USAID_ GHANA RING II -RFI.pdf

Activity Name: Resilience in Northern Ghana (RING) II Date of Issuance: September 25, 2020 Responses Due: October 15, 2020 Email Responses to: ambengue@usaid.gov with a copy to keffiom@usaid.gov and ramegashie@usaid.gov

USAID/Ghana Health Population and Nutrition Office seeks feedback on the draft Statement of Objectives (SOO) of an anticipated Request for Proposal for the implementation of the Resilience in Northern Ghana (RING) II - Systems Strengthening activity. The purpose of the RING II - Systems Strengthening is to strengthen service delivery systems in order to elicit the adoption of behaviors that promote nutrition and resilience of poor and food-insecure households in northern Ghana. The total estimated cost for the activity is $24,502,155 over five years.

The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to obtain feedback from industry. This is NOT a Request for Proposal (RFP), and is NOT to be construed as a commitment by the U.S.

Government to issue a RFP, or ultimately an award, or to pay for any information voluntarily submitted as a result of this request.

Any submitted 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 RFI 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/Ghana will not provide any responses to the comments provided.

Please refer to Attachment 1 - Draft Statement of Objectives (SOO) and respond to the following questions:

Questions for the Request for Information (RFI)

General Procurement Questions:

1. Are you interested in submitting a proposal when a request for proposals is released? If so, please detail the following information in the format below:

• Entity Name

• Entity Type (e.g. non-governmental organization, social enterprise, civil society organization)

• Small Business: (Y/N) and, if yes, specify your status and certification mailto:ambengue@usaid.gov mailto:keffiom@usaid.gov mailto:ramegashie@usaid.gov

RESILIENCE IN NORTHERN GHANA (RING ) II

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

2. USAID/Ghana is using a Statement of Objectives (SOO) requirements document format to provide the maximum flexibility to each offeror to propose an innovative approach via a Performance Work Statement (PWS). The PWS is a statement of work for performance-based acquisitions that describes the required results in clear, specific, and objective terms with measurable outcomes. To help USAID/Ghana achieve this purpose, please provide feedback on areas in the SOO that require further amplification or those that you deem necessary to incorporate or clarify to shape the future solicitation.

3. USAID/Ghana intends to request a Small Business Subcontracting Plan as part of the solicitation, in adherence to FAR 19.702 the Prime Contract will be expected to submit the Individual Subcontract Report (ISR), and the Summary Subcontract Report (SSR) using the Electronic Subcontracting Reporting System (eSRS) (http://www.esrs.gov), per FAR 19.704(a)(10)(iv). Please share any concerns you have with subcontracting to small businesses.

Technical Questions

4. How adequately do the draft objectives address barriers to sustained adoption of behaviors that promote nutrition and resilience in the target population and local context? If applicable, what are the other objectives (up to three) that would achieve the activity purpose?

5. What research questions (up to three) do you propose for this activity that can help improve related programming and policy?

6. What implementation challenges do you envision, including those related to the global COVID-19 pandemic? How can these challenges be mitigated during program implementation?

7. What opportunities do you see to engage the private sector in helping to sustainably develop service delivery systems in northern Ghana?

8. How can the skills of women, youth, and persons with disabilities in northern Ghana be brought to bear on this activity’s success and sustainability?

General Instructions:

USAID welcomes industry to respond to the RFI. All responses (comments, questions, suggestions, and enhancements) to this RFI are due to the email address above by the date listed on the cover page. Responders may provide responses through the email message platform, or through attachments to email in Microsoft Word compatible format or Adobe Acrobat formats.

Please number pages consecutively beginning with Page 1 and limit your submission to no more than three (3) pages (not including cover page) using no less than 12-point font single-spacing.

USAID posts its competitive business opportunities for acquisitions on www.betaSAM.gov, in adherence to FAR Part 10.002(b)(2)(iii). It is the potential Offeror’s responsibility to monitor these sites for announcements of new opportunities. Please note that responding to this RFI will not give any advantage to any organization or individual in any subsequent competition. Responses may be used by USAID without restriction or limitation, therefore proprietary information should not be sent. Responses to this RFI will not be returned and respondents will not be notified of the result http://www.fbo.gov/

RESILIENCE IN NORTHEN GHANA (RING) II

of the review. If the a RFP is issued, it will be announced on www.betaSAM.gov at a later date, and all interested parties must respond to it separately from any response to this RFI. This RFI does not restrict the Government’s approach on a future RFP.

