RFI_ Sahel Regional CTIP Activitysigned RT 11.9.22.pdf

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

Regional Countering Trafficking in Persons (RC-TIP) Activity for the Sahel

RFI-685-23-RC-TIP

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Mission in Senegal / Sahel Regional Office (SRO) is in the early stages of designing a new Countering Trafficking in Persons (C-TIP) activity for the Sahel region. The Mission Senegal / Sahel Regional Office (SRO) is exploring a regional approach to C-TIP that will undertake relevant in-country and cross-border interventions. To that end, USAID/Senegal/SRO is reaching out to all local stakeholders and interested parties to obtain comments and suggestions in order to incorporate relevant information and innovative approaches to support regional governments in preventing and responding to TIP.

Please see Attachment-1 - Questions For Response.

By issuing this Request for Information (RFI), USAID/Senegal/SRO will solicit input from the broad community of private sector actors, public institutions, development partners, non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations, industry associations, think tanks, and academia concerned with the issue of trafficking in persons in the Sahel. Comments will be used to inform a design document that is clear, maximizes development impact, facilitates coordination with existing and planned U.S. Government (USG) and USAID activities and other development partner programs, and aligns with the priorities of partner governments.

DISCLAIMER

The information contained within the RFI is intended solely as a thought-piece; ideas may change significantly during the activity’s design and approval process. In addition, this RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes. It does not constitute a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), Request for Applications (RFA), an Annual Program Statement, a Request for Proposal, a Request for Quotation, an Invitation for Bids, a Solicitation, or any indication that USAID/Sahel Regional Office (SRO) will make an award from this RFI.

Responses to this RFI shall not be portrayed as applications and will not be accepted by the USG to form a binding agreement. This RFI is not to be construed as a commitment by the USG to issue any NOFO or ultimately award of an agreement on the basis of this RFI, or to pay for any information submitted as a result of this request. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. It is the respondent’s responsibility to monitor www.sam.gov or www.grants.gov for the release of any further subsequent procurement. Note that responding to this RFI will not give any advantage to any firm or organization in any subsequent procurement and will not lead to an organizational conflict of interest. Responses will be strictly held confidential.

INSTRUCTIONS

Responses (comments, suggestions, and enhancements) to this RFI must be in Microsoft Word or PDF format and submitted by January 6, 2023. To expedite our review and also be considerate of your time, please keep responses to no more than 4 pages in length, 12 pt font.

Responses may be submitted in English or French. Please number each page consecutively.

While the limit on the length of submissions is 4 pages, we value concise, issue-specific comments.

Please send responses to this RFI via email to Aminata Diallo at amdiallo@usaid.gov and copy to rtrimble@usaid.gov and hcisse@usaid.gov with the subject title “Request for Information (RFI): USAID/Senegal -SRO Regional C-TIP activity” no later than the date/time stated above. You will only receive an electronic confirmation acknowledging receipt of your response. No feedback or debrief will be provided on comments received.

Phone calls or hard copy responses will not be accepted.

Thank you for your assistance and interest in USAID programming.

Sincerely, Robert Trimble, Regional Agreement Officer

Attachment 1: Questions for Response

Robert A.

Trimble

Digitally signed by Robert A. Trimble Date: 2022.11.09 16:36:44 Z

I. Background

Development Problem: Trafficking in persons is a core human rights concern and a massive humanitarian and development challenge which affects millions of people around the globe.

Addressing the scourge of trafficking is a USG priority, recently bolstered through an updated three-year National Action Plan signed December 3, 2021. USAID is one of several government agencies mandated by the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000 to implement C-TIP activities, and updated its C-TIP Policy1 in December 2021.

The USG defines TIP as a crime that uses force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploiting an individual for profit through forced labor or sexual exploitation. The State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report2 recognizes all major forms of human trafficking, including forced labor, sex trafficking, bonded labor, debt bondage, involuntary domestic servitude, child labor, the recruitment and deployment of child soldiers, and child sex trafficking. A victim need not be transported from one location to another for a crime to fall within this definition.

Trafficking in persons presents a serious threat to development and stability in Sahel countries. It is first and foremost a gross violation of human rights. Women and girls, as well as men and boys, are exploited across the region through forced labor, sex trafficking, and hereditary slavery, depriving large proportions of the Sahelian population of basic human freedom and autonomy.

The problem of trafficking in persons is amplified by the challenges facing the region, including conflict and climate change, which increase the number of people susceptible to exploitation.

