February 18, 2015

REQUEST FOR APPLICATIONS NO. TDEA-CVP-Cycle-8-02-2015

RFA Title: Citizens’ Voice Project – Grant Cycle 08

AMENDMENT NO. 1

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Please refer to the above mentioned RFA, Section A - INSTRUCTIONS FOR APPLICATION FORMAT, paragraph 2 - PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION GUIDELINES, whereby applicants are required to acknowledge receipt of this amendment as a part of their application on the

form attached herewith. Please upload the receipt acknowledgement on the project website

as a part of your application.

The subject RFA is hereby modified as follows: I. COVER LETTER: Delete “23 February 2015, 1600 hrs Islamabad, Pakistan Standard Time” and insert

“27 February 2015, 1600 hrs Islamabad, Pakistan Standard Time” in lieu thereof for the closing time for application submission.

II. Section – C: Program Summary/ Program Description

Thematic Area: Advocacy for Electoral Reforms

Please note that the changes have been marked in red color. Under para “4.

Illustrative Activities”, delete the entire text and replace with the following:

Several broad categories with illustrative activities for achieving the objectives are listed

below. Please note that the applicants must remain within these defined categories.

Numbers/ targets mentioned for interventions in respective categories are indicative and

TDEA may negotiate and revise the activities or targets, as appropriate with successful

applicants.

Citizens Campaign for Support to Electoral Reforms

A nationwide campaign on the need for wide-ranging electoral reforms is critical to support

advocacy that is currently being undertaken by national and international organizations

interested in elections in Pakistan. Public engagements with relevant stakeholders at the

local level will help magnify citizens‟ voices and also remind political parties that people

want electoral reforms. Citizens Campaign would include activities such as:

Formation of District Electoral Reforms Groups (DERG); (Formation of at least one

group per district with up to 15 members from civil society organizations, professional

associations including media, lawyers etc., and marginalized groups).

Nomination and provision of DERG members for Orientation and Training Events on

technical aspects of electoral reforms and advocacy; (The applicant will conduct these

trainings after its master trainers/ staff are trained by TDEA. Applicant must budget

for associated expenditure for DERG trainings. Two to three trainings will take place

over life of the project. Applicants will need to ensure participation of DERG

members).

Engagement with district level leadership of Political Parties; (15-20 meetings for

consistent engagement with electorally relevant parties in target districts).

Engagement with provincial and national legislators on the need for reforms; (5-10

meetings with national and provincial legislators each – however, the number of

meetings will depend on the number of legislators in a district).

Briefing with media on electoral reforms; (3-5 briefings per district).

Conventions on election reforms at district level; (At least two conventions per district

with 200 to 250 participants).

Support of signature-based public petition(s) for electoral reforms; (1-5 petitions on

need basis. These could be online or paper based as jointly determined by the

applicant and TDEA).

Organizing public seminars in colleges and/or universities at district level on election

reforms (5-6 seminars per district with 40 to 50 participants).

Public Oversight and Accountability of Electoral Processes:

The organization will implement oversight initiatives to strengthen public accountability of

election management body in order to enhance fairness and transparency of these

processes. These initiatives may, among others, include (a) oversight of voter registration

and up-gradation of voter rolls by way of voter list assessments, (b) delimitation of electoral

boundaries, (c) observation of by-elections; and (d) assessment for establishment of polling

stations. Some examples of areas that fall under this effort are:

Identification and selection of volunteers; (Up to 25 non-partisan volunteers

identified and selected, subject to TDEA‟s criteria and approval, in each National

Assembly constituency for oversight initiatives from serial (a) to (d) above. These

volunteers will be supporting all the below mentioned activities).

Building volunteer capacity (e.g. training), particularly youth as observers; (TDEA

will train a set of trainers (master trainers/ TOT) from the applicant‟s staff e.g.,

district coordinators and project managers and will also cover the associated training

costs. Applicants will be required to ensure participation of volunteers and cover the

costs of follow-on trainings of their volunteers. TDEA will provide one 1-day TOT on

delimitation assessment and polling station assessment; and two 1-day TOT each on

voter list assessment and election observation).

Public forums to provide opportunities for community interaction with Election

Commission and NADRA officials; (10-12 forums per district, especially in areas with

low voter registration).

Voter List Assessments; (covering 16 households in up to 2,500 randomly sampled

polling areas in in Pakistan for „list to people‟ and „people to list‟ assessments.

Methodology of assessment will be provided by TDEA during TOT on the subject).

Observation of by-elections; (To be carried out on need basis to cover election-day

observation in a constituency where by-election is announced for both National and

Provincial Assemblies. TOT on such observation will be provided by TDEA).

Polling station assessments for accessibility, provisions, neutrality; (One report for

each of the 272 National Assembly constituencies to be prepared using quantitative

and qualitative research techniques).

Constituency delimitation for local government and general elections; (one desk

review report per district on the assessment of local, provincial and national

assemblies‟ electoral boundaries based on applicable laws and rules).

A closing ceremony per district for showcasing the results of interventions of the

project and recognizing efforts of DERGs and volunteers.”

All other terms and conditions remain unchanged.

- End of Amendment –

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF RECEIPT OF AMENDMENT NO. 1

REQUEST FOR APPLICATIONS NO. TDEA-CVP-Cycle-8-02-2015 RFA TITLE: CITIZENS’ VOICE PROJECT – GRANT CYCLE 08

Signature:

Printed Name:

Organization Name:

Date: