Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor: Supporting Projects to Promote Freedom of Expression

Deadline: 1 November 2016

The United States Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) announces an open competition for an approximately 24-month regional project to defend and bolster press freedom and freedom of expression in Latin America.

The goal of the project is to promote a strategic regional approach to combating restrictive media policies and regulations and other government constraints to free expression.

Focus Areas

• Monitoring, Analysis, and Alerts: Efforts that track and report on freedom of expression-related challenges faced by civil society, news organizations, citizen journalists, bloggers, and/or others. Among other things, proposals may seek to:
  • Report on a periodic basis regarding developments in, among other things, government policy and actions, security challenges, and key trends affecting freedom of expression.
  • Issue emergency situation alerts regarding individual cases or policy developments.
  • Improve the technical capacity of beneficiary organizations to understand national and international legal frameworks that regulate freedom of expression, monitor domestic and regional trends, systematically document abuses, and issue strategically targeted alerts and messages.
• Policy Advocacy: Direct support for national, regional, and/or international advocacy efforts that promote free expression. Among other things, proposals may seek to:
  • Improve the technical capacity of beneficiary organizations to develop domestic, regional, and/or international advocacy strategies.
  • Support civil society, including press freedom organizations, in effectively engaging in advocacy and/or public awareness raising efforts, including participation in domestic, regional, and international fora.
  • Strategically and constructively engage government officials regarding deficiencies in protections for journalists and legislation regulating communications and the media, among other things.
• Organizational Support: Proposals should include a comprehensive plan to increase the technical capacity of beneficiary organizations in key organizational areas, potentially including sustainability, communications and outreach, and/or organizational planning.

Funding Information

• DRL anticipates having approximately $900,000 available to support approximately one successful application submitted in response to this NOFO, subject to the availability of funding.
• Applicants can submit no more than two applications in response to this solicitation.
• Applications should not request less than $500,000 and no more than $900,000.
• Applicants should include an anticipated start date between January 2017 – February2017 and the period of performance should be between 18months to 24 months.

Eligibility Criteria

• DRL welcomes applications from U.S.-based and foreign-based non-profit organizations/nongovernment organizations (NGO) and public international organizations; private, public, or state institutions of higher education; and for-profit organizations or businesses.
• DRL’s preference is to work with non-profit entities; however, there may be occasions when a for-profit entity is best suited.
• Applicants must have existing, or the capacity to develop, active partnerships with thematic or in-country partners, entities and relevant stakeholders including industry and NGOs and have demonstrable experience in administering successful and preferably similar projects.
• DRL encourages applications from foreign-based NGOs headquartered in the geographic regions/countries relevant to this NOFO. Applicants may form consortia and submit a combined application. However, one organization should be designated as the lead applicant with the other members as sub-award partners.
• DRL reserves the right to request additional background information on applicants that do not have previous experience administering federal grant awards, and these applicants may be subject to limited funding on a pilot basis.
• DRL is committed to an anti-discrimination policy in all of its projects and activities.
• DRL welcomes applications irrespective of an applicant’s race, ethnicity, color, creed, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or other status.
• DRL encourages applications from organizations working with the most at risk and vulnerable communities, including women, youth, persons with disabilities, members of ethnic or religious minority groups, and LGBTI persons.

How to Apply

Interested applicants can apply via given website.

For more information, please visit grants.gov.

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