Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) Uganda Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) | BAA OAA LLDI 2019 ADDENDUM06

Opportunity Information: Apply for BAA OAA LLDI 2019 ADDENDUM06

The Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) Uganda Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) is a USAID funding opportunity focused on improving how Uganda and its partners support refugees and the communities that host them, especially in situations where displacement has become long-term. Uganda currently hosts the largest refugee population in Africa, more than 1.43 million people, drawn from over nine countries and shaped by decades of cross-border conflict, political instability, and human rights abuses. While attention often centers on refugees from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the opportunity frames Uganda as a long-standing refuge for many nationalities over nearly 50 years, meaning the needs are not only urgent but also persistent and structural.

A major driver behind the opportunity is the recognition that protracted refugee situations cannot be addressed effectively through emergency humanitarian aid alone. In 2017, the Government of Uganda adopted the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF), which aims to make refugee responses more systematic and sustainable while benefiting both refugees and host communities. The CRRF also acts as an organizing structure for "humanitarian-development nexus" approaches, meaning strategies that bridge short-term humanitarian relief with longer-term development solutions such as livelihoods, market access, and local economic integration. The announcement emphasizes that, although there are many lessons about how to improve CRRF implementation, there is still a shortage of strong evidence showing which nexus interventions reliably work, at what scale, and under what conditions. In other words, some programming has tried to operate in this space, but there has not been enough rigorous data to build a convincing model for self-reliance that policymakers and donors can confidently replicate.

USAID positions this opportunity within its role as the largest donor of humanitarian and development assistance in Uganda, and it highlights both the urgency and the potential created by Uganda's relatively liberal refugee policies. BHA notes that it has already provided more than $368 million in refugee emergency food assistance since 2016, but the announcement is clear that indefinite emergency assistance is not a viable long-term solution. Recent shocks have made that even more obvious, including severe ration cuts, the COVID-19 pandemic, and other disruptions that have increased vulnerability and reduced household resilience. These pressures underline the need for approaches that help refugee and host-community households meet their own basic needs more consistently, reduce dependence on aid, and participate more fully in livelihoods and local economic growth.

The core programmatic interest described in the BAA is generating and contributing to evidence on how "inclusive push-pull market strengthening approaches" can reduce vulnerability among both refugees and host communities. In practical terms, this signals a focus on interventions that improve how markets function for vulnerable populations by working on both sides of the equation: "pushing" by strengthening the capacity of producers, workers, and microenterprises to participate (skills, assets, productivity, access to finance, connections to buyers), and "pulling" by increasing demand and improving market systems (buyer linkages, private-sector engagement, value chain development, reducing barriers to entry, improving services that make markets work). The emphasis on inclusion suggests that proposed approaches should intentionally reach vulnerable groups, rather than only those already positioned to benefit from markets. The overall goal is to identify credible pathways toward self-reliance under a nexus approach so that humanitarian assistance does not remain a permanent requirement in protracted crises.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity is issued by the Agency for International Development under CFDA 98.001 (disaster prevention and relief). It is categorized as discretionary, uses an "Other" funding instrument type, and lists eligibility as unrestricted, meaning a wide range of applicants may be able to apply depending on the specific requirements of the announcement. The funding opportunity number is BAA OAA LLDI 2019 ADDENDUM06, it was created on 2020-12-17, and the original closing date is 2021-02-05. The listing shows an award ceiling of 0 and does not specify expected awards, which often indicates that funding levels, number of awards, or ceilings may be determined by the quality and fit of submissions, availability of funds, or subsequent addenda rather than being fixed in the synopsis itself.

• The Agency for International Development in the disaster prevention and relief sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) Uganda Broad Agency Announcement (BAA)" 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 2020-12-17.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-02-05. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

Apply for BAA OAA LLDI 2019 ADDENDUM06

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