05-10-2013-RFP-SOL-524-13-000005_CARS-final.pdf

LTA i1E USAID NICARAGUA

FROM TH E AM E R ICAN PEOPLE

DATE:

May 10, 2013

SUBJECT:

RFP No. SOL-524-13-000005

Program Name:

Community Action for Reading and Security (CARS) RFP issuance Date:

May 10, 2013 Questions due:

May 22, 2013, 2:00 p. m. Nicaragua time Proposals due date and time:

June 10, 2013, 2:00 p.m. Nicaragua time

The United States Government, represented by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)/Nicaragua/Office of Acquisition and Assistance intends to award a contract for an activity entitled "Community Action for Reading and Security (CARS)."

You are invited to submit a proposal in accordance with the requirements of the RFP. This procurement shall be conducted through full an open competition, under which any type of organizations (large or small commercial [for profit] firms, educational institutions, non-profit organizations) is eligible to compete. The procedures set forth in FAR Part 15 shall apply. The Government anticipates and award of approximately $8.5-10.9 million contract for a four (4) year period; however, the US Government is no way obligated to make an award within the above range. Cost proposals shall be evaluated as part of a Best Value determination for contract award.

In lieu of a pre-proposal conference, written questions and request for clarifications may be submitted to ooanicaragua @ usaid.gov no later than 2:00 pm, local time Nicaragua, on May 22, 2013.

Offerors are encouraged to read the entire solicitation, which includes the closing date and time, all pertinent contract requirements, and the conditions and instructions required for submitting a proposal.

Natalie J' Thunbberg Regional Contracting Officer USAIDIEI Salvador

RFP No. SOL-524‐13‐000005 SECTION B

PART I – THE SCHEDULE

SECTION B – SUPPLIES OR SERVICES AND PRICE/COSTS

B.1 PURPOSE

The purpose of the Community Action for Reading and Security (CARS) Project is to improve early grade reading outcomes and contribute to reducing citizen insecurity in five municipalities of the Región

Autónoma Atlántica Sur (RAAS) of Nicaragua, where both education and crime statistics are notably worse than the national averages. CARS is expected to operate from October 2013 through September 30, 2017.

CARS is one of two key mechanisms that will be used to implement the Program for Reading and Security (PROGRES), which directly supports the achievement of the second Development Objective (DO2) Safety and Competitiveness of At-risk Children and Youth on the Caribbean Coast Improved under the Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) of USAID/Nicaragua.

B.2 CONTRACT TYPE

The Government contemplates award of a Cost‐Plus Fixed Fee Completion contract resulting from this solicitation.

B.3 ESTIMATED COST, FIXED FEE, AND OBLIGATION AMOUNT

(1) The estimated cost for the performance of the work required hereunder, exclusive of fixed fee is_____________. The fixed fee is_____________. The estimated cost plus fixed fee is_____________.

(2) Within the estimated cost plus fixed specified above, the amount currently obligated and available for reimbursement of allowable costs incurred by the Contractor (and payment of fee) for performance hereunder is _____________. The contractor shall not exceed the aforesaid obligated amount.

(3) Funds obligated hereunder are anticipated to be sufficient through_____________.

B.4 LINE ITEMS

The Total Estimated Cost of this contract is $xxxx.

Direct Labor $__________ Other Direct Costs* $__________ Indirect Costs Grants Fund Fixed Fee

$2,600,000

Total Estimated Cost plus Fixed Fee $__________

* Other Direct Costs include: Travel, LIMITATION OF FUNDS

The ceiling price of this contract is $xxxx. In accordance with FAR clause 52.232-22, funds currently obligated under this contract are limited to $xxxxx. The contractor is not authorized to incur expenses in excess of $xxxx and shall notify the Contracting Officer in writing whenever it has reason to believe that the costs it expects to incur under this contract in the next 60 days, or when added to all costs previously incurred will exceed 75% of the total obligated amount.

B.5 INDIRECT COSTS (DEC 1997)

For the Prime Contractor:

Pending establishment of revised provisional or final indirect cost rates, allowable indirect costs shall be reimbursed on the basis of the following negotiated provisional or predetermined rates and the appropriate bases:

Description Rate Base Type Period

TBD 1/ 1/ 1/

1/Base of Application:

Type of Rate: Predetermined Period:

For Major Subcontractor(s) (if any):

Pending establishment of revised provisional or final indirect cost rates, allowable indirect costs shall be reimbursed on the basis of the following negotiated provisional or predetermined rates and the appropriate bases:

Description Rate Base Type Period

Allowances, Procurement, Subcontracts, etc.

TBD 1/ 1/ 1/

1/Base of Application:

Type of Rate: Predetermined Period:

“Major Subcontractors” are those subcontractors whose proposed cost exceeds 20% of the total value.