USAID appreciates any feedback provided. Thank you for your time and interest in USAID’s activities.

Sincerely, Keisha Effiom, Office Director, Regional Acquisition and Assistance Office USAID/ West Africa http://www.fbo.gov/

ATTACHMENT 1

STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES:

1. PURPOSE

The Resilience in Northern Ghana (RING) II - Systems Strengthening activity focuses on enhancing the ability of all stakeholders to address poor nutrition and weak resilience in northern Ghana. USAID defines resilience as the ability of people, households, communities, countries, and systems to mitigate, adapt to, and recover from shocks and stresses in a manner that reduces chronic vulnerability and facilitates inclusive growth.1 The RING II - Systems Strengthening activity will result in sustained improvements in the delivery of local services to achieve measurable improvements in the nutrition and resilience of an estimated 85,000 reproductive-aged women and children under five years old.

2. PERFORMANCE PERIOD AND COST

The performance period for the RING II - Systems Strengthening activity is five years at a total estimated cost (TEC) of $24,502,155. Funding for the RING II - Systems Strengthening activity cuts across several USAID budget priorities, as follows:

● Global Health, specifically nutrition, maternal and child health, and family planning budgets, which work to prevent child and maternal deaths by helping women and children access essential, and often lifesaving, health services.

● Feed the Future, the U.S. Government's global hunger and food security initiative;

● Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Development Assistance account; and

● USAID Displaced Children and Orphans Fund, which provides financial and technical assistance for the care and protection of vulnerable children.

3. TARGET AREA AND POPULATION

The RING II - Systems Strengthening activity will work in the following 17 districts with a focus on services affecting women and children:

● Northern Region – Yendi, Mion, Karaga, Gushegu, Nanton, and Sagnarigu;

● North East Region – East Mamprusi and Mamprugu Moagduri;

● Upper East Region – Bawku Municipal, Bawku West, Garu, and Tempane; and

● Upper West Region – Daffiama Bussie Issa, Nadowli-Kaleo, Sissala East, Sissala West, and Wa East.

These districts comprise the areas of implementation of the USAID/Ghana Feed the Future strategy. Other districts may be considered in consultation with USAID and based on need, as

1 For more information about USAID’s approach to resilience, refer to https://www.usaid.gov/resilience https://www.usaid.gov/resilience defined by key nutrition and resilience indicators.

4. BACKGROUND

After more than two decades of democratic governance, political stability, and economic growth, Ghana is often cited as an African development role model. During this period, Ghana met its Millennium Development Goal to halve poverty and obtain lower-middle income status.

Furthermore, maternal and child mortality rates declined significantly and prevalence of childhood stunting, an indicator of chronic malnutrition, plunged from 35 percent in 2003 to 19 percent in 2014.

However, Ghana’s development trends mask the poor development outcomes of the mostly agrarian northern regions2 which comprise the largest number of people living in poverty nationwide. The recent Ghana Living Standards Survey estimates that of the 2.4 million Ghanaians living in extreme poverty, 75 percent live in northern Ghana and are unable to consume the minimum daily requirement of food per day, even if they spend all their income on food.3 Increasing incidence and more prolonged periods of flooding and drought and unpredictable rain patterns disproportionately impact northern populations that rely on agriculture for their livelihoods.

These vulnerabilities lead to poor nutrition, the greatest risk factor of death and disability in the country,4 which is particularly persistent in the North. Poor water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) practices contribute to diarrhoeal diseases, a leading cause of child morbidity and mortality in Ghana, including wasting, a sign of acute malnutrition. Although open defecation continues to be practiced throughout Ghana, between 56 and 72 percent of populations in the northern regions practice open defecation, compared with 18 percent nationally.5

Fewer than half of households in Northern, Northeast, Savannah, and Upper East Regions consume three meals per day per household member during the lean season.6 Inadequate diet in Ghana contributes to micronutrient deficiencies, particularly of vitamin A and iron. Iron is the primary cause of anemia, which leads to developmental delays in children and pregnancy complications in

2 Prior to 2018, northern Ghana comprised three regions: Northern, Upper East and Upper West. In 2018, the government carved two additional regions - North East and Savannah - from the former Northern Region. Regional data in this document refer to the former regional make-up.

