RFI_-_NRM_Outreach.pdf

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Date Issued: February 27, 2019 Issued by: USAID/Cambodia/OAA Closing Date: March 13, 2019 Closing Time: 11:00PM (Phnom Penh Time)

Reference: Natural Resource Management Outreach and Communications Activity

USAID/Cambodia is seeking public comments on the draft Statement of Objectives (SOO) of an anticipated Request for Proposal (RFP) for the implementation of the Natural Resource Management Outreach and Communications Activity. The potential period of performance is five years with an award range of $3-6 million. This is not a Request for Proposal, and comments must not include any proprietary information. The comments will be taken into consideration in preparing the final version of the Statement of Objectives and solicitation. Responses to this request for information are not binding on the U.S. Government and do not obligate USAID to issue a solicitation, nor do they commit USAID to pay for any costs incurred in the preparation and submission of comments. This RFI does not restrict the Government's acquisition approach on a future solicitation. USAID/Cambodia will not provide responses to the comments.

Comments must be submitted to PhnomPenhOAA@usaid.gov no later than 11:00PM Phnom Penh time on March 13, 2019. The subject line must read, “RFI No. RFI-442-19-001, Natural Resource Management Outreach and Communications Activity”

Brief Activity Description

This transformational outreach Activity will focus on biodiversity conservation, sustainable landscape management, and strengthening civil society. This activity will increase Cambodian’s knowledge of the unique biodiversity and ecosystems in Cambodia, and the benefits and value thereof, and strengthen civil society to advocate and participate in better, more inclusive, management of Cambodia’s natural resources.

USAID/Cambodia’s Questions to the Public

1. How clear and comprehensive are the Activity Goals and Objectives? If these are not clear or comprehensive, what would you clarify, and what Objectives would you revise or add?

2. How well do the Results contribute to the achievement of the Activity Objectives and Goal? What improvements would you suggest to the Results?

3. How clear and comprehensive are the Guiding Principles? If the Guiding Principles are not clear or comprehensive, what would you clarify, and what would you revise or add?

4. How accurate are the underlying assumptions in the Guiding Principles? What recommendations do you have to improve the Guiding Principles?

5. What are the biggest risks in implementing this Activity, and how should they be mitigated?

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

DRAFT STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES

OVERVIEW OF PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS AND PARAMETERS

I.

II. Title

TBD [Working title - Natural Resource Management Outreach and Communications Activity]

I. Purpose

The purpose of this Activity is to use evidence-based communication to empower Cambodian citizens and civil society with the knowledge and skills they need to effectively engage in protection of Cambodia’s unique biodiversity and critical forest ecosystems.

The Natural Resource Management Outreach and Communications Activity will support the Cambodia Mission Objective 4.2, Country Development and Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) Development Objective (DO) 3: Strengthen sustainable and resilient pathways out of poverty.

Under DO3, this Activity is expected to contribute to Intermediate Result 3.1 “Improved, inclusive management of targeted landscapes.” This Activity will contribute to USAID Agency goals for biodiversity, sustainable landscapes, and governance. This Activity is proposed for five years, o/a December 2019 through December 2024.

II. Activity Goal

The goal of this Activity is to: Strengthen evidence-based natural resource management and biodiversity conservation, and empower Cambodian citizens and civil society to engage in protection of Cambodia’s unique biodiversity and critical forest ecosystems.

III. Objectives and Results

Objective 1: Increase target populations’ knowledge of the benefits of Cambodia’s unique and endangered biodiversity and the critical importance of Cambodia’s forest ecosystems.

Result 1.1: Strategic messages on biodiversity and forest protection designed for target audiences.

Result 1.2: Message delivery systems designed and tested for effectiveness.

Result 1.3: Outreach initiatives harmonized and coordinated among USAID projects, and to the extent possible, among other donors, NGOs, and other stakeholders.

Result 1.4: Increased civil society capacity for policy analysis, advocacy, and monitoring governance for accountability, transparency, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies.

Objective 2: Increase publicly available evidence to inform outreach initiatives for protection of Cambodia’s biodiversity and forest ecosystems.

Result 2.1: In-depth analysis completed of drivers of deforestation and biodiversity loss in target areas around Prey Lang forest and the Eastern Plains of Cambodia, and on the key constraints to biodiversity and forest protection in Cambodia.

Result 2.2: Enhanced access to actionable evidence for decision-makers, local organizations, civil society, and the general public that will inform improved environmental protection efforts beyond the life of the Activity.

