Deadline: 30-Dec-22
The U.S. Embassy Namibia is pleased to announce the start of the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) 2023 Grants Program.
The U.S. Embassy is inviting NGOs, museums, or similar institutions to submit concept notes for the Ambassador’s Cultural Preservation Fund (AFCP).
The AFCP Grants Program supports the preservation of archaeological sites, historic buildings and monuments, museum collections, and forms of traditional cultural expression, such as indigenous languages and crafts. Appropriate project activities may include:
- Anastylosis (reassembling a site from its original parts)
- Conservation (addressing damage or deterioration to an object or site)
- Consolidation (connecting or reconnecting elements of an object or site)
- Documentation (recording in analog or digital format the condition and salient features of an object, site, or tradition)
- Inventory (listing of objects, sites, or traditions by location, feature, age, or other unifying characteristic or state)
- Preventive Conservation (addressing conditions that threaten or damage a site, object, collection, or tradition)
- Restoration (replacing missing elements to recreate the original appearance of an object or site, usually appropriate only with fine arts, decorative arts, and historic buildings)
- Stabilization (reducing the physical disturbance of an object or site)
Program Objectives
- The Department of State established the AFCP in 2001 at the request of Congress (Conference Report 106-1005 accompanying H.R. 4942). At the time, the Senate noted that the preservation of cultural heritage, “offers an opportunity to show a different American face to other countries, one that is non-commercial, non-political, and non-military.”
- The projects recommended for funding advance U.S. foreign policy goals and show respect for other cultures. Cultural preservation is effective public diplomacy that resonates deeply with opinion leaders and local communities, even in countries where ties may be otherwise limited. AFCP projects strengthen civil society, encourage good governance, and promote political and economic stability
Funding Priorities
- The most successful AFCP projects promote specific U.S. policy goals and host-country or community goals. Accordingly, in FY 2023, they will prioritize projects that do one or more of the following:
- Directly support U.S. treaty or bilateral agreement obligations.
- Directly support U.S. policies, strategies, and objectives in a country as stated in the Integrated Country Strategy (ICS) (ICS is the four-year strategy that articulates the U.S. priorities in a given country and is led by the Chief of Mission.) These priorities are to Empowering and Inclusive, Rules-Based Democracy,Catalyzing a Resilient, Sustainable Economy and Cultivating Equitable Access to Service to help Unleash Namibia’s Human Resources.
- Support disaster risk reduction for cultural heritage in disaster-prone areas, or post-disaster cultural heritage recovery.
- Complement the Cultural Heritage Center in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) or public diplomacy programs.
Funding Information
- Estimated Total Program Funding: $250,000
- Award Ceiling: $250,000
- Award Floor: $10,000.
Participants and Audiences
- The Cultural Heritage Center in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) defines eligible project implementers as reputable and accountable non-commercial entities that can demonstrate they have the requisite capacity to manage projects to preserve cultural heritage. Eligible implementers may include non-governmental organizations, museums, educational institutions, ministries of culture, or similar institutions and organizations, including U.S.-based educational institutions and organizations subject to Section 501(c)(3) of the tax code. The AFCP will not award grants to individuals, commercial entities, or past award recipients that have not fulfilled the objectives or reporting requirements of previous awards.
- Potential implementers must be registered and active in the U.S. government’s System for Award Management (SAM) to receive U.S. federal assistance. If an embassy’s project idea is advanced to Round 2 and the anticipated implementer is not registered in SAM, the embassy should initiate the registration process immediately so that it is in place in the event the project is ultimately selected for an award.
Eligibility Criteria
- The following organizations are eligible to apply:
- Not-for-profit organizations, including think tanks and civil society/non-governmental organizations
- Public and private educational institutions
- The AFCP will not award grants to individuals, commercial entities, or past recipients that have not fulfilled the objectives or reporting requirements of previous awards.
- Public International Organizations and Governmental institutions
For more information, visit AFCP.