USAID/Armenia: Civil Society for Accountable Governance Grant

To meet this objective USAID/Armenia is expected to fund up to three Civil Society programs in three policy reform areas, namely decentralization, transparency and accountability, and social sector. Each program will be implemented by a consortium of civil society organizations for a period of up to five years with an approximate budget of $3.5 million per consortium. While each consortium will pursue common results related to citizen engagement, advocacy, access to information and sustainability of the sector, the activities and approaches may be different due to the nature of the reform on which the consortium is focused. Each consortium, while expected to cooperate with the other two, where appropriate, will focus on one reform area. By focusing attention around the reform areas civil society actors will develop more sustainable capacity to (1) engage citizens and articulate their interests, (2) monitor government institutions, officials and policy reform processes, and (3) increase citizen access to independent and reliable information about selected reforms. In addition, the program will promote civil society-led initiatives to strengthen and sustain the CSO sector by advocating for improvements to the legal enabling environment and promoting transparency within the sector.

By awarding these programs directly to Armenian civil society organizations, USAID hopes to develop the capacity and leadership of civil society to continue to advocate on behalf of civil society long after USAID funding ends.

Date: August 26, 2013
Subject: Request for Information RFI-111-13-000001
Title: USAID/Armenia Advanced Civil Society for Accountable Governance Program, Draft Program Description for Comments

Dear Sir/Madam:

The United States Government, represented by the U.S. Agency for International Development
(USAID), Armenia, is seeking comments and/or questions on the attached Draft Program
Description for Advanced Civil Society for Accountable Governance Program These comments
will be helpful as we finalize this program description.
Responses to this request for comment are not binding on the U.S. Government and do not
obligate USAID to issue a Funding Opportunity, nor does it commit USAID to pay any cost
incurred in the preparation and submission of comments.
The deadline for receipt of comments and/or questions is September 9, 2013 at 15:00, Yerevan
time, and shall be submitted to Narine Sarkisian, Acquisition and Assistance Specialist, at
nsarkisian@usaid.gov and Armen Yeghiazarian, Acquisition and Assistance Specialist, at
ayeghiazarian@usaid.gov.

Thank you for your interest in USAID activities.

