RFI-613-23-000001 - USAID Zimbabwe Private Sector Collaboration Pathways

This USAID/Zimbabwe Request for Information (RFI) is issued for the purpose of providing industry and stakeholders an opportunity to comment on and suggest areas related to a potential new activity in support of identifying private sector collaboration pathways in Zimbabwe. As appropriate, USAID/Zimbabwe will incorporate responses to this RFI into the development of future activity designs that may lead to a formal solicitation or announcement; however, USAID/Zimbabwe is not obligated to do so. This RFI is published in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 10 and FAR 15.201(e). This information will be used to help make planning decisions and influence activity design to improve future development outcomes. Background The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) acknowledges that the private sector is an engine for growth, creating nine out of ten jobs in the developing world. As a result, the Agency intends to identify a shared vision of what can be achieved together with private sector partners to build a partnership that taps into our respective strengths, including addressing many of the obstacles that businesses face – from supply chain stability to community investment and workforce development. Therefore, USAID is implementing a private sector collaboration pathway that will use business models and market forces to address development and humanitarian challenges more sustainably and/or at scale that will enable low-income people, including smallholder farmers in the agroecological region IV and V, and vulnerable communities around protected areas within the USAID/Zimbabwe’s Resilience Focus Zone (see attached concept notes), to have access to improved quality products and services that they can afford. If this market-based solution becomes commercially viable, the private sector will have a financial incentive to continue to operate it at scale without further U.S. government support. The end goal will be that this partnership will empower the private sector partners to attain their core business interests while USAID achieves its development objectives.