OpportunityTitle: Interethnic Integration in Education Project Macedonia
AdditionalInformationOnEligibility: Macedonian indigenous organizations are eligible to apply.
Description: Advance Noticefor the forthcoming Request for Applications (RFA) for the Interethnic Integration in Education ProjectUSAID/Macedonia intends to issue a Request for Assistance (RFA) for the award of a four (4) year Cooperative Agreement to a Macedonian indigenous organization, in support of a new Inter-Ethnic Integration in Education Project (IIEP) within the next thirty days.BACKGROUNDThe purpose of the IIEP is to provide awareness building, diversity training, technical assistance, and incentives to school boards, principals, teachers, and administration officials in support of the Government of Macedonia&apos;s (GOM) Strategy Toward Integrated Education. The new project will be comprised of four mutually-supporting and the following inter-related components:Component 1 - Community Outreach. The objective of Component 1 is to raise awareness of the importance of inter-ethnic integration and why it is vital for the future stability of Macedonia and its accession in to the European Union. Equally important, this component will work to build public understanding of the GOM&apos;s Strategy and its ultimate goal of ensuring all Macedonian children receive a high-quality education.Component 2 - Capacity Building of school management and teachers. The objective of Component 2 is to provide teachers, school managers and school boards with the skills they need to work in a multi-ethnic environment, to help prevent divisions along ethnic lines in their schools and communities, and to create conditions that promote ethnic integration.Component 3 - Demonstration Schools. The objective of component 3 is to provide more holistic and intensive interventions in a few selected schools. These model schools will provide examples of best practices and lessons learned and will help to contribute to a deeper understanding on various approaches to ethnic integration.Component 4 - Provision of Incentives to Schools and Communities. The objective of component 4 is to provide school refurbishments as an incentive for schools to participate in ethnic integration activities. USAID has found school renovations to be highly effective incentives to motivate schools and communities to fully engage in education reforms. A second objective is to assist these communities with the improvement of the infrastructure and learning environments of their schools, including ensuring that these schools are accessible to the disabled.The primary targets of the IIEP are primary and secondary schools, including students, teachers, school principals, as well as school board members. In addition, we plan to work to build the capacity of pertinent Ministry of Education institutions, such as the Bureau for Development of Education (BDE) and the State Education Inspectorate (SEI) so they can support ethnic integration on a system level.FUNDING AND BUDGETUSAID currently believes between $4,000,000 to $5,000,000 may be available to support this project over the life of the award.EXPECTED PERIOD OF PERFORMANCEUSAID anticipates that this activity will be designed as a four-year effort, estimated to begin in October 2011.USAID anticipates awarding one grant to a local Macedonian organization who will act as Prime implementing partner. Given the size, scope and complexity of this project, it may be necessary for organizations to partner together to submit a joint proposal that would include all the necessary package of skills to successfully implement such a project. In such a case, one organization would act as the Prime organization and the others as sub-grantees of the Prime. The Prime organization would submit the joint proposal on behalf of the partner organizations.
GrantorContactEmailDescription: Mischere Kawas
GrantorContactText: Mischere Kawas Grantor &lt;br/&gt;Phone 3614754698
CloseDateExplanation: The closing date and time was extended to September 2, 2011 16:00 Skopje time.    USAID invites interested parties to a Bidder&apos;s Conference on August 12, 2011 8:30 at the US Embassy Skopje, Samuilova Str., 21  Skopje, Macedonia.    Participants must register sending an email to the address SStojanovska@usaid.gov containing their name, surname, company/organization and phone number.    Those who do not receive confirmation of registration, will not be granted access for security reasons.