B.6 CEILING ON INDIRECT COSTS

For the Prime Contractor:

(1) Reimbursement for indirect costs shall be at the lower of the negotiated final rates or the following ceiling rates:

Description Rate Base Type Period

TBD 1/ 1/ 1/

1/Base of Application:

Type of Rate: Predetermined Period:

(2) The Government will not be obligated to pay any additional amount should the final indirect cost rates exceed the negotiated ceiling rates. If the final indirect cost rates are less than the negotiated ceiling rates, the negotiated rates will be reduced to conform with the lower rates.

(3) This understanding shall not change any monetary ceiling, obligation, or specific cost allowance or disallowance. Any changes in classifying or allocating indirect costs requires the prior written approval of the Contracting Officer.

For the Major Subcontractor(s) (if any):

(4) Reimbursement for indirect costs shall be at the lower of the negotiated final rates or the following ceiling rates:

Description Rate Base Type Period

TBD 1/ 1/ 1/

1/Base of Application:

Type of Rate: Predetermined Period:

(5) The Government will not be obligated to pay any additional amount should the final indirect cost rates exceed the negotiated ceiling rates. If the final indirect cost rates are less than the negotiated ceiling rates, the negotiated rates will be reduced to conform with the lower rates.

(6) This understanding shall not change any monetary ceiling, obligation, or specific cost allowance or disallowance. Any changes in classifying or allocating indirect costs requires the prior written approval of the Contracting Officer.

B.7 COST REIMBURSABLE

The U.S. dollar costs allowable shall be limited to reasonable, allocable and necessary costs determined in accordance with FAR 52.216-7, Allowable Cost and Payment, FAR 52.216-8, Fixed Fee, if applicable, and AIDAR 752.7003, Documentation for Payment.

B.8 PAYMENT OF FIXED FEE

At the time of each payment of allowable costs to the contractor, USAID will pay the contractor the percentage of the fixed fee that directly corresponds to the percentage of allowable costs being paid, except in these cases:

1) If the CO determines that this method results in paying a disproportionately higher ratio or fixed fee than the percentage that directly corresponds to the percentage of work that the contractor has completed, then the CO may suspend further payment of any fixed fee until the contractor has made sufficient progress to justify further payment, up to the agreed percentage.

2) The clauses entitled "Allowable Cost and Payment" (FAR 52.216-7) and "Fixed Fee" (FAR 52.216-8) are incorporated to this contract. Therefore, the terms and conditions of these clauses apply after total payments of fixed fee reach eighty-five percent of the total fixed fee.

[END OF SECTION B]

SECTION C

STATEMENT OFWORK (SOW)

Community Action for Reading and Security (CARS) Project

1. PURPOSE

USAID/Nicaragua is in the process of finalizing a new Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) for the period 2013-2017. The purpose of this Statement of Work (SOW) is for USAID/Nicaragua to request proposals for the Community Action for Reading and Security (CARS) Project. CARS is one of two key mechanisms that will be used to implement the Program for Reading and Security (PROGRES), which directly supports the achievement of the second Development Objective (DO2) Safety and Competitiveness of At-risk Children and Youth on the Caribbean Coast Improved under the CDCS.1

The purpose of CARS is to improve early grade reading outcomes and contribute to reducing citizen insecurity in five municipalities of the Región Autónoma Atlántica Sur (RAAS) of Nicaragua, where both education and crime statistics are notably worse than the national averages. CARS is expected to operate from late 2013 through September 30, 2017.

2. BACKGROUND

A. Problem Statement

Young people on the Caribbean Coast do not learn to read at the most basic levels. This often means they end their educational careers very early, compounding the other risk factors they face as adolescents, which are further exacerbated by the context of growing crime and violence in the RAAS. Communities have the potential to address – or even reverse -- negative trends related to education and security, but they are not empowered or prepared to do so. The major obstacles to addressing these problems are the lack of available, quality educational opportunities and the low involvement of communities in taking action address and reverse this trend.

B. Context

Nicaragua is composed of 15 departments and two Autonomous Regions - the Región Autónoma del Atlántico Norte (RAAN) and Región Autónoma del Atlántico Sur (RAAS). The two Autonomous Regions extend along Nicaragua’s east coast, which is also called the Caribbean Coast region. This region of the country is rich in cultural diversity, as it is the home to numerous indigenous and afro-descendant populations: Miskitu, Mayangna, Rama, Garifuna and Creoles. An important Mestizo (ladinos) population also live in the region. Despite the fact that the Caribbean Coast has abundant, varied resources (mining, forestry, fisheries, hydrocarbon, beaches, lagoons and rivers), the historical exploitation of, and lack of State attention to, the region has resulted in its economic and social

1 DO2 is the highest level objective defined in the CDCS that the Mission believes it can achieve related to basic education and citizen security. PROGRES is the name of program that consists of a variety of implementing mechanisms that support the achievement of DO2. CARS is one of the implementing mechanisms under

PROGRES.

RFP No. SOL-524‐13‐000005 SECTION C deterioration. The presence of government institutions is limited to major towns many remote rural communities have limited or no access to basic services.

