Social Behavior Change Research Award Questions APS.docx.pdf

Social Behavior Change Research Award APS Questions

1. Can a group that submits in a prime or sub-partner role change their classification after co-creation?

Yes.

2. Page 14 of the APS indicates: “Concept papers and resulting full applications can be global or regional.”

- Should the applicant’s approach target all USAID priority countries within a region? No.

- If an organization is only able to work in a select number of countries of a given region, can it still apply as long as the countries are part of the USAID priority country list? Yes.

- Should the applicant’s technical approach target specific regions/countries, or should it rather be a framework able to be adapted to any country/Mission that might eventually buy-in into the project? The latter, yes.

3. Page 14 of the APS also indicates: “Individuals and consortiums are not eligible to apply for any

Rounds of this APS.” Page 16 then indicates: “After the concept papers are evaluated, all successful, prospective qualifying Applicants will be invited to continue the co-creation and collaboration process to identify and develop the activities that will help achieve the results desired under this

APS and specific Round(s); identify and incorporate additional partners; and determine respective roles and responsibilities related to the implementation of those activities.” If consortia are not allowed at the concept note stage, what does USAID means by “incorporate additional partners” since this supposes a team or consortium was pre-formed before co-creation? Or could USAID please clarify what it means by the ineligibility “of consortiums”?

Consortia are allowed to apply at the concept paper stage. The APS Round 1 document has been amended to reflect this change. Please refer to the revised APS on grants.gov. Please note, individuals are still not eligible to apply.

4. Could USAID please share the vision for how the SBC Research Project will complement and/or collaborate with other USAID global SBC focused activities, including Breakthrough ACTION and

Breakthrough RESEARCH?

This APS builds on the developments of social and behavior change programming and behavioral science of the last decades, including but not limited to activities and research funded by USAID.

Any projects awarded through the APS must have technical rigor in operations research and research utilization, which would require collaborative relationships with other SBC programming in global health and international development, both those and those not funded by USAID.

5. The APS notes that this investment in SBC research will build local capacity, therefore does USAID envision an international NGO leading the SBC research under Round 1?

Applicants will be evaluated based on the evaluation criteria listed under APS Round 1, that is the extent to which applicants propose technical and organizational capacity to reach the expected results of Round 1. Capacity building is inherent in this APS, but capacity building is not defined solely as an INGO “building capacity” of local NGOs in host countries (e.g. via technical assistance/training), but is instead rooted in the principles of locally led development.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BHnbTeS-1IrCc9G7zTLVaBmK8Pkc-Ve0/view

6. On page 9, the APS states, “Global Health Programs funding through USAID/W technical offices may be used only for activities that impact that technical health office’s outcomes, e.g. USAID’s family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) funds may be used only for activities that impact FP/RH outcomes, as defined in the Child Survival and Health Use of Funds Guidance.” Related to this, will the successful applicant be responsible for advocating for technical office funding? Similarly, with this understanding, is there additional guidance on how much funding may be available per technical office or will funding be allocated according to successful research questions?

This is a cross-bureau APS so any health office’s funding may be used to support this initiative after it is awarded. Funding decisions are made by technical offices based on their operational plans and research needs. We don’t have further information about technical office buy-ins at this time, as it will be dependent on the technical office issuing Rounds or buying into a Round after awarding.

Round 1 will be managed primarily out of the Office of Population and Reproductive Health and the Office of Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition.

7. On page 14 of the APS, it is noted that “consortiums are not eligible to apply for any Rounds of this APS.” Should a prospective prime or sub-partner organization avoid entering into a consortium prior to the co-creation workshop?

No. Consortia are allowed to apply at the concept paper stage. The APS has been amended to reflect this change. Please refer to the revised APS on grants.gov.

8. What divisions from PRH and/or MNCH at USAID are linked to this APC?

This is a cross-bureau APS. Technical offices across the bureau may issue their own round, or may buy-in to Round 1 after awarded. Round 1 will be managed primarily from the Research, Technology, and Utilization and Policy, Evaluation, and Communication divisions of PRH.

9. On page 6, the Round 1 Call for Concept Papers mentions cash and food assistance as being more effective when combined with SBC, therefore does USAID envision further research involving cash and food assistance under this APS?

Any activities that relate to the central purpose of the APS Round 1 of defining/measuring/affecting agency such that it leads to improved health and nutrition behaviors will be considered.

10. The APS and Round 1 document suggest that this program is being run by USAID’s Office of Population and Reproductive Health. Please could you confirm if any PEPFAR funding will be used to support this initiative?

Both the APS and Round 1 are cross-bureau, so any health office’s funding may be used to support this initiative after it is awarded, under the current Round 1, or in a future round.

11. The APS states on p. 13: “Individuals and consortiums are not eligible to apply for any Rounds of this APS”. Does this mean that it is not acceptable to submit a concept note for a pre-formed consortium?

No. Consortia are allowed to apply at the concept paper stage. The APS has been amended to reflect this change. Please refer to the revised APS on grants.gov. Please note, individuals are still not eligible to apply.

12. On page 1 of the Annual Program Statement, it states “selected applicants (individual organizations and/or consortia developed at concept paper stage or during co-creation) will be requested to submit a Full Application, the content and format of which will be provided in greater detail by the Agreement Officer.” However, on page 13 under Section III: Eligibility Information, it states that

“Individuals and consortiums are not eligible to apply for any Rounds of this APS. Organizations that wish to be subawardees can also submit a concept paper if they wish to be evaluated and if successful, invited to co-creation; subawardees that did not submit a concept paper (or were unsuccessful) can be added at the full application stage.” Can USAID please clarify if consortia are eligible to apply for Round 1 of the APS and submit one concept note?

Yes. Consortia are allowed to apply at the concept paper stage. The APS has been amended to reflect this change. Please refer to the revised APS on grants.gov. Please note, individuals are still not eligible to apply.

13. Is the preference that successful applicants address all behavioral outcomes mentioned in the APS (family planning, care-seeking at illness, complementary feeding, childhood immunizations, use of health and nutrition services) equally?

This is a cross-bureau APS. Key behaviors to be targeted by the APS will be determined in each

Round, by the technical office(s) issuing and buying into the Round, and would be confirmed after awarding.

14. Can you clarify what you mean by "implementation" in the overall result 1 - "Generate new evidence through the implementation and rigorous evaluation of innovative SBC interventions addressing the agency of individuals and communities to improve the uptake and continuation of healthy behaviors at scale". I.e. who is implementing; i.e. the recipient, other USAID-funded SBC programs, or programs being run in the target countries funded by other donors and/or by host country governments?

Any activities that relate to the central purpose of the APS Round 1 of defining/measuring/affecting agency such that it leads to improved health and nutrition behaviors will be considered.

Implementation of programming to be researched can be done by the recipient, other

USAID-funded SBC programs, and/or programs being run by other donors and/or by host country governments.

15. Can USAID provide additional details about the structure for the co-creation workshop to facilitate making an informed decision about both the number of individuals to nominate to attend and with what technical expertise? For example, is it envisioned that there will be breakout groups in relation to the three results, in which case, it would be advisable to nominate individuals with expertise in each of those areas?

Each individual Round will determine the co-creation process. Further information would be provided if chosen to move forward to co-creation.

16. If an organization nominates three individuals to attend, is the organization committed to that number of individuals? For example, if an organization is invited to attend the co-creation workshop can they choose to only send one individual even if they nominated three?

Yes, they can choose to send only one individual even if they nominated three, but must confirm final attendee information at least one week prior to the co-creation workshop.

17. Does USAID have a maximum number of organizations that will be invited to co-creation? Or a target number?

No.