RFI-442-24-004 - Cambodia Civil Society Resilience Activity.pdf

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

RFI Number: RFI-442-24-004

Issuance Date: February 21, 2024

Responses Due Date: March 11, 2024, at 4:00pm, Phnom Penh time

Subject: Soliciting Information for USAID/Cambodia Civil Society

Resilience (CSR) Activity

USAID/Cambodia is seeking information, comments, suggestions, and recommendations to support civil society in Cambodia. The Activity or Activities is/are anticipated to be multi-year, with the range of funding TBD. The USAID/Cambodia Civil Society Resilience (CSR) Activity will be implemented in Cambodia. The geographic focus of this activity is flexible based on business opportunity and potential.

Cambodia’s civil society faces challenges with respect to its overall sustainability. According to the 2021 Civil Society Organization (CSO) Sustainability Index, most CSOs in Cambodia work in service delivery. “Though [the] legal environment, financial viability, advocacy, and sectoral infrastructure all registered slight deteriorations in 2021, organizational capacity recorded a slight improvement, while service provision and public image remained unchanged.”1

CSOs in Cambodia often depend on international donor support, both to operate and to implement programs.2 The sector’s continued reliance on this kind of support presents itself as a vulnerability as donors focus on broader global challenges like poverty elimination, climate change, and violent conflict. The operating environment for CSOs is also becoming more challenging, especially for those working on democracy, human rights, and responsible governance.

The purpose of this RFI is to provide civic actors, industry, stakeholders, and interested organizations an opportunity to:

● Contribute information and suggestions to inform USAID’s planned upcoming activity or activities; and

● Explore innovative approaches to better partner with international and local organizations, including but not limited to community-based organizations or informal

1 USAID. 2021. “Civil Society Organization Sustainability Index,” Pg. 18 2 USAID. 2021. “Civil Society Organization Sustainability Index.”

https://www.fhi360.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/csosi-asia-2021-report.pdf https://www.fhi360.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/csosi-asia-2021-report.pdf groups, to work in Cambodia’s complex operating environment and to address the needs of the country’s civil society community.

DISCLAIMER

This Request for Information (RFI) is issued solely for information, research, and planning purposes. This is not a Request for Applications and is not to be construed as a commitment by the U.S. Government. Responses to this RFI shall not be portrayed as applications and will not be accepted by the U.S. Government to form a binding agreement. Issuance of this notice 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 any costs incurred in the preparation of comments.

Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI.

Responses to this RFI are strictly voluntary and USAID will not pay respondents for information provided in response to this RFI. Responses to this RFI will not be returned and respondents will not be notified of the result of the review. If a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is issued, it will be announced on the Grants.gov website at https://www.grants.gov and/or https://www.sam.gov at a later date, and all interested parties must respond to that NOFO announcement separately from any response to this announcement.

INSTRUCTIONS

Interested respondents are invited to provide no more than five (5) pages of comments/responses to the questions below no later than on Monday, March 11, 2024 via email to USAID/Cambodia’s Office of Acquisition and Assistance (OAA) to Ms. Eng Chheng at echheng@usaid.gov with a copy to Mr. Paul Martin at pmartin@usaid.gov with subject line “Response to USAID/Cambodia Civil Society Resilience (CSR) Activity - RFI”. While the limit on the length of submissions is five pages using 12-point font size, USAID is seeking concise, issue-specific comments that reference the question numbers. You may receive an electronic confirmation acknowledging receipt of your response.

Interested respondents should identify any proprietary information in their responses.

Proprietary materials will neither be distributed, nor discussed with any other organization.

Information submitted in response to this notice will be used at the discretion of the U.S.

Government. Responses submitted will be kept confidential and will not be made publicly available or shared outside of USAID. If the respondent has developed relevant reports, these reports may be included as attachments (not included in the five pages limit).

https://www.grants.gov/ https://www.sam.gov/ mailto:echheng@usaid.gov mailto:pmarting@usaid.gov

QUESTIONS

USAID/Cambodia seeks to solicit feedback, comments, suggestions, and recommendations to inform the design of the planned activity. Please ensure comments are concise and specific to the information requested below:

1. Approaches to increase civil society sustainability and resilience given the Cambodian context.

a) Which approaches are salient for promoting long-term democratic development and resilience?

b) Is it realistic to train/support civil society in Cambodia on how to diversify/mobilize new resources? If so why, if not why? Is community philanthropy and local resource mobilization a possibility in the Cambodian context? If so why, if not why?

2. How to improve the flexibility and/or accessibility of funding and technical support available to bolster civil society and grassroots organizers’ resilience across sectors?

a) Acknowledging the constraints and requirements related to receiving funding, what can donors do to help Cambodian organizations access and manage flexible funding?

b) How can donors respond to the ‘real-time’ needs of civic actors in the current situation in Cambodia?

3. Support meaningful capacity-building determined by local CSOs.

a) How should donors and partners support practices that strengthen strategic decision-making, resource mobilization, coordination, communication, and long-term planning, that advance reforms that are in the public interest?

b) What capacities do civil society actors need to navigate new regulations that impact civic space, human rights, and fundamental freedoms?

c) What approach(s) should a new activity or activities take to increase the use of evidence among CSOs to improve their adaptive capacities? Approach to collective action?

4. Civil society coordination

a) How can a new activity or activities improve coordinated advocacy efforts of CSOs across all development sectors, as well as democracy, human rights, and governance, to advance democratic reform?

b) What kinds of assistance approaches are likely to increase the efficacy of collective action? Which approaches run the risk of causing harm?

c) How might a new activity or activities improve peer-to-peer learning and exchange?

5. Theory of change/other considerations

a) What is a realistic theory of change to strengthen civil society resilience given the political context and realities of civic space in Cambodia?

b) How can local and regional organizations be leveraged, not just as beneficiaries, but as partners of implementation in a new activity?