Applications Invited for STAWI Addendum to Diversifying Partnerships in WASH

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About the Organization

USAID leads international development and humanitarian efforts to save lives, reduce poverty, strengthen democratic governance and help people progress beyond assistance.

USAID is the world's premier international development agency and a catalytic actor driving development results. USAID works to help lift lives, build communities, and advance democracy. USAID's work advances U.S. national security and economic prosperity; demonstrates American generosity; and promotes a path to recipient self-reliance and resilience.

About the Grant

The U.S. Agency for International Development is issuing this Addendum pursuant to the Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) of 1961, as amended. Any potential resulting award(s) will be subject to 2 CFR 700 and 2 CFR 200 – Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards and USAID’s Standard Provisions for U.S and Non-U.S. Based organizations per ADS 303.

The purpose of STAWI activity is to strengthen resilience and expand economic opportunities in targeted northern and eastern counties through management of water resources, expansion of sustainable water services, and improved use of water within agriculture and livestock production and market systems. The overall goal is to improve water security in areas of recurrent crises. Specifically, applications under this activity should address two or more of the four objectives: 1. Improve governance of water resources and services; 2. Increase the sustainability of water service delivery; and 3. Improve management, efficiency, and equitable access to water used for productive purposes; and 4. Improve collaboration and learning across stakeholders under the leadership and coordination of the STAWI Contract Awardee.

USAID seeks to support one or more recipients with a defined plan to achieve these outcomes to be further developed through co-creation and in consultation with USAID. USAID seeks to support an implementing partner(s) whose work plan reflects the priorities of the 2017 U.S. Global Water Strategy, technical approaches1 to WASH, USAID private sector engagement policy, including using global and local trends in the sector to measure and report progress as well as building and disseminating evidence for advocacy, policy and learning. Given the cross-cutting nature of water resources into the agricultural sector, implementing partner(s) work plan must also align with the 2017 Global Food Security Strategy and the Global Food Security Kenya Country Plan. USAID encourages a successful partner to draw on global trends and regional and national-level data on access to safe drinking water, water resource management (WRM), and agriculture including land and conflict management issues as they are linked to the Objectives of this activity, and on the results and lessons learned from previous USAID-funded activities. In addition, USAID encourages the recipient to leverage work being supported by other donors and stakeholders, as well as other USAID-funded activities.

DiP-WASH seeks to strategically diversify USAID’s WASH, water resources management (WRM) and agriculture partnerships by drawing on specific capacities that will help to close knowledge, capacity, or technical gaps in service to the Objectives of this activity. As such, a successful partner is also encouraged to identify specific capacities that it will bring, and others that may be sourced from other partners. Co-creation activities will emphasize identification of needed capabilities. Interventions may be implemented across the full range of contexts in which USAID works, including stable, crisis-affected, conflict-affected, and early recovery contexts. Crisis modifiers and shock responsive programming should be considered depending on the context specific to this addendum.

The STAWI opportunity is being released in conjunction with a contract opportunity and the contract awardee will be responsible to consolidate, disseminate and create a learning platform for sharing and applying lessons across counties. To facilitate the coordination and learning synthesis and dissemination, the STAWI awardees will be expected to collaborate and coordinate with the contract awardee2. USAID also encourages coordination and collaboration among all STAWI awardees, if there are multiple awardees. This interconnectedness and collaboration between the contract awardee and the STAWI awardees, especially new awardees, will provide a channel to develop best practices in how county governments, local and underutilized new (or existing local) APS grantees and a prime contract awardee work together in Kenya.

Purpose –

The main purpose of STAWI is to improve water security in areas of recurrent crises. USAID/KEA aims to increase the ability of counties and communities to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities and quality of water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, and socio-economic development. For this activity, the STAWI awardees are expected to advance this purpose through county level interventions. STAWI activity awardees are not expected to contribute to interventions at the national level. The STAWI awardees must support and engage communities and civil society, particularly women and girls and youth, in developing political will and technical capacities in advancing the objectives of STAWI. USAID/KEA posits that a focus on locally led, managed and owned development is a sure pathway to accelerating self-reliance, and contributing to transformational change in water resources management and improved water service delivery.

Eligibility

USAID defines “Implementing Partners” as U.S. and non-U.S. non-governmental organizations that can design and implement assistance activities outside the United States. All Implementing Partners must be legally registered entities under applicable law and eligible under the relevant laws to receive funding from a foreign source. Individuals, unregistered, or informal organizations are not eligible to be Implementing Partners. NPI provides further details on eligibility, depending on the approach to partnership.

• Local entities, including government institutions.

• Locally established partners. Unlike local entities, locally established partners (LEPs) must demonstrate viability apart from USAID funding by showing that they have received at least as much in non-U.S. Government funding as they have received from USAID in the previous five years.
• Non-local organizations. While the Agency’s Acquisitions & Assistance Strategy and Journey to Self-Reliance framework prioritize engagement with local partners, Mission/Operating Unit (OU) objectives may require a broader focus. This direct award option includes U.S. small businesses, as well as any other U.S.-based or international NUPs that could play a unique role in a given sector or context, such as U.S. higher education institutions.

How to Apply

The application process for the STAWI activity will happen in four phases:

• An open call for a brief (5-page) Concept Note;
• Review of concept notes by USAID as outlined below;
• In-person and/or virtual co-creation discussions and/or workshop(s) with selected Concept Note(s), by invitation only: and 4. Submission and review of Full Application(s), by invitation only.

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Tags Environment and Sustainability Sanitation Water Others