Stability Through Economic Progress, Unity and Peacebuilding (STEP UP)

USAID/Mozambique intends to design an activity that will support grants and capacity development to innovative local businesses and groups, with a focus on areas prone to conflict, including but not limited to Cabo Delgado. The purpose of the activity is to allow communities to participate more actively in their own development through directly providing opportunities and tools. The activity would create various grant challenges for business and social cohesion, reach out to entrepreneurs, businesses and civil society organizations with opportunities to apply for the grants, uphold a rigorous progress for selecting recipients, and provide targeted support to support recipients' implementation and achievement of results.

This activity will be designed in line with the USG Strategy to Prevent Conflict and Promote Stability (SPCPS) which outlines a 10-year, evidence-based, whole-of-government effort to foster peace and long-term stability through integrated U.S. diplomacy, development, and security sector engagement. The SPCPS focuses on four areas: 1) Prevention of violent conflict before it erupts; 2) Stabilization through inclusive processes to resolve ongoing conflicts; 3) Partnerships to foster conditions for long-term regional stability and private sector-led growth; and 4) Management to realize effective outcomes through improved prioritization, integration, and efficiency. This activity will be one of many initiatives that USAID will use to fulfill the strategy, contributing towards SPCPS objectives 2 and 3 and indirectly supporting objective 4.

This activity’s goal will be to increase empowerment of local communities to drive their own social and economic development. The Mission envisions three intermediate results (IR) toward this activity’s goal:

• IR1 - Increased Opportunities for Economic Growth and Diversification
• IR2 - Increased Social Cohesion within Communities
• IR3 - Increased Capacity of Local Organizations and Businesses to Manage Small Grants

Through this RFI, the Mission intends to gather information about potential partners and the operational landscape in terms of existing opportunities, barriers, grant making considerations, and capacity building and institutional development concerns.