Deadline: 26-Jul-21
The Public Affairs Section (PAS) of the U.S. Embassy in Dakar requests proposals for funding for its University Partnerships Initiative to carry out a program focused on strengthening existing ties and fostering new collaborations between U.S. and African universities.
Project activities must take place in Senegal or Guinea Bissau and the United States and be directed primarily at Senegalese and Bissau Guinean audiences/participants. Proposals should address how relationships between institutions will be sustained after U.S. government funded efforts are concluded.
Preference will be given to projects that incorporate some element of American content. “American content” may take the form of American partners, or American themes and materials. Preference will also be given to proposals that involve alumni of U.S. government exchange programs (e.g., YALI Mandela Washington Fellows, YALI Regional Leadership Center, Fulbright, International Visitor Leadership Program, etc.).
Focus Areas
- Promote partnerships with U.S. higher education institutions
- Establish Senegalese or Bissau Guinean student and faculty exchanges, including in-person and virtual exchange opportunities
- Facilitate joint research, especially in agriculture, food security, and STEM
- Provide training and transfer skills in all aspects of university education through subject matter exchange programs
- Explore public-private partnerships, with an emphasis on commercialization, technology transfer, and job creation.
Funding Information
- Minimum Award Amount: $50,000
- Maximum Award Amount: $150,000
- Exceptional proposals above $150,000 may be granted funds pending availability of funding
Ineligible Activities
The following activities do not qualify for Public Affairs funding:
- Organizational start-up costs
- Ongoing salaries or capital improvements
- Paying to complete activities begun with other funds
- Projects of a commercial or profit-making nature
- Projects that are inherently political in nature or that contain the appearance of partisanship or support to individual or single party electoral campaigns
- Projects that support specific religious activities
- Fundraising campaigns
- Academic or analytical research (if not part of a larger project)
- Construction projects
- Vehicles
- Scholarships to individuals
- Projects whose primary aim is the institutional development of the organization itself
- Any fees for news coverage
- Representational expenses, such as receptions
- (Exceptions: expenses for coffee breaks and working lunches can be funded; alcohol, however, cannot)
Eligibility Information
The Public Affairs Section encourages proposals from:
- Registered not-for-profit organizations, including think tanks and civil society/non governmental organizations with programming experience
- Individuals
- Non-profit or governmental educational institutions. For-profit or commercial entities are not eligible to apply.
For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=333991