3 Ghana Statistical Service (GSS). 2018. Poverty Trends in Ghana 2005-2017. Accra, Ghana 4 Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). Ghana profile. Seattle, WA: IHME, University of Washington, 2018. Available from http://www.healthdata.org/Ghana. (Accessed July 22, 2020) 5 WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP). 2017. Available from https://washdata.org/data/household (Accessed July 27, 2020) 6 World Food Programme. September 2017. Fill the Nutrient Gap Ghana http://www.healthdata.org/Ghana https://washdata.org/data/household women. The last Demographic Health Survey (2014) also found that 24 percent of pregnant women in Ghana were moderately anemic during pregnancy, and as much as 48 percent of women in northern Ghana experienced anemia.

A recent micronutrient survey found that 36 percent of children under five years old were moderately anemic, rising up to 40 percent in the northern regions7. As a result, about one-quarter of Ghanaian children are at risk of growth and development deficits due to physical and cognitive stunting8. Childhood stunting rates peak at more than 40 percent in some northern districts, slowing children’s language, cognitive, physical, and socioemotional development. A recent study, for instance, found that children from food insecure households in six districts in Ghana had lower literacy, numeracy, and short-term memory.9 It is estimated that development deficits, particularly those that occur in the first 1,000 days of life (from pregnancy to a child’s second birthday), result in a 63 percent loss in annual adult wages10, continuing the cycle of poverty and vulnerability.

Gender disparities exacerbate adverse social and economic outcomes. In northern Ghana, up to 44 percent of women are underemployed compared to 33 percent of men in the region and 24 percent of women nationally.11 Female farmers are concentrated in the unskilled and low-income ends of value chains and tend to work longer hours due to their household responsibilities. Up to 60 percent of women in northern Ghana desire family planning services to limit or space their births, which is also an important pathway to resilience, yet only two-thirds of these women access these services.12 And, although reported rates of physical, sexual, and domestic violence in northern Ghana remain lower than in other regions13, populations in northern Ghana report the most accepting attitudes toward domestic violence.14

7 University of Ghana, GroundWork, University of Wisconsin-Madison, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust, UNICEF. Ghana Micronutrient Survey 2017. Accra, Ghana; 2017 8 Countdown to 2030, 2017.

9 Aurino E, Wolf S, Tsinigo E (2020). Household food insecurity and early childhood development: Longitudinal evidence from Ghana. PLoS ONE 15(4): e0230965. https://doi.org/ 10.1371/journal.pone.0230965 10 Early Childhood Development Country Profile: Ghana (2019). Countdown to 2030 women’s, children’s and adolescent health. https://nurturing-care.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Ghana.pdf 11 Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), Department for International Development (DFID), and the Government of the Netherlands (2020). Ghana Living Standards Survey 7: Main Report. Accra, Ghana. Data refers to the former Northern Region, which is now Northern, Savannah and North East Regions 12 Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), 2018. Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS2017/18), Survey Findings Report.

Accra, Ghana: GSS.

13 Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Ghana Statistical Services (GSS) and Associates (2016), Domestic Violence in Ghana: Incidence, Attitudes, Determinants and Consequences, Brighton: IDS. Accessed 6/27/2020 at http://www2.statsghana.gov.gh/docfiles/publications/DV_Ghana_Report_FINAL.pdf 14 More than 60 percent of women in the Northern Region believe a husband is justified in beating his wife in various circumstances, compared to 32 percent nationwide. Source: Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), 2018. Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS 2017/18), Survey Findings Report. Accra, Ghana: GSS.

https://doi.org/ http://www2.statsghana.gov.gh/docfiles/publications/DV_Ghana_Report_FINAL.pdf

Achieving household resilience to economic and other shocks requires quality services that are accessible, particularly to the most marginalized populations. Ghana’s decentralized governance structures deliver or support services that promote nutrition and resilience including health, agriculture, and water, and sanitation. However, service delivery is often unresponsive to population needs, is of poor quality, and has marginal reach, particularly for the most vulnerable.

