Deadline: 10-Jan-2025
The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) seeks Expressions of Interest (EOI) from organizations interested in implementing programs to increase the free flow of objective, independent information into, out of, and within the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea).
Categories
- Supporting Freedom of Information:
- Projects under this category must support the following objective: North Koreans have improved understanding of democracy, human rights, and fundamental freedoms, including increased awareness of how their individual rights and freedoms are inhibited by the DPRK government. Projects that do not include content dissemination activities will not be deemed competitive.
- Diversifying Mechanisms for Information Access:
- Projects under this category must support the following objective: North Koreans have a greater diversity of proven context specific and secure mechanisms through which they can safely and reliably access and/or share objective, independent information.
Funding Information
- Award Ceiling: $1,000,000
- Award Floor: $100,000
Project Activities
- Supporting Freedom of Information:
- Project activities may include:
- Creating or curating content on concepts or themes of democracy, human rights, including fundamental freedoms; practical guidance on safeguarding against digital threats and surveillance; analysis of domestic and international developments; and/or highlighting the comparative lack of rights and freedoms in the DPRK through the experiences and stories of North Korean defectors and escapees living in democratic societies.
- All new content must be tailored to North Korean audiences and developed to foster critical thinking and gradual changes in perceptions and/or encourage discourse among trusted contacts on individual rights and freedoms. Competitive applications will propose new or curated content in line with the categories under the “Human Rights and Accountability” RSOI.
- Supporting timely, fact-based, and independent local reporting on political and social developments, including human rights abuses, in the DPRK.
- Increasing access to objective, independent information among North Korean audiences through safe, secure, and proven approaches, such as radio broadcast transmissions or other tested methods. Applicants must clearly demonstrate existing capacity and experience to carry out activities safely and effectively.
- Project activities may include:
- Diversifying Mechanisms for Information Access:
- Project activities may include:
- Supporting efforts to circumvent existing tactics or technologies used by the DPRK government to inhibit access to outside information. Applicants may propose ways to leverage, improve, and/or amplify hardware and/or software solutions that are new or already used by North Koreans; however, any proposed technologies, programs, and/or applications must have been identified or verified as still active and/or relevant to the DPRK context within the last two years.
- Scaling up or improving tailored, proven technologies to facilitate the free flow of information into, out of, and within North Korea. This may include technologies to securely and safely communicate, share, or consume information and/or external media content. Applicants must clearly justify the proposed technical approach and claims; articulate whether the proposed technology is demand-driven and applicable within the DPRK’s information control environment; and demonstrate existing capacity and experience to carry out the project safely.
- Project activities may include:
Eligibility Criteria
- The following organizations are eligible to apply:
- Foreign-based non-profit organizations/nongovernment organizations (NGO);
- U.S.-based non-profit organizations/NGOs with or without 501(c)(3) status;
- Public International Organizations;
- Private, public, or state institutions of higher education;
- For-profit organizations or businesses.
Ineligibility Criteria
- Activities that are not considered competitive include, but are not limited, to:
- and impact, or are Activities that repeat or significantly overlap with existing activities without providing a clear, additional benefit to program beneficiaries;
- Provision of humanitarian aid;
- English language instruction;
- Purely academic exchanges or fellowships;
- External exchanges or fellowships lasting longer than six months;
- Activities conducted outside the target country that are not clearly connected to local initiatives not necessary due to security concerns.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.