USAID’s Higher Secondary Education Activity (HSEA) Activity | 72038823RFA00005

Opportunity Information: Apply for 72038823RFA00005

USAID's Higher Secondary Education Activity (HSEA) Activity is a Bangladesh-focused education opportunity from USAID/Dhaka designed to raise the quality of teaching and learning in higher secondary colleges. The central aim is to strengthen what happens in classrooms by improving teachers' professional skills, building or upgrading practical training materials for teachers, and reinforcing the leadership and oversight capacity of key education leaders. The activity is meant to translate these inputs into better student outcomes, especially stronger learning experiences, improved readiness for higher education, and higher chances of successful admission to university.

The scope of work centers on three linked improvement areas. First, the activity emphasizes enhancing teachers' professional skills and abilities, which typically means strengthening pedagogy, subject-matter instruction, classroom management, assessment practices, and student-centered approaches that make learning more effective. Second, it calls for the development of teachers' training materials, suggesting structured resources such as training modules, guides, toolkits, and other instructional supports that can be used consistently across colleges and training settings. Third, the activity targets leadership and supervision improvements for principals, vice principals, and education officials, recognizing that stronger instructional leadership, mentoring, monitoring, and accountability systems are often necessary for teaching improvements to stick and scale.

The intended beneficiaries are students enrolled in the higher secondary education sub-sector. By improving teacher practice and strengthening school-level and system-level leadership, USAID expects students to experience higher-quality instruction and learning environments. The opportunity explicitly links these improvements to practical downstream results: better preparation for university-level study and more successful university admissions, reflecting a focus on both learning quality and transition outcomes.

From a funding and award structure standpoint, this opportunity is issued as a cooperative agreement, meaning the implementer should expect substantial engagement from USAID during implementation compared with a more hands-off grant. The opportunity category is listed as "Other," and it is associated with CFDA number 98.001. USAID anticipates making a single award under this solicitation, with an award ceiling of up to $40,000,000, indicating a large, multi-year program-sized activity rather than a small pilot.

Eligibility is open to qualified U.S. and non-U.S. organizations. The listing specifically includes nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS (other than institutions of higher education), signaling that a range of organizational types may be able to apply depending on how they meet USAID's requirements and the solicitation's definitions. The funding opportunity is identified as 72038823RFA00005, titled "USAID's Higher Secondary Education Activity (HSEA) Activity," and was created on 2023-01-05 with an original closing date of 2023-02-19.

• The Bangladesh USAID-Dhaka in the education sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "USAID’s Higher Secondary Education Activity (HSEA) Activity" 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 2023-01-05.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-02-19. (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 $40,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education.

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