Request for Proposals: “Edutainment” Performance Services

Click link for the full RFP : RFP 053 for Performance Group

The USAID Strengthening Advocacy and Civic Engagement (SACE) Project seeks a qualified firm to provide  Edutainment Performance Services for the Project’s end of project ceremony.

SACE works with 17 policy clusters (groups of organizations, anchored by a project grantee), supporting them to influence reform that improves transparency, accountability, and good governance in Nigeria nationally, across a number of designated states, and also in the Niger Delta as a region. SACE has also worked with other groups, both civil society and government, outside the cluster model to influence an enabling environment for good governance and to meet the project’s key democratic reform goals.

In its fifth year of implementation, SACE will end on January 1, 2019. During this five years, the project has recorded numerous successes and experienced new learnings that have impacted the Nigerian governance landscape. The project intends to hold a Project Closeout Event to showcase these successes, share our learnings and experiences to be applied to future projects, and celebrate the SACE’s journey since early 2014. The ceremony will be a mixture of presentations, testimonials, videos, and appropriate performances that highlights and informs on SACE’s success in Nigeria’s development space.

The appropriate performance considered for the closeout ceremony is in the form of a dance/drama presentation  that shows how partners, working in clusters, have been able to engage national, regional, and local governance processes and build capacities and promote citizen engagement in areas of transparency, accountability, and good governance in Nigeria.  The dance/drama should include Nigerian cultural elements in explaining our work.

The project, through this method, hopes to build and share a vision of success which will inspire and catalyze memorable, sustainable civic action based upon our project and our achievements.

The project is therefore desirous of engaging a dance drama performance group to produce a short skit that highlights the project’s successes, lessons learned, and some key ecosystem achievements.

Scope of Work

Working collaboratively with the SACE public awareness and communications team, the offeror will perform the following specific tasks, subjected to expansion or revision based on planning with the SACE project during the creation stage:

• Collaborate with the SACE public awareness and communications team to plan a themed performance that is enjoyable, informative, and well organized, focusing on the themes of transparency, accountability, and good governance.
• Arrive at the close out event the day before, i.e. November 7, 2018, and execute a dress rehearsal for the SACE chief of party and public awareness and communication team.
• Make any revisions to the performance based on feedback from the dress rehearsal.
• Perform a 10-minute skit, with a maximum number of five performers, at the time and place in Abuja directed by the SACE team on November 8, 2018.

Deliverables

The successful offeror shall deliver the following deliverables, in accordance with the schedule set forth below.

Deliverable No. 1: Activity Schedule.

A one-page document, Times New Roman font, size 11, single spaced.  This activity schedule shall have a timeline indicating specific activities required to occur before, during, and after the Closeout Event in order to successfully execute the FPSA.

Deliverable No. 2: Performance Storyboard

A comprehensive storyboard that lays out the details of the performance to the presented at the Closeout Event.

Deliverable No. 3: Post-Event Activity Report

A one-page document, Times New Roman font, size 11, single spaced.  The report shall detail the organization’s planning and execution of the performance, any issues or challenges encountered during the FPSA, and their resolution.

Request for Full RFP and Submission Information

For the full RFP, offerors should send a request to procurement@nigeriasace.org as soon as possible in order to meet the deadline. Offerors shall submit their offers electronically only. Emailed offers (not request for full RFP) must be received no later than 11:59pm on October 10, 2018, at the following address:procurement@nigeriasace.org.

Outcome Statement: National Dialogue for Legislative and Policy Reforms on Extractive Sector, Participatory governance, Development in the Niger Delta and Resource Management in Nigeria

The Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), the Leadership Initiative for Transformation and Empowerment (LITE-Africa) and the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, (CISLAC) held a National Dialogue for legislative and policy reforms on extractive sector, participatory governance, development in the Niger Delta and Resource Management in Nigeria. The session was held from September 17-18, 2018 at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja.

The theme of the Dialogue was ‘Harnessing Natural Resources for Sustainable Development in Nigeria. There were participants from the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs (MNDA), Ministry of Petroleum Resources (MPR), Nigeria Extractive Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Open Government Partnership (OGP), Development Partners, State Oil Producing Area Development Commissions and Civil Society organisations. There were Panel Discussions and Group Work.

