Deadline: 15-Jul-2024
The U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES), Office of Environmental Quality (ENV) through its Air Quality (AQ) Program, announces an open competition for organizations interested in applying to implement a project on increasing sub-national, national, and regional capacity to address air pollution in Latin America and/or Central Asia.
Project Goal
- Building upon the momentum created through the UNEA-6 resolution, the CCAC Flagship, the U.S. EPA’s Megacities work, United Nations, and NGO work in Latin America and Central Asia, the project(s) will continue to increase national and subnational capacity to understand and address air quality.
- In Latin America, the project will be a key first step towards forming a Regional Air Quality action plan in the region, using the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific’s Regional Action Plan on Air Quality as a model. In Central Asia, the project will support the implementation of the LRTAP Convention in signatory countries while engaging with potential new members to ratify the Convention. The project(s) will help each region’s national, local, and city governments achieve their air quality goals by building up regional cooperation bodies.
Objective
- Equip countries in Latin America and/or Central Asia with the tools to actively engage in regional air quality initiatives.
- Applicants can submit proposals supporting the objective in one or both target regions.
Funding Information
- Total Funding Ceiling: $730,000 USD
- Total Funding Floor: $365,000 USD
- Period of Performance: 36 months
- Anticipated Number of Awards: 1-2
Expected Outcomes
- Increased sub-national, national and regional action on and capacity to monitor and address air pollution.
- Increased sub-national and national capacity to implement and enforce AQ regulations.
- Boost and support regional and interregional collaboration, laying the groundwork for a future regional action plan. The region should be better equipped to set and cooperate on regional air quality improvement goals.
- New or strengthened national Air Quality Programs.
- Increased momentum around the development and use of air quality management plans.
Performance Indicators
- Applicants are encouraged to suggest additional indicators or milestones based on proposed project activities.
- Number of people trained in air quality management, improvement, or related issues supported by USG assistance.
- Number of institutions with improved capacity to assess or address air quality issues supported by USG assistance.
- Number of laws, policies, regulations, or standards addressing air quality management or improvement formally proposed, adopted, or implemented supported by USG assistance.
- Amount of investment mobilized (in USD) for air quality management, improvement, or related issues with support from USG assistance.
- Number of days of USG-funded technical assistance in air quality management, improvement, or related issues provided to counterparts or stakeholders.
Activities
- The project could include activities from the list below to achieve the goals and objectives. Note that these are intended to guide the applicant and are not compulsory or exclusive. The applicant may include other activities in its proposal toward this project’s intended goal and objectives and is encouraged to explain its rationale, which will also serve as evidence of the applicant’s experience. OES notes that the level of funding will not cover all proposed activities, and any proposed project deliverables and timelines must be reasonable and achievable. OES may add additional funding in subsequent years depending on availability and quality of work.
- Provide training and support for emissions inventory development, air quality monitoring and modeling, and guidance for regulatory efficiency for PM2.5, ozone, and their precursors:
- Increase and communicate available AQ data, including using low-cost sensors of proper quality, passive samplers, satellite data, and digital solutions in conjunction with monitoring reference equipment. Organizations should consider using U.S. environmental technologies.
- Develop or improve emissions inventories and identify sources to inform effective emission reduction enforcement measures. Utilize existing studies on air pollution in each country to assess and analyze the origin, causes, nature, extent, and effects of local and regional air pollution.
- Guide sub-national, national, and regional governments to draft and/or implement air quality legislation, goals, and action plans that address evidence-based emission reduction policies.
- Guide the implementation of cost-effective policies.
- Co-design AQ monitoring and evaluation plans with local or national level stakeholders.
- Facilitate Regional Cooperation through a Community of Practice (CoP):
- Disseminate knowledge, guidance, and solutions to member states so they can mutually learn from available science and technical information and policy interventions.
- Facilitate knowledge exchange between member states with advanced AQ management and those with developing programs.
- Raise awareness at the city, local, national, and regional levels of air pollution’s cost to human health and the environment and the economic benefits of reducing air pollution:
- Messaging should be easy to understand and pulled from existing sources to prevent duplicative work. Ideas from past successful projects include TV interviews, public radio messaging, school competitions, social media (Instagram, Facebook), digital billboards, and magazine articles.
- Leverage existing initiatives.
- Prevent duplication by leveraging existing regional and sub-regional initiatives, networks of experts, information resources, and institutions and partnerships into project implementation:
- Build relationships with relevant advocacy initiatives such as the United Nations, The Clean Air Catalyst, USAID, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, existing OES projects, or other organizations working to implement the UNEA-6 resolution and the CCAC Clean Air Flagship.
- Engage with international finance institutions and philanthropies to strengthen existing support and funding mechanisms.
- Engage with private sector companies to promote public and private sector collaboration to reduce air pollution commissions and spur sustainable urban economic growth.
- Implement an activity on the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies.
- Provide training and support for emissions inventory development, air quality monitoring and modeling, and guidance for regulatory efficiency for PM2.5, ozone, and their precursors:
Eligibility Criteria
- OES welcomes applications from U.S.-based non-profit/non-governmental organizations with or without 501(c) (3) status of the U.S. tax code; foreign-based non-profit organizations/nongovernment organizations (NGO); Public International Organizations; Foreign Public Organizations; U.S.-based private, public, or state institutions of higher education; Foreign-based institutions of higher education.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.