Deadline: 01-Sep-21
U.S. Embassy Mogadishu announces this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Somalia Marginalized and Minority Fellows Program Pilot Cohort.
The fellows program seeks to use a fellowship model successfully employed by the World Bank and USAID/Somalia’s DAMAL project to recruit a pilot cohort of 10 young fellows from Somalia’s marginalized and minority communities to be seconded to serve for 12 months as national parliamentary staff and/or executive bodies, line ministries, and the SWS assembly.
The project will aim to provide them with entry into public service and other careers from which they would otherwise be effectively barred due to prevailing political, cultural, social, and economic structures in the country.
The program will target placements in institutions and legislative offices that demonstrate a commitment to greater political inclusion. It will require the sponsoring offices to submit concrete proposals on how they would use a fellow to advance Somalia’s governance, ideally in ways aimed to advance citizens’ civil, political, and economic rights.
The program also seeks to draw from the unique American experience of the struggle for increased civil, political, and economic rights for members of marginalized and minority groups, which could offer valuable lessons for securing better and more diverse inclusion in Somalia.
Objectives
- Recruit a pilot cohort of 10 fellows, with five male fellows and five female fellows, from Somalia’s marginalized and minority communities to serve in the Federal Parliament of Somalia and/or executive bodies, line ministries, and the assembly of SWS.
- Expand political inclusion in Somalia through the provision of professional development experiences for young Somalis from marginalized and minority communities seeking careers in government, NGOs, and the private sector through work experiences in the aforementioned institutions and capacity building experiences provided via the program.
- Determine a business case for a longer-term Somalia Marginalized and Minority Fellows Program with countrywide coverage.
Funding Information
- Estimated Total Program Funding: $225,000
- Award Ceiling: $225,000
- Award Floor: $225,000
Activities
To achieve the goals and expected results, the program could include the following:
- Through collaboration with U.S. Embassy Mogadishu’s Political-Economic Section, recruitment of 10 fellows, with five male fellows and five female fellows, from Somalia’s marginalized and minority communities to serve in the Federal Parliament of Somalia and/or executive bodies, line ministries, and the assembly of SWS.
- Day-to-day mentoring of fellows in their secondments in the Federal Parliament of Somalia and/or executive bodies, line ministries, and the assembly of SWS.
- Provision of at least two professional development training sessions for fellows within the period of performance, organized by the awardee in collaboration with U.S. Embassy Mogadishu’s Political-Economic Section, with high-level speakers to provide fellows with experiences to augment their work in their secondments.
- Provide fellows with inspiring experiences to motivate them to pursue long-term employment in public service roles.
- Rigorous monitoring and evaluation of fellows’ experiences through drawing on administrative data, as well as qualitative and quantitative data via semi-structured interviews and Likert Scale surveys with fellows, to provide a business case for a longer-term fellows program with countrywide coverage.
Eligibility Criteria
The following organizations are eligible to apply:
- Not-for-profit organizations, including think tanks and civil society/non-governmental organizations
- Public and private educational institutions
- Public International Organizations and Governmental institutions
Technically eligible submissions are those which:
- Arrive electronically to www.Grants.gov by the designated deadline.
- Have heeded all instructions contained in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), including registrations and length and completeness of submission.
- Do not violate any of the guidelines stated in the solicitation and this document.
Note: For-profit and commercial firms are not eligible to apply in response to this NOFO.
For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=335088