While Nicaragua’s homicide rate is historically low compared to others in Central America, there are areas in the RAAS with murder rates higher than those of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. The same areas are increasingly vulnerable to illicit activities, such as drug trafficking, organized crime and youth violence. When compared to the rest of the country, the RAAN and RAAS are disproportionately affected by these problems. According to a recently published UNDP study, “Seguridad Ciudadana 1998-2010: Nicaragua – Riesgos, Retos y Oportunidades,” the homicide rate jumped by 72% in the RAAS for the period 1998–2009, making it the country’s most dangerous region.

Although homicide rates are the most common and visible indicator of violence, domestic violence is much more prevalent. Unfortunately, it is also socially acceptable in many places, and therefore difficult to track. However, according to Nicaragua’s 2006-2007 Demographic and Health Survey, 92% of all women surveyed in the RAAS reported having been physically abused by their husband or ex-husband.

In addition, the Autonomous Regions were largely responsible for the country’s 31% increase in cases of reported rape between 1998 and 2009. In the RAAS, there has also been a significant upward trend related to “robberies committed with intimidation.” Further contributing to the growing epidemic of crime on the Caribbean Coast is the high level of chronic unemployment. In 2012 USAID commissioned the “Assessment of Security and Crime Prevention Activities, with a Focus on Youth at Risk on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua” (hereafter called the “Youth Assessment”), which identified 24 groups mostly composed of at-risk young men in the RAAS that often commit armed robbery, carry home-made weapons, and are occasionally arrested for aggravated assault. These trends are indicative of the deeper development challenges the region faces. (See Attachment 1 for the full Youth Assessment.)

The RAAS and RAAN consistently suffer the highest rates of extreme poverty and unemployment in the country,2 and the latter affects youth disproportionately. The 2008-2011 Programa Nacional de Trabajo Decente, developed under the guidance of the International Labor Organization, estimated youth unemployment throughout Nicaragua at around 40%. Young women are nearly three times as likely to be affected as young men.

According to a 2012 study by the Instituto de Estudios Estratégicos y Políticas Públicas (IEEPP) on primary education in Nicaragua,3 the education system loses most of its rural students in the first three grades and only 32 out of every 100 students that start primary school complete the sixth grade.4 Compounding this problem is the large number of schools that do not offer a complete primary cycle.

According to the IEEPP study only 5% of the students in these “incomplete” schools finish primary education without repeating a grade. Children from poor households only have a 35.6% chance of finishing primary education, nearly half the rate for children from non-poor households.

According to MINED’s Education Sector Strategy (2011-2015), students on the Caribbean Coast do not have adequate access to the educational system and, even when accessing educational opportunities, often are not completing primary school. The USAID-commissioned report “Assessment and Design Recommendations for Improving Reading Performance of Under-performing Children in Primary Schools on Nicaragua’s Atlantic Coast” (hereafter referred to as the “Reading Assessment,” provided in Attachment 2) provides further evidence of the disadvantages present for children on the Caribbean

2 World Bank’s “State of Water and Sanitation: RAAS.” (2007) 3 La Educación Primaria en Nicaragua: Condiciones que Favorecen u Obstaculizan el Aumento de la Matrícula, la Retención y la Promoción Escolar. IEEPP. (2012) 4 Ibid.

Coast. For example, while nationally 20.5% of 7-14 year-olds were not enrolled in school nation-wide, the percentage was 36.8% in the RAAS, and 55.8% of students are old for their grades at the national level vs. 72.7% in the RAAS. Furthermore, according to MINED’s Education Sector Strategy, in 2009, the primary school drop-out rate was 9.5% nationwide and 17% in the RAAS.

There are gender-related aspects to these challenges, as well. While Nicaragua continues to exhibit parity in primary school, boys’ enrollment has been trending downward for the last five years. Girls are outperforming boys in school; girls’ retention rates are higher than those of boys for both primary and secondary schools, and in both urban and rural areas. This is partially due to the families’ need for the income that boys can produce at a very young age. Domestic chores constrain girls’ ability to enroll and continue in school. Boys in the RAAS and RAAN are particularly vulnerable to involvement in crime and violence, while girls are vulnerable to early pregnancy, early marriage, and gender-based social discrimination and violence.

A fundamental issue related to these challenges is overall low access to quality educational opportunities on the Caribbean Coast. Formal schools—those schools with government accreditation at the primary level—are few and far between, and opportunities for non-formal education of quality are just as scarce.

Many students do not begin school on time or have disrupted educations, resulting in a high overage student population. In addition, the Caribbean Coast is highly vulnerable to natural disasters that disrupt routine school activities and physical access. Where there are schools, infrastructure is usually inadequate, and parents are reluctant to send young children to schools in remote locations because it is dangerous for them to travel long distances on their own. Yet another obstacle to education is financial; while there are no public school fees in Nicaragua, the associated costs of sending children to school are often considered prohibitive to poor families.

USAID’s Reading Assessment highlighted that a variety of other social and economic factors also affect children’s ability to learn to read successfully, including: poor nutrition and health problems and a lack of exposure to printed/reading materials, among others. The Reading Assessment also identified a number of issues related to the classroom that affect educational outcomes, such as ineffective use of classroom time, a lack of reading and teaching materials, and low percentages of certified teachers. It also highlighted that only 15.7% of Spanish-speaking first-graders in the RAAS and the RAAN tested at or above international standards in oral reading fluency, compared to 25% in other departments.

