Expression of Interest (EOI) USAID Local Impact Governance

Call for Expressions of Interest (EOI)

USAID Local Impact Governance

Background

The five-year (2020-2025) United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Local Impact Governance Project (Local Impact) supports the Government of the Republic of Zambia’s (GRZ) decentralization agenda by strengthening local governance and service delivery and by supporting transparency and responsiveness to citizen needs. The project is partnering with national and sub-national government authorities, along with local businesses and civil society organizations (CSOs), to achieve the following three objectives:

• Citizens improve their collective skills to assess service delivery needs and performance effectively and constructively engage with government
• The sub-national governance system becomes more responsive to citizen needs, generates and accountably expends revenue, and improves service-delivery outcomes
• The program generates learning and facilitates problem-solving that supports the development of an effective, financially viable sub-national governance system for devolved services, capable of being scaled up throughout Zambia

Local Impact is committed to supporting current GRZ priorities to advance decentralization and improve service delivery, directly contributing to sixteen GRZ indicators across the six strategic focus areas of the National Decentralization Implementation Plan (DIP), 2021-2025. The project is partnering with the Ministry of Local Government, the Decentralization Secretariat, and the Ministry of Finance, to ensure that its work in the districts aligns with and supports these GRZ priorities.

The project is initially working in eighteen districts in Central and Muchinga provinces to expand the capacity of district authorities to perform core functions including strengthening the delivery of essential services, deepening citizen and private sector involvement in development planning and monitoring, improving public administration and public financial management, and increasing locally generated revenues. In the third year of implementation, Local Impact will work in nine additional districts in a third province to be determined.

Scope of Work

This call for Expressions of Interest (EOI) is for the pre-selection of local partners for the Local Impact Civil Society Small Grants Program. The goal of this Program is to improve citizens’ awareness of roles, rights, and responsibilities regarding decentralization and service delivery in Central and Muchinga Provinces. The Program’s objectives are to:

• Improve citizens understandings of the functions of local authorities, including their roles, and responsibilities in service delivery
• Increase civic engagement and participation in service delivery
• Empower citizens to productively engage local authorities on their access to quality services
• Capture lessons learned and Zambia-specific best practices on promoting citizens awareness regarding decentralization and the delivery of services

Local Impact welcomes submissions focusing on practical, short-term, and high-impact civic education and public awareness activities that promote citizen participation in local governance processes in Local Impact’s partner districts listed below. Interventions may include, but are not limited to, effectively using the following platforms to sensitize local communities about decentralization and local service delivery:
• Print, community radio and/or social media
• Community theatre
• Dialogue fora including, for example, town halls and focus group discussions

Successful offerors will implement activities in one of the following district clusters:
• Cluster 1: Itezhi-tezhi, Mumbwa and Shibuyunji
• Cluster 2: Chisamba, Chibombo and Kabwe
• Cluster 3: Kapiri Mposhi, Mkushi, Serenje
• Cluster 4: Chitambo, Mpika and Kanchibiya
• Cluster 5: Shiwan’gandu, Chinsali and Isoka
• Cluster 6: Nakonde, Mafinga and Chama

Minimum Eligibility Requirements

Local Impact welcomes applications from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), community-based organizations (CBOs), and faith-based organizations (FBOs) that support community-based initiatives. These organizations must:
• Be officially registered and legally allowed to operate in Zambia
• Show evidence of a functional governance and management structure
• Have a physical office presence and demonstrated capacity to operate in at least one of the district clusters listed above

Award Terms
• Maximum of USD $10,000 per award (Zambia Kwacha equivalent)
• Fixed Amount Awards that reimbursable contingent on the documented achievement of milestones
• Award duration up to six months
Note that this is the first round of grants under the Local Impact Civil Society Small Grants Program. Local Impact will over the life of project issue subsequent up to three rounds of grants for top performing projects to scale up their interventions. New applicants will also be encouraged.
Total grant amount that will be disbursed will be USD $60,000. See budget per district cluster in Annex 1.

Technical Assistance

The shortlisted applicants will be invited to participate in an initial workshop with Local Impact to provide further guidance, clarification and address the applicants’ questions regarding the development of final proposals. Local Impact will guide awardees on both how to successfully implement their projects and achieve results.

Submission Instructions

The EOI should address the following:
• Administrative and Proposal Details
• Title of proposed project
• Target beneficiaries (rank order three district cluster preferences)
• Address of office locations in Lusaka, Central and/or Muchinga provinces
• Point of contact with cell phone, email address, and office location
• Organizational Structure
• Brief description of the organization and its main activities (one paragraph)
• Governance structure (one paragraph)
• Brief descriptions of key personnel for the award
• Staffing organogram
• Rationale
• Explain why your organization is an appropriate partner for Local Impact in Central and/or Muchinga province (one paragraph)
• Identify three preferred district clusters, in order of preference
• Summary of Approach (one paragraph)
• Include illustrative activities and Covid-19 mitigation strategies
• Approach to Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (one paragraph)
• Social Inclusion Considerations (one paragraph)
• Explain the organization’s experience involving youth, women, and persons with disabilities
• Sustainability and Scale-up (one paragraph)
• Explain how the activities supported by Local Impact would be sustained and scaled up
• Proposed Budget (up to USD $10,000 per award) addressing the budget categories outlined in the illustrative budget in Annex 2.

Additional Considerations

Please note that the issuance of this, or response to, this EOI does not constitute an award or commitment from Local Impact, nor does it commit Local Impact to pay for costs incurred in the preparation and submission of responses to this EOI by offerors.

Local Impact will review responses as they are received. All applicants must meet the minimum requirements described above. Only shortlisted organizations will be contacted and invited to submit a full grant application proposal.

The project reserves the right to accept or reject any or all submissions received and reserves the right to ask for further information as needed.

Submission Procedure

Interested organizations should submit completed Expression of Interest in PDF and MS Word formats in English, indicating in the email subject line “EOI – CS Small Grants Program” or “Expressions of Interest for Civil Society Small Grants Program” to: LocalImpactBids@dai.com

The maximum page length for submission is three pages (not including the proposed budget)
Deadline for submission of Expression of Interest: Wednesday, 29 September 2021, Close of Business 17.00hours.

For inquires and clarification, please email: LocalImpactBids@dai.com