Result 2.3: Cambodian citizens, local leaders, and civil society have increased knowledge, skills, and capacity to actively engage in protection of Cambodia’s unique and endangered biodiversity and critically important forest ecosystems.

IV. Guiding Principles

The Statement of Objectives (SOO) identifies the top-level objectives of the acquisition and is used as a focusing tool for both the Government and Contractor. This SOO is provided in lieu of a U.S. Government (USG) written Statement of Work (SOW). An SOO does not state how the work is to be accomplished, but allows for the flexibility to develop cost-effective solutions and the opportunity to utilize innovative approaches to meet the stated Objectives.

USAID recognizes that the ability of external actors, including development partners, to influence change requires a deep, nuanced understanding of power, societal norms, economy, and drivers of environmental degradation. USAID expects this Activity to be implemented with a systems approach and adaptive management, so that interventions focus on the biases and incentives driving systems and behaviors (as opposed to technical fixes to those systems), as well as foundational factors, rules of the game. USAID also recognizes the importance of developing tailored interventions. This SOO does not require specific activities or interventions, however, the Contractor must consider the following elements in implementation of the Activity.

Enabling environment for collective action: Much of the discourse surrounding the protection of Cambodia’s vibrant natural resources has taken on a confrontational tone, pitting a variety of stakeholders against one another. In some cases, this has challenged efforts to hold open, evidence-based discussions on these difficult topics. In addition, forest rangers and community members living near protected areas often find themselves threatened by violence and, in the worst cases, have lost their lives while trying to conserve the ecosystems upon which they depend.

This Activity will promote an enabling environment that protects and promotes civil society and citizen participation in the protection of Cambodia’s unique biodiversity and critical forest ecosystems. To help create a national discussion on this topic, that is open, safe, and informative, this Activity aims to promote the understanding and protection of Cambodia’s natural resources using a positive and inclusive tone. In addition, women, youth (including urban youth), indigenous communities, and other marginalized populations will have access to the knowledge and information they need to feel more empowered to safely take leadership roles to promote environmental protection. This Activity aims to increase public access to information necessary for Cambodian citizens to meaningfully engage in decisions that affect them, and to empower citizens to hold the government accountable for carrying out their mandate to protect Cambodia’s environment. The Contractor will seek opportunities for citizen engagement to increase the transparency of institutions that are responsible for protection of Cambodia’s natural resources and improve their responsiveness to the needs of the citizens whose livelihoods depend upon the sustainable management of Cambodia’s natural resources. The Contractor will develop a strategy that will identify and attract as many key stakeholders as possible, and create an aspirational movement among these identified key target audiences to:

● Increase the awareness of Cambodia’s unique and threatened biodiversity,

● Increase knowledge of the critical importance of protecting of the environment, and the many benefits that Cambodia’s forest ecosystems provide to the Cambodian public,

● Increase public access to information on key actions that Cambodia must take to protect biodiversity and forests.

● Increase public access to information to enable Cambodian citizens to provide oversight for the the management of natural resources.

● Increase public participation and the capacity of CSOs to engage in changes to environmental legal frameworks and their implementation.

● Strengthen advocacy, networks, grassroots coalitions, and public support for reforms related to the enabling environment for civil society to engage in environmental conservation activities, in order to hold the government accountable for effective natural resource management.

Social and Environmental Safeguards: The Contractor must be sensitive to the cultural and political climate in Cambodia and include social safeguards, especially for marginalized populations such as indigenous communities, and the rural poor communities living in and around forested areas where there is illegal logging and poaching. Forest and biodiversity protection in Cambodia is complex and dangerous, with fatalities of forest rangers and NGO staff in areas where illegal logging occurs. Advocacy, outreach, and communications are also becoming more difficult and dangerous in Cambodia’s current political climate. The Contractor will provide social and environmental safeguards to be used throughout implementation to ensure personal safety, to protect personal and sensitive information, and to protect the environment and natural resources.

Geographic focus areas: USAID/Cambodia works at the national level to support environmental governance reforms and promote an enabling environment for sustainable natural resource management.

USAID/Cambodia projects for biodiversity conservation, forest protection, and sustainable landscape management are focused on two geographic areas: 1) the Prey Lang forest and surrounding landscape (including the upper watersheds of the Tonle Sap UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, and Mekong River basin); and 2) the Eastern Plains landscape near the border with Vietnam.

