Deadline: 23 February 2018
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is seeking applications for its program entitled “Local Engagement and Asset Development Activity”.
USAID is seeking to fund an activity that will strengthen new and established, formal and informal local citizen groups and their efforts to engage other groups and citizens who support positive change in their communities. These may include community foundations, local youth groups, CSOs and other groups with a demonstrated ability to mobilize people and resources to engage with and address specific concerns in their communities in ways that build mutual trust, empowerment and local ownership.
Characteristics
USAID seeks applications that demonstrate the following characteristics:
- The program makes the use of Serbia’s existing organizational capacities and resources by working with a wide variety of stakeholders with the interest and ability to contribute to the program objective.
- The program identifies, engages with and builds on already established and/or emerging community level actors and partnerships around Serbia.
- The program benefits citizens and local groups across Serbia and is not primarily focused on Belgrade and other major cities.
- The program focuses on fostering ways to directly engage citizens and communities in setting priorities for local initiatives.
- The program utilizes a ‘learning by doing’ approach, experimenting with interventions, assessing impact, and adapting and scaling up or down
Award Information
- Subject to the availability of funds, USAID/Serbia anticipates awarding one Cooperative Agreement in amount of up to $2,000,000 (exclusive of cost share).
- The duration of the proposed program should not be longer than 48 months. The anticipated start date for this activity is on or about May 1st, 2018.
Eligibility Criteria
- Qualified Serbian organizations are eligible to apply. In addition, applicants are encouraged to include non-traditional civil society stakeholders such as professional associations, local initiatives, media, forprofit and not-for-profit organizations as active partners in the proposed activity. Please note that public/government organizations can be part of a partnership, but are not able to apply for, or be party to, the award as either a prime or sub-awardee. However, programs may not be partisan or political in nature.
- Given the importance of local knowledge and experience, the primary grant from USAID must be with a Serbian organization, and sub-grants to U.S. organizations may comprise only a small portion (typically, no more than 25%) of the total budget. Additionally, even if the portion of the award to an ineligible entity is less than 25% that will in no way guarantee that the US organization’s participation will always be approved. Review of the portion of the award to an ineligible entity shall be made on a fact-specific, case-by-case basis that will entail not just the monetary portion of the total budget but also the substance of the work to be performed by the ineligible entity.
- Applicants must have established financial management, monitoring and evaluation processes, internal control systems, and policies and procedures that comply with established U.S. Government standards, laws, and regulations. The successful applicant(s) may be subject to a responsibility determination assessment (Pre-award Survey) by the Agreement Officer. The applicant’s accounting and procurement systems, audit issues, and management capability may be reviewed as part of this process. If notified by USAID that a pre-award survey is necessary, applicants must prepare in advance the required information and documents. Prospective NGO applicants should refer to ADS Chapter 303.3.9.1 for additional information about pre-award surveys. A pre-award survey does not commit USAID to make an award to any entity.
- Awardees cannot have received more than $5 million from all U.S. Government funding sources over the last five years.
- USAID will not accept an application from individuals. All applicants must be legally recognized organizational entities under applicable law. Public International Organizations are not eligible to apply for funding under this program. All applications must be submitted in accordance with ADS 303.
- Applicants may only submit one application as a prime applicant.
How to Apply
Applications must be submitted electronically at the address given on the website.
For more information, please visit Grants.gov.
