Deadline: 27 February 2020
The Office of Citizen Exchanges, Sports Diplomacy Division, of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) has announced an open competition for the 2020 International Sports Programming Initiative (ISPI).
The International Sports Programming Initiative uses sports to help underserved youth around the world develop important leadership skills, achieve academic success, promote tolerance and respect for diversity, and positively contribute to their home and host communities.
Sports Diplomacy programs are an important tool for advancing U.S. foreign policy goals through interaction with hard-to-reach groups such as at-risk youth, women, minorities, people with disabilities, and non-English speakers. The focus of all programs must be on both male and female youth and/or their coaches/sports administrators.
Eligible Theme
- Sport for Social Change: Sports-based people-to-people exchanges build and promote values of inclusion and open opportunities for people to contribute fully to society, and create opportunities to establish the trust needed to build a more stable, secure, and prosperous world. Exchanges funded under the Sport for Social Change theme will focus on a broad range of audiences and address critical social issues overseas and within the United States, including effective ways that sport can play a role in promoting more stable and inclusive communities.
- Project goals include:
- Demonstrate how organized sports, through the principles of leadership, responsibility, teamwork, healthy living, and self-discipline, can encourage youth to stay in school, prevent substance abuse and violence, and mitigate extremist voices.
- Demonstrate the use of sport as a tool to promote tolerance and understanding through organized activities that appeal to youth and youth influencers and that focus on conflict prevention/resolution.
- Demonstrate how sports can improve the quality of life for persons with disabilities by providing affordable, inclusive sports experiences that build selfesteem and confidence, enhance active participation in community life, and make a significant contribution to the physical and psychological health of people with disabilities.
- Enable local youth sports organizations in the United States and their counterparts overseas to share best practices, emphasizing the importance of grassroots community-based sports programs in a community’s development and sustainability.
- Share local community-based practices globally while learning from counterparts in another community outside of the United States.
- Emphasize the responsibility of the broader community to support healthy behaviors and teach young people how to prevent and manage non-communicable diseases through sports programs.
Funding Information
- Estimated Total Program Funding: $2,200,000
- Award Ceiling: $550,000
Eligible Regions/Countries
- East Asia and the Pacific: (possible countries include: Australia, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, China, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, Kiribati, Laos, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Mongolia, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Vietnam)
- Europe and Eurasia: (possible countries include: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, (Czechia) Czech Republic, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, and Ukraine)
- Near East and North Africa: (possible countries include: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Palestinian Authority (West Bank and Gaza), Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and United Arab Emirates)
- South and Central Asia: (possible countries include: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Nepal, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan)
- Sub-Saharan Africa: (possible countries include: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivorie, Eswatini, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe)
- Western Hemisphere: (possible countries include: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Granada, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay)
Eligibility Criteria
- Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- Others
- Private institutions of higher education
- Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=322873