Large Grants NOFO

April 12, 2022: Deadline extended to 23H59 (SAST), Monday May 2, 2022. March 9, 2022: We have dropped the only one application per organization restriction. *** PLEASE READ FULL ANNOUNCEMENT (see Related Documents) BEFORE APPLYING *** Submissions must be emailed to [email protected], not uploaded to grants.gov. Questions and Answers regarding this NOFO have been posted here. The Public Affairs Section (PAS) of the U.S. Mission to South Africa of the U.S. Department of State announces an open competition for organizations to submit applications to carry out projects in one of six categories outlined in the Project Objectives below. All project proposals must strengthen ties and build relationships between the United States and South Africa and must have a strong, central, American element, or connection with American expert/s, organization/s, or institution/s (separate and beyond any involvement with the U.S. Mission or its American Corners or USG exchange program alumni) and have as a primary goal the promotion of increased understanding of U.S. values, perspectives, and policies and relationship building between Americans and South Africans. Priority Region: Project activities must take place in South Africa and be directed at South African audiences/participants. PAS welcomes proposals that reach multiple provinces or engage in areas outside the metropolitan areas of Pretoria, Johannesburg, Durban, and Cape Town, including townships and other historically underserved areas. American Content: Successful proposals will include a clear description of how American content will be substantively and meaningfully incorporated in projects. American content may include the use of curricula from a U.S.-based institution, collaboration with an American subject matter expert, or incorporation of U.S. culture, history, or society. We encourage proposals that explain how that American content builds ties with South African audiences. Project Objectives: PAS is seeking proposals in the following six categories. An organization may only submit one application and must identify the specific category. 1. Combatting Climate Change PAS seeks proposals that will create partnerships between Americans and South Africans to generate awareness and promote shared action/collaboration on climate change and the evolving climate crisis. Project proposals in this category should identify a specific audience – such as youth, students, educators, entrepreneurs, etc. – that it will reach as well as how the project plans to measure impact during the award’s performance period. Short-term impact may lay the groundwork for longer-term outcomes. Proposals should target a specific audience and clearly identify project participants. PAS welcomes proposals that exploit connections between governmental organizations, such as the U.S. National Park Service and the South African National Parks, or between U.S. and South African civil society, including higher education institutions. Priority project areas include: sustainable waste management and recycling; urban and peri-urban clean water solutions; countering wildlife trafficking; climate adaptation; urban greening, and; healthy oceans. 2. Improving Journalism Training PAS seeks proposals that strengthen journalism skills in fields such as investigative reporting, health/science/environmental journalism, and legal reporting, particularly among professional journalists, editors, and contributors to community media outlets. We will favorably note proposals that aim to establish partnerships between media outlets and non-governmental, educational, and/or civil society institutions in South Africa. Proposals should include: a series of engagements with participants that includes training in reporting skills such as critical thinking, sourcing, disinformation, and ethics; multiple “field” exercises to encourage these skills in real world settings; a focus on the program’s sustainability, including follow-up programming with participants and the possibility of expanding the program in the future. 3. Entrepreneurship and Intrapreneurship: Expanding Economic Opportunities for Youth PAS seeks proposals that break down barriers faced by South Africa’s promising young entrepreneurs by leveraging American business and management approaches to help youth develop the necessary networking, marketing, and investment skills to succeed in the economy. In addition to increasing the capacity of entrepreneurs to open new businesses, we are seeking applications that foster increased "intrapreneurship," a system wherein the principles of entrepreneurship are practiced within existing organizations. The development of intrapreneurs creates opportunities to innovate new ideas, products, and processes within an organization that can lead to the adoption of best practices, decreases in corruption, and increased growth while preparing emerging leaders for greater responsibility within their organizations or to launch startups in the future that will benefit U.S.-South African economic ties. 4. Promoting Equity, Social Justice, and Social Cohesion PAS seeks proposals that build on shared American and South African priorities to promote respect for the human rights and advance racial equity, social justice, and social cohesion. We encourage proposals that focus on outreach to historically marginalized groups. Preference will be given to proposals that foster dialogue, encourage civic engagement, and increase understanding about the historical injustices in the United States and South Africa to make concrete connections with contemporary applications of the lessons learned from those histories. Priority project areas include: conducting outreach to underscore connections between the struggle for equality of marginalized groups in the United States and South Africa’s liberation struggle; and exploring the literature, culture, and histories of marginalized groups in the United States with South African audiences. Intended audiences should include: high school and university students; professors; journalists; policy makers; or youth (ages 15-35). Proposals may incorporate use of sports or the art that addresses the American experience that is relevant to the South African experience. Competitive proposals will outline how the activities will resonate with South African audiences. 5. A Global Crisis: Trafficking in Persons South Africa is a country of origin, destination, and transit for victims of trafficking in persons (TIP). PAS seeks proposals that generate awareness of TIP-related issues in South Africa and of concerns noted in the U.S. Department of State’s 2021 Trafficking in Persons Report for South Africa, with the goal of increasing public knowledge, understanding, and calls for action on this challenging issue. Proposals should aim to improve the public’s ability to recognize and report TIP, to identify TIP risk factors, and to reduce demand for labor and sexual exploitation. Priority project areas include: the lack of public awareness of trafficking crimes; available resources for victims; cultural practices that increase trafficking vulnerability; the lack of reporting of trafficking crimes; and official indifference or complicity. Successful proposals will target clear audiences in South Africa and explain the relevance of those audiences to the issue at hand. Prospective grant partners will preferably have existing relationships with or the capacity to partner with relevant South African government agencies. 6. Expanding the University Partnership Initiative PAS seeks proposals that strengthen existing ties and foster new collaborations between U.S. and South African higher education institutions under the University Partnership Initiative (UPI). Proposals should address the option to scale to a greater level pending funds availability and should address potential significant involvement by PAS. Collaboration with existing U.S. Mission South Africa programs or alumni of USG-funded exchanges is encouraged. Priority project areas include: promoting U.S.- South Africa faculty and student exchanges, particularly the development of dual degree programs that have South Africans complete their studies locally and address South Africa’s shortage of qualified academic staff; developing the use of instructional technology to increase access to educational opportunities, including in the context of challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic; facilitating early-career training for academics; joint research, especially in agriculture, food security, health, and STEM; providing training and transfer skills in all aspects of university and community college administration through subject-matter exchange programs; exploring public-private partnerships, with an emphasis on commercialization, technology transfer, and job creation. Intended audiences should include: South African university and community college students; university administrators; or high school teachers and students who use materials developed by universities. Proposals should address how relationships between institutions will be sustained after U.S. government-funded efforts end. Proposals that develop linkages between South African technical universities and their American counterparts are strongly encouraged. PLEASE NOTE: The following types of projects are not eligible for funding: Projects relating to partisan political activity; Charitable or development activities; Construction projects; Projects that support specific religious activities; Fund-raising campaigns; Lobbying for specific legislation or projects; Projects intended primarily for the growth or institutional development of the organization; Projects that duplicate existing projects; Travel to the United States for family or social purposes; Travel to the United States for purposes of amplifying South Africa cultural initiatives; Travel to the United States for purposes unconnected to a larger project or initiative; Scholarships or tuition assistance; Events of a purely social nature; Prizes and competition awards without a programmatic linkage.