USAID/West Bank and Gaza Conflict Management and Mitigation (CMM) APS

USAID seeks to effectively prevent, mitigate and manage the causes and consequences of violent conflict, instability and extremism. The Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA), Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation (CMM) leads USAID’s efforts to identify and analyze sources of conflict, supports early responses to address the causes and consequences of instability and violent conflict, and seeks to integrate conflict mitigation and management into USAID’s analysis, strategies and programs. “People-to-people” programs are one approach among many to conflict mitigation. This solicitation is intended to fund conflict mitigation programs with a people-to-people approach, and to derive lessons learned and best practices for future people-to-people programming. The theory of change of this CMM program states that if USAID supports civil society organizations and other institutions in promoting a culture of peace and mutual respect between Israelis and Palestinians at all levels, then there will be an expanded peace constituency that is more enduring in the face of shocks and setbacks. The reconciliation program needs to foster sentiment at all levels of society to bring about a peaceful settlement to the conflict, both at the political and social levels. Lessons learned will be incorporated into future programs and solicitations, and will inform DCHA/CMM’s research agenda for conflict management and mitigation. Applications under this solicitation will describe a people-to-people approach based on a context and conflict analysis that leads to a concrete program change hypothesis. The objective of the FY 2015 USAID/WBG CMM Annual Program Statement (APS) is to expand the peace constituency of Israelis and Palestinians while contributing to USAID’s developmental objectives. USAID seeks programs that produce more concrete and measurable results through conflict resolution by bringing participating groups together to resolve issues of common concern. Studies have shown that when common goals or shared problems are present, communication between groups moved towards reducing conflict. In addition to the people-to-people approach, USAID requests Applicants to focus on issues of common interest between three categories of participants: 1) Israelis and Palestinians; 2) Israelis, Palestinians, and Jordanians; 3) Israeli Arab and Jewish citizens. Cross-border programs that bring together Israelis and Palestinians and activities that bring together Israelis, Palestinians, and Jordanians are strongly encouraged. Programs can include citizens of other Middle Eastern and North African countries, but primary beneficiaries should be Israelis and Palestinians residing in Israel and the West Bank. USAID highly encourages programs where participants engage in activities that will clearly benefit from the participation of another group in order to reach common goals or solve shared issues. Programs addressing issues in water, farming, tourism, health, technology, energy, and the environment are just a few examples of successful past programming. Additionally, USAID will encourage applications that involve women, youth, and/or people living with disabilities and demonstrate a clear understanding of their role in conflict mitigation. In addition, the APS will encourage applicants to target dis-advantaged beneficiaries residing in the peripheral areas. Applications must demonstrate the ability to measure the program’s effectiveness in reducing conflict and in changing perceptions, and partners shall develop a monitoring system to effectively measure their results.