After much deliberation, the session made the following observations and recommendations:

Observations:
1. Nigeria is still heavily dependent on Natural Resources for revenue for financing her development and will for the foreseeable future.
2. Nigeria’s dependence on oil revenue is not sustainable as global developments show that the world is moving away from oil which will impact negatively on Nigeria’s revenue profile and sustainability
3. The Policy reforms in the oil sector has been slow on implementation and still lags behind in the area of legislation and institutionalization.
4. The Niger Delta is still not benefiting maximally from the revenue that flow into the region in spite of several interventions and multiple institutions put in place to achieve development.
5. Poor Coordination among the Niger Delta Institutions (NDIs) continue to result in inefficiency, wastage of resources and high incidence of uncompleted and abandoned projects,
6. The level of citizens’ participation and inclusion in projects selection, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation in the Niger Delta is relatively low.
7. The multi-stakeholder approach to development where civil society and government collaborate in agenda setting and policy implementation has proved to be useful and beneficial in promoting transparency, accountability and development.

The following recommendations were made:

Recommendations:
1. The Federal Government should develop a post-oil development agenda that prioritizes diversification of revenue streams and implement such diligently.
2. The Federal Government should expedite reforms in the oil sector and ensure that the necessary legislations are put in place before the end of this session of the National Assembly.
3. The Office of the Vice-President should ensure a holistic and consultative approach to the development of the Niger Delta region in development and implantation of the new Niger Delta Vision.
4. The Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs should be empowered, resource and capacitated to effectively coordinate all aspects of the institutions involved in development activities in the Niger Delta region to ensure cohesion and prevent the wastages resulting from project overlap and duplications.
5. The Niger Delta Institutions should actively engage the Niger Delta Transparency Index and Citizens’ Report Card already developed and being deployed as entry to deepen citizens’ participation and inclusion in their operations.

Consequently, the Partners resolved as follows:

Resolutions:
1. To continue to collaborate to promote multi stakeholder approach to development both at the national and state levels and protect the civic space.
2. To sustain advocacy for the implementation of all ongoing reforms in the extractive sector and for effectiveness of the Niger Delta Institutions.
3. To sustain engagement to demand the implementation and realization of all commitments and ongoing initiatives by the respective MDAs. These include the Commitments in the OGP National Action Plan, remedial action from NEITI Reports and the development and uploading of an online Dashboard of Projects implemented in the Niger Delta Region by the MNDA and MPR.

The session appreciated the Strengthening Advocacy and Civic Engagement (SACE) Project, the United State Agency for International Development (USAID) and Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) for their support.

Signed:

David Ugolor Executive Director, ANEEJ

Joel Bisina Executive Director, LITE-Africa

Auwal Ibrahim Musa Executive Director, CISLAC

Call for Expressions of Interest: Collective Impact Tools and Approaches Capacity Building Workshops

The USAID Strengthening Advocacy and Civic Engagement (SACE) Project invites Expressions of Interest (EoI) from organization CEOs and senior program leads whose organizations are supporting work that promotes good governance and policy reform across any development sector to a three-day capacity building workshop on approaches and tools for collective impact programming. The event seeks to share out the learning and toolkit the project has developed over its four years of implementation.

This call is open to only participants resident and working with organizations who have an established presence in Nigeria. The Workshop will hold in Port Harcourt for Niger Delta-based organization from the 16^th – 18^th of October 2018 and in Abuja for organizations based in other regions in the country from October 23 – 25, 2018.

Background  

The SACE Project is a 5-year USAID project with additional funding from PIND to support the Niger Delta Component. The main objective of the project is to strengthen civil society’s ability to influence the development and implementation of key democratic reforms in Nigeria.

The project goals include:

• Strengthen the capacity of civil society organizations who are promoting transparency, accountability and good governance
• Strengthen partnerships between civil society organizations and the Nigerian government to promote reforms that improve transparency, accountability, and responsive good governance
• Increase public awareness, discourse, and support for key democratic issues, particularly issues related to accountability and good governance
• Build partnerships between business membership organizations and civil society organizations in the Niger Delta to initiate inclusive economic reforms that lead to equitable growth

As USAID SACE nears its close, with only a few months to go to final close-out, the project is desirous to share its diverse range of tools and approaches for working in a collective impact model for bringing about governance reforms that promote transparency, accountability and good governance with a wider audience of CSOs beyond its project partners. These tools and approaches include:

• Collective impact and the 2. 0 Mindset
• Approaches to enhance iterative programming that foster collaboration, learning and adaptation (CLA)
• The STAR Methodology, including the assessment tools and networking mapping (STARNET)
• The Cluster approach and key tools such as the Cluster Review approach, feedback tools,
• Approaches to tracking and harvesting outcomes in a dynamic and organic context – the Strategy Matrix, Outcome Harvesting tool and the Policy Tracker
• Approaches to Innovations
• Public Awareness Strategies and Social Media Skills, including Analytics
• Integrating Gender and Social Inclusion (GESI) and Conflict Sensitivity
• Back to basics – ensuring your organization is fit for business

The three-day event is aimed at providing NGO practitioners with new, adaptive and innovative ways for engaging the public and government collaboratively to bring about good governance and is focused on experienced CSO practitioners desirous of learning new skills and approaches.

