The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is seeking applications for a cooperative agreement from qualified entities to implement the Highlands Resilience Activity. Eligibility for this award is not restricted.
The Feed the Future Ethiopia Highlands Resilience Activity (HRA) aims to enable 120,000 households in the highland regions of Ethiopia to reach the graduation threshold1 from the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP5). Applications are sought that complement the PSNP5 and build on the extensive lessons and experiences of previous USAID and GoE-funded programs, particularly the PSNP4 Livelihood Component, USAID’s Graduation with Resilience to Achieve Sustainable Development (GRAD) and the Livelihoods for Resilience (L4R) activities.
HRA must subscribe to the general framework outlined by the PSNP5 livelihood component, which articulates three key livelihood pathways: on-farm, off-farm and employment. USAID/Ethiopia seeks applications that apply market systems approaches to improve: (1) on-farm crop and livestock income generation, (2) off-farm enterprise development (3) wage employment, (4) diet quality and quantity (and nutrition) and (5) collaborative learning for scaling and sustaining gains.
HRA also subscribes to USAID/Ethiopia’s Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) that calls for collaboration and coordination among USAID investments to maximize effectiveness and impact. HRA will target PSNP5 clients in five highland regions of Ethiopia: Tigray, Amhara, Oromia, SNNP and Sidama. Theoretically, all PSNP5 implementing woredas in these regions are eligible; however, priority will be given to woredas within the market sheds of other USAID funded programs, particularly in the Feed the Future Ethiopia Zone of Influence and similar activities implemented/funded by the GoE and other development partners.
Each applicant is limited to one application submission under this NOFO as the prime Applicant. Interested applicants from within Duke should contact fundopps@duke.edu as early as possible.
Deadline: March 10, 2023
Eligibility for this NOFO is not restricted, except that individuals and government entities are not eligible.
USAID intends to award one to two Cooperative Agreement(s) pursuant to this notice of funding opportunity. Subject to funding availability and at the discretion of the Agency, USAID intends to provide up to $60 million in total USAID funding over a five-year period including the crisis modifier line item of $3 million (5%) to respond to an emergency (See Section A.6 above). The total estimated amount will consist of $57 million in core activities and $3 million in crisis modifier activities. Actual funding amounts are subject to availability of funds and internal USAID approvals. USAID reserves the right to fund any or none of the applications submitted.
