USAID intends to transfer money and services to an implementing partner or consortium of partners to address barriers to access and increase the quality of basic education for marginalized groups in selected countries of the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region.
USAID anticipates this will be done through the financial and technical support of a new or existing LAC-focused regional fund or platform that will provide grants and technical support to local entities in select LAC countries that are currently engaged in or have ideas for innovative and/or scalable activities that aim to address existing systemic barriers and improve access and foundational learning outcomes specifically for marginalized and vulnerable groups. USAID also anticipates this activity will include rigorous measurement to inform the adaptation and scaling of such interventions in the future. USAID is open to working jointly with other donor organizations on a new or existing regional funding platform, both in terms of catalyzing additional funding as well as technical collaboration for knowledge sharing and implementation. We also encourage implementing partners to be thinking about ways of mobilizing other donor and private sector investments and cost sharing as part of this activity.
The LAC bureau at USAID expects that an award will be made through an open competition to an entity or entities that are able to catalyze additional funding (private or otherwise).
USAID anticipates releasing a call for concept notes with more details about this activity in mid-March followed by a full RFA later in the Spring/Summer.