For example, a 2018 study on decentralization in the agricultural sector found that district agricultural support budgets changed marginally over six years, while expenditures as a proportion of agricultural households declined, partially because of political incentives to prioritize sectors with more visible outcomes.15

The previous RING project, implemented between 2013 and 2019, provided grants to local governments in the former Northern Region to implement multi-sectoral interventions to improve nutrition, sanitation, hygiene, and livelihood security in poor communities. Though the final evaluation found that key impact-level indicators of resilience, such as childhood stunting, remained stagnant, the project achieved results along the impact pathway including increased household income, the consumption of a minimum acceptable diet among young children, and the practice of more healthy behaviors.16 Another evaluation of the project found that the intervention strengthened planning across sectors, public financial management and accountability, management and oversight of services and programs, and monitoring and supportive supervision to strengthen local government staff performance.17

Sustaining these gains are threatened by high district staff attrition, including time lost in training new staff and in rebuilding relationships with communities; weak accountability systems; and inadequate budget allocations for service monitoring, among other challenges. Furthermore, persistent socio-economic inequities, conflict, climatic shocks, and other risks continue to threaten Ghana’s development gains and intensify the vulnerabilities of populations in northern Ghana.

Most recently, lockdown measures, closed borders, and broader global economic disruptions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in loss of household income, higher prices for basic goods, and reduced access to social services. Without strong and coordinated systems in place, unanticipated economic crises and humanitarian disasters will continue to dampen the country’s self-reliance goals, with people in the northern regions facing the most dire impacts.

4. RELATIONSHIPS TO OTHER ACTIVITIES

15 Resnick, Danielle, 2018. "The devolution revolution: Implications for agricultural service delivery in Ghana:," IFPRI discussion papers 1714, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

16 Abdul-Rahman, L., Abdulai, A., Sulemana, N., & Mensah, DY. (2019). Endline Beneficiary-based Survey of USAID Ghana’s Resiliency in Northern Ghana project.

17 Asamoah, O.E. and Zodrow, G. (2019). Nutrition and Poverty Reduction in Northern Ghana: Evaluation.

USAID/Ghana Evaluate for Health Project, Management Systems International (MSI).

4.a. RELATIONSHIP TO GOVERNMENT OF GHANA (GOG) INITIATIVES

The GoG addresses poverty and social inequities through its Coordinated Programme of Economic and Social Policies, which places “particular emphasis...on strengthening social protection, especially for children, women, persons with disability, and the elderly.” Food and nutrition security programs are implemented across various ministries and agencies, including the Ministries of Food and Agriculture; Gender, Children, and Social Protection; and Health. For example, the GoG’s Planting for Food and Jobs program provides subsidized seeds and extension services to smallholder farmers. Between 2017 and 2018, the program created more than 1.5 million jobs in the agricultural sector,18 increased household food expenditures, and lowered poverty among rice farmers in the northern regions.19 The Ministry’s Women in Agricultural Development directorate implements programs that promote food-based nutrition education, value addition through food processing and preservation, and gender mainstreaming in agricultural policies, programs, and projects.

The public health system provides vitamin supplements to adolescent girls, pregnant women, and young children as part of routine maternal and child health programs to mitigate high rates of micronutrient deficiency during pregnancy and early childhood. The system also conducts child growth monitoring and promotion and treats malnutrition at community-level health posts. Recent attention to early childhood outcomes prompted the government to develop Early Childhood Care and Development Standards to guide service providers, including those in the health sector, on the developmental milestones of children from birth to three years of age and improve the quality of care of young children. Furthermore, the GoG recently added contraceptives to the country’s list of essential health commodities, paving the way for public financing of a variety of modern contraceptives through the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) benefit package.

