MyFedAccess

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suffering in every corner of the globe
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PRGI/MyFedAccess
Contract Activity & Project Profiles: Africa - Angola

1.    Acquisitions & Assistance Training Course for Cognizant Technical Officers (CTOs)
2A.  Displaced Children & Orphans Fund -- 2B. Patrick J. Leahy War Victims Fund


Contract Activity:    Acquisitions & Assistance Training Course for Cognizant Technical Officers (CTOs)


Background:    The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) routinely enters into contracts with vendors to acquire a variety of goods and services in support of its development projects and initiatives. When requirements that need to be fulfilled are identified, the requesting Program/Project Office submits its Scope of Work (SOW) to a Contract Officer. In turn, the Contract Officer incorporates the SOW into the resultant Request for Proposals/Quotations (RFP/Q).

To help ensure the agency receives responsive Proposals/Quotations, the SOW and RFP must clearly describe the technical requirements, as well as the rules and regulations that must be followed by all vendors. The next critical step in the Acquisitions & Assistance process is evaluating the Proposals/Quotations that are submitted by prospective vendors. Finally, after a contract is awarded, a Cognizant Technical Officer (CTO)--historically known as the Contracting Officer's Technical Representative--oversees the actual delivery of the goods and/or services that were procured.

Certain procurement policies are subject to change, and there is a constant turnover of Contract Officers and CTOs; hence, ongoing training must be provided in all phases of the Acquisition & Assistance/Procurement process to ensure compliance with the prevailing procurement policies.

Project Profile:    Professional Resource Group International, Inc. (PRGI) was contracted to design a curriculum and training manuals, provide Subject Matter Experts, and Professional Facilitators to assist government procurement personnel in delivering the Acquisition & Assistance training course for Contract and Cognizant Technical Officers from Angola and other countries throughout Africa, Asia, Central & Eastern Europe, Latin America (including the Caribbean Basin), and the Middle East. Case studies, audio-visual materials, small group discussions, and other tools were used to enhance the effectiveness of the overall training presentation.

The course included instructions and guidance on how to write a comprehensive Scope of Work and how to evaluate responses to Request For Proposals/Quotations.

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Contract Activity:    Displaced Children & Orphans Fund


Background:    An estimated 135 million children living in developing countries lack the support and protection of parents or suitable guardians. These most vulnerable children are usually innocent victims of dire social and economic distress, disease, or conflict. The number includes perhaps more than 400,000 unaccompanied refugee or internally displaced children, 200,000 child combatants, more than 100 million street children and 34 million children who have lost one or both parents to disease or other causes.

With support and encouragement from Congress, the U. S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) Displaced Children and Orphans Fund (DCOF) began to address the needs of orphans in 1989. Its mission is to strengthen the capacity of families and communities to provide care, support, and protection for orphans, unaccompanied minors, and war-affected children. The fund works through nongovernmental organizations (NGO) in developing countries to develop models and implement programs that provide direct service to children and support local organizations so that work can be sustained beyond the length of the grant.

Displaced Children and Orphans Fund was Active in 25 Countries

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*Democratic Republic of the Congo-Kinshasa


Support programs for displaced children and orphans fall into the following categories:

• Children Affected by War - With no fewer than 25 civil conflicts being waged at the present time, more than 500,000 children are thought to be unaccompanied or separated from their families. Some 300,000 are thought to actually be fighting in these conflicts.
  
  

• Children Orphaned by AIDS - In just the 23 countries included in USAID's study, Children on the Brink, the number of children orphaned as a result of the HIV/AIDS epidemic will increase from under 25 million in 1990 to over 41 million in the year 2010.
  
  

• Street Children - An estimated 100 million children work or live on the streets of the developed and developing worlds. They are the innocent victims of family financial distress, and social, economic and political upheaval. Over the past decade, the problem has worsened, leaving a tremendous loss of human potential and a detrimental impact on economic and social development.
  
  

• Children with Disabilities - Stigmatized by cultural values and religious beliefs, they are hidden in back rooms or placed in government institutions, displaced from communities and society. DCOF is supporting community-based approaches to provide care and training in life skills.
  
  

Project Title in Angola:    Family Tracing and Placement Programme

Cooperating Agency in Angola:    Save The Children Fund/UK (SCF)

Background:    Since achieving independence from Portugal in 1975, Angola has endured almost a quarter century of civil war between the government forces, the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA), and the rebel forces, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). Of the total population of 10.5 million, more than 3 million people were displaced or directly affected by the war. An estimated 100,000 children have been orphaned, and large numbers of children separated from parents, attacked, or injured in land mine-related accidents. Nearly 10,000 children were forced to become soldiers. During the past ten years, when tensions have risen and fighting began again, estimates are that a total of 800,000 people were displaced.

Project Description in Angola:    The main purpose of this program is to identify, register, trace, and reunite separated children with their families. But that is never enough. In government-controlled areas, alternative strategies continue, including foster care, therapeutic feeding, deinstitutionalization, and group homes. Community groups and associations have been developed to support community safety nets for most vulnerable children and families. In fact, 800 demobilized child soldiers have been traced, mainly in rebel-controlled areas. Training workshops on the care of separated children are conducted for local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in rebel-controlled areas.

The logistical challenge of organizing provincial policy round tables were met and held in 4 regions: Malange, Benguela, Huambo, and Huila.


