American Center Social Club Program – Vietnam

Deadline: 12-Jul-20

The U.S. Embassy Hanoi Public Affairs Section (PAS) is accepting applications for the American Center Hanoi’s Social Club Program.

Focus Areas

Proposals for projects must focus on one of the priority Social Club programs and target audiences specified below:

Media & Arts: Course or workshop aimed at journalists, editors, and artists on providing the tools, knowledge, and platforms to strengthen respect for freedom of expression as well as instruct participants on how to use different art mediums to convey social issues. The program will help build support networks and mentoring opportunities through working with artists/art communities and will help foster an environment where gender equity, social inclusion, empowerment, and fundamental freedoms are the norm in arts, free speech, creative writing, photography, and video projects.
Digital Inclusion and Security: Course or workshop aimed at high school and college students on accelerating Internet access and empowering communities to be active participants in the digital economy. Alternatively, the program could conduct training on free, open source software (FOSS) to raise cybersecurity awareness, combat cyberbullying and cyber violence, and counter disinformation and hate speech.
Human and Societal Development: Course or workshop to provide access to knowledge regarding existing legislation and facilities for underprivileged groups and vulnerable communities, including LGBTQI groups, the disabled, religious organizations, ethnic minorities; domestic violence and sexual trafficking victims, and abuse survivors. The program will focus on employment opportunities, vocational training, and advising to help develop participants’ self-confidence and encourage them to be active, visible members of society.
“World Café”: Monthly dialogue aimed at international relations, public administration, and journalism students to identify existing social issues, develop critical thinking skills and negotiation skills to help Vietnamese youth express themselves publicly and advocate for information transparency and law enforcement.

Target Audiences

The target audiences for successful projects are Vietnamese students and young professionals ages 15 – 40.

Priority Regions

Activities should be mainly implemented/conducted in the American Center in Hanoi and/or Thai Nguyen University Learning Resources and Information Technology Center.

Funding Information

Award Amount will be up to $10,000
Length of performance period Duration can be up to one year. Successful projects will be eligible for renewal.

Eligibility Criteria

Submissions are encouraged from U.S. and Vietnamese entities with relevant programming and/or teaching experience. This experience should be documented in the proposal. Eligible entities include:
- not-for-profit, civil society/non-governmental organizations
- universities; non-profit educational institutions
- individuals
For-profit entities are not eligible.
Previous federal award recipients who are not/were not in compliance with the terms of their financial and program reporting requirements are ineligible to apply. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure they are in compliance with all applicable terms, conditions, and Office of Management and Budget guidance and requirements. Those organizations found to be in non-compliance may be found ineligible for funding or designated high risk if selected for funding.

Evaluation Criteria

Criteria used for evaluating the proposals are as follows:

Overall design and implementation plan for programs at the American Center Hanoi and/or Thai Nguyen University Learning Resources and Information Technology Center should closely align with one or more of the target audiences listed above.
Target class sizes should range between 25 and 150 students.
Competitive proposals will have 1.5 hours to four contact hours per week, with a minimum of 20 contact hours in total.
Duration of the grant could be a maximum of one year.
The grantee is encouraged to recruit students and course attendees.
The language of instruction could be English or Vietnamese.
The proposal must include detailed information about the project members and instructor(s), including CV, resume and other relevant professional experience.
The instructors of the class should be trained teachers or working professionals
The grantee is responsible for obtaining visas and any other legal documents required by the Government of Vietnam for staff to work in the country.
Budget in the proposal must include:
- Cost of teaching materials for teachers and learning materials for students
- Salary of teachers
- Marketing and recruiting costs
- Field trips/Transportation cost (if any)
The proposal must include a syllabus and a course monitoring and evaluation plan. Marketing strategies to recruit attendees are recommended but not required
Provide post-course feedback on the students’ performance.