The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Bureau for Economic Growth, Education and
Environment (E3) and supporting Bureaus are issuing YouthPower 2 (YP2) Annual
Program Statement (APS) to provide a vehicle for engaging with youthled and
youth-serving organizations, among others, and systems to generate
cross-sectoral, positive youth development outcomes.
The YP2 APS seeks to provide flexibility to collaborate with youth
and their communities, institutions, sectors and systems (including higher
education institutions, non-formal education providers, private sector,
government, CSOs- including youth-led and youth-serving organizations,
faith-based organizations) to build sustainable partnerships around key
development challenges and opportunities. This APS is designed to catalyze,
facilitate, and support such collaboration.
The YouthPower 2 Annual Program Statement (APS)
provides a vehicle for engaging with youth-led and youth-serving organizations,
among others, and systems to generate cross-sectoral, positive youth
development outcomes. The APS disseminates information to prospective
Applicants so they may develop and submit Concept Notes in response to the
addenda and ultimately to be considered for USAID funding.This APS describes
and provides:
- The types of activities for
which Concept Notes and Applications will be considered;
- Available funding, process, and
requirements for submitting Concept Notes and Application;
- The criteria for evaluating
Concept Notes and Application; and
- Relevant documentation and
resources.
Theory of Change
The YP2 theory of change hypothesizes that when
cross-sectoral programming:
- Intentionally engages youth,
families, schools, communities, and systems in age- and developmentally
appropriate activities;
- Builds market-driven skills and
assets;
- Provides youth access to health
and relevant education services, civic and economic opportunities, and
safe spaces;
- Fosters a sense of belonging,
pro-social norms and behaviors, gender equity and healthy relationships
THEN development investments will result in
sustainable outcomes that:
- Reduce poverty;
- Build resilient, stable,
democratic, and self-reliant societies;
- Reduce grievances, violence,
and inter/intra-communal conflict;
- Improve individual health,
nutrition, education, protection, and well- being outcomes;
- Strengthen societies and
economies for generations to come.
Engaging Youth as
Partners and Leaders
Young people are well-positioned to advocate for
their own needs in policies and programs to ensure that youth-friendly services
are free from coercion, discrimination, and violence. Youth engagement also
facilitates positive social change to address the needs of their communities,
now and in the future.
USAID supports programs and activities that
engage youth as partners and leaders in meeting education, economic growth,
security, health, democracy, human rights, and governance objectives through
advocacy, civil society strengthening, leadership development, and
cross-sectoral programming. For example, by providing safe spaces for
structured interaction with youth holding opposing political or ideological
views, youth are empowered to break down religious, gender, ethnic, community,
and individual-level divides. Through partnership and collaboration with
universities, youth-led organizations, and civil society organizations (CSOs),
youth can receive locally relevant leadership and advocacy skills to organize
campaigns in support of non-violent engagement in transition processes and more
actively engage as leaders for change in their own communities.
Desired Program
Outcomes
- Desired program outcomes may
include but are not limited to:
- Strengthened host-country
systems and programs to
achieve sustainable, cross-sectoral positive outcomes
for and with youth in health, education, agriculture,
environment, economic growth, peace and security, democracy, human rights
and governance. The areas/sectors of programming could involve, but are
not limited to:
- Health (HIV prevention, care
and treatment; reproductive health; family planning;
- preparing for partnering and
parenting; mental health/psycho-social support;
- drug/substance abuse
prevention and rehabilitation; maternal and child health; nutrition; and
malaria).
- Education (basic education,
including literacy and numeracy in both formal and nonformal spaces;
safe spaces for youth affected by crisis and/or conflict; work
readiness;
- social and emotional learning
or soft skills; digital literacy; youth leadership; access to quality
secondary education, vocational training, accelerated education,
catch-up and remedial programs; and higher education programs).
- Agriculture (food security,
rural development)
- Environment (natural resource
management; global climate change; water and sanitation)
- Economic Growth (employment;
livelihoods and economic strengthening;
- microenterprise and value
chain development; youth workforce development; career development;
entrepreneurship; access to higher education, financial, and business
development services; and investment capital).
- Democracy, Human Rights, and
Governance (support for youth in crisis and conflict contexts;
demobilization; civic education/participation; youth in peacebuilding;
- rehabilitation from trauma;
countering violent extremism; violence prevention; leadership
development; rule of law and governance; human rights education;
combating trafficking in persons; and support for young journalists and
citizen journalism).
- Gender equitable and inclusive youth
development programs and systems that engage and serve all youth. USAID
encourages gender equality and inclusion of marginalized populations to
be addressed and integrated within program activities in every technical
sector/area. While this APS refers to the term “youth” throughout the
document, it encompasses the notion of inclusion and gender
differentiation along the lines specified in USAID Gender Equality and
Women’s Empowerment Policy. USAID supports youth programming that is
inclusive, equitable and gender responsive. In addition:
- Specific topics for gender
equality may include: preventing and mitigating gender-based violence
and trafficking in persons; fostering women and girls’ leadership;
enhancing equity; shifting gender norms; empowering adolescent girls and
young women; and constructive engagement of men/boys.
- Specific topics for inclusion
of marginalized populations may include: youth with disabilities;
refugee and displaced youth; LGBTI youth; ethnic and religious youth
minorities in the pursuit of political rights and civil liberties; equal
opportunities; and non-discriminatory access to public goods and
services.
- Locally owned and locally led youth development programs and systems that
achieve sustainable outcomes through partnerships and
leveraging of resources. Strategically, YP2 APS outcomes will be best
achieved within a country context by building local ownership and
fostering partnerships across organizations and sectors. USAID strongly
encourages YP2 APS Applicant(s) to partner with local actors and leverage
external resources to promote sustainable, long-term development impacts.
This could involve direct support to local youth-led and youthserving
organizations, as well as government and non-government institutions,
agencies, or regional associations. This may also involve partnering with
the private sector to: 1) ascertain problems and issues that warrant
attention; 2) mobilize and apply private sector expertise, capabilities,
and resources; and 3) build a robust development cooperation between
targeted sectors and industry.
- The PYD evidence base is
further advanced. USAID encourages each YP2 award to contribute
towards building the evidence base to advance the global PYD
field. USAID resources place strong value on sharing and applying
best practices and lessons learned from program implementation in order
to strengthen youth development programs globally and advance the PYD
learning agenda. USAID welcomes sharing best practices and lessons
learned through the YP2 Learning and Evaluation (YP2LE) Learning Network,
YouthPower and YouthLead websites, and other related networks.
Funding Information
- Estimated Total Program
Funding: $120,000,000
- Award Ceiling: $25,000,000
- Award Floor: $1,000,000
Eligibility Criteria
- This APS is open to all
entities unless otherwise specified in addenda.
- All interested organizations
are restricted to submitting only one Concept Note as the Prime Applicant.
If more than one Concept Note is received with the same Prime Applicant,
USAID will seek written clarification from the relevant entity regarding
which Concept Note should be considered for review.
- If clarification is not
resolved within five (5) business days, all Concept Notes submitted by the
Applicant will be deemed ineligible.
Post Date - 31-Mar-2020