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PRGI/MyFedAccess
Contract Activity & Project Profiles: Asia - Sri Lanka

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 in Sri Lanka 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 is Currently Active in 25 Countries (as of January 2010)

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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 Sri Lanka:    Citizens Participation Project (CPP)

Cooperating Agency in Sri Lanka:    Salesian Missions of Don Bosco

Background:    In 1983, armed conflict exploded in Sri Lanka. Since then, the country has endured a brutal civil war between the government, backed by the mostly Buddhist Sinhalese majority, and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who seek a separate homeland for the Tamil minority in the North and East.

More than 54,000 people have died in this civil war, more than 1 million have been displaced, and thousands have disappeared. Although many groups have been affected by the ethnic strife, none have been more traumatized than the children. Children have been drawn into the conflict in many ways: many have been killed and maimed, thousands have witnessed violence, and scores have lost parents and loved ones.

In Sri Lanka, USAID aims to facilitate reintegration and increase participation of people who are disadvantaged, primarily by the ethnic conflict. USAID promotes activities that mobilize communities to provide formal and non-formal activities to promote the psychosocial health of children affected by the stress and trauma of war.

Project Description in Sri Lanka:    Supply the Technical, Logistical and Administrative support to provide positive opportunities to vulnerable children in Negombo's fishing community at risk from child prostitution and HIV/AIDS. Includes vocation training classes, tutoring classes, as well as recreational and drama activities.

Accomplishments include:

• 155 boys accepted into the 1999 vocation training classes.
  
  

• 2,400 boys participated in recreational and drama activities.
  
  

• 50 children temporarily living in a hostel while attending school.
  
  

• 180 boys in tutoring classes improved their grade point averages.
  
  

Cooperating Agency in Sri Lanka:    Terre Des Hommes (TdH)

Project Description in Sri Lanka:    Purpose: (1) Directly address the psychosocial needs of children affected by the conflict through the provision of preschool education, alternative education, and after-school play activities; (2) provide home-based care for children without families or where alternative care is not possible; and (3) develop community-based organizations in each area where Terre Des Hommes is active.

Terre Des Hommes works in three districts: Batticaloa in the East, Trincomalee in the Northeast, and Nuwara Eliya in the central district. Both Batticaloa and Trincomalee are high-risk, conflict zones. Project staff and volunteers face continued risks to provide services in these areas. With its 16 local partners, the Terre Des Hommes program emphasizes community ownership and participation.

Accomplishments include:

• Approximately 2,800 children and young people active in 7 preschool and 25 after-school activity groups. More than 75 percent are daily participants.
  
  

• More than 430 children ages 3 to 6 participate in preschool education. To date, these schools have 100 percent admission to primary schools.
  
  

• Local community-based organizations created, serving more than 600 children.
  
  
  

Cooperating Agency in Sri Lanka:    Lanka Jathika Sarvodaya Shramadana Sangamaya Inc. (Sarvodaya)

Project Description in Sri Lanka:    Sarvodaya was founded in 1958 as a movement based on Gandhian values of truth, nonviolence, and self-sacrifice. Its goal is the creation of a society that is neither poor nor affluent. Sarvodaya is the largest nongovernmental, voluntary organization in Sri Lanka. Sarvodaya targets villages and internally displaced persons (IDP) centers identified as high-trauma areas. Its purpose is to promote the psychosocial well-being of children who have been exposed to extreme violence and stress as a result of the ongoing conflict. The project promotes community-based healing processes. This organization works in 106 villages, with more than 6,000 children.

Through its activities, Sarvodaya seeks to (1) reach children under the age of 16 living in 6 districts affected by the conflict, and initiate culturally appropriate and community-based healing processes that incorporate art, music, and creative play; (2) raise awareness of the psychological effects of the war on children among policymakers and administrators; and (3) promote ethnic harmony by promoting interaction among children belonging to Sinhala, Tamil, and Muslim communities.

Accomplishments include:

• More than 7,000 children participated in community-based activities including facilitated psychosocial interventions. Observers report that these interventions have reduced symptoms of trauma.
  
  

• Sarvodaya's holistic, community-based program recently chosen as a national model by the Presidential Task Force on Human Disaster Management.
  
  

Cooperating Agency in Sri Lanka:    Friend-in-Need Society (FINS)

Project Description in Sri Lanka:    The purpose of this project is to provide people with disabilities prosthetic and orthotic devices, wheelchairs, and crutches; provide physiotherapy, gait training, and counseling; provide services for repair and replacement of prosthetic and orthotic devices; improve the workshop facilities of all FINS branches (Colombo, Kandy, Jaffna, and Falle); achieve the target of more than 800 limbs per year in the Colombo Branch and up to 700 limbs in other branches; and concentrate on the total rehabilitation of the individual.

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 Sri Lanka. 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 is Currently Active in 20 Countries (as of January 2010)