Furthermore, according to MINED, 43% of pre-school aged children nationwide – a large percentage of who are in rural areas -- do not attend pre-school, which is particularly worrying because pre-school plays a critical role in preparing children for the transition to primary school. According to experts in the matter, most of the problems that students encounter when they enter first grade are manifested in pre-school. Without pre-school, many children enter first grade with no concept of what reading is about and they are utterly baffled when asked to learn letters or participate in activities that have no meaning for them, which exponentially reduces their odds of succeeding in first grade.

Many parents are not aware of how pre-school activities are related to subsequent educational outcomes, and simply consider pre-school to be an extension of day-care. But, per USAID’s experience with previous projects, when armed with information on how pre-school can help children get off to a better start in primary school, parents’ attitude towards pre-school changes dramatically. Parents become better prepared to deal with their own separation anxiety when their child first leaves home for school, and they are better prepared to help their child deal with the anxiety of leaving their parents behind to go to school.

Parents also learn how important it is to help teachers make school a more welcoming environment for students.

All of these issues affect the quality of education and consequently the efficiency of the educational system in the region, contributing to the dramatic difference in reading performance in the Caribbean Coast regions vs. the national level as well as overall performance in other key education indicators, such as promotion, retention, literacy rates, and average age of schooling.

C. Relationship to Government of Nicaragua Policies

USAID’s PROGRES Program and CARS Project are both fully aligned with the Government of Nicaragua’s (GON) education strategy and related youth policies. The following describes key GON strategies that informed program design.

In 2009, Nicaragua released its National Human Development Plan (NHDP) detailing the nation’s plans to increase economic growth, improve environmental sustainability, decrease poverty, and reduce insecurity on the Caribbean Coast. Providing a framework to integrate economic, social, environmental and governance aspects of national development, the Plan prioritized economic growth through increased employment, reduction of poverty and inequalities, and the restoration of the economic, social, environmental, and cultural rights of the people, particularly historically marginalized sectors.

The 2012-2016 edition of the NHDP,5 entitled “To Continue Transforming Nicaragua,” elevates the role of citizen security to one of 12 priority areas and places special emphasis on at-risk children and youth (ARCY) and community-based crime prevention.

The GON also recently issued a new Education Sector Strategy for the period 2011-2015.6 While the GON strategy does not specifically identify early grade reading as a priority focus area, it does include plans to conduct systematic achievement tests in the first and fourth grades and to provide tutoring to those students that are lagging behind through the implementation of after-school programs. In 2011, MINED officially institutionalized after-school programs to provide tutoring in early grade reading and math to under-performing students; this new policy is in the process of being rolled-out by MINED.

In addition, in February 2009 the GON’s Council for the Development of the Caribbean Coast released its development plan and strategy documents, “El Caribe de Nicaragua: En Ruta Hacia el Desarrollo Humano.”7 The Council’s main objective is to develop an economic, political and social reality that supports the rights of the Autonomous Regions’ inhabitants to quality basic human services and productive, equitable and fair opportunities. The first axis of the Plan, which focuses on the socio-economic well-being of the Caribbean population in Nicaragua, features an educational component that highlights literacy, infrastructure development, and investment in teachers as key to the regions’ development.

The RAAS and the RAAN each have a Regional Education Secretariat that functions as the executive branch of the Regional Governments for their education portfolios. The Regional Education Secretariats were officially installed in 2006 and since then have been working toward a fully de-centralized educational system. Their mandate is to govern, direct, coordinate and administer the regional education system known as Sistema Educativo Autonómico Regional (known by the Spanish acronym “SEAR”).

SEAR is the local educational model based upon the promotion and rescue of intercultural values of the

5 http://www.pndh.gob.ni/ 6 http://www.mined.gob.ni/Documents/Document/2013/pee2011_2015.pdf http://www.magfor.gob.ni/prorural/VIIMISION/Presentaciones%20Dia%201/Anexo%206a%20%20ESTRATEGIA %20%20CC%20%20RCanales.pdf and http://www.magfor.gob.ni/prorural/IIMesa2012/PNDH_2012- 2016_8nov2012.pdf diverse indigenous and ethnic groups that make up the population of the regions by implementing culturally and linguistically appropriate curriculum and educational materials.

In terms of youth policy, in 2001, the GON issued Law No. 392 for the Integrated Development of Youth, which aims to “promote the development of young men and women, to guarantee the exercise of their rights and obligations, establish institutional policies and mobilize resources from the State and civil society for youth.” The law mandated the creation of a National Youth Commission to implement the law, a Youth Council to encourage youth participation in the law’s implementation. The law also calls for the development of a National Youth Action Plan that focuses on improving youth productivity and opportunities for employment, access to education, access to health care, political participation, access to recreation, culture and sports, and the prevention of violence.

