FEED THE FUTURE UGANDA YOUTH LEADERSHIP IN AGRICTULTURE ACTIVITY RESPONSES TO THE APPLICANT S QUESTIONS ASKED DURING PRE-APPLICATION FORUM, APRIL 2016. Questions Answer Contractual 1. If an organization is newly registered however the founders have experience can the team's experience be considered? 2. Are staff benefits allowed to be included as allowable costs? 3. If the fund is going for 18 months, how do you cost out the continued M&E that goes beyond the 18 months? 4. Can an organization use this APS to apply directly to USAID? 5. What is the maximum grant size available? 6. Can you please expand the list of ineligible expenses mentioned during the pre-qualification forum? Yes! The Uganda YLA Activity encourages newly formed and innovative projects to apply for grant funding through the APS. We seek to work with those who can demonstrate capacity to implement proposed activities. Through the partnership you will be supported to grow. Yes, if these costs are in line with your organizational objectives and included in the budget submitted to the Uganda YLA Activity. Grants should not be costed out beyond 18 months. However, the Activity will consider extension beyond the 18-months based on satisfactory performance and availability of funds. No. Mechanisms of application are different. As Uganda YLA is a project funded directly by USAID, applying through the APS is the most streamlined way to receive grant funding from the Activity. The APS specifies a range of UGX 5,000,000 to UGX 170,000,000. However, the final budget will be negotiated in line with the proposed activities and CFR 200 Cost principles. The following items may not be purchased under any circumstances: Military equipment Surveillance equipment Commodities/services for support of police or other law enforcement activities Abortion equipment/services Luxury goods and gambling equipment Weather modification equipment The list above is not exhaustive refer to Section IVD of APS
7. Can this grant support procurement of vehicles and motorcycles for field activities. No; Uganda YLA is governed by USAID regulations that restrict the purchasing of certain goods. The list includes: Agricultural commodities Motor vehicles including motorcycles; Pharmaceuticals and contraceptives; Pesticides and fertilizer; Used equipment,; US Government-owned excess property. Such costs can be included in budget, but procuring items under these categories is complicated, as USAID approval is required in advance. Additionally, please note that costs not included in the approved budget may not be allowed unless approved in writing by YLA.
8. Agricultural commodities are considered restricted goods, and it may be difficult to procure them under our grant agreement. Could you further define how USAID views agriculture commodities? The regulations define agricultural commodities as: grain and non-grain crops, vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts, cereals, live trees and other plants, animal feed, animals (including livestock), vegetable and animal fats and oils, raw hides, cotton, wool, and edible products from animals such as milk and eggs. Fertilizers and Pesticides may be in your budgets. Again, carefully consider whether to include them. Note that pesticide purchases would require a PERSUAP (Pesticide Evaluation Report and Safer Use Action Plan), which is very complicated and requires approval in advance. In general, costs not included in the approved budget may not be allowed unless approved in writing by YLA. Note: Agricultural commodities may come up in the budgets for your concepts. If so, it is important to know that ag commodities can be procured, but with special treatment and approval is required in advance, which can take some time. Please be sure to keep this in mind for your implementation timeline.
9. Can this grant support local governments (District Departments) applying for the grant or limited to only Registered Private sector and NGOs. Can National Based Organizations apply? The grants cannot support local governments. Please read below for information on eligibility: Eligible organizations include: Registered Ugandan organizations in good standing that are engaged in agriculture-related activities. YLA is not restricted only to FTF prioritized value chains. YLA encourages firms with all levels of experience to apply and looks forward to engaging businesses that are newly emerging as well as more established firms. Grant funds are geared towards NGOs, though, for-profit organizations are not excluded. For profit organizations should be aware that fee and/or profit are not allowed on grant awards. Ineligible organization include: Ugandan government entities such as public universities, district and regional offices, and/or national ministries. Political parties, groups, or their affiliates. Organizations that advocate or espouse anti-democratic policies or illegal activities. Faith-based organizations whose objectives are for religious purposes, and whose main objective for the grant is of a religious nature. Any entity that has been found to have misused USAID funds in the past. Any entity whose name appears on the US Government s excluded parties lists. Public International Organizations will need special approval to become grantees. 10. Can an organization submit more than one concept note? 11. Can an organization submit a concept to work in a new area? 12. The timeframe of support proposed (18 months) is quite short. I m not sure what my organization will be able to accomplish with the grant funding in that time. Yes! We seek to create innovate partnerships and will consider multiple concept notes, however success will greatly depend on your justification and organizational capacity. See above. We encourage you to be realistic in the application. Propose logical activities that will be implemented in the time frame.
