Deadline: Ongoing
The Embassy of United States in Zimbabwe is seeking applications for its Ambassador’s Special Self-Help (SSH) Program with an aim to provide grants to assist small-scale community development projects that improve basic economic or social conditions at the village level.
Distinct from larger-scale assistance carried out by other parts of the U.S. government, these funds support small, short-term, community-driven activities designed to bring about tangible and immediate improvements in peoples’ lives. Since the program’s inception in 1980, the U.S. Ambassador’s SSH Program has awarded more than $3 million throughout Zimbabwe.
Funding Information: The grants typically range from $5,000 to $25,000.
Project Preference
- Income generation
- Education and vocational training
- Access to water and improved natural resource management
- Health, nutrition, and social services to assist vulnerable or at-risk populations (such as women, children, and persons living with HIV/AIDS).
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicants must be non-governmental, non-profit or community-based organizations registered for at least one year.
- Individuals, businesses, and government entities do not qualify.
- The organization must be entirely Zimbabwean and its member’s nationals of the host country.
- Self-Help funding cannot pay for operating costs, salaries, training, vehicles, or computers.
- Construction projects and repair of existing facilities are currently not allowed.
- Grantees must complete their projects within 12 months of signing the grant agreement.
- Applicants must provide a plan describing how they will accomplish the project. Successful applicants are required to report on the progress of their work (mid-year and final reports) and submit receipts for grant-funded purchases.
- Projects must benefit the greatest number of people possible, be results-oriented, well-planned, and operated and maintained by a local organization.
- Recipient organizations must demonstrate their commitment by either contributing to the project financially, or providing labor or supplies to carry out the project.
- Embassy cannot fund the same project two years in a row.
- New organizations are encouraged to apply.
Eligible Country: Zimbabwe
For more information, please visit Ambassador’s Special Self-Help Program.