RFI-306-19-EG-003_Market-Based_Jobs_for_Peace.pdf

Request for Information (RFI) on Planned Activity Titled “Market-Based Jobs for Peace

(MJP)”

Notice Type: Special Notice – REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) Issuance Date: April 25, 2019 Response Due Date: May 20, 2019, 1700 Hrs. Eastern Time Reference Number: RFI-306-19-EG-003

Dear Prospective Offerors and Interested Parties:

Pursuant to FAR Part 15.201 (c), d and (f) and FAR Part 10.0002(b)(2)(iii), the United States Government represented by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission to Afghanistan is issuing the subject Request for Information (RFI) in order to obtain comments and inputs from all interested parties on the proposed Market-Based Jobs for Peace (MJP) Activity. Responders may choose the format they wish to provide comments, however all comments and responses to questions must not exceed five (5) pages. USAID/Afghanistan also solicits feedback from the Afghan business community on how they think their business may be impacted by a peace process.

This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP). Therefore, responses to this RFI are not considered as proposals and will in no way be deemed to form any contracting relationship with the RFI issuing authority. It should be noted that responding to this RFI will not give any advantage to any organization in any subsequent procurement. It is the responsibility of potential Offeror and interested parties to monitor the FedBizOpps.gov site for the release of any further information and RFP related to this procurement opportunity.

Through this RFI, USAID/Afghanistan seeks inputs, ideas, comments, and information from the public that will assist to improve the design of the activity. All comments/ feedback must be in English and submitted in writing electronically to kblaidoaaoegteam@usaid.gov. No hard copy submission, phone calls or request for meetings or questions will be accepted. Responses to this RFI will be accepted through the closing date and time indicated above.

All information received in response to this RFI marked “Proprietary” will be protected and handled accordingly. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary or competition sensitive information contained in their response. USAID reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for its purposes. Those who submit responses to this RFI may receive an email acknowledging receipt of their responses, but no individualized feedback will be provided. No claim will be made against the U.S. Government as a result of a response to this RFI or from the U.S. Government’s use of such information.

USAID will not pay for information submitted nor will it reimburse for costs incurred by an organization that elects to respond to this request. All costs associated with responding to this mailto:kblaidoaaoegteam@usaid.gov

Background

As stated in the USAID 2019-2023 Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) for Afghanistan, accelerating economic growth would help expand the Afghan Government’s revenue base, could contribute to stability, and may create the conditions necessary for peace. Moreover, as donors emphasized at the November 2018 Geneva Ministerial Conference on Afghanistan, peace will have to be underpinned by inclusive economic and social programs. USAID sees increased economic growth as both an input to, and a potential outcome of, a durable peace agreement.

Afghanistan’s employment to working age population ratio fell from 42.9 percent in 2013/2014 to 41 percent in 2016/2017. This decline was most pronounced among rural women, where employment to working age population ratio declined from 21.2 percent to 18.3 percent, equivalent to the loss of nearly 130,000 jobs. The labor force participation rate fell from 55.4 percent in 2013/2014 to 53.9 percent in 2016/2017, equivalent to an increase in discouraged workers (i.e. those that are of working age, not currently employed and not seeking employment) of around 118,000.

Employment of working age males between the ages of 25 and 50 declined from 93.4 percent in 2011/2012 to 84.3 percent in 2016/2017, equivalent to a reduction in employment of around 176,000 jobs. The growing rate of unemployment is a result of low private sector investment, population expansion, insecurity, corruption, terrorism and a weakened education system. Educated Afghans, including degree holders, are unable to find jobs domestically due to insufficient job vacancies, poor Afghan Government economic plans, and favoritism. Lack of technical education also causes unemployment in Afghanistan, as there are few technical and vocational training institutions, and students are not trained in practical, market-required skills.

The Problem:

An Afghan peace agreement will result in new opportunities and challenges. One challenge will be meeting the demand for employment. Afghanistan’s unemployment situation may be exacerbated due to an increase in returnees and ex-combatants who will settle and look for employment and other economic engagements. In order to absorb annual additions to the workforce, the Afghan economy will have to grow rapidly. Afghanistan’s output growth has slowed to an estimated 1.0 percent in 2018, down from 2.7 percent in the previous year. Sluggish economic growth and continued demographic pressures increase Afghan unemployment. With an average annual population growth rate of three percent and with an estimated 400,000 Afghans entering the labor market each year, much higher economic growth rates are required to improve per capita incomes and to provide quality employment opportunities for the expanding workforce. The low growth rate is a result of several factors including pervasive corruption at all levels of government and physical insecurity in many parts of the country, among others. Lack of appropriate skills and/or appropriately trained workers is also a constraint to being employable.

It is estimated that more than two million Afghans residing in Pakistan could return to Afghanistan after a peace settlement. Also, the need to reintegrate former insurgent and militia fighters into the economy will introduce additional challenges. While a lasting peace agreement could fundamentally improve growth prospects for unskilled, semi-skilled, and skilled workers, one of Afghanistan’s greatest economic challenges today remains identifying sustainable sources of growth. Other challenges to economic growth include limited skilled labor, the effects of near-continuous conflict over decades, deterioration in physical and institutional infrastructure, heavy reliance on foreign donor support, and widespread corruption.

The MJP Activity has the overarching objective of reducing pervasive, widespread unemployment.