13. My organization is registered and doesn't have a financial audit report. Is it still eligible? 14. Can an organization have intellectual property ownership of materials developed for the activity e.g. curriculums? 15. Can this funding be used for construction? 16. Is the partnership between organizations limited to a given number of partners? 17. Shall this program allow implementation in consortia? 18. Are you restricted to FTF districts only? 19. Is YLA only limited to the crops highlighted in the APS (maize, beans and coffee)? 20. What if instead of salary we only pay professional fees to youth? 21. In case we want to procure an item, can the organization utilize the YLA capacity to conduct the procurement? 22. Is research and design allowed in the budget? During pre-award assessments, physical office visits will be done to assess the financial management capacity of your organization. This could be an area of building capacity for the grantee to work with Uganda YLA to build on during the grant. No. Organizations can't own this if it is developed during the life of the project as the grant funding is delivered by USAID. Intellectual property ownership is attributed to USAID. The same rule is applied to assets. No; construction or infrastructure activities, per ADS 303.3.30, Limitation on Construction Under Assistance. Construction is defined in the USAID document entitled USAID Implementation of Construction Activities, available at http://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/. Though the improvement of existing structure will be considered. Partners should be built for a purpose, which the Activity expects to be evident in the grant proposal. However, consortia are allowed. No second tier granting will be allowed. Yes! As long as the application clearly indicates the lead organization. Refer to answer above. Yes! Uganda YLA seeks to expand our partnerships in the Feed the Future Districts, which are included in the detailed APS. No. The focus is agriculture and not limited to only beans, maize and coffee. YLA is open to all agricultural activities that support youth to increase income and gain skill through workforce development, hence promoting agriculture as a business. If the activity requires professional fees, then this should be included, under short term employees (consultants) line budget. The level of effort should be commensurate with the proposed rates as well as the organizational policies. Yes! YLA can support the procurement process to ensure compliance. Yes, research and design is allowed in the grant budget if it is to promote and further the Uganda YLA objectives. However, the duration/ period of performance should also be taken into consideration and explicitly stated in the grant application.
23. Is it possible to fund a project in an area where another USAID partner is implementing similar project but not targeting youth? 24. Can the organization include admin costs in the budget? If so what percentage is allowed? 25. The National Youth Council is a government entity, does this eliminate NYC from applying? 26. Is this communication (APS 001) only limited to this small gathering or the whole country? 27. If the organization has its head office in another district that is not a FTF districts however their operations are in the FTF districts, is such an organization eligible to apply? 28. How long will it take to get a response on the status of the concept? 29. There are individuals or companies which own land and work on agricultural activities in the country. Are they allowed to apply? 30. Are older persons over 35 encouraged to apply? 31. How are education institutions going to be involved in this activity? Yes! Please ensure that you are not targeting the same people with similar services. Complementarity of services is encouraged. Yes! There is no specified percentage of administration expense, however, the proposed expenses should be reasonable and allocable. These costs must be consistent with organization policies, and will be reviewed by the Uganda YLA technical review committee. Yes; this grant targets private sector entities and will not be extended to government entities. Please see Question 9 on eligibility restrictions. We are currently targeting 4 districts which will act as the hubs for each of the regions. YLA intends to scale up activities to other districts at a later point in time. Yes! Evaluation is on a rolling basis so response will be ongoing. We anticipate to complete evaluations in two (2) weeks after the deadline of your submission and thereafter on a monthly basis. Grants will not be awarded to individuals. However, a company can apply. Please see the above listed Question 9 for eligibility requirements. Yes! So long as the activity is targeting youth and is putting youth at the fore front. Institutions are part of the target but with focus on private sector institutions. The grant can also be extended to NGOs working with both government and private schools/institutions
32. What happens when an organization has received a grant and later wants to introduce another idea? 33. What is the composition of the technical evaluation team 34. For cooperatives can the grant be used for a loan fund? Please see above listed in Question 10 for more information on submitting multiple concept papers through the APS process. Should an organization wish to submit another or different grant application at the close of the 18-month grant, those will be considered based on merit and availability of funds. New ideas will be evaluated under a separate proposal. The technical review team will consist of members of the YLA staff and USAID. No; USAID funds can't be loaned because of the risks associated. 35. What does DUNS no? It is a unique identification number. YLA will support your organization to get a DUNS number when and if it is selected for award 36. If a coffee group is also working with another donor, how will that In the case of an organization working with another donor, the other donor is considered to be a third party. If there is overlap in the activity presented, the third party should be indicated in the concept. be treated? 37. Can more than one person conduct the oral presentation on behalf of the project in phase II? Yes, but please note that presentations are 15 minutes only. 38. Logistically Igara has an office in Kampala, Can FTF enable start - ups of resource centers and warehouse receipt system? 39. If you applied and were not successful on round one, can they apply in another round? Yes! Your organization can apply however YLA cannot build the warehouse (see question above on restricted goods and construction) but can support on equipping the warehouse. If the application is rejected, the organization will be notified that they were not selected for an award but that they may submit another application in response to another solicitation in the future. 40. Can an organization that has not been operating in the focus districts apply to start operating in these districts? 41. Can organizations promoting ICT in Agriculture apply? 42. Is there a ready market for products? Technical Yes! But the evaluation merit criteria will also consider your past experience in the proposed district. This might affect your rating by the technical review committee. Yes! Under this funding, USAID/ YLA encourage applicants to incorporate ICT. No. Organizations should find ways to address the value chain and related challenges.
43. Most of the programs that target the youth don't mature because of their vulnerability. How can a small organization compete with a big organization? What is the plan around this challenge? This usually kicks out the small organizations! 44. Is this target annual based or 5 year target? 45. Is the grant focusing on mechanization of agriculture? 46. Are there chances of dividing operations in various sub counties? 47. How shall YLA ensure robust monitoring and evaluation is done on the grants? 48. What do you mean by youth at the center and working with youth? 49. Are there chances of duplication of services with CLUSA? If you meet the requirements, you have the opportunity to apply. Uganda YLA will evaluate all organizations in their capacity. Once you qualify to phase 2, YLA will work with the organization to improve and fine tune their work. There will also be constant follow up through monitoring, and capacity building throughout grant implementation. YLA s target of 350,000 youth over the course of the five year implementation. Of the 350,000, Uganda YLA is focusing on engaging 70% women. Mechanization is a great idea so long as it puts the youth at the fore front as leaders. This will greatly depend on your justification/capacity as an organization and how innovative the idea is that is put forth. Yes, as long as your targeted beneficiaries are YLA s targets, and you contribute to YLA s objectives. YLA has strong M&E and technical teams that will ensure effective monitoring for all the grants. The Activity will work with each applicant separately to ensure a plan for M&E is incorporated, and work together to make sure we re capturing all necessary and important information from the grantee. The mission of Uganda Youth Leadership for Agriculture (YLA) is to put youth, whose population in the country is rapidly expanding, at the forefront of by involving them in the process and ensuring their participation in decisions that affect their lives. Uganda YLA is already in discussion with CLUSA and Dynamic in the Northern Uganda and other organizations to avoid duplication of services but rather complementarity of services.