Deadline: 21-Feb-25
The U.S. Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina is seeking applications for its Women’s Empowerment Small Grants Program to support NGO efforts to enable women as equal participants in economic, civic, and political life in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).
Objectives
- This program aims to result in more active engagement and equitable treatment of women in all spheres of life, such as politics, the economy, academia, and civil society in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This program also aims to prevent gender-based violence and all other forms of discrimination and abuse against women and to support community-based projects that improve the quality of life for women in BiH.
Themes
- Projects should address one of the following themes:
- Advancing women’s participation in the economic life of BiH in business, the arts, law, education, healthcare, science, and other sectors. (Proposals may not include vocational training.)
- Advancing women’s participation in politics and amplifying women’s voices and leadership on issues that affect citizens of BiH.
- Increasing the potential of girls and young women to become leaders in their schools, communities, and country.
- Preventing gender-based violence and all other forms of mistreatment of women, such as sexual harassment and workplace discrimination; strengthening support from institutions and civil society to victims of gender-based violence and discrimination.
- Organizing grassroots projects that help strengthen civil society, connect women across social divides, and improve the quality of life for women in their communities and across BiH.
Funding Information
- Estimated Total Program Funding: $275,000
- Award Ceiling: $50,000
- Award Floor: $1,000
Eligible Costs
- Budget costs should be grouped into the following categories:
- Personnel costs (Describe the wages, salaries of temporary or permanent staff who will be working directly for the applicant on the program, and the percentage of their time that will be spent on the program);
- Fringe (Social and pension insurance contributions);
- Travel (Estimate the costs of travel and per diem for this program, for program staff, consultants or speakers, and participants/beneficiaries);
- Supplies (List and describe all the items and materials, including any computer devices, that are needed for the program. If an item costs more than $10,000 per unit, then put it in the budget under Equipment);
- Contractual (Fees for trainers, moderators, experts, and educators, who do not normally work for your organization but who are engaged to implement certain project activities, printing of promotional materials, renting of space/equipment, broadcasting of TV and radio shows, website development, and other contractual services needed for project implementation);
- Other direct costs: (Describe other costs directly associated with the project, which do not fit in the other categories. For example: office rent, utilities, phone/fax/internet, office supplies, shipping costs for materials and equipment, bank charges, etc.).
- Alcohol, entertainment, or “miscellaneous” expenses are not allowed.
- Costs incurred before the grant period start date will not be reimbursed.
Ineligible Projects
- Grant funds may not be used for the following:
- Long-term infrastructure needs.
- Travel to the United States. (Projects involving regional travel will be considered on a case-by-case basis and must have a clear justification outlining why the travel is integral to the project.)
- Provision of direct social services to a population.
- Vocational training. (For example, teaching participants welding, electrical work, sewing, beekeeping, etc.)
- Partisan political activity. (Note: non-partisan election education and public information activities are allowable.)
- Funding of charitable activity and humanitarian aid, commercial projects, or fundraising campaigns.
Eligibility Criteria
- Non-governmental, non-profit organizations (including think tanks, civil society organizations, non-profit associations), educational institutions and independent media organizations that are based and legally registered in Bosnia and Herzegovina are eligible to apply. American or other donor 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.
Application Requirements
- Mandatory application forms: Your application cannot be reviewed without all the below elements. All forms and instructions are available on their website, under Application Forms on the top of the grant’s programs page.
- Please note: Obtaining the Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) and registering in the SAM system can take up to one month. They strongly encourage you to start this process as soon as possible:
- SF-424 (Application for Federal Assistance – organizations). Please make sure to include your UEI in the application.
- SF424A (Budget Information for Non-Construction programs).
- Project Proposal (6 pages maximum): The proposal should contain sufficient information that anyone not familiar with it would understand exactly what the applicant wants to do.
- General Guidelines: Please read all instructions carefully – proposals that do not meet the requirements listed here will not be considered for funding:
- All proposals must be written and submitted in English.
- Proposals may not exceed 6 pages in length (including budget and checklist) in Calibri size 12 font.
- All fields in the grant application form and checklist must be completed and sent via email as one document.
- In general, project duration may not exceed 12 months, but under certain circumstances they will accept projects that build in a longer evaluation period after project activities are complete that would be longer than 12 months total.
- Grants are normally made on a one-time basis and reiterations of past programs usually do not receive funding. If you are requesting support to fund a repetition of a project you previously implemented, you must include a very strong justification as to why the repetition is necessary.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