The skyrocketing number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Burkina Faso over the past few years alone has created extensive needs for TIP prevention and response, separate from the previously existing risks presented by seasonal and economic migration. TIP can also fuel instability to some extent, as armed groups target vulnerable people, including IDPs, women, and children, into combatant and non-combatant roles.

There are also significant consequences for states’ continued failure to address trafficking in terms of impact on broader U.S. assistance and partnership efforts. The TVPA mandates that the Department of State prepare an annual Trafficking in Persons report which categorizes each country into one of four tiers based on the extent of government efforts to meet the TVPA’s minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking. Countries that are rated as Tier 3 are subject to restrictions on foreign assistance, particularly assistance that may benefit the government. Thus, lack of sufficient progress by governments to TIP threatens development assistance in these countries more broadly.

In the 2022 report, most of the countries in the Sahel region are on the State Department’s Tier 2 Watchlist for the second or third year and face restrictions on foreign assistance if downgraded to Tier 3 in the next report. Burkina Faso and Mauritania will automatically be downgraded to Tier 3 in 2023 if they do not make enough progress to merit a waiver; Chad, Mali, and Senegal are on the Tier 2 Watchlist for the third consecutive year, which means they must necessarily move up to Tier 2 or down to Tier 3 in 2023. They are no longer eligible to receive a downgrade waiver.

Meanwhile, Guinea-Bissau is already rated Tier 3. Just two countries are not in imminent danger

2 https://www.state.gov/trafficking-in-persons-report/ 1 https://www.usaid.gov/trafficking/c-tip/policy of being downgraded: Niger and The Gambia are both rated Tier 2, meaning they are making significant efforts to eliminate TIP.

Current challenges: The State Department’s 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report3 demonstrates the cross-border nature of the issue in SRO focus countries (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, the Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau) and in the broader region, as well as regional similarities in terms of the types of trafficking that are observed and government responses:

Common Typologies:

● Forced child begging is usually but not always related to Quranic schools and pervasive in all countries in the region. This can be domestic or cross-border, as children are often sent to other countries for school.

● Other forms of forced child labor are common in artisanal mines, agriculture, livestock herding/transhumance and as domestic labor, domestically or across borders. In some contexts, children may be conscripted into violent extremist organizations or other armed groups.

● Domestic servitude is also a common manifestation in the region, in which women, girls, and boys, are forced into domestic labor domestically and also internationally. They are often lured by promises of good jobs in the Gulf or in Europe.

● Sex trafficking of adult women and children happens across the region. Sahelian women are trafficked into other countries in the region and into Libya and the Gulf. Many of the women trafficked into Sahel countries are from other West African countries, including Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire. Sex trafficking is also prevelant near industrial mining in the region.

● Hereditary slavery is a notable problem in Mauritania and other countries in the Sahel, including Mali and Niger, that targets people of specific ethnic backgrounds or castes.

Trends in Government Responses along the “3P” Paradigm4:

Prosecution

In most of the countries that SRO covers there are adequate laws in place, but limited enforcement of these laws, and often very little investigation of these crimes reported. Some of the common obstacles include lack of adequate training of law enforcement, judges, and other key officials; corruption and complicity of officials in the crimes themselves or in hindering investigations or prosecutions; and lack of centralized reporting structures.

Protection

Almost all of the countries at issue support some shelters for victims of crime - including TIP -but these are not adequate. While some countries make legal aid available for victims of TIP, 4 The State Department’s annual TIP reports describe progress across the “3Ps” of prosecution, protection and prevention.

USAID also recognizes the importance of the “4th P,” partnerships. As the CTIP Policy notes, “[s]uccessful efforts to counter TIP require effective coordination across a broad range of stakeholders,” including survivors, civil society, government, private sector, and media.

3 https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-trafficking-in-persons-report/ these resources are underused. Some, but not all, of the countries have developed National Referral Mechanisms for victim identification and referral. Protection can be uneven, with certain groups overlooked.

Prevention

Most countries have a National Action Plan that is funded, as well as a designated committee to coordinate TIP response, although not all of them are fully staffed. Almost all SRO focus countries are running preventive campaigns or training targeted at specific groups. For example, several countries have trained their peacekeeping troops going to other countries in the region or in West Africa. Basic knowledge of what TIP is and how to identify it is low among the public as well as officials. Labor-related TIP is a major gap in terms of government prevention or response across the region.

