Request for Proposals- USIP عودة إلى الفرص

• Introduction and Background

The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is a national, nonpartisan, independent institute, founded by Congress and dedicated to the proposition that a world without violent conflict is possible, practical, and essential for U.S. and global security. In conflict zones abroad, the Institute works with local partners to prevent, mitigate, and resolve violent conflicts. For more information, please visit http://www.usip.org. 

In Tunisia, USIP works with the government, civil society, and other relevant actors to address pressing challenges threatening the country’s stability, prosperity, and peace. This includes work on security sector reform, community dialogue and conflict resolution, education and training, civil society development, and responsive governance. 

USIP has recently launched a new project with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to support local environmental governance. The project seeks to foster collaboration between local communities, government, and other relevant stakeholders to solve priority local environmental issues in four locales across Tunisia: Tabarka, Siliana, Ben Guerdane and Sfax. USIP is seeking a highly capable and professional trainer to revise existing, and develop new, training content and conduct training sessions on peacebuilding foundational knowledge and skills for state actors in the four locales.

• Purpose of the RFP

USIP’s Tunisia program will engage a trainer who will work with USIP to develop training content and deliver training sessions to local state officials on peacebuilding skills such as non-violent communication, dialogue, negotiation, and mediation in four locales: Sfax, Ben Guerdane, Tabarka, and Siliana. The objective of these training sessions is to strengthen state actors’ capacity by providing them with the necessary knowledge and skills to engage in multi-stakeholder dialogues involving various government actors, community leaders, private sector, and civil society representatives. Through these dialogues, relevant stakeholders will collaborate to address pressing environmental issues, adopting an adaptive, iterative problem-solving approach. To achieve this objective, it is important to tailor the peacebuilding skills training to meet the needs of the target group and the scope of the project.

The ideal offeror should have at least 9-12 years of proven experience in peacebuilding, nonviolent communication, dialogue, negotiation, and conflict resolution. A master’s degree in international development, peacebuilding, conflict resolution or a related field experience is preferred. Offerors should highlight relevant previous experiences in training state actors and applying peacebuilding skills to address governance issues. Knowledge in Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) is highly preferred. 

For national offerors, fluency in Arabic is essential. Proficiency in French or English is preferred. For international offerors, fluency in English is essential. Proficiency in French and/or Arabic is preferred.

Under the project’s objective of supporting local government officials in each locale to engage with CSO leaders in solving high-priority local environmental issues, USIP’s Tunisia program will engage a contractor to work with USIP to develop content and deliver training sessions to Tunisian local state actors on peacebuilding skills as outlined below. Participants may include municipal council members, mayors, municipal administration, délégués and their staff as well as subnational representatives of technical ministries. The expected deliverables from the trainer are as follows: 

Develop training content on foundational peacebuilding and dialogue approaches and skills: the training agenda and training content should focus on building foundational skills that are fundamental to peacebuilding and consensus building efforts. This includes nonviolent communication, dialogue, facilitation, negotiation techniques, and conflict resolution strategies. The trainer is expected to equip participants with the practical tools and knowledge needed to engage collaboratively and strategically in dialogues with the larger community.

The curriculum will include an adapted selection of peacebuilding approaches and skills, such as, but not limited to, conflict analysis, conflict resolution, dialogue, mediation, facilitation, and negotiation, and non-violent action approaches. The training sessions would typically include visuals such as slides or videos to help illustrate the module’s content and deliver comprehensive and engaging training. The selected contractor(s) may as well use interactive ways such as case studies, role-playing simulations, and group activities to encourage active participation; prepare handouts and a participants guide/toolbox to be distributed during and after the training.

Under the project’s objective of supporting local government officials in each locale to engage with CSO leaders in solving high-priority local environmental issues, USIP’s Tunisia program will engage a contractor to work with USIP to develop content and deliver training sessions to Tunisian local state actors on peacebuilding skills as outlined below. Participants may include municipal council members, mayors, municipal administration, délégués and their staff as well as subnational representatives of technical ministries. The expected deliverables from the trainer are as follows: 

Develop training content on foundational peacebuilding and dialogue approaches and skills: the training agenda and training content should focus on building foundational skills that are fundamental to peacebuilding and consensus building efforts. This includes nonviolent communication, dialogue, facilitation, negotiation techniques, and conflict resolution strategies. The trainer is expected to equip participants with the practical tools and knowledge needed to engage collaboratively and strategically in dialogues with the larger community.

The curriculum will include an adapted selection of peacebuilding approaches and skills, such as, but not limited to, conflict analysis, conflict resolution, dialogue, mediation, facilitation, and negotiation, and non-violent action approaches. The training sessions would typically include visuals such as slides or videos to help illustrate the module’s content and deliver comprehensive and engaging training. The selected contractor(s) may as well use interactive ways such as case studies, role-playing simulations, and group activities to encourage active participation; prepare handouts and a participants guide/toolbox to be distributed during and after the training.

Deliver training sessions on foundational peacebuilding approaches and skills as the following: 

• Deliver a three-day training to 15 local and subnational state actors in Sfax. 
• Deliver a three-day training to 15 local and subnational state actors in Ben Guerdane. 
• Deliver a three-day training to 15 local and subnational state actors in Tabarka. 
• Deliver a three-day training to 15 local and subnational state actors in Siliana. 

To achieve these deliverables, the trainer will work with USIP to update, expand, and customize the existing curriculum and pedagogical approaches and then conduct these training sessions in the four locales. The selected contractor is expected to work closely with USIP Tunisia program and environmental governance experts to tailor the curriculum to the specific projects and identified needs. 

Tentative Timeline

A tentative timeline for the completion of deliverables is provided below. USIP will work with the selected candidate to finalize deliverables and deliverable due dates upon selection. 

Level of Effort 

Working days should not exceed fifteen (15) working days per trainer, in total. This is an estimation, USIP will work with selected offerors to agree on a final calculation of working days.

Expected Type of Contract: Firm Fixed Price

USIP RFP Trainer for State Actors training on Peacebuilding skills Final