USAID’s Democracy and Governance Grant for Global Labor Rights and Justice

This is a Sources Sought Notice. This Sources Sought Notice is a mechanism for obtaining feedback from organizations with respect to their capability to perform the program requirements set forth below. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR APPLICATION (RFA). USAID does not intend to award an agreement on the basis of responses or pay for the preparation of any submitted information. This Sources Sought Notice is for information and planning purposes and submitted information will not be released to the public.

USAID is seeking capability statements from qualified applicants of not more than fifteen (15) pages that clearly documents the organization’s capability to perform all aspects of the program, including specific experience implementing labor programming in developing countries.

All capability statements submitted in response to this Sources Sought Notice must be submitted electronically (via email) in MS Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) to Jim Reid (jreid@usaid.gov) and Kimberly Ludwig (kludwig@usaid.gov) no later than 2:00pm EST on August 4, 2010. Responses must be received by this date and time to be considered.

BACKGROUND: The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has a strong tradition of supporting international labor sector programs designed to foster democratic development and broad-based economic growth around the world. These programs include funding for democratic and independent trade unions and worker organizations, labor rights organizations; employer organizations; and labor-related government institutions, including labor ministries and departments, dispute resolution boards, tribunals and labor/industrial courts. Since 1997, USAID’s global labor rights and union strengthening program has been managed by the Office of Democracy and Governance (DG), in the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA), whose role is to provide technical and intellectual leadership for USAID and its development practitioners, as well as implementing mechanisms, such as grants and cooperative agreements, to support democratic development around the world.

Historically, the goal of USAID’s Global Labor Union and NGO Strengthening Program (2002-2010) and its predecessors has been to assist the Agency to: strengthen the observance of internationally recognized core labor standards by advocating their adoption into law and regulation and promoting effective enforcement once adopted; support the development and strengthening of free and independent labor unions and other labor related organizations in their efforts to support and enhance democratization, equitable economic development and a democratic political culture through supporting effective citizen participation; develop and strengthen national and local union leadership and programmatic capacity, with particular emphasis on providing leadership opportunities for women and youth; and improve and enhance the institutional and financial capacity of labor unions and labor civil society organizations and help them develop means of financial support, both internal and external, that will result in the reduction and eventual elimination of the need for donor funding. This program has been performed by the American Center for International Labor Solidarity (Solidarity Center) under Agreement No. DGC-A-00-02-00002-00 since February 8, 2002.

The new award will continue the important work of promoting international labor standards and strengthening democratic labor unions and NGOs, with an increased focus on the following areas: the promotion of labor justice and the rule of law in the labor sector, gender considerations, continuing improvements in the monitoring and evaluation of program results, and the integration of program objectives with USAID’s regional and country-specific development goals. While the principle aim of the new program is to increase the capacity of independent, democratic labor movements worldwide to promote core labor standards, effectively represent their members and improve working conditions and workers’ livelihoods, the new program will be expected to explicitly address other cross-sectoral development goals including the development of democratic institutions, broad-based economic growth, and healthy and productive workforces and communities. The new award will be a Leader with Associates award; funding for the Leader Award is estimated to total $37,500,000 ($7.5 million annually) over the five year period of performance. Associate Awards, funded as separate agreements by USAID Missions and Bureaus, may total up to an additional $25 million over the five year period of performance.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: This program seeks to increase the capacity of indigenous democratic labor movements to organize independent unions and NGOs and support those already organized, in order to promote workers’ representation in policy processes, improve access to justice, advance the effective worldwide application of core international labor standards, particularly freedom of association and collective bargaining, and improve the welfare and livelihood opportunities of workers and their families and communities.

The protection of workers’ rights and the promotion of international labor standards will be achieved through support to two distinct and related program areas: (1) vibrant, independent and democratic labor unions and NGOs that promote labor rights, labor justice, the representation of workers’ interests and their participation in local and national arenas, and (2) effective rule of law in the labor sector, and efficient access to justice for workers, especially women, youth, people with disabilities and other vulnerable populations.

The award will provide global technical leadership and regional and country-level assistance to promote core international labor standards, improve workers’ access to justice and to support independent, democratic labor unions and NGOs. The award will develop and utilize, to the maximum extent feasible, the capacity and expertise of local and regional institutions, organizations, and democratic labor unions and NGOs in a sustainable manner, while implementing programs of technical assistance, training, and related services. Project efforts are to be directed to strengthening the core capacities of local, national and regional labor unions and NGOs so that they can pursue systemic change for improved adherence to international labor standards and the rule of law.

To increase the depth and impact of the award, country-based program activities will initially be limited geographically to a maximum of eleven core country programs (i.e., 7 mandatory countries and 2-4 optional countries).

 Mandatory countries: Ukraine, Georgia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Honduras, Mexico and South Africa
 Optional countries: mid-priority: El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Sri Lanka, DRC; low-priority: Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Brazil, Liberia, Mozambique, Tanzania.

The Recipient will be expected to maximize sustainable impact by working closely in partnership with national, sectoral and local trade unions in a given country, as well as labor rights NGOs and advocacy groups who support workers’ efforts to organize democratic unions. The Recipient will also be expected to address gender issues in an explicit, substantive and integrated manner; explicitly build upon evidence-based best practices and lessons learned inside the specified country, region, or globally; and coordinate and network labor union and NGO strengthening activities with other labor sector interventions. Interested organizations should review the Technical Paper on the Role of the Labor Sector in Achieving Foreign Assistance Goals, the Labor Sector Program Handbook, and the country Labor Sector Assessments conducted under the Global Labor Analytical Initiative (http://www.glasai.com). The Recipient will also be expected to utilize rigorous impact evaluation methods that conform to the latest social-scientific standards for determining attribution, and specifically to incorporate experimental or quasi-experimental impact evaluations of several country programs according to guidelines set by the Office of Democracy and Governance
(see http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/democracy_and_governance/technical_areas/dg_office/evaluation.html for more information).

Disclaimer: USAID reserves the right to use information submitted in response to this Sources Sought Notice for any purpose. No proprietary, classified, confidential or sensitive information should be included in submissions. USAID is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of submitted information or provide feedback to organizations with respect to submitted information.