Alignment with USAID’s Objectives for the Sahel and the C-TIP Policy: USAID incorporated C-TIP in its Regional Development Cooperation Strategy for West Africa and the Sahel (2020-25)5, particularly under Regional Development Objective (RDO) 4, Vulnerability of Targeted Populations Reduced. Trafficking is identified as a problem that can benefit from a regional approach because of its cross-border nature; it is noted that a regional approach on cross-border issues complements bilateral interventions by “promoting shared learning among partners and governments; facilitating the linkages between regional, national and local policies;

taking advantage of economies of scale to efficiently use U.S. taxpayer dollars; and providing long-term stability in programs and staffing” (p. 35-36). TIP is identified as a key transnational threat under IR 4.1: Resilience to Shocks and Stresses Strengthened, and as a particular threat to women and youth under IR 4.3 Lives and Livelihoods Saved. RDO 4 recognizes trafficking as one way that women’s relative disempowerment manifests in the Sahel region, and addressing trafficking would be one mode of fulfilling the RDCS commitment to “enhancing the social, economic, and political agency of women and youth” throughout RDO 4. The RC-TIP activity design will be shaped by the USAID C-TIP Policy’s guiding principles, including promoting survivor-centered approaches; measuring effectiveness and adapting successful program approaches; promoting strategic partnerships; and safeguarding marginalized and vulnerable populations.

II. Activity Concept

SRO is exploring a regional approach to C-TIP that will undertake relevant in-country and cross-border interventions. SRO primarily supports four country offices in the region: Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, and the Gambia. However, the activity could engage with other countries, particularly Guinea-Bissau, other Sahel countries that have USAID Missions, including Mali, Niger, or Senegal, or those that border the Sahel. C-TIP programming could be incorporated into a larger regional program with a human rights focus, or could stand alone;

regardless it is expected that it should leverage existing or future programming focusing on TIP, human rights, access to justice, and rule of law in the countries where it is active. The activity will prioritize learning and adaptation, with an emphasis on identifying positive deviance in the

5 https://www.usaid.gov/west-africa-regional/rdcs

Sahel and helping apply those good practices across the region, where appropriate. Given the need across the region, programming could support various lines of efforts across the 3P paradigm.

ATTACHMENT 1:Questions for Response

Respondents are asked to provide input on some or all of the questions below considering how USAID could best achieve its objective to counter trafficking in persons in the Sahel region.

Responses will help USAID shape its thinking during its current phase of activity design and stakeholder consultation.

1) Effective Approaches:

a) What specific technical approaches for countering trafficking in persons (C-TIP) have proven effective or are showing progress in West African or Sahel countries?

b) What specific state or non-state actors in particular Sahel countries model effective C-TIP efforts in low-resource environments and might be seen as bright spots for informing future support?

2) Geographic Focus:

a) Is there demand for cross-border or regional approaches to C-TIP in the Sahel region or in West Africa? Are there existing partnerships between groups across borders that can be leveraged to make gains in C-TIP? What role do regional organizations play in C-TIP, and can this be built upon?

b) Which countries in West Africa are most critical to include in a regional program, either because of the role they play as an origin-transit-destination country, or because of their existing counter-trafficking efforts?

3) Regional Trends:

a) What trends related to trafficking or manifestations of the problem are most prevalent across the Sahel?

b) What windows of opportunity exist in the region to support partner government efforts to counter TIP?

c) How has climate change impacted migration patterns and/or trafficking in the Sahel?

d) How have other threats to stability such as violent extremism or crime impacted groups that are vulnerable to TIP in the region? How do displacement and TIP intersect?

e) In what ways do social norms and traditional societal practices and/or power structures create vulnerabilities to TIP, or protect against TIP?

4) Coordination: What other donor-funded TIP projects are working in the region that should be coordinated with any future USAID activity?

5) Other: Are there other factors, recommendations, or considerations regarding C-TIP that USAID should be aware of?

6) Capacity Statements: Please provide brief information that describes your organization’s capability and interest in implementing activities to achieve the objectives of USAID/Senegal/Sahel Regional Office’s Regional C-TIP Activity.

[END OF REQUEST FOR INFORMATION]

Drafter: Senegal/SRO: JWilkie

Approved: Senegal/RAAO: RTrimble

Mission Level Clearances Clearance Status Date Senegal/SRTO: MGoldenbaum Clear 10/31/2022 Senegal/SRPO: SRawson (A) Clear 11/7/2022 Senegal/SRO: DMD CChappell Clear 11/8/2022