Ghana’s established social protection system contributes to mitigating poverty and its impacts. The country finances its own Ghana School Feeding Program, implemented by the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection. As of 2019, the program reached an estimated 2.6 million children living in impoverished communities, with daily nutritious meals. Ghana’s national cash transfer program, Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), targets cash to extremely poor households, including those with pregnant women and children younger than one year of age.

18 Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Operational Performance: Planting for Food and Jobs (2017-1018).

http://mofa.gov.gh/site/images/pdf/PFJ.pdf 19 Mohammed Tanko, Salifu Ismaila & Saeed Abu Sadiq | Goodness Aye (Reviewing editor) (2019) Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ): A panacea for productivity and welfare of rice farmers in Northern Ghana, Cogent Economics & Finance, 7:1, DOI: 10.1080/23322039.2019.1693121 http://mofa.gov.gh/site/images/pdf/PFJ.pdf

Ghana’s NHIS covers 42 percent of the population and waives membership fees to poor and other target populations.20

4.b. RELATIONSHIP TO USAID DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY The goal of the USAID/Ghana Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS), currently in draft, is a “self-reliant nation offering a productive, healthy life to all its citizens”. Accomplishing this goal will require a focus on the following Development Objectives: (1) Broad-based Economic Growth Accelerated and Sustained; (2) Quality Services Delivered with Increased Accountability;

and (3) Sustainable Development Accelerated in Northern Ghana. The RING II - System Strengthening activity interventions will contribute to achieving the following behavior-focused outcomes identified as sub-intermediate results as follows:

IR 1.3: Healthy, skilled citizens contribute to economic growth

● 1.3.1: Citizens adopt improved health practices

● 1.3.2: Citizens seek care for optimal health

IR 2.2: Local authorities manage policy implementation for efficient service delivery

● 2.2.1: District Authorities program yearly budgets that meet identified priority community needs

IR 3.1: Government improves equitable delivery of quality services in health, education and agriculture

● 3.1.2: Local government authorities effectively administer financial resources

● 3.1.3: Private sector invests in low-cost quality services

● 3.1.4: Citizens advocate for government to deliver quality services equitably

IR 3.3: Citizens adopt improved practices to advance their well-being and resilience

● 3.3.1: Farmers adopt improved agronomic practices

● 3.3.2: Farmers link to profitable market systems

● 3.3.3: Citizens adopt improved nutrition, sanitation and hygiene practices

● 3.3.4: Most vulnerable households use community support and social services

● 3.3.5: Parents send their children to school year round

The RING II - Systems Strengthening activity forms part of the Ghana Food Security Project (GFSP), which aims to “strengthen Ghana’s capacity to independently address poverty, hunger, and malnutrition.” The RING II - Systems Strengthening activity will support USAID/Ghana’s contribution to reduce the number of stunted children globally by at least two million, as articulated through the USAID Multisectoral Nutrition Strategy (2014-2025). The program’s focus on engendering healthy and positive nutrition practices is essential to the goals of the USAID Ending

20 Figure reported by the National Health Insurance Agency during a national workshop in March 2020.

Preventable Maternal and Child Deaths strategy, which strives toward the global target to reduce child mortality to 25 deaths per 1,000 live births and maternal mortality to a global average of 70 deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030. Furthermore, the RING II - Systems Strengthening activity’s efforts to promote children’s development and protection, particularly in early childhood, aligns with the U.S. Government strategy for Advancing Protection and Care for Children in Adversity, which advances nurturing care for the vulnerable newborns and young children; family-based care for vulnerable children who are, or are at risk of, living outside of family care; and protections from violence against children.

4.c. RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER PROGRAMMING

The RING II - Systems Strengthening activity will directly complement a grant to the GoG to administer a grants program to the 17 target districts. Complementary USAID programming will also increase domestic resource mobilization and introduce innovative financing models at national and sub-national levels, including within the 17 RING II implementation districts. The RING II - Systems Strengthening activity will coordinate with and leverage USAID’s programs that focus on market systems to increase inclusive agriculture-led economic growth in northern Ghana through competitive, stronger, and more resilient markets. While the RING II - Systems Strengthening activity strengthens equitable access to services, other USAID programs will strengthen quality and accountability, particularly in the health and education sectors. Ghana was recently designated as a priority country under the Water for the World Act of 2014, which makes WASH a U.S. foreign policy priority. In Ghana, USAID will strengthen private sector engagement, financing, and public and private WASH service delivery, with a focus on northern Ghana.