Harmonization and coordination amongst USAID partners, donors, non-governmental organizations (NGO), civil society, and others: This Activity will work with a wide range of USAID’s implementing partners, and other stakeholders at national and subnational levels.

These organizations and stakeholders have a wealth of experience working to protect and conserve biodiversity, forests and cultural and natural resources, and support initiatives that mitigate the effects of a changing climate. Donors with recent experience in land management, conservation of forests and biodiversity, and climate change include the European Union, the United Nations Development Program, GIZ, the Asian Development Bank, and the World Bank, among others. This Activity is expected to build upon lessons learned from these experiences.

Local organizations, CSOs, and grassroots networks monitor environmental degradation or environmental crimes such as illegal logging, and supports grassroots communities to advocate to local authorities to take actions to enforce environmental laws and regulations. The Contractor will collaborate with other USAID projects, other donor programs, local and international NGOs, CSOs, communities, and informal grassroots networks working in biodiversity conservation and forest protection throughout implementation to:

1. Seek input from key stakeholders to review emerging research, programmatic learnings, and best practices;

2. Develop a public, locally appropriate, sustainable, knowledge management platform;

3. Harmonize, enhance, and amplify national and sub-national outreach and awareness campaigns about biodiversity and forest protection; and

4. Leverage resources from organizations and projects with on-the-ground interventions to actively communicate messages about biodiversity and forest protection to target audiences.

Many USAID and donor projects are working on the ground to build capacity for enforcement of environmental laws, increase participation of local organizations in decision-making processes for natural resource management, and other critical needs to protect Cambodia’s forest and biodiversity. This Activity will not carry out similar interventions that these USAID partners or other donors and NGOs are already engaged in. This Activity aims to enhance those efforts by harmonizing and coordinating the outreach and communications approaches carried out by USAID’s partners and other organizations working in this sector, helping to define target audiences for these activities, and direct effective, positive messages to these audiences to promote protection of Cambodia’s forests and biodiversity.

Utilize previous experiences: This Activity will review the available outreach materials from USAID projects and other stakeholders. Where data is available on the effectiveness of these initiatives, this Activity will take that data into account when designing interventions. For example: Under the USAID Supporting Forests and Biodiversity project, the Grandpa Prey Lang character was developed; paintings, books, short films, and animal sound clips were produced;

and original songs about Prey Lang were composed and sung by a chapey dang veng (Khmer traditional long neck guitar) vocalist. These activities and products, along with a music video, short films, and a video documentary all contributed to raising awareness about the Prey Lang landscape.

Evidence-based interventions: The Contractor will use rigorous, scientific methodology to leverage and expand the evidence base regarding the complex political, economic, and social drivers of deforestation and biodiversity loss in Cambodia. The Contractor must also analyze gender, ethnicity, and social dynamics of target audiences to document to what extent such variables influence and affect target audiences. The Contractor will conduct research to identify critical barriers to conservation of biodiversity and forest protection, and promote evidence-based, strategic initiatives to target audiences to address the drivers of deforestation and biodiversity loss in Cambodia, and promote positive actions to protect Cambodia’s unique biodiversity and critically important forest habitats. The Contractor will develop evidence-based outreach, education, communication materials, and toolkits that can be regionally or broadly adopted and used by local organizations and institutions for forest and biodiversity protection in Cambodia. As the knowledge and evidence base increases, these products will be adapted and updated to reflect and apply the latest findings.

Adaptive management: The Contractor will need to make adjustments in intervention tactics or design based on iterative learning, thereby customizing interventions throughout the life of the Activity. The Contractor may need to test an array of approaches to ensure results, and it will need to learn from these experiments and quickly hone in on those that are getting results, drop those that are not, and adapt approaches where indicated. Such an approach will also require a flexible monitoring system, across intervention components, private sector and public sector actors, and development partners. The many complex social, economic, and political variables which affect drivers and threats to ecosystem health and biodiversity present a significant challenge to measure the results of any outreach or communications activity on these drivers and threats, and especially on the biophysical environment itself. The Contractor will use a comprehensive approach to measure the effectiveness of interventions in achieving the Activity Goal, and use this evidence to inform an adaptive management approach to continually adjust interventions to achieve maximum results.

Sustainability and local capacity building: This Activity aims to leverage local technical and financial resources within Cambodia and other countries in the region to build lasting capacity in the country. The Contractor must design and implement the Contract from inception with the vision to leave processes, products, and expertise that are positioned for longevity beyond the life of the project.

