Deadline: 6 December 2019
The U.S. Embassy Antananarivo Public Affairs Section (PAS) of the U.S. Department of State has announced funding call through its Public Diplomacy Small Grants Program.
PAS Antananarivo awards a limited number of grants to individuals, non-governmental organizations, think tanks, and academic institutions to support exchange between the U.S. and Madagascar or the Comoros with the aim of improving mutual respect and understanding. PAS will only consider programs that have an American cultural element, or connection with American expert/s, organization/s, or institution/s in a specific field that will promote increased understanding of U.S. policy and perspectives.
The PAS Small Grants Program supports projects that:
- Improve and expand English language learning through curriculum development, teacher training, developing partnerships with U.S. education institutions, promoting U.S. culture and values;
- Advancing good governance, democratic institutions including accountability and human rights in Madagascar/Comoros through the promotion of enhanced and educated civic participation, particularly of youth and women, the promotion of voters’ education, the promotion of a free and responsible press, the advocacy for women’s rights, etc;
- Increase public support for U.S.-Malagasy/U.S.-Comorian cooperation in women and girls’ education, in youth empowerment, and in business, entrepreneurship, and sustainable economic and commercial growth;
- Deepen cultural ties and understanding between the United States and Madagascar/the Comoros;
- Improve sustainable management of natural resources and biodiversity conservation through environmental awareness programs.
Funding Information
- Ceiling of Individual Award Amounts: $25,000;
- Funding levels average from $5,000-$15,000.
Eligibility Criteria
- PAS encourages applications from organizations located in Madagascar, the Comoros, the United States, or abroad:
- Individuals;
- Registered not-for-profit think tanks and civil society/non-governmental organizations with programming experience;
- Non-profit educational institutions.
- Applicants are encouraged, but not mandated, to include cost-sharing elements from additional sources in support of their proposals;
- In order to be eligible to receive an award, all organizations must have a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number from Dun & Bradstreet, as well as a valid registration on www.SAM.gov;
- Individuals are not required to have a DUNS number or be registered in SAM.gov.
Ineligible Activities
Activities that are not funded under this program include, but are not limited to:
- Social welfare projects;
- Individual travel to conferences;
- Construction projects;
- Completion activities for projects begun with other funds;
- Projects that are inherently political in nature or that contain the appearance of partisanship/support to;
- Individual or single party electoral campaigns;
- Political party activities;
- Projects that support specific religious activities.
Selection Criteria
Each application submitted under this announcement will be evaluated and rated on the basis of the evaluation criteria outlined below. The listed criteria are designed to assess the quality of the proposed project and to determine the likelihood of its success. The criteria are closely related and are considered as a whole in judging the overall sustainability of the application.
Applications will be reviewed on the basis of their completeness, coherence, clarity and attention to detail:
- Organizational capacity and record on previous grants: The organization has expertise in its stated field and PAS is confident of its technical capacity to undertake the project (This includes having a financial management system and a bank account).
- Quality and Feasibility of the Program Idea: Comprehensive analysis of the organization’s capacity to fulfill the project’s economic, organizational and technical feasibility/human resource requirements. The program idea is well developed, with detail about how program activities will be carried out. The proposal includes a reasonable implementation timeline.
- Goals and objectives: Goals and objectives are clearly stated and the project approach is likely to provide maximum impact in achieving the proposed results.
- Embassy priority: Applicant has clearly described how stated goals are related to and support U.S. Embassy Antananarivo’s priority areas.
- Budget: The detailed budget justification is both reasonable and realistic in relation to the proposed activities and anticipated results. Grants will be awarded to programs with the highest impact per dollar spent.
- Monitoring and evaluation plan: Applicant demonstrates the ability to measure program success against key indicators and provide milestones to indicate progress toward goals outlined in the proposal. The project includes systematic monitoring and analysis of the project’s activities.
- Sustainability: Project activities will continue to have positive impact after the end of the project.
For more information, visit https://mg.usembassy.gov/pas-small-grants-program/