Eligibility Criteria 

Applications are welcome from persons who meet the following set of criteria:

• Applicant must be the senior development practitioners and/or CEOs of organizations looking to broaden their skills, adopt new and interesting tools and approaches to complement their existing work.
• Ideally, applicants should have at least three years proven experience at designing and implementing projects that are focused on addressing governance within any sector, including engaging public officials to influence change.
• The organization and work should be focused on and located within Nigeria
• Demonstrate excellent written and Spoken English skills
• Demonstrate in their cover letter how they intend to use skills acquired to further the work they are involved in
• Must not be a partner within the current clusters with whom SACE worked over the past four years.

Application Process

Interested applicants should send their CVs and one-paged Cover Letters to gakhabue@nigeriasace.org

Please note:

1. The subject of the email should be “Application to participate in the SACE Project Share out – Niger Delta” for applicants residing and working in the Niger Delta; and “Application to Participate in the SACE Share Out – National” for those in other regions in Nigeria.

2. The cover letter should clearly set out how the applicant meets the criteria and how they intend to use the learnings from the workshop to improve their current and future work. 

Application Deadline – 30^th September 2018 

Women, young people and persons with disability who meet the above criteria are encouraged to apply.

SACE will cover the costs of the training, travel, refreshments and lodging for participants outside Port Harcourt and Abuja. Those working and residing within the workshop location will receive local transportation. Places are limited – only successful applicants will be contacted

Lagos State Commissioner for Youth and Social Development Launched Your Excellency Gaming App

The Lagos State Commissioner for Youth and Social Development, Honourable Agboola Dabiri launched “Your Excellency” gaming app on August 31, 2018 in Ikeja, Lagos. Mr. Dabiri who shared his inspirational story, speaks on the role of youth in nation building and admonished over 200 youths in attendance to effectively participate in governance. He further seeks for partnership with Youth Alive Foundation (YAF) to work in collaboration with the Ministry to increase youths participation in governance through the game. Your Excellency is an adventure civic mobile game which is a learning tool for young people on governance. Players symbolically run for electoral office starting from active citizen to attain governorship position. While on this race they learn key governance issues and their role in contributing to a more accountable and transparent society so that they can translate this learning experience to real life issues and contribute positively to society. Your Excellency is an initiative of Youth Alive Foundation, a grantee of the USAID Civil Society Project project under the Innovation Spread the Word Fund which supports innovative pilots and prototypes around innovative governance ideas.

Follow link to download the app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.specialmansolution.yourexcellency

Stakeholders call on Political Parties and Aspirants to cover Health Financing in Manifestos

As Nigeria prepares for its 2019 general elections, stakeholders in Abuja came together to call on political parties and their aspirants to ensure issues around health financing is covered in their manifestos. This was contained in a communique at the end of a 2-day stakeholder meeting on August 17 and 18, 2018 with the theme, “Mainstreaming Health in Governance and Political Discourse.” The meeting which was organized by Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), with support from USAID’s Strengthening Advocacy and Civic Engagement project invited stakeholders including 2019 presidential election aspirants, political parties and CSOs to get political parties and the aspirants to unveil their agenda for the health sector post 2019 elections. The meeting resolved that aspirants and political parties are encouraged to get their manifestoes to cover (among others) health financing to cover issues around meeting the Abuja Declaration of 2001 (15% of the national budget for health); improved appropriation, releases and utilization; access to the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF); health insurance; and reduced borrowing for health care. Other issues covered: governance and stewardship for health; Medicines, Vaccines, Health Technologies and Research; Service Delivery to include MNCH; and others. Stakeholders at the event include: All Grassroot Alliance, Democratic Peoples Party, National Conscience Party, Social Democratic Party,  Fresh Democratic Party,  Mega Party of Nigeria, CSOS and media.

Ideathon Introgov Leadership Program Kicks off at Ataoja High School

The Ideathon Introgov Summer Leadership Program on Women Participation in Politics held its premier training at Ataoja High School in Osogbo, Osun State. The Introgov Summer Leadership Program was one of the three winning ideas from Nigeria Women Trust Fund Ideathon competition for National Youth Service Corps members in 2017 on encouraging young women to actively participate in politics.  The Introgov Summer Leadership Program which emerged second runner up from the competition, is under the supervision of Adebanke Ilori, a corp. member. With support from Osun State Ministry of Education, Adebanke kicked off the implementation of her project at Ataoja High School with the purpose of building the capacity of high school students to effectively participate in politics. The training which lasted from August 13 to 17, 2018 convened thirty students from six secondary schools in Osogbo to discuss issues of leadership, breaking the barriers of women participation in politics and understanding the legislative process. The schools are Ataoja High School, Osogbo Government High School, Ido Osun High School, Bisola College of Arts and Science, Our Lady of Saint Francis Catholic College, and Zion High School. The students were thrilled about the experience and are hoping that this becomes a yearly affair for more young people to be sensitized and trained on the need for more women to participate in politics. The project is supported through funds from USAID Strengthening Advocacy and Civic Engagement Projects, Innovation and Spread the Word Fund (ISWF).