Sincerely,
Jonathan Chappell
Regional Agreement Officer

RFI-111-13-000001
USAID/Armenia Advanced Civil Society for Accountable Governance Program
Draft Program Description for Comments
Page 2
Advanced Civil Society for Accountable Governance Program
Draft Program Description for Comments
I. Overview and Purpose
USAID/Armenia intends to award up to three cooperative agreements for civil society-led
programs aimed at strengthening civil society engagement in and oversight of selected, high
priority reforms implemented by the Government of Armenia (GOAM). This Program
Description is based on GOAM’s expression of interest in USAID’s assistance for
implementation of the USAID/GOAM draft Development Objective Cooperation Agreement
(DOAG) commitments (to be signed) and is designed to complement the GOAM’s reform goals
as described in Armenian Development Strategy (ADS) for 2012-2015. The results of this
program will contribute to USAID/Armenia’s draft Country Development Cooperation Strategy
(CDCS) for 2013-2017 goal: “A more engaged, prosperous and well-governed Armenian
society.” The overall objective of this program is to ensure that key government reforms reflect
the interest and needs of Armenian citizens and other stakeholders, citizens are engaged in the
reforms process, and civil society can hold the responsible government institutions accountable
for implementation of these reforms.
To meet this objective USAID/Armenia is expected to fund up to three Civil Society programs in
three policy reform areas, namely decentralization, transparency and accountability, and social
sector. Each program will be implemented by a consortium of civil society organizations for a
period of up to five years with an approximate budget of $3.5 million per consortium. While
each consortium will pursue common results related to citizen engagement, advocacy, access to
information and sustainability of the sector, the activities and approaches may be different due to
the nature of the reform on which the consortium is focused. Each consortium, while expected to
cooperate with the other two, where appropriate, will focus on one reform area.
By focusing attention around the reform areas civil society actors will develop more sustainable
capacity to (1) engage citizens and articulate their interests, (2) monitor government institutions, officials and policy reform processes, and (3) increase citizen access to independent and reliable information about selected reforms. In addition, the program will promote civil society-led initiatives to strengthen and sustain the CSO sector by advocating for improvements to the legal
enabling environment and promoting transparency within the sector.
By awarding these programs directly to Armenian civil society organizations, USAID hopes to
develop the capacity and leadership of civil society to continue to advocate on behalf of civil
society long after USAID funding ends.
II. Background
A. Democracy and Governance Challenge
Armenia’s post-Soviet transition to a democratic state has largely come to a standstill and
political power remains concentrated in the hands of a ruling elite linked closely with oligarchs.
The corrosive effects of corruption pervade every aspect of society and impede economic and political reforms. The imbalance of power that exists between the Executive and other branches
of government, between the political and economic elite and the rest of the populations, between
the parties of government and those in opposition, and between central and local government, contributes to the lack of recent advances in democratic development.
Marginalization of citizens from policy-making and politics, insufficient access to reliable
information represent significant obstacles that stem from an underlying issue – the
concentration of power. The Armenian Constitution and laws establish a set of checks and
balances within the political system, but these do not operate effectively. According to
Caucasus Barometer surveys, a clear majority of Armenians do not consider the existing regime
to be democratic. But while most Armenians state a belief in democracy as the preferred
political system, further analysis of data reveals that citizens’ expectations for democracy are strongly associated with a higher level of economic development, better social protection and
accountable and transparent governance which in its turn will lead to and be associated with
democracy.
B. New opportunities
To address the deficiencies of the system the GOAM set new targets and areas for reform in the
2012-2015 ADS and has explicitly requested USAID technical assistance in advancing pension,
local governance, and e-governance reforms. Currently USAID/Armenia is negotiating a
Development Objective Cooperation Agreement (DOAG) with the Government of Armenia.
The draft DOAG reflects mutual priorities for USAID and GOAM and includes GOAM
commitments to reforms which will serve as conditions for receiving assistance.
In the ADS, the GOAM provides targets for governance according to the dimensions within the
World Bank’s government effectiveness indicators. While trends have been declining in all
dimensions since 2008, the largest gaps between rank and targets are in voice and accountability
and control of corruption. With the goal to sign an Association Agreement with the EU by 2017,
the GOAM has set targets which are equal to the average indicators for Eastern European states
and committed to achieve these indicators. Taking the advantage of this and other commitments
by the GOAM the Advanced Civil Society for Accountable Governance Program will create
opportunities for citizens and civil society to engage in and monitor the reform process, as well
as create pressure on the GOAM to advance the reform thus contributing to the improvement of
voice and accountability indicators.
With the ratification of DOAG the GOAM will also commit to improving the enabling
environment for CSO operations, which in its turn will boost independence, financial viability
and overall sustainability of civil society organizations.
C. Armenian Civil Society Sector: Openings and Challenges
Despite the overall stagnation of democratic reforms, the capacity of civil society is faring
relatively well and much better than in several other former Soviet countries. Starting from a
very weak base in 1991, there has been a steady growth in the number of non-governmental
organizations. The sector now consists of around 4,500 registered organizations (including
public organizations, foundations and unions), though only 15 to 20 percent are estimated to be
active1. CSOs, for instance, have organized a number of successful advocacy campaigns related
to the environment, domestic violence and other issues. Organizational capacity is improving
within a small (but important) subset of larger CSOs as donors, including USAID, place greater
emphasis on civil society organizational capacity support. Armenian CSOs are permitted to
operate with relative ease, although they do not generally yield the power or influence to be an
effective check on the executive branch. The GOAM, including the Prime Minister Sarkisyan,
publicly acknowledges the increasing role and impact of civil society groups and citizens in
policy decision making and monitoring of government’s work.
CSOs face a number of challenges that limit their effectiveness and long-term sustainability.
Long-discussed changes to the CSO legal framework were not yet adopted in 2012 despite CSOs
being more actively involved in steps to improve legislation and continued close collaboration
with Government bodies. CSOs are mostly fragmented, heavily donor dependent, and not
widely seen as representative of the public interest. The image of CSOs is generally low among
both the public and government officials. Research conducted by ICHD concludes that there is a lack of mutual trust between government and CSOs.2 According to the study, CSOs believe that
the government discourages and marginalizes their involvement in the policy making cycle, and
the government claims that some CSOs lack the necessary expertise to constructively engage in
this process. That said, there are examples of successful engagement in which the government
realizes the expertise NGOs can bring to enhancing service delivery and policy formulation.
The challenges that limit civil society’s effectiveness in policy development process can be
summed up as follows:
 Many CSOs continue to rely heavily (or solely) on the funding of external donors and are
accountable more to those funders and not to their beneficiaries or to Armenian citizens.
 Government actors do not view CSOs, particularly those advancing democratic reforms,
as powerful actors or major stakeholders, let alone legitimate representatives of powerful
constituency groups which could hold them to account.
 CSOs often jump from one issue to another (often in response to donor priorities) and do
not have the chance to deepen their expertise in a particular area.
 Citizens are often reluctant to engage in civic activities, either because they do not
understand their role in civil society, politicization of some CSOs, confusion about how to affect change and a belief that their effort will have no impact.
Persistent weaknesses in the enabling environment, particularly those restrictions affecting financial viability, further exacerbate the problems mentioned above.
1 USAID Civil Society Sustainability Index for Europe and Eurasia, June 2013.
2 USAID Civil Society Sustainability Index for Europe and Eurasia, June 2012.
III. Relationship of the Advanced Civil Society for Accountable Governance Program
to the Draft USAID’s Strategy
A. USAID’s Strategic Approach to Democracy and Governance in Armenia
The stated vision of USAID/Armenia’s draft CDCS is “a government in which power is more
evenly distributed, governance is responsive to citizens’ concerns, more democratic governance
has taken hold especially at the local level, and the incidence and perception of corruption are
declining.” To achieve this vision, USAID has developed a Results Framework to achieve the
Development Objective: More participatory, effective and accountable governance. More
accountable, participatory and effective governance is critical to ensuring a well-governed
Armenia in which progress, stability and more equitable prosperity are sustained over a long
term. USAID/Armenia’s strategic approach to achieving the Development Objective (DO) in
democracy and governance entails targeting areas where agreement for reform, in broad outlines
has already emerged between civil society and the government, including decentralization, social
sector and accountability and transparency reforms.
Employing a democratic and participatory approach to advancing reform across sectors, the
impact of USAID’s interventions will permeate the entire portfolio and not be limited to
traditional areas. Working more collaboratively with the government in selects reform areas,
USAID will employ a “learning by doing” approach using the reform areas as tools to develop
and reinforce a set of key competencies, institutions, and practices within civil society and the government. Civil society and the media have vital roles to play in ensuring government
effectiveness in reform as advocates and watchdogs while also promoting the government’s own capacity to monitor its progress toward reform. Through this collaborative approach, civil
society will gain a sense of accomplishment as reforms progress, transparency increases and
efficiencies are gained; while the government will gain valuable input, legitimacy, and support in realizing reforms while mitigating corruption.
Citizens and civil society institutions are critical to ensuring that there is a competition of ideas and mechanisms for debate of public policy, and to the success of a bottom-up inclusive, participatory approach to democratic development. Thus, the purpose of this activity is to enlarge the nexus in which government reform and citizen engagement meet, paying special
attention to supporting youth and women to play a greater role in civic and political life.
Demand for good governance and civic engagement will be strengthened by the momentum
gained in reform and working in rural areas that can benefit most from increased representation.
USAID will support the GOAM in effective implementation and monitoring of reforms and with
the civil society to improve participation, transparency and accountability.