In Cambodia, laws regulating NGOs and civil society activities can impede environmental protection work and advocacy for environmental protection. In order to adapt to this environment, the Contractor will strengthen the organizational capacity of local NGOs and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) working to preserve Cambodia’s environment. This organizational capacity strengthening can include, but is not limited to, strengthening their ability to carry out analysis of environmental protection policies, oversight of enforcement of these policies, and advocacy and coalition-building for protection of biodiversity and forests. Additional areas of capacity development may include, but are not limited to, technical expertise for increasing public engagement in environmental protection, increasing public participation in environmental legal reforms, public relations and outreach, and advocacy training.

The Contractor will identify indicators and targets to track progress on sustainability and capacity building for civil society. This must be captured in a Sustainability Plan and Exit Strategy drafted in the first Annual Work Plan, and with progress reported in every Annual Report.

Theory of change for biodiversity interventions: Components of this Activity for biodiversity conservation must align with the USAID Biodiversity Code. The Activity must have an explicit biodiversity objective. Interventions for biodiversity must be based on an analysis of drivers and threats to biodiversity, and a corresponding theory of change. The Activity must monitor indicators associated with a stated theory of change for biodiversity conservation results.

Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E): The Contractor will propose outcome-level, objectively verifiable indicators to measure whether the Activity Goal and each Objective has been reached.

The Contractor will measure USAID Standard F indicators for biodiversity, sustainable landscapes, and governance that are Required if Applicable.

Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA): Learning is a critical part of USAID’s work.

Integrating CLA into activities helps us ensure that our programs are coordinated with others, grounded in a strong evidence base, and iteratively adapted to remain relevant throughout implementation. The Contractor will integrate collaborating, learning, and adapting throughout implementation.

Cross-cutting Issues:

Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI): The Contractor must utilize the most effective, state-of-the-art communication, outreach, education, and public participation techniques that ensure the visibility of USAID environment programs, evidence-based knowledge and successful best practices to a broad audience including key influencers at the local, national, and international levels.

Youth: A focus on youth is especially important, as approximately 60 percent of Cambodia’s population is under the age of 30, and today's young people will be the future leaders of Cambodia. The Contractor must contribute to USAID’s Positive Youth Development (PYD) policy that seeks to empower youth to be better able to access and participate in civic/political, economic, educational, and social opportunities. PYD approaches build skills, assets and competencies; foster healthy relationships; strengthen the environment; and transform systems.

Public, Private Partnerships: Partnering, especially with the private sector, is an opportunity to create sustained results as well as bring in the expertise, skills and resources that may be missing but critical for tackling the complex development and diplomatic challenges. The Contractor must seek opportunities to leverage the resources and capabilities of the private sector to achieve its objectives.

Climate Risk Mitigation: The Contractor must seek measures to be integrated into the Activity design and implementation to mitigate for potential negative consequences of Cambodia’s changing climate, including additional analyses if necessary.

Gender: Gender is a social construct that refers to relations between and among the sexes, based on their relative roles. USAID’s Automated Directive System (ADS) states: “Gender issues are central to the achievement of strategic plans and Development Objectives (DO), and USAID strives to promote gender equality, in which both men and women have equal opportunity to benefit from and contribute to economic, social, cultural, and political development; enjoy socially valued resources and rewards; and realize their human rights.” (ADS 201.3.9.3) Specifically, gender integration entails the identification and subsequent treatment of gender differences and inequalities during program/project design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. As part of the design of proposed interventions and activities, the Contractor must assess and identify gender issues that affect the participation of men and women equally in the participation of this Activity. The following actions are required:

1. The Contractor must ensure that gender issues are analyzed, and interventions and activities within the Annual Work Plans, and collaborating, learning, and adapting (CLA) activities are designed to maximize women’s empowerment, and decision-making. The Contractor must submit a Gender Analysis and Action Plan documenting how key gender gaps and needs will be addressed during Activity implementation.

2. The Contractor must take gender into consideration in terms of how services are promoted, accessed, and provided so as to maximize participation by both male and female beneficiaries.

Accordingly, the Contractor should consult with experts, solicit input from potential program beneficiaries and use available USAID and other publicly available resources.

V. Grants Under Contract

The Contractor has the flexibility to use up to $500,000 for Grants Under Contract (GUC) to effectively engage diverse stakeholders and organizations to support the Objectives and Activity Goal, and ensure sustainability of the interventions to carry on beyond the end of this Activity.