Rivers State Ministry of Urban Development Commit to Support Guidelines for Equitable Shop Allocation and Tax Policy for Informal Sector Traders

The Rivers State Ministry of Urban and Regional Development has expressed their commitment towards the drafting of an Administrative Procedure for Equitable Shop Allocation and Tax Policy for informal sector traders in the State. The Ministry committed to this during an advocacy visit by the Business Women Cluster led by NECA’s Network of Entrepreneurial Women (NNEW) on August 20, 2018 to the Ministry. The Permanent Secretary, ESv. D.I. Amofori, who spoke on behalf of the Ministry, stated that the harmonization of taxes in the state by creating a tax policy for informal traders was a welcome development. He designated Mrs Patience Omukpan, the Director of Administration, to be part of the drafting committee, as the formal representative of the Ministry of Urban Development on the project.

Political Stalwarts in Akwa Ibom State Endorse the AKYDF Bill

Identifying a window of opportunity presented by the political rally to commemorate the International Youth day and to endorse Governor Udom Emmanuel for second term in office by organized by the  office of the Special Assistant to the Akwa Ibom State Governor on Youths Matter, the Youth Advocacy Cluster on August 10, 2018, used the opportunity to sensitize participating political stalwarts to endorse the AKYDF bill and call for its passage. Hon.  Victor Udofia, Chairman, Akwa Ibom State House Committee on Youth and Security Matter, in an interview with YAFtv, reaffirmed his support and willingness to fund the public hearing of the #AKYDFBILL as soon as the members of the house are back from recess on September 4, 2018. Senator Bassey Albert representing Uyo Senatorial District and Mr. Ephraim Inyang, the Commissioner for Works also stated their unrelenting support for youth development in the state and assured to do everything in their capacity to see the bill is passed. The Speaker of the House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Onofiok Luke however said he was still in talks with the governor regarding the bill and he is certain the bill will be passed soonest.  The Youth Advocacy Cluster is led by Youth Alive Foundation.

Osun State Attorney General Support the Call for an Executive Order on a Gender-Responsive Agriculture Policy

The Attorney General of Osun State, Dr. Surajudeen Ajibola Basiru, has promised to support the call for an Executive Order by the State Governor for the implementation of a gender responsive agriculture framework for Osun State. He had stated this in response to the Women in Agriculture Cluster  proposal for a gender responsive agriculture policy in Osun State. During an advocacy discussion early August, Dr. Basiru proposed for the cluster to develop a draft Executive Order on gender issues in the agriculture sector and promised he would pass the Executive Order to the Osun State Governor for further engagement. He suggested that this may be a quicker way to ensure that women issues are catered to by the Ministry of Agriculture instead of the longer process of policy adoption. On August 8, 2018, the cluster, led by the Women Advocacy Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), held a roundtable meeting  with policy makers in Osogbo, Osun state to review a draft Executive Order titled as ‘Executive Order on Registration, Certification, Access to Credit and Land for Agricultural Inputs and Benefits for Small Holder Women Farmers, Youths and other Vulnerable Persons’. The meeting had in attendance the Permanent Secretary and Directors from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Director of the Legal Department of Osun State House of Assembly, a representative of the Office of the Governor and women farmers. The final draft copy of the Executive Order was submitted to Dr. Basiru on August 10, 2018 who will present it to the Executive Governor for approval.

Mayor of Port Harcourt Support the Development of a Harmonized LG Tax Policy

The Mayor of Port Harcourt city, Hon. Nyeche Ihunwo and his Deputy Mayor, Mrs. Mariam Fiberesima pledged their commitment to work with the Women in Business Cluster to develop an administrative procedure for equitable shop allocation for market traders and to develop a harmonized local government tax policy that will eliminate multiple taxation for the informal sector trader. These commitments were made on August 15, 2018, when the cluster paid them an advocacy visit on the need for an effective tax regime and a process to stop women harassment in the market place which includes locking up shops and places of business. The Mayor also committed that the council will work with the cluster to set up an incident reporting center for women and designated Mrs Fiberesima to work closely with the cluster to achieve their goals. The Women in Business cluster is led by NECAs Network of Entrepreneurial Women (NNEW).