Deadline: 13-Apr-23
The United States Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, through the Public Diplomacy Section, is pleased to announce a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Interethnic Reconciliation and Youth Small Grants Program.
Project Themes
Proposals should aim to create a positive change in multi-cultural cooperation and to facilitate dialogue among ethnic groups interested in the following themes:
- Entrepreneurship and Economic Development Initiatives: Projects bringing together members of neighboring or nearby communities of different ethnicities that have little contact with each other to teach participants skills designed to improve the economies of their communities.
- Connecting Schools: Projects that bring together educators, parents, and students in schools across entity/ethnic lines to build relationships and improve their communities in areas such as inclusion, environmentalism, volunteerism, and the like.
- Inclusive Communities: Projects that build cooperation among majority and marginalized minority groups to build inclusive communities, including (but not limited to) displaced persons, persons with disabilities, socio-economically disadvantaged persons, LGBT persons, Roma, and others.
- Science, coding, and IT skills: Projects that bring together members of neighboring or nearby communities that have little contact with each other to teach participants skills meant to spur their interest in and prepare them for increased involvement in science, coding and IT-related activities or employment.
- Social Media Savvy: Projects that bring young people together across ethnic lines to develop critical thinking skills related to social media such as how to know what is true online, how to determine if a profile/account is real, how to deal with online trolls, and bullies, and how to identify bias in order to have a positive, community building experience on social media.
- Uniting through Culture and Sports: Projects that can demonstrate the power of culture and sport in bringing young participants together, overcoming the ethnic divisions and promoting greater appreciation and acceptance of diversity, trust, understanding and social inclusion.
- Reconciliation and Countering Hate Speech: Projects that bring together participants from different backgrounds to promote reconciliation, counter hate speech and extremist rhetoric, and develop increased tolerance and cooperation between diverse communities.
Program Objectives
This program aims to result in more active youth of different ethnic groups who are enabled to constructively interact across divides and contribute to a common goal in their local communities and BiH overall. This program also aims to strengthen young people of BiH as agents for positive change and promoters of peace and reconciliation and to support joint community-based projects that improve dialogue, mutual understanding, and community engagement.
Funding Information
- Number of Awards Anticipated: At least 10 depending on the amount of each grant.
- Award Amounts: Awards may range from USD 1,000 to USD 50,000.
- Total Available Funding: USD 461,700.
Eligibility Criteria
- Non-government, non-profit organizations (including think tanks, civil society organizations), educational and cultural institutions and independent media that are based and legally registered in Bosnia and Herzegovina are eligible to apply.
- American or other country organizations and individuals are not eligible for grants under this program. Grants are generally awarded only to organizations.
- Organizations may only submit one proposal per program.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.