REQUEST FOR APPLICATIONS FOR IMPROVING ACCESS TO LIVELIHOOD OPPORTUNITIES FOR REFUGEES WITH DISABILITIES
Relief International (RI) is inviting applications from interested local non-governmental organizations to collaborate as an implementing partner in a planned program to improve access to livelihood opportunities for refugees with disabilities in Istanbul. One implementing partner is expected to be selected as part of this process (contingent upon donor approval). The deadline for submission of applications is October 29, 2019.
BACKGROUND
Relief International (RI) is a humanitarian, non-profit, non-sectarian agency that provides emergency relief, rehabilitation, and development services throughout the world. RI operates in 16 countries across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East and has extensive past performance responding to emergencies. RI’s goal is to empower the most vulnerable communities to develop lasting solutions to their most pressing challenges and to build an environment that creates permanent well-being.
In Turkey, the objective of RI’s programming is to support the Government of Turkey (GoT) to provide niche health services for refugees that are not included in the migrant health centers, such as physical rehabilitation and mental health services. RI currently supports six mental health centers and six comprehensive physical rehabilitation centers across Turkey through five local partners with funding from the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) and the US Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (BPRM), as well as community health and leishmaniasis prevention programming.
As part of RI’s anticipated follow-on PRM program, RI will partner with a non-governmental organization (NGO) to improve access to livelihood opportunities for refugees with disabilities. Applications are invited from qualified NGOs to undertake the activities described below.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Turkey hosts more Syrian refugees than any other country. As of October 2019, more than 3.67 million Syrian refugees were registered with the GoT (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), 96% of whom live among the host community in urban, peri-urban, and rural areas (Turkey Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan). Data on refugees with disabilities and persistent impairments remains scant. A needs assessment covering about 1,000 Syrians in districts of Istanbul with large migrant and refugee populations (Küçükçekmece, Bağcılar, Başakşehir, Fatih, Sultanbeyli, and Ümraniye) found 29.6% of households included a person with physical or mental disability (Support to Life, April 2016). While not all beneficiaries of this project will have a disability – rather, many may have temporary conditions or support those with disabilities – this is a high rate in comparison to the World Health Organizations’ worldwide estimate of 15% and underscores the need. In late 2018, RI conducted a needs assessment in the six districts of Istanbul with the highest number or Syrian refugees, reaching 501 households. Thirty-six percent reported that there is at least one person with disability at home. Still, of those who reported a “physical” disability at home, 37% reported a need for assistive devices.
This population faces challenges in obtaining gainful livelihoods. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), poverty remains prevalent among the Syrian population due to the lack of access to a regular income, and the high cost of living. Many families have resorted to negative coping mechanisms, such as reducing the quality and quantity of food consumption, living in substandard housing, and reducing expenditure on health and education. These negative coping strategies have a detrimental impact on the well-being all refugees (FAO 2018). Turkey’s Emergency Social Safety Net covers one third of the total refugee population and has had substantial impact on reducing negative coping strategies among beneficiaries. Nevertheless, basic needs of the population, and in particular women, children, the elderly, and persons with specific needs, including those with disabilities, persist due to low employability, a lack of other resources, and the scale of the crisis.
When asked to identify their most common problems, Syrian refugees identified financial issues, language barriers and social integration as three of their top issues in RI’s 2018 assessment. In an April 2018 household survey of Syrian refugees in Sultanbeyli, Istanbul, only 38% of those of working age were employed, and “low income” was broadly cited as the main problem they face (Tufts University). There is little data from official sources with respect to the stock of job vacancies in the Turkish economy, but figures are published monthly with respect to new job vacancies by İŞKUR. There is widespread agreement on the sectors in which the main labor shortages exist: construction, agriculture, food production, manufacturing (e.g. textiles and furniture), carpet making, heavy machinery and car mechanics. Challenges in obtaining employment for refugees are augmented by work permit requirements and language barriers.
RI conducted an initial stakeholder mapping of livelihoods actors for refugees in February and March 2019, concentrating on Istanbul. The gap was clear: very limited organizations are working to serve refugees with disabilities in livelihoods. Existing vocational and language trainings are rarely adapted to the needs of persons with disabilities, trainers are not familiar with inclusive education techniques, and locations are not accessible.
SCOPE OF WORK
RI is preparing for an anticipated PRM-funded program as a follow on to its current work. The goal of this program will be to contribute to building a more resilient and informed refugee community in Turkey through provision of specialized and preventive health services and increased access to livelihood opportunities, while reducing the burden on the Turkish healthcare system. RI and its partners will pursue four objectives to reach this goal: 1) improve access to comprehensive mental health services for refugees; 2) improve access to physical rehabilitation services for refugees; 3) promote community health through awareness raising and behavior change activities, and 4) improve access to livelihood opportunities.
