RFI-621-21-Youth.pdf

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Subject: Request for Information (RFI) and Sources Sought Notice (SSN) No. RFI-671-21-Youth

Activity Name: USAID/Tanzania Cross-Sectoral Youth Empowerment Activity

Date of Issuance: October 4, 2021

Submission Deadline: October 19, 2021

To All Interested Organizations:

Pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 10, the U.S. Agency for International Development Mission to Tanzania (USAID/Tanzania) is conducting market research for a prospective activity. This notice has two parts:

1. a Request for Information (RFI) to solicit input from interested organizations on a draft technical description for a prospective USAID/Tanzania activity; and

2. a Sources Sought Notice (SSN) to identify potential sources capable of providing the described services.

The RFI/SSN is solely for information gathering purposes and is not a Request for Proposal (RFP), a Request for Quotation (RFQ), an Invitation for Bids (IFB), a solicitation, or an indication that USAID will contract for the activities described herein. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract or agreement. Any proposals or applications submitted in response to this request will not be considered and will be discarded. If a solicitation is eventually issued, it will be announced on either www.sam.gov or www.grants.gov and all interested parties must respond to that solicitation. It is the responsibility of interested organizations to monitor the sites for additional information pertaining to any potential future requirement.

This RFI/SSN is not to be construed as a commitment by the USG to issue any solicitation or ultimately award a contract or other award for services similar to those described in this RFI/SSN. Responses to this notice are strictly voluntary and USAID will not pay respondents for information provided in response to this notice. Respondents are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this

RFI/SSN.

Responses to this RFI/SSN will be retained by USAID and will not be returned. USAID may elect to use the information submitted at its discretion. Organizations should not submit any proprietary or otherwise sensitive information. This RFI does not restrict the Government's procurement approach on a future solicitation and USAID reserves the right to modify the scope, scale or other details of the planned activities. Similarly, USAID is not obligated to modify its planned approach or otherwise incorporate the input that organizations offer.

It should be noted that responding to or providing input in response to this RFI/SSN will not give any advantage to an organization in any subsequent procurement action. Likewise, organizations that choose not to respond will not be precluded from submitting an application/proposal in response to a subsequent solicitation, if one is ultimately issued. Respondents will receive a confirmation of receipt of its http://www.sam.gov/ http://www.grants.gov/ submission. However, USAID will not provide feedback on submissions or answers to any questions submitted in response to this request. Phone inquiries will not be entertained.

Instructions:

USAID welcomes all segments of the public (in the U.S. and abroad, and especially in Tanzania) to reply to the RFI and SSN. U.S. small businesses are especially encouraged to respond. Interested organizations may choose to respond to either or both parts of this notice following the instructions included below.

All responses to this RFI/SSN must be submitted via email by the date and time indicated above to Cecilia Mambo at cmambo@usaid.gov and Sascha Kemper at skemper@usaid.gov. Submission must be in Microsoft Word format as a single email attachment. All pages must be numbered consecutively.

Responses must be typed in 12-point Times New Roman font, single spaced with one-inch margins on the electronic equivalent of 8.5 x 11-inch paper. The email subject line must include the RFI number and the name of the submitting organization, i.e., “RFI-671-21-Youth – [Organization name]”.

Responses sent by any other means or in any other format will not be reviewed. Submissions must not exceed the page limitations for each part indicated below. Submissions exceeding the page limits will not be read. Only one submission will be accepted per organization.

Cover Page:

Whether responding to the RFI, the SSN or both components, all submissions must include a cover page (one page maximum) that includes the following information:

● Organization name and address

● Organization points of contact name, DUNS number (if applicable), telephone number, and email address

● Organization type, i.e., commercial, public sector, educational institution, NGO, etc.

● If applicable, socioeconomic status, e.g., other than small business, small business, woman owned, veteran-owned, etc.

● Primary field(s) of expertise/work

● Geographic presence, e.g., countries in which your organization is currently working, also noting the countries in which your organization is legally and formally registered

● North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes, if applicable

Responses to Part 1 – RFI

If responding to the RFI to provide input on the prospective activity’s technical description, organizations are requested to carefully review the attached draft technical description and respond to any of the following questions. Answers can be sector-specific or multi-sectoral depending on your organization's expertise.

1. How can youth programming in Tanzania best demonstrate a youth-led and youth-managed approach that reflects a core belief in helping young Tanzanians transition from beneficiaries to partners and leaders in their own development?

2. What differentiations in approach to reaching 15 to 25 year old Tanzanians are most important? For example, how might an approach be tailored to take into account the differences in needs amongst potential beneficiaries (i.e., the needs for a 15-year-old school drop-out and the needs of a 23 year old first time parent differ)? Differentiation may pertain to age, gender, level of schooling completed or other segments of the youth population with differing developmental needs.

mailto:cmambo@usaid.gov

3. What are the existing service gaps that prevent youth - and in particular, out-of-school youth - from leading engaged and empowered lives?

