Deadline: 15-Aug-20
The U.S. Embassy’s Public Affairs Section in Moscow (PAS Moscow), invites proposal submissions for a cooperative agreement to provide technical and logistical support for the U.S. Subject Matter Experts Program.
The Subject Matter Experts Program proactively promotes understanding of U.S. culture, society and U.S. foreign policies on topics identified by the Embassy and its partner organizations and provides space for dialogue between the peoples of the two countries. The program also fosters American engagement with a wide range of Russian audiences through a range of speaking events, including participation in conferences, festivals and professional meetings, and through online engagements and programs.
The goals of this funding opportunity is to:
- Strengthen people-to-people ties between the United States and Russia through activities, information sharing, and experiences between American experts and target audiences that increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and Russia.
- Strengthen local partnerships and build long-term, self-sustaining relationships and institutional linkages between U.S. and Russian individuals and organizations, including capacity building for Russian cultural, educational, and civil society institutions.
- Showcase American values by presenting the full range of American professionalism, innovation and civic values through the sharing of expert knowledge representing the diversity of the United States.
Proposals should include:
- Details of the organization’s capacity for handling financial logistics for multi-faceted speaking programs in Russia.
- Details of the organization’s familiarity with the Russian program environment, including the cultural, educational, and civil society institutions in major urban areas and regions.
- Details of the organization’s familiarity with American professional and business culture, academic and cultural organizations, and civil society and community initiatives.
Examples of activities within the scope of work include:
- Recruiting potential experts based on input from the U.S. Embassy.
- Coordinating with the U.S. Embassy to finalize selection of experts.
- Negotiation and transferring the honorarium and speaker fees.
- Sending bios and other information about the participants to Embassy Moscow.
- Making international and in-country flight arrangements and purchasing all tickets in accordance with Fly America provisions.
- Advising the expert on Russian safety, weather, and other precautions, and facilitating the visa application process.
- Arranging airport pickup and hotel reservations in Moscow and other cities and paying for hotels.
- Purchasing (and shipping if necessary) educational items such as books, CDs, DVDs in support of programs.
- Printing handouts, bios, and programs in support of programs.
- The creation, distribution, and processing of surveys to be given to participants of lectures and workshops on the value of the program and attitudes towards the United States.
- Coordinating and funding venues (such as hotels or conference spaces), sound, interpretation, and other logistics related to the program in Russia.
- Coordinating and funding virtual programming events and social media content related to speaker programs.
Funding Information
- Approximate Total Funding: $300,000
- Approximate Number of Awards: two
- Approximate Average Award: $300,000
- Floor of Award Range: $200,000
- Ceiling of Award Range: $300,000
- Anticipated Award Date: October 1, 2020
- Anticipated Project Completion Date: September 30, 2021
Eligibility Criteria
Applications may be submitted by U.S. public and private non-profit organizations meeting the provisions described in Internal Revenue Code section 26 USC 501(c)(3), institutions of higher education and for-profit entities.
For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=327967