Bureau of INL: Countering Wildlife Trafficking in Sub-Saharan Africa

Deadline: 6-Jan-21

The Department of Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs has announced an open competition for Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 projects to combat wildlife trafficking and illegal logging in Sub-Saharan Africa.

INL combines forces with other U.S. Government (USG) and international agencies and takes a regional approach to widespread problems. INL also encourages more developed governments to take responsibility as equal partners in global efforts to combat transnational crime, including drug trafficking. The Bureau’s priority programs support three inter-related objectives:

• BUILDING CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEMS: Institutionalize rule of law by developing and expanding criminal justice systems to strengthen partner country law enforcement and judicial effectiveness, foster cooperation in legal affairs, and advance respect for human rights;
• COUNTER-NARCOTICS: Disrupt the overseas production and trafficking of illicit drugs through targeted counter-narcotics and institution-building assistance and coordination with foreign nations and international organizations, and;
• TRANSNATIONAL CRIME: Minimize the impact of transnational crime and criminal networks on the United States and its allies through enhanced international cooperation and foreign assistance.

Project Objectives

• Objective 1: Increase the capacity of law enforcement to detect, interdict, seize, and transfer to investigatory agencies, illegal wildlife products through raising awareness, training, and equipment;
• Objective 2: Improve national and regional wildlife law enforcement capacity to prevent, detect, and investigate wildlife crime through specialized training and equipment;
• Objective 3: Improve national and regional capabilities to prosecute and adjudicate cases against wildlife crimes and related offenses with appropriate sentencing structures;
• Objective 4: Strengthen anti-corruption efforts within relevant agencies to enhance government response, improve government accountability, and strengthen transparency as it relates to wildlife crime.

Project Goal: To reduce the ability of criminal groups to carry out and profit from poaching and trafficking of protected animals and their body parts, as well as protected timber, plants and lumber, originating from or transiting Africa.

Funding Information

• Applicants may submit applications for no less than $500,000 and no more than $1.5 million.
• The typical project lifecycle for an INL grant or cooperative agreement is approximately 24 months in length.

Special Consideration

While INL will consider all SOIs that address at least one of the objectives described in Section II, proposals are especially welcomed that address the following concerns:

1. Improving customs and interdiction capacity in Nigeria, Ghana, and other parts of West Africa;
2. Strengthening law enforcement and prosecutorial capacity in the TRIDOM area of Central Africa, with specific interest in southeast Cameroon;
3. Strengthening capacity across landscapes that have been severely impacted by COVID-19, either through decreased tourism revenue used for law enforcement efforts or increased poaching and transnational crime;
4. Activities that encourage public sector cooperation with the private sector to encourage law enforcement to adopt new technologies in their efforts to disrupt illegal activities;
5. Activities that support in-country and cross-border information sharing and coordination with law enforcement, either within Africa or other regions, with particular interest in West Africa;
6. Anti-corruption activities in countries listed as countries of concern in the END Wildlife Trafficking Act 2020 Report to Congress. These countries include Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar and Nigeria.
7. Activities that support increased understanding and interagency cooperation on wildlife crimes and its connection to other illegal goods trafficked in East and Southern Africa;
8. Activities that build and promote intelligence analysis and criminal analysis into wildlife investigations, to increase capacity among Sub-Saharan Africa law enforcement to better identify patterns, trends and linkages among offenders and criminal networks;
9. Activities that use information-sharing technologies to link countries with relatively strong national task forces for CWT with nearby countries with weaker or no national task forces in place. When appropriate, work through the relevant Regional Economic Communities to strengthen existing efforts for national task forces to work together to tackle this transboundary challenge.

Target Population

• Applicants should identify target audiences, specific demographics, and the sub-region(s) within Africa in which the project will be implemented. It is particularly important to specify the approximate number of beneficiaries to be directly and indirectly impacted by project activities.

Eligibility Criteria

• Be a registered U.S. non-profit organization meeting the provisions described in Internal Revenue Code section 26 USC 501(c)(3). Applicants in the process of registration must submit proof that they are seeking non-profit status from the Internal Revenue Service at the time of proposal submission. Should the applicant be selected for a cooperative agreement award, funding will be contingent upon 501(c)(3) status; or
• Be a U.S. university or research institution meeting the provisions described in Internal Revenue Code section 26 USC 501(c) (3); or
• Be a local in-country non-profit organization based in Africa that can demonstrate current country registration, competent programmatic ability, and meet reporting requirements; or
• Be an international non-governmental organization that can demonstrate target country buyin, competent programmatic ability, and meet reporting requirements.

For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=329998