholders?

d. How will you measure change over the course of the PAVE program?

● How will you integrate CVE-specific monitoring, evaluation, learning, and adaptation?

● How will the monitoring, evaluation, learning, and adaptation components link with the research and analytics and vice versa?

End of Attachment 1

4 The analytics will include Kenya and limited East Africa data, maps, analysis, and a resilience index for the focus counties. The regional data and analysis will be limited to the transnational/cross-border VE dimensions to enhance understanding of the VE threat and dynamics in Kenya to program more effectively.