Deadline: 7-Jun-21
The U.S. Embassy Ashgabat, Public Affairs Section (PAS) of the U.S. Department of State is pleased to announce funding is available through the Embassy’s Democracy Commission Small Grants Program to improvement of the economic situation of women, youth, and other disadvantaged groups from low-income families in Turkmenistan.
This program supports the development of Turkmen democratic institutions and civil society by competitively awarding small grants to Turkmen nonprofit, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and associations, to nonprofit civil society organizations (CSOs), and to independent local media organizations.
Objectives
- Increase awareness of property legal rights and regulations around business ownership in Turkmenistan for disadvantaged groups, holding at least three sessions with a reach of 100 women.
- Develop a network of Turkmen entrepreneurs to help women and members of disadvantaged groups gain employment and start their own businesses.
- Increase small business management capacity skills of 50 women, and new entrepreneurs
Theme: Advancing Economic Empowerment and Entrepreneurship
Deteriorating socioeconomic conditions in Turkmenistan have led to increased cases of poverty and a higher percentage of low-income individuals. Cities outside of the capital, in particular, have seen an increased number of people living below the poverty line.
Despite laws set in place by the Turkmen government to promote small business development, the lack of business expertise, corruption, and limited financial support from the government remain significant challenges to bolstering civil society and small businesses efforts to support women, and disadvantaged groups.
This funding opportunity seeks to address the following challenges:
- lack of capacity of local entrepreneurs in small business management
- insufficient support for women’s economic empowerment.
Proposed projects should seek to address one of two challenges above by leveraging local, state, and civil society stakeholders to strengthen and/or establish strategies to advance economic empowerment and promote entrepreneurship for low-income families.
Funding Information
- Estimated Award Ceiling: $20,000
- Estimated Award Floor: $3,000
- Length of Project Period: 9-12 months
- Anticipated program start date: October 2021
Eligibility Criteria
- The following organizations are eligible to apply:
- Local Turkmen Not-for-profit organizations, registered in the Ministry of Justice of Turkmenistan
- For this announcement, only Turkmenistan-based organizations are eligible to apply.
- Organizations may sub-contract with other entities, but only one, non-profit, non-governmental entity can be the prime recipient of the award. When sub-contracting with other entities, the responsibilities of each entity must be clearly defined in the proposal.
For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=333381