4. What are the most effective ways to deliver various services and information to youth? Recognizing that not all individuals require the same package of interventions, how would you deliver multiple services to youth with potentially diverse needs efficiently and effectively? The following is a list of illustrative types of services we would be interested in understanding your feedback on:

a. Health: gender-based violence, maternal and child health, adolescent nutrition, malaria, HIV, COVID, mental health, etc.

b. Civic Engagement: registering for national IDs, voter registration, birth registrations, conflict management, advocacy, etc.

c. Workforce Readiness: persistence, time management, problem solving, critical thinking, interviewing, etc.

d. Remedial Skills: literacy, numeracy, digital literacy, etc.

e. Parenting: birth spacing, vaccinations, nutrition, etc.

f. Financial Literacy: savings, accessing credit, labor market information, etc.

g. Business Development: accessing capital, registration, insurance, business plans, market analysis, etc.

h. Mentoring and Coaching

5. How might interventions in the draft technical description be effectively coordinated while incorporating specialist input from multiple disciplines?

6. How would your organization use the Positive Youth Development Framework to approach engagements with youth in Tanzania? What types of creative and innovative interventions or approaches would your organization propose to support positive youth development in Tanzania?

7. How would your organization leverage other US government investments in Tanzanian youth leadership such as the Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI)?

8. What challenges does your organization foresee in supporting youth, 15-25 years of age, that did not complete lower secondary school, or do not have a secondary school leaving certificate?

9. How would your organization propose to address sustainability and operational issues associated with a Youth Center or Safe Space approach, or other approaches to reach and support out-of-school youth populations?

This portion of an organization’s response must not exceed 5 pages in total length.

Responses to Part 2 - SSN

USAID seeks capability statements from U.S. and non-U.S. for-profit and not-for-profit organizations capable of performing the activity described herein in USAID/Tanzania’s Country Development Cooperation Strategy geographic focus areas.

The items below must be addressed in the response:

1. Provide up to a two-page statement describing your organization’s capability to implement awards with tasks similar in scope and scale to those described in this notice, with specific emphasis on the ability to deliver technical and material support across a broad range of sectors and priority areas.

2. Provide a one-page statement describing your organization’s experience in relation to the services stated in the technical description below, with specific emphasis on the delivery of youth skills development, youth community engagement efforts, and youth-friendly health services. Please detail specific work with youth through schools, community institutions, health clinics, universities, youth clubs or centers, and any other youth platforms.

3. Provide a one-page table (Sample Table A below) with a list of up to seven current or past activities demonstrating experience implementing activities related to empowering both in and out-of-school youth.

Table A

Award Number Donor/ Funder Activity

Overview Country Period of Performance

Responses to the SSN must not exceed 5 pages total, including Table A. Any organization responding to this Sources Sought Notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the government to determine the organization's qualifications to perform this work.

Sincerely, Sascha Kemper Contracting Officer USAID/Tanzania

Attachment 1 – Draft Technical Description “Cross-Sectoral Youth Activity”

I. Background

USAID/Tanzania’s Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) 2020 - 2025 goal is: Tanzanian youth advance the country’s long-term prosperity and journey to self-reliance. To achieve this goal, USAID/Tanzania supports three Development Objectives (DO):

DO 1: Foundational skills of children below age 15 improved DO 2: Empowerment, productivity, and engagement of Tanzanians aged 15 - 35 increased DO 3: Capacity of state and non-state actors strengthened to benefit future generations

In support of its CDCS goal, USAID/Tanzania is designing an integrated Cross-Sectoral Youth activity to increase the empowerment, productivity, and community engagement of youth, and in particular for out-of-school youth aged 15-25. This integrated activity will combine efforts from across USAID’s traditional areas of intervention - health, education, democracy and governance, and economic growth.

This activity will support a holistic approach to youth development, shaped and led by youth, and providing skills development, resources, and support that youth need to thrive.

II. Activity Theory of Change

The working theory of change for this activity is that if:

1. out-of-school youth are provided with opportunities to access and develop basic skills, and if,

2. out-of-school youth are provided with opportunities to participate in activities that foster physical and mental well-being, and if,

3. these skills are enhanced by supportive networks and meaningful opportunities to contribute to community development, then youth will become actors in their own well-being and become agents of change in their communities.

III. Program Objectives

USAID/Tanzania seeks highly experienced and capable organizations that can work closely with the Mission and ongoing program implementation partners to create and support an array of interventions, differentiated and tailored to specific needs of targeted youth, that are youth-owned, youth-led and youth-managed, focused particularly on out of school youth who have had limited opportunities to engage in the formal education sector to: (1) access basic educational, life, and entrepreneurial skills resources; (2) participate in activities that foster physical and mental well-being; and (3) build or strengthen existing networks that support youth development and community engagement. The expected results of this program are that youth participants are more productive, engaged, and active members in their communities.

