Deadline: 5-May-23
The U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) announces an open competition for a 5-year incrementally funded program that responds to time sensitive, developing, and evolving transitional justice needs of societies in different stages of or emerging from conflict or periods of authoritarian rule, and dealing with legacies of or ongoing gross human rights abuses and violations in order to promote long-term, sustainable peace.
DRL envisions a minimum federal contribution of $15 million. This solicitation will award the first tranche of these program efforts.
DRL will award an overarching cooperative agreement to a lead organization that will coordinate a consortium of organizations with global reach and technical expertise (“Consortium”) to collaborate on the co-design and execution of individual projects designed to address specific opportunities or challenges in transitional justice processes—whether judicial or non-judicial, formal or informal—around the globe.
Objectives
- The Consortium should be set up to design and manage integrated, locally owned, and victim- and survivor-centered approaches to contribute to the following objectives:
- The Consortium is able to rapidly respond to global transitional justice needs, challenges, and opportunities as they arise with innovative project models and interventions that engage a range of restorative and retributive transitional justice tools, inclusive of truth-telling, memorialization, reparative justice, criminal accountability and institutional reform;
- The Consortium leverages political will, public momentum, and/or other windows of opportunity to build upon pilot projects, needs assessments, and other Consortium projects with phased, adaptive, responsible and sustainable programming that recognizes the long-term nature of transitional justice processes and manages the expectations of local communities, especially victim and survivor communities; and
- The Consortium’s expertise, convenings, and project-specific collaborations and evaluations build upon other transitional justice efforts to contribute to the growth and development of the field of transitional justice and cross-regional learning by capturing and disseminating lessons learned and best practices, feeding into broader questions critical to the field, expanding understanding of how transitional justice intersects with and applies to other fields, and exploring cutting edge issues in the field.
Funding Information
- Total Funding Floor: $3,481,481
- HRDF Funding Floor: $2,000,000
- ESF Funding Floor: $1,481,481
- Total Funding Ceiling: $3,481,481
- HRDF Funding Floor: $2,000,000
- ESF Funding Floor: $1,481,481
- Period of Performance: 2-5 years
- Anticipated Time to Award, Pending Availability of Funds: 6-7 months.
Where appropriate, competitive proposals may include?
- Opportunities for beneficiaries to apply their new knowledge and skills in practical efforts;
- Solicitation of feedback and suggestions from beneficiaries when developing activities in order to strengthen the sustainability of programs and participant ownership of project outcomes;
- Input from participants on sustainability plans and systematic review of the plans throughout the life of the project, with adjustments made as necessary;
- Inclusion of vulnerable populations;
- Joint identification and definition of key concepts with relevant stakeholders and stakeholder input into project activities;
- Systematic follow up with beneficiaries at specific intervals after the completion of activities to track how beneficiaries are retaining new knowledge as well as applying their new skills.
Eligibility Criteria
- DRL welcomes applications from U.S.-based and foreign-based non-profit organizations/nongovernmental organizations (NGO) and public international organizations; private, public, or state institutions of higher education; and for-profit organizations or businesses. DRL’s preference is to work with non-profit entities; however, there may be some occasions when a for-profit entity is best suited.
- Applications submitted by for-profit entities may be subject to additional review following the panel selection process. Additionally, the Department of State prohibits profit to for-profit or commercial organizations under its assistance awards. Profit is defined as any amount in excess of allowable direct and indirect costs. The allowability of costs incurred by commercial organizations is determined in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) at 48 CFR 30, Cost Accounting Standards Administration, and 48 CFR 31 Contract Cost Principles and Procedures.
Ineligible
- Activities that are not typically allowed include, but are not limited to:
- The provision of humanitarian assistance;
- English language instruction;
- Development of high-tech computer or communications software and/or hardware;
- Purely academic exchanges or fellowships;
- External exchanges or fellowships lasting longer than six months;
- Off-shore activities that are not clearly linked to in-country initiatives and impact or are not necessary per security concerns;
- Theoretical explorations of human rights or democracy issues, including projects aimed primarily at research and evaluation that do not incorporate training or capacity-building for local civil society;
- Micro-loans or similar small business development initiatives;
- Initiatives directed towards a diaspora community rather than current residents of targeted countries.
For more information, visit DRL.