In 2011 the GON approved a new national policy on early childhood education for children aged 0-6 years called “Amor por los Más Chiquitos,” which has three objectives: 1) restore the rights of children under 6 and of pregnant and breastfeeding mothers to dignified life, health, education, food security, recreation, a family, a healthy and safe environment, and adequate conditions for full development and wellbeing; 2) promote integral development of boys and girls by improving their quality of life by means of shared responsibility of the family, communities, society, state, government and municipalities, and 3) coordinate all government programs, centers and actions that provide early childhood attention through three institutions: the Ministries of Family, Education and Health.

D. Other Donors

A range of donors have activities either on the Caribbean Coast or that address the themes of education and citizen security that complement and could potentially offer opportunities for synergy and collaboration with the CARS project. (See Attachments 3, 4 and 5 for more information on other donors’ activities.)

3. STATEMENT OFWORK

A. Summary

This Statement of Work (SOW) describes how CARS will support USAID/Nicaragua’s new country strategy and other USAID and USG plans and priorities. It also sets out a series of operating principles to guide planning and implementation; defines the geographic focus area and target beneficiaries; and provides details on the proposed program components and expected results. The proposed program components, which are mutually supporting and described in greater depth below, include:

Component 1: Formal and Non-formal Reading Programs o Sub-Component 1: Improved reading instruction o Sub-Component 2: First Grade Readiness Activities

Component 2: Community Engagement o Sub-Component 1: Community Mobilization o Sub-Component 2: Communication

Component 3: Local Capacity Development o Sub-Component 1: Training and Technical Assistance o Sub-Component 2: Sub-grants o Sub-Component 3: Information and Experience Exchange

Component 4: Knowledge Generation and Management o Sub-Component 1: Data for Decision Making o Sub-Component 2: USAID Data Support

B. Background: USAID and USG Priorities

USAID Education Strategy In 2011, USAID issued a new Education Sector Strategy8 covering the years 2011-2015. CARS will be financed with funds earmarked for Basic Education and will contribute to two of the three goals under this Strategy: Goal One (Improved reading skills for 100 million children in primary grades by 2015) and Goal Three (Increased equitable access to education in crisis and conflict environments for 15 million learners by 2015).

Goal One is based on the premise that developing reading competence is key to successful educational outcomes, which in turn are a key driver of national economic growth. The Strategy states that:

Research has shown that early grade reading competency is critical for continued retention and success in future grades.9 This link is especially relevant for low income children, because they tend to have home and school environments that are less conducive to early reading development relative to those of higher income children. Children who do not attain reading skills at the primary level are on a lifetime trajectory of limited educational progress and therefore limited economic and developmental opportunity.

A number of the approaches specified for the reading activities to be carried out under CARS are derived from USAID’s Education Strategy.

Objectives under Goal Three include providing safe learning opportunities for children and youth:

“providing security, services, infrastructure, and stability where the absence of such fundamental requirements will prevent effective learning. It is, first and foremost, a question of assuring access to safe spaces, to physical infrastructure, and to basic education services, primarily to children and youth.” The Strategy goes on to say that under Goal Three, USAID programs will focus on activities such as the provision of safe learning opportunities, including formal and non-formal programs; community-based efforts to restore access and to provide safety from violence, especially for marginalized groups; and rehabilitation and construction of temporary, semi-permanent or permanent infrastructure that is accessible to all. To strengthen crisis prevention efforts, the Strategy also emphasizes supporting community engagement, social engagement, peace education, and violence mitigation programming through the curriculum and other learning activities, among other activities.

While Nicaragua was not on the original list of countries qualified to use Basic Education funds for Goal Three activities, the Mission justified its eligibility based on the levels of violence and citizen insecurity in the RAAS described above. The justification was further reinforced by the fact that students in the historically marginalized Caribbean Coast regions of Nicaragua do not have adequate access to the educational system and, even when enrolled in school, are often not completing even the primary level.

Consequently, there are high numbers of out-of-school youth and a growing number of them are becoming involved in gangs and other groups that are committing crimes in the Caribbean Coast region.

8 http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PDACQ946.pdf 9 Patrinos,H.A.andVelez,E.(2009). “Costs and benefits of bilingual education in Guatemala: A partial analysis.”

International Journal of Educational Development 29(6): 594598.

Therefore, in Nicaragua, the issues related to access to education that are the foundation of Goal Three are intricately linked to and are fueling the growing insecurity in the RAAS.

For these reasons, the CARS Project will focus on increasing children’s access to formal and non-formal educational opportunities while ensuring that the education provided is of the highest quality.

Paris Declaration and the USAID Forward Reform Agenda The partnership commitments contained in the 2011 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness are: (1) Ownership: partner countries exercise effective leadership over their development policies and strategies and coordinate development actions; (2) Alignment: donors base their overall support on partner countries’ national development strategies, institutions and procedures; (3) Harmonization: donors’ actions are more harmonized, transparent and collectively effective; (4) Managing for results: managing resources and improving decision-making for results; and (5) Mutual accountability: donors and partners are accountable for development results.10

The USAID Forward Reform Agenda is changing the way the Agency does business, focusing on partnerships with governments, local organizations and small businesses. There is also a strong emphasis on innovation, science and technology not only in projects, but in the evaluation of projects and programs.11

In support of USAID/Forward, CARS will emphasize building the capacity of local NGOs to plan, manage, and implement successful reading programs and strategies to create community support for improved reading outcomes and safer environments. The objective is that partner NGOs feel ownership of the development processes that transform the communities in which they work and provide the leadership needed to achieve sustainable impact.