Guiding Principles:

The activity aspires to move youth from being passive beneficiaries to active partners in shaping and leadership of activity implementation, and in their own lives and communities. Accordingly, this activity must ensure that youth are equipped and provided an opportunity to lead and shape the interventions and activities on offer. This will likely include a focus on enabling and supporting youth-led and youth-managed actions to meet the activity’s objectives in civic engagement, education, health, and access to income and self-employment.

https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Tanzania_CDCS_2020-2025_Public.pdf

Each USAID activity under DO2 has a unique but complementary role to play to address the challenges facing Tanzanian youth. An important role for this activity is to serve a coordinating and convening role for youth-focused programming, bringing together and working in tandem with other USAID activities and other donor and Government of Tanzania efforts as appropriate. This activity will maximize the potential for all other activities to achieve their development results. Therefore, as a guiding principle, this program shall collaborate with other USAID activities in the geographic focus areas as it implements activities. This collaboration shall be advanced through, among other things, integrated work plans, common indicators, shared community prioritization criteria, and joint activities to best and most comprehensively meet the specific needs of targeted youth.

This cross-sectoral youth activity requires expertise across sectors and intimate knowledge of youth dynamics, challenges, and opportunities in Tanzania. Potential interventions should incorporate approaches from USAID’s Positive Youth Development framework.

Component 1: Increased and improved access to basic educational, life, and entrepreneurial skills resources

The average Tanzanian youth does not possess the skills envelope needed to maximize their potential.

Skills gaps highlight the complex nature of this development challenge. A significant number of youth (15-25) in Tanzania are no longer in formal education. Those who are, often fail to meet internationally accepted standards for education outcomes. Irrespective of educational status, this activity seeks to offer youth pathways to learning. Life and workforce readiness skills will also be offered, including basic life skills; childcare, home economics, employment seeking tactics, identifying and accessing local youth-friendly government services (including health, nutrition, education, economic), interviewing/resume writing; access to labor market information, etc. Complementing these skills, this activity will seek to increase digital literacy to help youth understand how to access and assess truthful information. Digital skills are a critical component of youths’ ability to make decisions that impact their lives and contribute to their communities' development. Linkages to the private sector will focus on identifying appropriate skills and opportunities for collaboration in curriculum development and delivery leading to formal employment.

Component 2: Provided with opportunities to participate in activities that foster physical and mental well-being

The activity will provide services open and welcoming to youth at times that respond to their needs (i.e., youth are more likely to need support at 7pm, than mid-morning). In being cognizant of and finding ways to leverage the service delivery interventions on-going in the same geographic areas, the activity will provide a mix of network referrals and direct counseling services to young people on various health issues, empowering youth to grow into healthy adults. These issues include proper nutrition, ending gender-based violence, sexual reproductive health education, family planning, counseling to address mental well-being, and information on a variety of health topics (COVID-19, TB, HIV, GBV, malaria, nutrition, family planning etc.). USAID envisions activities that encourage and develop wellbeing, teamwork, self-efficacy, leadership, creative-thinking, conflict-resolution, and problem-solving in young men and women.

Component 3: Build or strengthen existing networks that support youth development and community engagement

Young people crave interaction and support from positive role models, peer networks, and mentors. Youth regularly do not have access to relevant or accurate advice on how to best identify, pursue and achieve https://www.youthpower.org/positive-youth-development-pyd-framework their educational, employment, health, and civic engagement goals. Mentors, instructors, and coaches will deliver information and guidance informed by the local context, ensuring that youth know the available options, possible resources, and are able to make informed decisions. USAID recognizes that young people in Tanzania will be more likely to effectively contribute to the country’s long-term prosperity if they have substantive and meaningful ways to engage in civic opportunities. In being cognizant of and finding ways to leverage the existing networks, structures, and/or youth-oriented civic organizations in the same geographic areas, the activity will provide a mix of network connections and direct orientation services to young people on how decision-making and governance structures work, and opportunities for engagement as citizens, empowering and facilitating more active participation by youth in their communities. Youth are likely to bring new perspectives about how to tackle pertinent challenges that youth, who comprise the majority of the population, face today.

Furthermore, the activity will provide support to youth to become more actively engaged in community development activities. These opportunities provide avenues to demonstrate contribution to and ownership in developing their communities. Volunteerism may be explored as a path to skills development towards paid employment, but care must be taken to avoid exploiting the labor of young people looking to earn an income.

Part of the challenge facing youth on their path to meaningful civic engagement relates to growing misinformation, realities of social media, and information overload.

IV. Anticipated Place and Period of Performance

USAID/Tanzania anticipates that interventions will be based in the regions prioritized within the 2020- 2025 CDCS. The period of performance is anticipated to be three to five years.