Deadline: 26-Feb-21
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is inviting interested Namibian organizations to apply for FY 2020 Disability Funding to support programming in Employment and Economic Empowerment (EEE).
Projects should reflect the most pressing needs in the country and show how envisaged interventions respond to the specific challenges and opportunities of the COVID-19 pandemic with respect to employment and economic opportunity for those with disabilities.
Project proposals must address the needs of persons with disabilities, including but not limited to individuals who are deaf, blind, and persons with cognitive, developmental, or psychosocial disabilities. Projects that highlight and incorporate strategies to address the needs of persons with disabilities, who are also from marginalized groups, such as women and girls, youth, Indigenous Peoples, and LGBTI people, are encouraged. All programs, regardless of implementing partner, must verify the significant involvement of persons with disabilities, especially women with disabilities, in the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the project.
Funding Information
- Submissions will be considered within two funding ranges:
- from $300,000 to $500,000;
- from $500,001 to $1,000,000.
- Therefore, proposals are invited for projects of up to two years in duration, with a total amount of under US$ 1,000,000.
- In addition, organizations that apply must include evidence that they have:
- registration as a legitimate non-governmental organization or civil society organization;
- a proven track record of project implementation; and
- capacity to manage donor funding.
Areas
- Advancing workforce development so that persons with disabilities have the skills and training necessary to secure jobs, including by:
- Promoting access by persons with disabilities to apprenticeships, internships, and other proven skills development interventions, especially those that have previously been restricted by policy or practice to non-disabled job-seekers or that have not been available in the open labor market.
- Forging linkages with business and industry to ensure that training and skill development for persons with disabilities respond to an actual business and industry needs, and are provided by the private sector to the extent possible.
- Fostering entrepreneurship for persons with disabilities so that persons with disabilities have access to capital, markets, technical assistance, and networks on an equal basis with others, including by:
- Ensuring access by persons with disabilities to microfinance or microcredit programs, bank loans, and other forms of financial credit, especially as an intervention to catalyze business start-up.
- Connecting persons with disabilities to mentors and networks that can promote job-related skills and access to information.
- Promoting enabling environments so that legal, regulatory, and cultural barriers that constrain persons with disabilities from being able to fully and freely participate in the economy are removed, mitigated, or avoided as applicable, including by:
- Reforming legislative, regulatory, and policy frameworks that promote segregated approaches to employment of persons with disabilities, failing to prohibit non-discrimination and/or mandate reasonable accommodation, or that allow for persons with disabilities to be paid less than their non-disabled counterparts in comparable jobs.
- Promoting access to information so that employers understand their legal obligations with respect to prospective and current employees with disabilities, and how best to comply, as well as ensuring robust monitoring and enforcement by appropriate authorities.
- Reforming legislative, regulatory, and policy frameworks that hinder the ability of persons with disabilities to effectively exercise autonomy over their own financial affairs.
Eligible Applicants
- USAID invites interested Namibian organizations to apply for FY 2020 Disability Funding to support programming in Employment and Economic Empowerment (EEE).
For more information, visit https://na.usembassy.gov/partnership-opportunities/