CARS will also aim to partner with and increase the capacity of local institutions, such as universities, to conduct research and monitoring and evaluation activities; collaborate with local media to support high quality reading and community safety activities; and seek alliances with private sector enterprises and organizations to secure additional resources in support of Project objectives.

Central America Regional Security Initiative 12

In 2008, the U.S. Government introduced a special initiative to reduce crime rates and improve security in Central America called the Central American Regional Security Initiative (CARSI). The USG objective for CARSI is, “to produce a safer and more secure region where criminal organizations no longer wield the power to destabilize governments or threaten national and regional security and public safety, as well as to prevent the entry and spread of illicit drugs, violence, and transnational threats to countries throughout the region and to the United States.”

USAID’s role in this initiative is to focus on the prevention of crime and violence as part of a larger USG effort and this project is expected to be partially funded through CARSI.13 The contractor will therefore

10 For information on the Paris Declaration, see:

http://www.oecd.org/document/18/0,3343,en_2649_3236398_35401554_1_1_1_1,00.html

11 For more information on USAID Forward, please see:

http:// www.usaid.gov/press/factsheets/2010/fs101118.html 12 The Central American Regional Security Initiative: A Shared Partnership. U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs. See: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/scp/fs/2010/145747.htm be expected to closely coordinate activities with other Departments and Agencies of the US government and demonstrate how its proposed approach and activities are linked to CARSI objectives.

C. DO2 Development Hypothesis and Results Framework

The development hypothesis for DO2 in USAID/Nicaragua’s CDCS contends that students who fail in school, particularly in the earliest grades, are more likely to drop out, and do so with few skills. Out-of-school youth without jobs or structured activities are at increased risk of becoming involved in illicit activities. Therefore, helping students gain strong reading skills, enabling them to succeed in the early grades of school and beyond, while equipping at-risk youth with relevant job and life skills to help them become responsible, contributing members of their communities will increase their competitiveness in the job market and reduce the likelihood that they will engage in illicit activities. This combination of interventions is expected to lead to safer communities and reduce the economic and social vulnerability of children, youth and the communities in which they live.

The Results Framework for DO2 identifies three Intermediate Results (IRs), each with two sub-IRs, as necessary to achieve the objective “Safety and Competiveness of At-Risk Children and Youth on the Caribbean Coast Improved”:

IR 1: Reading Performance Improved Sub-IR 1.1: Access to formal and non-formal reading programs increased Sub-IR 1.2: Quality of Teacher Performance and Materials Improved

IR 2: Work Force and Life Skills Increased Sub-IR 2.1: Access to and completion of programs related to employability and citizenship increased Sub-IR 2.2: Relevance of employability and life skills programs increased

IR 3: Community Engagement in Creating a Positive Environment for At-risk Children and Youth Increased

Sub-IR 3.1 - Capacity of local organizations increased Sub-IR 3.2 - Community mobilization in support of education and security increased

The purpose of the CARS project is to directly support achievement of IRs 1 and 3 above.

USAID/Nicaragua’s Education for Success Project (EFS), implemented since 2010 by the local NGO Fundación para la Autonomía de la Costa Atlántica de Nicaragua (FADCANIC) supports IR 2 and also contributes to IR 3. Therefore, the two key projects supporting DO2, CARS and EFS, will be implemented in the same municipalities and will work together to increase community engagement around education and citizen security issues.

In addition to selected community engagement activities, the EFS Project focuses on providing training and other key services to at-risk youth. CARS will support: (a) evidence-based early grade reading programs in privately-managed schools and community-based after-school programs, (b) NGO capacity building, (c) sub-grants to NGOs to implement activities related to reading and citizen security, (d) community planning and mobilization, and e) program-wide monitoring and evaluation, among other activities. Attachment 6 sets forth how selected key activities are divided among the two projects and where they are linked.

13 CARSI funds come from the Economic Support Fund (ESF) account, while Basic Education funds come from the Development Assistance (DA) account.

CARS will contribute to the following indicators that will measure progress towards achieving the DO:

Percentage of community members that perceive that their community is safer (disaggregated by sex and municipality)

Drop-out rate (disaggregated by sex and grade)

D. Overarching Principles for the Implementation and Management of CARS

The following principles will be critical to the successful implementation and management of CARS:

Build on past success and evidence-based interventions: USAID’s experience in the education sector, both in Nicaragua and globally, has led the Mission to identify a set of interventions to support IR 1that the CARS implementer will carry out as described in this SOW. The Project’s implementer will have to carefully study the set of interventions and determine how best to ensure their effective and efficient implementation.

