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 conflict. 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 two highly capable and professional trainers to co-develop training curriculum for each training module and conduct trainings on inclusive governance, systems thinking, and problem-solving approaches for state actors in the four locales.

• Purpose of the RFP

USIP’s Tunisia program will engage two trainers/experts to work with USIP to co-develop training curriculum and deliver trainings to local government on inclusive governance, systems thinking, and Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) approach in four locales: Sfax, Ben Guerdane, Tabarka, and Siliana. The objective of this training is to strengthen state actors with the approaches and tools essential 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.

Competitive offerors will have at least nine to twelve (9-12) years of demonstrated experience in inclusive and participatory governance, systems thinking applied in public sector, and Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) or related fields. A master’s degree in international development, public policy, good governance, public administration, or any other related field is preferred. Given that the objective of the training is to prepare government actors with essential approaches and knowledge on inclusive governance, systems thinking and PDIA, offerors should highlight relevant previous experiences in training state actors and applying these approaches. This opportunity is open to Tunisian national and international offerors, whether they are individuals, organizations, or companies with the relevant expertise and personnel. Additionally, offerors can either apply individually or as a duo.

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.

• Background and Scope of Work

Under the project’s objective to support local government officials in each locale to engage with CSO leaders in solving high-priority local environmental issues, USIP’s Tunisia program will engage two trainers/experts to work with USIP to co-develop training content and deliver training sessions to Tunisian local state actors on inclusive governance, systems thinking and PDIA. Even though the two trainers are requested to develop the training content jointly, they will be expected to deliver the trainings separately and parallelly. Each trainer will deliver the training sessions  in two locales abiding by the same implementation schedule. Participants will include municipal council members, mayors, municipal administration, délégués and their staff and subnational representatives of technical ministries. The expected deliverables per one trainer/expert are as the following: 

Co-develop training content on the following three modules: 

• Inclusive governance: build the knowledge of government actors on the practices and benefits of inclusive governance, outlining its importance in reaching long term environmental solutions.
• Systems thinking: introduce systems thinking approach and tools applied in environmental public sector, such as interconnectedness, systems mapping and feedback loops, to enable state actors to unpack and analyze the complexities of the environmental issues.
• Problem-Driven iterative Adaptation (PDIA): build the capacity of government actors in identifying and conducting strategic changes to structures, laws and processes that are essential to addressing and preventing environmental issues in the long run. This module should provide participants with tools to deconstruct the problem, iterate and adapt their proposed actions to develop environmental solutions.

The training sessions will 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 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 trainings as the following per trainer: 

• Deliver a three-day training on inclusive governance to 15 local and subnational state actors in two locales (30 participants in total considering two locales). 
• Deliver a three-day training on systems thinking to 15 local and subnational state actors in two locales (30 participants in total considering two locales).
• Deliver a three-day training on PDIA to 15 local and subnational state actors in two locales (30 participants in total considering two locales).

To achieve these deliverables, the selected contractors are expected to work with the USIP Tunisia program, USIP’s environmental governance experts, and other trainers on peacebuilding, to tailor the curriculum to the project and its target identified needs. 

Tentative Timeline

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

Level of Effort 

Working days should not exceed twenty-seven (27) 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 Two Trainer for State Actors training on Inclusive Gov-systems thinking-PDIA Final