Furthermore, complementary USAID programming will also address climate change vulnerabilities, which disproportionately impact northern Ghana, by promoting climate-smart agriculture and renewable energy technologies targeting small businesses and farmers.

The World Bank is a major donor to the health and social protection sectors nationwide. The U.K.

Department for International Development (DFID) funds programs that improve the incomes and resilience of poor farmers and small-scale rural entrepreneurs in northern Ghana and partners with the World Bank to support the government’s cash transfer program, LEAP. Furthermore, the World Food Programme’s efforts to reduce food insecurity include systems strengthening support for the national school feeding program and electronic vouchers for healthy, supplementary food targeting pregnant women, nursing mothers, and vulnerable children under two years. UNICEF partners with the national and local governments to improve child health, nutrition, and WASH;

provides operational and management support to the LEAP program; and recently introduced a grants program to 60 districts (including several of the RING II target districts) to strengthen public social services.

5. PROBLEM STATEMENT

Persistent poverty and weak service delivery systems have created continuous and intractable adverse social and economic outcomes. Persistent socio-economic inequities, climatic shocks, conflict, and other risks continue to threaten Ghana’s development gains and intensify the vulnerabilities of populations in northern Ghana. Donor assistance has had some success but has failed to address systemic issues and has therefore not produced sustainable results.

6. OBJECTIVES

a. Local governments plan, finance, and deliver services that respond to the population’s needs

USAID is partnering with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to administer a performance-based grants program in the 17 RING II target districts to strengthen service delivery and implement multi-sectoral programs that benefit extremely poor households within their districts. This activity will collaborate with the Ministry to strengthen the districts’ planning, budgeting, and service delivery systems by addressing known gaps, such as those detailed in the recent USAID RING II Public Financial Management Risk Assessment and the Ministry’s annual administration of the District Performance Assessment Tool (DPAT), as well as identified challenges from other assessments and resources. The RING II - Systems Strengthening activity interventions will enable local governments to adopt participatory and inclusive approaches to planning; develop and implement annual plans that reflect constituent priorities, particularly those of underserved and vulnerable populations; implement realistic budgets; adopt multisectoral approaches to nutrition and resilience programming; and effectively use data for planning and decision-making.

b. Local government, non-governmental, and private entities collectively implement solutions to promote household nutrition and resilience

Ghanaian civil society, non-governmental, and private sector institutions offer resources and other benefits that can help the government deliver better quality and cost-effective services. They also bring innovation, technical know-how, and other resources that can help solve the most difficult development problems. The RING II - Systems Strengthening activity will identify and strengthen non-governmental, civil society, and private sector entities to expand their offerings and complement government efforts to strengthen nutrition and resilience. In alignment and partnership with target districts, local partners will implement interventions that encourage individuals and households to practice health, nutrition, WASH, and care practices, with a particular focus on young children and women of reproductive age. Interventions will promote improved and diverse livelihoods, food security, and the use of social safety nets to enable sustained household resilience of an estimated 85,000 people in the 17 target districts. The RING II - Systems Strengthening activity will prepare entities that exhibit potential to partner strategically with USAID, to transition to future direct partnerships in line with USAID Transition Award guidelines.

c. Citizens influence local service delivery to respond to their needs Citizen engagement improves access to and quality of services by enabling responsiveness, transparency, and accountability in service delivery. Citizens can generate ideas, contribute to decision making, monitor implementation, provide feedback on service delivery, raise concerns, and share responsibilities. Local governments are encouraged to facilitate the preparation of local or community development plans to assess community-level needs to inform district sectoral plans.

However, citizens often do not participate in the delivery of local services because of social norms about the societal roles of women, youth, and other underserved groups; limited citizen understanding of complex government processes; and distrust of local leaders, among other factors. The RING II - Systems Strengthening activity will promote active citizen participation in service delivery and local government accountability to its constituents for equitable delivery of services that respond to population needs, particularly among the most underserved.

[END OF STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES]