Request for Proposals
United States Institute of Peace – Constitutional Analysis and Civil Society
Advocacy
August 6 2015
Project Name: Constitutional Analysis and Civil Society Advocacy
Response Deadline:
Concept notes by August 20, 2015 (2-3 pages)
I. General Instructions
A. The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) requests proposals for a project to
increase constitutional knowledge amongst the political, legal and civil society
community in Afghanistan, the general Afghan public, and the international
community.
The project will comprise two components:
i. Constitutional Research and Analysis: This component aims to provide
high-quality and impartial legal analysis of the Afghan Constitution to
increase constitutional knowledge among the political, legal and civil
society community in Afghanistan, the general Afghan public, and the
international community.
ii. Civil Society Advocacy on Constitutional Application: This component
aims to increase Afghan citizen’s constitutional knowledge and capacity
to engage in advocacy to promote constitutional application and to hold
the State to account for violation.
B. USIP is not responsible for any costs incurred by the responding firms prior to
issuance of an executed agreement with the USIP.
C. Submissions must be typed and submitted in a word file, and must follow the
organization of the requests for information in the Submission Requirements
section below. No changes or corrections to a response will be allowed after the
deadline.
D. Any questions concerning this Request for Proposals should be directed to
ldang@usip.org and copy nkhpulwak@usip.org. Pertinent responses will be
made available to all proposers by e-mail. No inquiries will be accepted or
responses given after August 17, 2015.
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II. Scope of Work
Drafted in the wake of the 2001 fall of the Taliban and the December 2001 signing of the
Bonn Agreement that began the rebuilding of Afghanistan’s institutions, the 2004 Afghan
Constitution articulates the aspirations of Afghan people and sets the foundation for the
establishment of a state underpinned by the rule of law.
Since 2013 USIP has been one of the few actors, national or international, to promote
constitutional debates and analysis amongst Afghan scholars and practitioners to generate
discussion and dialogue around key textual ambiguities in the Constitution. USIP seeks to
build on its past efforts with a Constitutional Analysis and Civil Society Advocacy
Project with two main components. The first component will continue to support the
expansion of a body of scholarship by Afghan authors on constitutional issues identified
by Afghan scholars and policymakers as pertinent in the years to come, taking into
account the possibility of constitutional amendment. The second component will seek to
increase constitutional knowledge amongst civil society actors in order to lay the
foundation for increased civil society advocacy for constitutional application. The first
component is designed to directly inform the second component, and USIP foresees the
legal scholars and researchers engagement with civil society actors in this process.
A. Constitution Research and Analysis
Proposals should seek to produce research papers of high-quality and impartial legal
analysis of the Afghan Constitution. The research papers should aim to increase
knowledge of the constitutional issues among the legal, political and civil society actors
and the public in large. Research papers will be scholarly in nature, and target
academics, government actors and civil society. Research papers should be authored by
Afghan scholars with demonstrated experience researching, teaching, and/or writing
constitutional analysis. Research papers will examine constitutional issues identified by
Afghan scholars and policymakers as pressing or pertinent in the years to come. For
example, research papers may examine constitutional amendment, electoral system
reform, standing to bring constitutional claims, the acquisition of rights stipulated in the
constitution, structuring parliamentary system under the current constitution, nonviolation of unamendable provisions, and other pertinent themes as identified by the
legal, political and civil society community. In addition, proposals should suggest a
number of issue briefs to draw on particularly topical areas examined in the research
papers, but which will be a distinct publication targeted at policy audiences.
i.
Capacity building of Afghan scholars
To ensure research papers of high quality, proposal should suggest capacity-building
activities for authors. For example, the recruitment of an editor to work closely with
authors to facilitate peer review, incorporation of feedback and support the editing of
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authors’ papers. In addition, the vendor may seek to recruit university law or Sharia
students to act as research assistants for the authors, further building the capacity of a
future generation of scholars. Law and Sharia student interns should support the drafting
of issues briefs, guided by the Afghan scholar-authors.
ii.
Publishing
Research papers and issues briefs will be published by the vendor, and will be subject to
a review, editing and publication process as agreed between USIP and the vendor. All
research papers and issues briefs should be published in English, Dari, and Pashto.
iii.
Research dissemination
Proposal should devise strategies for research dissemination. For example, proposal can
suggest public seminars to launch each research paper and to invite legal scholars,
political actors and civil society stakeholders to engage in a discussion on the examined
constitutional issue. Proposals could suggest media interviews by authors, off-the record
briefings to relevant stakeholders, and targeted outreach to civil society.
B. Civil Society Advocacy to Promote Improved Constitutional Application
Proposal will devise a series of activities to increase advocacy for improved
constitutional application by the Afghan government. Illustrative activities include public
awareness campaigns, public consultations and dialogues, mobilizing civil society groups
and networking, preparing issues briefs and other advocacy resources.
C. Outcomes
Proposals should suggest activities that achieves the following outcomes:
-
Increase constitutional knowledge of the political, legal and civil society
community in Afghanistan, the general Afghan public, and the international
community.
-
Strengthen capacity of Afghan legal scholars to undertake constitutional analysis
and prepare written reports for an academic, policy and/or general audience.
-
Increase number of constitutional analysis of themes pertinent to the political and
legal context of Afghanistan.
-
Increase dissemination of constitutional analysis to a broad audience in English,
Dari and Pashto.
-
Engage the next generation of scholars in constitutional analysis, and strengthen
linkages between Afghan scholars and law and sharia university students.
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Increase civil society advocacy on constitutional application to hold the State to
account for constitutional violations.
III. Submission Requirements
A. Concept note
Those who wish to be considered for this RFP are highly encouraged to submit a concept
note to USIP by August 20, 2015. The concept note should be no more than 3 pages of
length and should include:
 brief description of the project activities that addresses the Scope of Work
including outputs;
 How your organization is well suited to implement this activity
USIP will review these concept notes and promptly reply as to whether this is the type of
activity and concept that is likely to be successful, or to give feedback on adjustments or
elements that would make it more likely to be successful. Candidates providing
successful concept notes will be contacted to develop a full proposal.
IV. General Terms and Selection Process
A. The Selection Committee will review all submissions received on time using the
selection criteria established for the project.
B. The Selection Committee reserves the right to reject any submission or to reject
all submissions in the best interests of USIP. USIP may cancel this Solicitation at
any time prior to contract award if it is in the best interests of the Institute.
C. The successful applicant shall not discriminate against any person.
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