Build on evidence, but strive for innovation: At the same time, USAID seeks to overhaul the way reading is taught to children who are out-of-school or failing school in targeted municipalities and to increase community commitment to fostering a healthier, safer environment in which children and youth can thrive. To accomplish this, USAID seeks a Contractor that can implement the core set of evidence-based reading interventions and complement them with new ideas, products, methods, services or approaches -including the use of low cost technologies - that lead to significant improvements in reading outcomes and community safety.

Seek Participation and Provide Demand-Driven Services: The model for IR3 rests on a participatory process in which a diverse range of local stakeholders, including youth, are empowered to propose, select, implement and maintain initiatives within their own communities. Participatory planning is the fundamental element that defines demand-driven services, allowing communities to both influence and control the decisions and resources that affect them.

Build Local Ownership: The enabling conditions fostered by CARS are intended to lead to stronger local ownership of education and citizen security activities so that local actors increasingly drive their local agendas in areas beyond USAID’s support. Approaches for local ownership will be linked to increased financial, technical and institutional capacity of local NGOs so that that a critical mass of organizations based in the RAAS has the capacity to plan, manage and implement education, youth and citizen security activities.

Address gender and indigenous issues: Issues related to gender and indigenous groups must be integrated into the fundamental design, implementation and evaluation of activities to ensure that they are structured to respond to gender imbalances or inequities and issues affecting minorities in the project’s different components.

Gender issues must be discussed in the background/problem analysis section of Proposals, including identification of the different constraints facing girls and boys, and the proposed strategy to address the constraints. Proposals should promote activities that foster the equitable participation of both male and female students and community members and that address gender-related barriers to education and community action.

Similar approaches should be used to determine what barriers exist to education and participation for indigenous populations and how project activities can explicitly aim to remove such obstacles in order to promote opportunity for and full participation of members of indigenous groups in all stages of project implementation.

Collaborate and Conduct Joint Planning Exercises: It is essential that the implementer of CARS collaborate closely with FADCANIC to plan and execute activities related to IR3, as well as with other USAID and USG programs and other donors working in the RAAS, to address some of the political, economic and social issues affecting the safety and competitiveness of ARCY that are outside of the scope of this program. USAID will expect CARS and ESF to develop a joint work plan related to IR3 activities which are relevant to both projects.

Adopt Adaptive Management/Implementation Approaches: The complexities of the program, given Nicaragua’s political challenges and the Caribbean Coast’s economic straits, as well as some budget uncertainty, will require a flexible approach that responds and/or adjusts to evolving political, economic and social conditions, as well as budget fluctuations. While avoiding any substantial departure from the overarching technical principles mentioned above, the program will build in mechanisms to detect risks in advance, react quickly to changing circumstances, and make adjustments in implementation priorities, tasks or arrangements that are deemed critical for the success of the project.

Forge Public Private Partnership and Alliances: Resources on the Caribbean Coast are limited. In order for the initiatives and steps taken through this project to be sustainable, advocacy with the private sector to increase private sector investment and create alliances for reading and security initiatives will be a priority.

E. Geographic Focus and Beneficiaries

After a careful analysis of education statistics, socio-economic need, security concerns, accessibility, and concentration of marginalized populations, as well as the opportunity to complement on-going EFS activities, the following five municipalities (of 12) in the RAAS have been chosen as the project's target municipalities: (1) Bluefields, (2) Pearl Lagoon, (3) Kukra Hill, (4) Corn Island, and (5) La Desembocadura de Rio Grande. The project is concentrated in only five municipalities due to USAID’s desire to achieve demonstrable results with a relatively limited time frame and budget.

FADCANIC has been implementing EFS in Bluefields, Pearl Lagoon and Kukra Hill since 2010, and recently launched activities in Corn Island and La Desembocadura de Rio Grande. For a list of the specific neighborhoods in each municipality in which EFS is focusing activities, please see Attachment 7.

In general, for the purposes of DO2, given the pervasive nature of risk factors in the RAAS – particularly the presence of drugs and violence -- all children and youth in the selected municipalities can effectively be considered “at risk.” However, for the purpose of activities related to IR 1, the specific “at-risk” population to be targeted is more specifically defined as 12,500 children aged 5-15 who are either: (1) in privately-managed schools (grades pre-school to third grade); (2) children who are school-aged, but have never attended school; and (3) children who are failing in public school or have dropped-out of school.

This target was reached after analyzing a number of data sources. First, MINED 2009 data estimated that there were approximately 18,000 students in privately managed schools in the RAAS at that time, of whom over 12,200 were enrolled in grades 1-3. Based on the fact that USAID’s early grade reading activities will be implemented in five of the eleven municipalities in the region, and given the estimated population of those municipalities – this project will reach about 20% of all students in grades one-three in privately managed schools in the RAAS (approximately 2,440).