B. The Draft Results Framework
The civil society consortia will make a direct contribution to Intermediate Result (IR) 2.1 and its sub-IRs in USAID’s draft Democracy and Governance Strategy shown in the Strategic
Framework above. By involving civil society in transparency and accountability,
decentralization and local governance, and social service sector reform, there will be greater
civic engagement and oversight of reforms. In addition, when combined with greater capacity
and motivation on the part of government, governance in Armenia will become more
participatory, effective and transparent.
IV. Principles Underlying the Program
Principles underlying the strategic and operational approach of this program and the proposed interventions include the following:
A. Local leadership and ownership: Local CSOs and other stakeholders will take ownership of the project from the outset to achieve and ensure the sustainability of project outcomes. Leadership involves an interest and capacity to engage multiple stakeholders and facilitate the development of a common agenda in respective reform.
However local leadership does not mean that the consortium members can not include
international organizations or networks in their program.
B. Cooperation and networking among multiple stakeholders at multiple levels of
society: To ensure sustained change, multiple stakeholders, including civil society,
government, and the private sector, among others, will work together at multiple levels.
Cooperation involves working together over a sustained period to jointly identify
problems and potential solutions and to actually work together to bring change. It also
requires engagement with a broader network of citizens and CSOs beyond formal members of the consortium and linkages between civil society in Yerevan and the regions/rural areas.
C. Emphasis on results that track accountability: Civic monitoring and evaluation
mechanisms need to be in place to encourage accountability and to incentivize local
partners’ interest in understanding how their efforts are viewed by fellow citizens,
beneficiaries and other local stakeholders, and in being able to track the actual impact of
their efforts.
D. Sustainability: While the above principles will enhance sustainability, it is important to
note that other strategies and approaches to strengthen sustainability will need to be
integrated into every aspect of the program. Sustainability will be viewed as a multidimensional concept that includes financial viability, institutional and political incentives,
attitudes about civil society and government, among other dimensions.
V. Detailed Program Description
As noted in the introduction, USAID expects to fund three consortia – one for each of the policy
reform areas targeted. Each consortium will work toward common objective of increasing civic
engagement and oversight of selected government reforms. However, USAID anticipates that
each program will be different depending on the policy reform area. Specific information on
each policy reform area is provided below followed by a narrative of the intended common
results for all three consortia.
Civil Society Consortium 1: Decentralization and Local Governance
The focus of the Civil Society Consortium for Decentralization and Local Governance is to
increase civic engagement and oversight of decentralization policy reform at both the national and local levels.
With over 900 municipalities, which vary greatly in population size, Armenia faces significant
challenges in administering regional development. Findings of recent project evaluations
demonstrate that the local level provides the greatest opportunity for improving political
processes. Further decentralization will also provide the opportunity for better civic
representation where marginalization is the greatest. Increased accountability and performance
is a part of this process, along with the improved capacity to monitor, regulate and evaluate progress. The ability of civil society to hold local governments accountable is a critical factor in the success of