USAID REWARD II Annual Report FY20

The program is part of USAID/West Africa's Objective 1 of the Regional Development Cooperation Strategy, which aims to strengthen systems of non-violent conflict management in the West African region. USAID REWARD II will support USAID/WA's Objective I by addressing democratic backsliding in target countries through a combination of approaches that prevent or mitigate conflict related to governments' responses to the coronavirus pandemic and help to address existing security vulnerabilities. The proposed interventions will minimize the backsliding of democratic processes, including effects related to conflict and stabilization, such as political violence, civil unrest, and evolving security threats in the region. The program will pursue three tasks: Task 1, which provides technical assistance and training for the ECOWAS National Coordination Centers for Response Mechanisms (NCCRMs) and NCCRM stakeholders in member states; Task 2, which promotes coordination and exchanges between ECOWAS, member states, and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) around Early Warning and Response and Conflict Prevention; and Task 3, which provides additional funding for the Small Grants Mechanism. During the reporting period, USAID REWARD II focused on the recruitment of Grants Advisors in Benin, Guinea, Niger, and Togo. The Grants Advisors will manage small grants issued to local CSOs in each country to address the potentially destabilizing events of the COVID-19 pandemic and electoral conflict, as well as their potential impacts on democratic progress. In Benin, USAID REWARD II began conducting interviews for the Grants Advisor position, which will be completed by October. In Guinea, the program completed the interviews and hired a Grants Advisor, who will be communicated to the USAID-Guinea early next month. In Niger, the program completed the interviews and sent a draft contract to its chosen candidate for the Grants Advisor position, which will be communicated to the COR and the USAID Mission in Niger as soon as the candidate has signed the contract. In Togo, the program issued a new contract for the Grants Manager it had previously worked with under REWARD I. The program has not reported any challenges during this period, as the project began on September 25, 2020, and the reporting period ended on September 30, 2020. The risk assessment will be discussed in the next technical report, and the program will submit the M&E Plan in FY21 Q1 to track the project's performance as of the next reporting period.