Through this RFA, RI is seeking to identify a partner who will be responsible for Objective 4, Improve livelihood opportunities for refugees with disabilities. The scope of work of the local implementing partner is expected to include the following:
- Linking refugees with disabilities to sustainable livelihoods
- Provide tailored livelihoods case management services to support at least 80 beneficiaries in obtaining employment or establishing a formal business.
- Employ a rights-based approach which helps refugees with disabilities (rights holders) overcome obstacles blocking their rights, and gives governments, the private sector and other stakeholders (duty bearers) the tools and training to provide these rights. The goal of a rights-based approach to livelihoods for refugees with disabilities is to increase the capacity of both the duty bearers and the rights holders.
- Identify persons with disabilities among those who are currently receiving services from RI-supported or other partner centers and services providers who are seeking employment opportunities, and identify possibilities for beneficiary employment that align with their capacities, aspirations, and the labor market.
- Strengthen private sector partnerships or establish them where needed and complete an in-depth service mapping of training opportunities in the target area(s).
- Train case workers to have a special focus on the different types of disabilities, disorders, or impairments in order to better understand the barriers beneficiaries are facing.
- Conduct capacity assessments with potential beneficiaries in order to select them, with criteria including interest in working, gender considerations, standard vulnerability factors, and resources required to reach employment to ensure the program is able to adequately address their needs.
- Work with beneficiaries to develop individualized action plans on either the job-placement or self-employment tracks (described below).
- Emphasize referrals to existing programs over creating new programming in order to leverage investments already made in creating livelihoods opportunities for refugees and/or persons with disabilities.
- Integrate activities and responses with RI’s other partners on this program to the greatest extent possible for more comprehensive support for beneficiaries.
- Job Placement Track (approx. 90% of beneficiaries)
- Support RI on referring beneficiaries based on their accessibility, location and suitability to organizations providing job readiness skills and job placement.
- Contact employers seeking skills that are in short supply to build their receptiveness and capacity to employ refugees as high-quality employees, who happens to also have disabilities.
- Establish relationships with major private sector firms who could hire beneficiaries so that any referred trainings are in line with the needs of the labor market and employers who will then hire them.
- Self-Employment Track (approx. 10% of beneficiaries)
- Support beneficiaries with an aptitude for and interest in self-employment in strengthening their skills and establishing formal businesses.
- Link beneficiaries with entrepreneurship trainings and identified programs which help Syrians to establish legal businesses and also include office set-up costs and referrals, depending on needs
- Actively seek out grand challenges and incubators for Syrian businesses and support beneficiaries in applying for and connecting to these to develop their businesses.
The implementing partner is expected to create a minimum of 10 private sector partnerships and provide at least 80 refugees with disabilities or persistent impairments with tailored livelihoods case management in pursuit of livelihoods opportunities.
The targets stated here are minimum targets, and applicants are encouraged to increase them if feasible as per their proposed approach, budget, and work plan.
The duration of the proposed project should be 12 months, with the possibility of a 7-month extension depending on performance and funding.
TARGET POPULATION AND GEOGRAPHIC LOCATIONS
The program activities are expected to be implemented in Istanbul, Turkey, where 559,033 Syrians under temporary protection reside (Directorate General of Migration Management). While large numbers of refugees continue to reside in other parts of Turkey, especially the southern provinces where RI has implemented community awareness activities under prior funding from PRM, RI’s strategy to provide high-quality, comprehensive services to those in need justifies the concentration of services in Istanbul, allowing the project to leverage the already operational centers there and use them as focal points for a necessary, broader package of services encompassing livelihoods support.
The applicants are expected primarily to prioritize districts within the catchment population of currently supported centers which operate in and around the districts of Fatih, Kucukcekmece, Sultanbeyli, and Ümraniye in Istanbul for the implementation of community health programming, but additional areas may be served as well should needs be identified. The applicants are requested to provide a clear rationale for the selection of the locations and present a needs assessment at the district level if possible.
Applicants should strive to include at least 30% women as beneficiaries in the project, though only beneficiaries who express a desire to work will be selected, in line with principles of self-determination and rights-based approaches. Applicants should also identify the age, sex, and nationality disaggregation of the targeted beneficiaries.
MONITORING AND EVALUATION (M&E)
The applicants should propose a robust M&E plan including objectively verifiable quantitative and qualitative indicators to measure the program outcome. Beneficiary information should be maintained in a suitable, up-to-date database. The implementing partner is expected to monitor the quality of services and verify sessions provided to beneficiaries and also conduct focus group discussions and satisfaction surveys with these beneficiaries and target private sector companies, and their feedback will be incorporated to the design of the component. The selected partner will cooperate with RI to conduct a mid-project review, in order to adjust the implementation approach and apply lessons learned in the future programming. The partner will cooperate with RI to conduct in depth analysis of data available in the database to identify trends in outcomes based on demographic indicators such as type of disability, types of services received, age, and duration with which the disability has been lived with in order to improve beneficiary targeting and contribute to the evidence base for other organizations working with refugees with disabilities.
The implementing partner is expected to work through the objectives and indicators listed in the table below:
| Overall Objective: Improve access to livelihood opportunities for refugees with disabilities | |||
| Indicator | Indicator type | Target # and/or % | How measured/ documented/collected |
| Indicator 1: # of private sector partnerships created | Output, standard | 10
|
Letters of commitment |
| Indicator 2: # of refugees with disabilities or persistent impairments receiving tailored livelihoods case management, disaggregated by gender, age, location, and nationality | Output, custom | 80
|
Case management plans |
| Indicator 3: % of project participants who self-report increased income by end of project, disaggregated by gender, age, location, nationality, and activity type | Output, custom | 10% | Baseline and endline surveys |
In addition to those outlined above, applicants are invited to propose additional indicators in the required logframe.
BUDGET
The maximum allowable budget is TRY 1,680,000; applicants are expected to submit a competitive financial application that balances cost efficiency and quality of programming. Indirect cost rates/overhead will only be granted if supported by a Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (NICRA) with the U.S. government or external audit report verifying the organization’s indirect cost rate. If an ICR is requested, the supporting documentation (NICRA or external audit) should be included with the application package. If no documentation is provided, RI will consider the application based on only the direct costs.
All costs should be in line with PRM donor rules and regulations (see also 2 CFR 200); only costs that are necessary, reasonable, allocable, and applicable will be permitted under this project.
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Interested organizations are invited to submit the following documents in English to [email protected] by 17:00 Tuesday, October 29, 2019. Any applications received after the deadline and/or incomplete applications will not be considered. Documents in the incorrect format or in languages other than English will not be considered. Applications must include ALL of the following documents:
- A concept note using the template provided in Annex A.
- A detailed budget using the template provided in Annex B.
- A budget narrative using the template provided in Annex C.
- A work plan using the template provided in Annex D.
- A logframe using the template provided in Annex E.
- Declaration of Eligibility using the form provided in Annex F.
- CVs of up to five key personnel who will work for or provide oversight of the program, such as Program Manager, Country Director, Livelihoods Manager, M&E Manager, etc.).
- Proof of registration in Turkey.
- Supporting documentation for request of indirect costs (NICRA or external audit report), if applicable.
For questions, please contact [email protected] before 16:00 Friday, October 18, 2019.
WHO CAN APPLY? / ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
Only NGOs can apply. For the purpose of this RFA, an NGO is defined as an organization:
- which is independent of the state as regards to its establishment and/or appointment of its personnel and administrators, and
- which has an autonomous and democratic structure in its financial and administrative affairs, and
- which is a non-profit legal entity.
Within this frame applicants should be registered as an association, foundation, or union in Turkey and provide proof of registration at the time of application.
Applicants are also excluded from participation in the RFA or the award of grants if, at the time of the RFA, they:
- are subject to a conflict of interests with RI or PRM.
- are guilty of misrepresentation in supplying the information required by RI as a condition of participation in the RFA or fail to supply this information.
- have attempted to obtain confidential information or influence the evaluation committee or RI during the evaluation process of current or previous RFAs.
Applicants must have or be willing to obtain a DUNS number prior to award, and be willing and able to comply with all relevant rules and regulations applicable to U.S. government funding upon award. This includes branding and marking and audit requirements.
Only eligible organizations that submit a complete application before the deadline will move on to the evaluation phase.
EVALUATION CRITERIA
Application will be evaluated on the following categories, as outlined in the concept note template:
- Project objectives (10 pts)
- Organizational experience (16 pts)
- Methodology and approach (18 pts)
- Performance measurement framework (14 pts)
- Financial proposal (16 pts)
- Technical capacity (18 pts)
- Work plan (8 pts)
APPLICATION PROCESS and TIMELINE
- Deadline for applications: 17:00 Tuesday, October 29, 2019
- Contact [email protected] for questions before 16:00 Friday, October 18, 2019. Answers will be published on this site on Tuesday, October 22, 2019.
- Applications must be received by the email address [email protected] by the date and time listed above to be considered under the RFA.
- If you wish to apply for this opportunity, please specify that you saw it on vacanciesinturkey.com
- Shortlisted applicants are estimated to be informed by mid-November and may be asked for clarifications. Upon notification of being shortlisted, RI will conduct a due diligence evaluation with the selected organizations, which may include site visits.
- Notification of selection is expected to be completed by December 8, 2019.
- The project is expected to start on January 1, 2020 contingent upon the availability of funding and successful negotiation of a subagreement.
Please note that signing of a subagreement is contingent upon RI’s receipt of award from PRM, successful project negotiation, and donor approval.
DISCLAIMER
Issuance of this RFA does not constitute an award commitment on the part of RI, nor does it commit RI to pay for costs incurred in the preparation and submission of an application. Furthermore, RI reserves the right to reject any or all applications received. Similarly, an invitation for further negotiation is not a commitment to fund that application.
RI_Livelihoods_Annex-A_Concept-Note
RI_Livelihoods_Annex-C_Budget-Narrative
RI_Livelihoods_Annex-D_Work-Plan