Project Title in Angola:    Initiatives for Angolan Children and Youth

Cooperating Agency in Angola:    Christian Children's Fund (CCF)

Project Description in Angola:    Initiatives enable Angolans to come to terms with their war experience; provide emotional and social support for violence-affected children; help reintegrate nearly 300,000 war-affected children in 7 provinces and Luanda; build local capacity by training approximately 4,000 adults who assist children in coming to terms with their war experience and who encourage constructive use of both Western and traditional approaches to healing; mobilize communities around the needs of children, integrating psychosocial support into wider processes of community development; and recommend policies that enable healthy child development. Community-based arts activities have been provided to 298,000 children and 107 new community projects have been initiated.

Technical support has provided for a parallel project on the reintegration of underage soldiers. Over 4,100 former child soldiers have been demobilized and reintegrated.

Project Profile:    Professional Resource Group International, Inc. (PRGI) was contracted by USAID to administer these funds and provide Technical, Logistical, and Administrative Support Services for displaced children and orphans in more than 20 countries, including Angola. Since 1989, DCOF has contributed more than $74,000,000 to programs in these countries. Funds were used to expand support of activities in four new countries while the DCOF was being administered by PRGI.

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Contract Activity:    Patrick J. Leahy War Victims Fund (WVF)


Background:    The War Victims Fund supports programs that provide for the improved mobility of people with disabilities by providing accessible, appropriate prosthetic services. With a renewed focus on quality of service, the fund added patient follow-up and monitoring as part of its projects. Special programs that upgrades medical and surgical services for victims of accidental detonations of unexploded ordnance has been successful in some countries (like Laos) and is being replicated in other countries.

Historically, war victims and other people living with disabilities face daunting obstacles in gaining access to education, training, and employment opportunities. Appropriate policies and construction codes for barrier-free accessibility for people living with disabilities can help overcome these obstacles. Toward this end, an innovative program of assistance in Vietnam that began with a focus on barrier-free accessibility has resulted in passage of a comprehensive national disabilities law. This legislation was drafted with the assistance of Americans who participated in efforts to pass and implement the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Patrick J. Leahy War Victims Fund was Active in 20 Countries

1. Afghanistan	6. El Salvador	11. Laos	16. Philippines
2. Cambodia	7. Ethiopia	12. Lebanon	17. Sri Lanka
3. Colombia	8. Guatemala	13. Nepal	18. Sudan
4. Costa Rica	9. Honduras	14. Nicaragua	19. Uganda
5. Congo*	10. Kenya	15. Panama	20. Vietnam

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*Democratic Republic of the Congo-Kinshasa


Improved economic conditions and the ability to increase earned income are essential to the health and welfare of all individuals, including those living with disabilities. The fund has supported a variety of innovative approaches to increase income-generating opportunities for war victims and their families. Lessons learned from these approaches can be used to develop similar programs in other countries.

As the fund evolved, its agenda became more challenging. Plans were made to include people with disabilities in planning and implementing programs; improved training; expanded community-based rehabilitation; development and production of appropriate wheelchairs; and increased coordination with other donors.

Project Title in Angola:    Angolan Regional Rehabilitation Project

Cooperating Agency in Angola:    Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF)

Background:    Today, Angola has more than 6 million land mines and as many as 70,000 amputees, a number higher in both absolute and relative terms than that of any other country in Africa. This number is projected to grow as internally displaced people, demobilized soldiers, and refugees return home, and as others, particularly women and children, go farther into the countryside in search of food and available land. Additionally, the incidence of crippling diseases such as polio, which usually increases in war and post-war environments, further compounds the rehabilitation challenges facing the Angolan people.

Displaced Children & Orphans Fund
Provides Support for Orphans, Unaccompanied Minors, and War-Affected Children

Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF)
Angolan Regional Rehabilitation Project

Project Description in Angola:    USAID is making progress addressing the needs of amputees through its assistance to the Vietnam Veterans of American Foundation (VVAF). VVAF's goal is to establish a functioning rehabilitation center in eastern Angola that will meet the mobility needs of 3,600 people with disabilities.

Accomplishments so far have been to establish a regional rehabilitation center for southeastern Angola based in Luena City, Moxico Province, that provides orthopedic devices to disabled Angolans, many of whom have been injured by land mines. Seven local Angolans have been recruited and trained as orthopedic technicians. Three local nationals have been trained as physiotherapists to work with amputees. Additionally, 23 Angolans, 9 of whom are disabled, have been hired and trained as administrators, maintenance workers, drivers, guards, and cleaners. And 360 Angolans have been fitted with prostheses and given gait training. The vast majority are land-mine victims; 20 percent are women.

Project Profile:    Professional Resource Group International, Inc. (PRGI) was contracted by USAID to administer these funds and provide Technical, Logistical, and Administrative Support Services for civilian victims of war in more than 20 countries, including Angola. The Patrick J. Leahy War Victims Fund (WVF) compliments the Displaced Children and Orphans Fund (DCOF), both were under the administration of PRGI. Each year, through the efforts of its collaborating partners and the dedicated and professional commitment of their local and international staff, the U.S. Agency for International Development's Patrick J. Leahy War Victims Fund provides assistance to thousands of war victims, their families, and other people living with disabilities.

Since 1989, the Patrick J. Leahy War Victims Fund has worked in war-affected developing countries to provide a dedicated source of financial and technical assistance for civilian victims of war. The fund has now provided over $60 million in more than 16 countries, including Angola. The fund serves people who suffer from mobility-related injuries, including those with land-mine injuries, and those who suffer from polio as a result of interrupted immunization services.

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