Kenya Feed the Future Local Food Systems | 72061523RFA00008

Opportunity Information: Apply for 72061523RFA00008

USAID Kenya and East Africa is soliciting proposals for the Kenya Feed the Future Local Food Systems Activity, a program designed to strengthen sustainable local food systems within Kenya's Feed the Future Zone of Influence. The central idea is to help households, communities, conservancies, county governments, and private-sector actors better participate in and benefit from local food system growth. By improving how local food systems function and who can access opportunities within them, the activity is intended to reduce poverty and malnutrition, diversify livelihoods, and build resilience against shocks, including climate-related disruptions.

The opportunity is explicitly aligned with two major policy directions. First, it supports the Government of Kenya's Agricultural Sector Transformation and Growth Strategy (ASTGS 2019-2029), which prioritizes agricultural-led economic growth, lowering the cost of food, reducing poverty, and improving food and nutrition security. Second, it reflects USAID's push toward locally led development, consistent with the Agency's New Partnerships Initiative and the Mission's Country Development Cooperation Strategy, emphasizing that solutions should be grounded in local priorities, knowledge, and aspirations. Across implementation, the activity is expected to promote diversity, inclusivity, equity, and sustainability, rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach.

A major cross-cutting requirement is gender equality and women's empowerment. The activity places strong emphasis on safeguarding the rights of women and girls, increasing women's and adolescent girls' economic empowerment, and promoting gender equity in climate change mitigation. In practical terms, applicants are expected to integrate gender-sensitive approaches throughout the design and delivery of programming, not as a standalone component but as a core implementation standard that shapes targeting, partnerships, capacity building, and measurement of results.

USAID lays out clear intended outcome targets tied to women and nutrition. The activity aims to increase incomes for 140,000 women by at least 50 percent, ensure that 36,800 women achieve a minimally acceptable diet, and work with caregivers using gender-sensitive methods to reach 11,200 children with nutrition programming. These targets signal a combined focus on economic outcomes (income growth and livelihood diversification) and human development outcomes (diet quality and child nutrition), with women positioned as key economic actors and caregivers as critical partners for nutrition improvements.

From a funding and administrative standpoint, this is a discretionary funding opportunity issued by the Agency for International Development (USAID) under a cooperative agreement mechanism, meaning USAID expects substantial involvement during implementation compared to a typical grant. The opportunity is listed as unrestricted for eligible applicants. The funding opportunity number is 72061523RFA00008 under CFDA 98.001. The posted award ceiling is $49,000,000. The notice was created on 2023-07-21, with an original closing date of 2023-09-08.

• The Agency for International Development in the other sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Kenya Feed the Future Local Food Systems" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 98.001.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2023-07-21.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-09-08. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $49,000,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

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