Deadline: 18 August 2016
U.S. Embassy, Asuncion is pleased to announce a new program entitled “Breaking the Cycle – Formalize and Succeed “with an aim to develop and implement the small business development training program for women entrepreneurs in Paraguay.
Breaking the Cycle project on combating gender-based violence seeks to build an active, broad-based constituency capable of decreasing cases of gender-based violence and, at the same time, helping Paraguayan young women and women be economically independent and stronger advocates for their rights.
Within the scope of this project the U.S. Embassy in Asuncion seeks a partner organisation capable of implementing an entrepreneurship training module that will build off of existing U.S. Embassy Asuncion programs to improve the business skills and financial support available to women impacted by, or susceptible to, gender-based violence.
The main beneficiaries of the training will be young women and women affected by gender-based violence, including women’s prisons, shelters for domestic violence and trafficking victims, and civil society organisations working with vulnerable female populations.
Program Goals
- Provide women entrepreneurs the basic business education and guidance necessary to manage and grow their businesses, help them develop a business plan, and connect them with banks that offer micro-credit. Project may use local NGO’s “business in box” startup kit and training modules.
- Assist women with business registration, obtaining a business taxpayer I.D., and registering a trademark.
- Build upon other U.S. Embassy Asuncion programs that promote women’s economic participation and remove barriers to equal access.
Funding Information
- The approximate total funding is $125,000.
- The initial period of performance will be for 19 months – from September 2016 to March 2018.
Focus Activities
- Develop a set of portable training modules using a “business in a box” type of start-up kit to train women entrepreneurs with little or no formal experience as entrepreneurship.
- The training will assist up to 300 women distributed throughout eight different training sites in Paraguay.
- The training module will last 1 year start to finish and will instruct participants in planning, formalizing and starting their own business.
- It will increase economic inclusion and opportunities for disadvantaged Paraguayan women entrepreneurs by improving the now-limited participation of women in the formal sector.
- The project will focus exclusively on women in Paraguay’s small but growing system of four women’s reference centers, shelters for victims of trafficking or other forms of gender-based violence, as well as several small business networks.
Eligibility Criteria
- Foreign not-for-profit NGOs and social enterprises, educational and research institutions.
- All submissions must be in English.
How to Apply
Interested applicants may request for application packages via given website.
For more information, please visit grants.gov.