In addition, since a significant number of students enrolled in the first three grade of primary in public schools are also performing below reading standards, as reported by the 2009 EGRA study, USAID estimates it will reach approximately another 5,000 of these students through its community-based after-school programs. Furthermore, according to IEEPP, there are over 71,000 out-of-school youth aged 7-14 in the RAAS’s 11 municipalities and this program will also reach approximately 3,150 of these children.

Therefore, this program will contribute to USAID’s Education Strategy Goals 1 and 3 by improving access to formal and non-formal education opportunities that will improve the reading skills of at least 12,500 children in the RAAS.

Due to USG policy and legal restrictions, formal school programs will be limited to privately-managed schools, however this does not imply that the program will target elite, private schools. In the Nicaraguan context, privately-managed schools are usually run by NGOs -- particularly faith-based organizations --and often are located in remote areas. In addition to formal school programming, CARS will establish after-school, community-based programs in order to reach out-of-school children and children in public schools who require additional support in reading.

Including five year olds in the beneficiary group will allow the project to reach children who are nearly old enough to enter first grade in order to ease their transition into primary school and, hopefully, provide them with a foundation that will facilitate their promotion to second grade. Of course, activities will also target private school teachers and administrators, after-school reading coaches, parents and other community members. It is also expected that youth participating in the EFS project will be a key asset for the tutoring of young children in the CARS reading program.

For IR 3, the beneficiary population is quite broad, including: teachers, school officials, religious leaders, the private sector, local NGOs, parents, youth and other community members. Local governments and police will also be key collaborators, but for legal and policy reasons described in Section 5 below (Special Considerations), cannot be considered as project beneficiaries at this time.

F. Project Components and Expected Results

USAID is proposing that CARS be divided into four components, each with its respective sub-components:

Component 1: Formal and Non-formal Reading Programs (responds to IR 1, Sub-IRs 1.1 and 1.2) o Sub-Component 1: Improved reading instruction o Sub-Component 2: First Grade Readiness Activities

Component 2: Community Engagement (responds to IR 3, Sub IR 3.2) o Sub-Component 1: Community Mobilization o Sub-Component 2: Communication

Component 3: Local Capacity Development (responds to IR 3, Sub IR 3.1) o Sub-Component 1: Training and Technical Assistance o Sub-Component 2: Sub-grants o Sub-Component 3: Information and Experience Exchange

Component 4: Knowledge Generation and Management (supports IRs 1, 2 and 3) o Sub-Component 1: Data for Decision Making o Sub-Component 2: USAID Data Support

The activities and results detailed under the Project Components will support the achievement of IRs 1 and 3 (and their sub-IRs) of the DO2 Results Framework, and lead to the Project Purpose of improving reading outcomes and contributing to reducing citizen insecurity in five municipalities of the RAAS.

CARS will contribute to the following indicators that will measure progress towards achieving the DO:

Percentage of community members that perceive that their community is safer (disaggregated by sex and municipality)

Drop-out rate (disaggregated by sex and grade)

Component 1 is exclusively related to reading will require the Contractor to implement a core set of evidence-based interventions derived from the experiences of USAID and other partners in Nicaragua and around the world, including focusing on pre-school transition to the first grade. These interventions must be contextualized for Nicaragua and the target populations. In addition, the Contractor should propose complementary activities to improve impact on reading outcomes that will be implemented through Component 1 and potentially also through Components 2, 3 and 4.

Components 2, 3 and 4 are related to both reading and citizen security, and will provide an opportunity for the Contractor to propose innovative, effective activities to achieve the desired results. Component 3 is specifically related to increasing the capacity of local organizations to plan and implement activities related to the program; ultimately, USAID/Nicaragua seeks to have the option of implementing activities directly through such local organizations. The four Components and their Sub-components are inherently linked and Project activities should be designed in a manner that facilitates synergies and avoids stove-piping.

For example, as per IR1 of the DO2 Results Framework, USAID/Nicaragua aims to improve reading performance by increasing access to reading programs and improving the quality of reading instruction and materials. Increased access will be achieved by providing sub-grants to NGOs (Component 3) to implement an evidence-based set of interventions that includes the introduction of an improved approach to reading instruction, including teacher professional development, highly effective teaching and reading materials and continuous assessment (Component 1), as well as complementary, context-specific interventions to be proposed by the Contractor. Access will also be increased by leveraging private sector interest and investment in reading programs and by increasing parents’ commitment to reading through communication campaigns as part of the Project’s community mobilization efforts (Component 2).

Furthermore, to highlight the synergies between CARS and EFS, community committees organized by the Education for Success Project will identify a limited number of children who will receive scholarship support in order to reduce the economic constraints that often keep children from attending school.

CARS will be responsible for coordinating and collaborating with other USAID and USG partners and with other donors to capture and document how the Project’s individual and combined efforts are affecting education and citizen security in the RAAS (Component 4).

The Contractor may propose a different structure for organizing the work to be completed as long as the content of each of the components and sub-components, and the activities specified as “required” in this SOW, are reflected in the proposed project framework and implementation plan.

Component 1: Formal and Non-formal Reading Activities

Learning to read in the early grades is crucial for children’s success in school, as well as for their future economic productivity and civic participation.