This will be achieved through three broad interventions including, first, creating sustainable private sector jobs in rural and peri-urban regions; second, improving workforce skills for employment, self-employment and entrepreneurship; and third, enhancing the overall competitiveness of Afghan value chains. USAID is seeking market-based approaches and systems-thinking that will address the root causes of unemployment in Afghanistan, meet the needs of vulnerable populations, and enhance outcomes and return-on-investment of the U.S. Government’s development dollars. Specifically, USAID is looking for systematic ways to support robust job creation and increase value chains growth by using lessons learned and best practices from successful economic reintegration of returnees and former combatants. The interventions under this Activity should also be tied to outcomes that perpetuate sustainable livelihoods. This Activity should focus on interventions that improve the incentives and behavior of businesses, and other market players including the communities, public, private—formal and informal, to ensure lasting and large-scale benefits to the market system actors.

The intended beneficiaries of this activity will be in the communities where the following populations are located: returnees from Pakistan, migrant workers from Iran, and those individuals who are internally displaced persons (IDP) because of drought, floods and extremist activity in the rural and peri-urban areas. This activity seeks to help these communities to be absorbed into the country’s overall economic fabric, specifically in market-based value chains in urban areas. Many in these communities lack access to economic opportunities and occupational skills that could provide them or their families a basic livelihood. This market-based job initiative will also incorporate working with civil society programs, when and where appropriate, to help facilitate education, training and skills development for members of these communities including former combatants.

Activity Impact This activity will contribute to USAID/Afghanistan’s FY 2019-2023 Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS): Development Objective 1: Private Sector-Driven and Export-led Economic Growth Accelerated,

• IR 1.2: Competitiveness of Value Chains Increased, Sub-IR 1.2.1: Commercial Viability of Businesses Increased,

• IR 1.3: Employment and Skills of Afghans Increased.

Project Objectives In pursuit of the Activity’s overarching objective of reducing pervasive, widespread unemployment, USAID has identified three specific performance objectives under the Market-Based Jobs for Peace Activity.

• Objective 1: Create sustainable private sector jobs in rural and peri-urban regions

• Objective 2: Improve workforce skills for employment; self-employment and entrepreneurship; and

• Objective 3: Support in enhancing the overall competitiveness of Afghan value chains.

Expected Results

• Result 1: 200,000 full-time equivalent direct and indirect jobs created along the target value chains.

• Result 2: Skills of employees and entrepreneurs enhanced.

• Result 3: Trade and exports of Afghan products in the domestic, regional and export markets increased.

Activity Key Assumptions

• This Activity should achieve impact by leveraging the opportunities arising from any improvement in the security environment. The impact should be delivered without creating incentives that undermine longer-term economic development or the functioning of existing agencies and institutions.

• This Activity should collaborate with existing USAID and other projects in order to leverage and duplicate in order to ensure higher impacts.

• This Activity should be needs- and demand-driven in order to deliver benefits to underserved and disadvantaged populations and regions in an inclusive manner without specific reference to groups based on their political affiliation or previous participation in armed groups.

• This Activity should create opportunities for peaceful economic participation of women and youth, including but not limited to those who have previously been involved in armed groups.

• Interventions under this Activity should help in addressing conflict to the extent that they contribute towards employment creation and demonstrate change and progress through improving living standards.

Activity Potential Focus Areas

• Specific economic empowerment initiatives targeting but not exclusive to youth, women, IDPs, returnees, and former combatants in rural areas.

• Building professional capacity for Business Development Service (BDS) providers that can service rural enterprises.

• Attracting investment into appropriate value chains in rural Afghanistan that have potential for upstream linkages into domestic, regional and international markets.

• Collaboration with USAID's Office of Agriculture projects on specific interventions that build agricultural value chains.

• Collaboration with civil society organizations in identifying the needs of the communities and working together to improve the enabling environment for investment and progress of the private sector.

• Collaboration with educational and vocational training institutions to provide appropriate training for the skills that may be required by the private sector.

• Scale-up of existing financial institutions that can improve access to financial services for micro, small and medium enterprises.

• Attracting and securing private sector investment for rural enterprises.

• Incentives to catalyze private sector investment in rural social services infrastructure.

• Development of bankable extractives project pipeline such as in aggregate for construction materials, limestone, marble, granite, onyx, travertine and gemstones.

Questions to the Prospective Offerors and Interested Parties:

Note: USAID/Afghanistan/Office of Economic Growth is interested in responses to the following specific questions. Respondents are encouraged to review the questions and include responses to the most relevant questions in their submissions. Respondents do not need to respond to all the questions listed below. When responding, please show the number of the question you are responding to for ease of reference.

1. What type of jobs would you envisage for the target demographics?

2. What jobs are available with the private sector that lack qualified and skilled people to fill the jobs?

3. What kind of jobs do you envisage for the youth under this Activity?

4. What towns or centers do you expect have the potential for this activity, even as the peace discussions continue?

5. To what extent will the scope of this activity impact the ongoing political and economic environment in Afghanistan? Please suggest ways to improve on the scope of the activity.

6. To what extent is the proposed impact and focus areas appropriate for addressing the stated challenges? Please propose any alternative objectives and results that should be pursued under this activity.

7. Are the assumptions, and problem statement in this activity sound or do they need to be expanded or refocused?

8. Who are potential activity collaborators for Market-Based Jobs for Peace Activity that would ensure high impacts? Please suggest potential collaborators.

9. What community-based approaches would be appropriate for achieving high impact under this activity?

End of RFI