NOFO BOLD Alumni Small Grants-FY24-final.docx

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

U.S. EMBASSY SARAJEVO, PUBLIC DIPLOMACY SECTION

NOTICE OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

Funding Opportunity Title: BOLD Alumni Small Grants

Funding Opportunity Number: BH-013-FY2024

Deadline for Application: July 22, 2024, by 17:00 (GMT + 1)

CFDA Number: 19.900

Total amount available: Up to USD 113,000

A. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The United States Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), through the Public Diplomacy Section (PDS), is pleased to announce a Notice of Funding Opportunity for the BOLD (Balkanski Omladinski Lideri, Young Balkan Leaders) Alumni Small Grants Competition for BiH BOLD fellowship alumni.

The BOLD network is a project of PDS that seeks to empower young people across BiH, ages 18-35, through leadership opportunities and training, to implement projects for positive change in their communities across BiH.

The goal of these small grants, up to $15,000 each, is to empower BOLD fellowship alumni to apply the knowledge acquired during their fellowship by implementing projects in their communities that will contribute to economic development or encourage increased civic engagement.

Project proposals must be submitted in the name of one BOLD fellowship alumnus/alumna who will be responsible for receiving funds and maintaining oversight of those funds. However, that applicant may apply with one or more additional BOLD fellowship alumni and the project may be implemented in partnership with other BOLD network members, organizations, government authorities, or educational institutions.

Please note that this funding opportunity is open to only BOLD fellowship program alumni; a separate Notice of Funding Opportunity, open to BOLD network members, is also available: Funding Opportunity Number BH-011-FY2024. BOLD fellowship alumni are requested to apply only for NOFO BH-013-FY2024, BOLD Alumni Small Grants.

An approved grant can only be issued to one individual. Grants cannot be issued to organizations.

Mandatory components:

1. Applicants should propose a project that will improve a community in BiH in the areas of economic development or civic engagement.

Outcomes of proposals can include (but are not limited to) developing a business or business plan that will involve more people in the economy, encouraging more people to be involved in community development, or starting an initiative to address a specific problem in the community that citizens can work on together to solve.

2. A community can be in one or more specific locations or can be a targeted group that the project brings together online.

The proposal should clearly state who the audience is and the beneficiaries of the project.

3. Applicants should present a plan for engaging the BOLD network (alumni and non-alumni) in the planning, implementation, or the outcomes of the project.

Applicants may solicit assistance or participation from other BOLD members or report out to the network about the progress, successes, and lessons learned throughout the project activities.

4. Winning grantees will work closely with a mentor, provided by PDS, to fulfill all the grant responsibilities and to report in interim and final narrative reports on the progress and implementation of the project to PDS.

Grantees will be required to regularly report to this mentor on key activities by providing brief narratives about the implemented activity and a few photos, which will be used to inform BOLD community members and may be posted on the U.S. Embassy’s social media platforms. If any BOLD fellowship alumni have concerns about sharing photos or activity information via U.S. Embassy social media accounts and/or have concerns about branding their project per U.S. government guidelines, please notify the mentor when starting your project.

A detailed budget should be expressed in USD, with a maximum amount of $15,000. PDS reserves the right to reduce, revise, or increase proposed budgets, and participant numbers, based on program needs and the availability of U.S. government funding.

B. FEDERAL AWARD INFORMATION

Length of Performance Period: 12 months

Number of Awards Anticipated: At least seven depending on the amount for each grant. Comment by Mearkle, Robert (Sarajevo): Check alignment

Award Amounts: Awards may range from USD 1,000 to USD 15,000

Total Available Funding: Up to USD 113,000

Type of Funding: FY23 Assistance to Europe, Eurasia, and Central Asia (AEECA) under the Foreign Assistance Act

Anticipated Award Date: August/September 2024

Funding Instrument Type: Grant/Fixed Award Amount (FAA) B.1. Awards related to this notice are subject to availability of funding. The U.S. Embassy reserves the right to cancel this Notice of Funding Opportunity at any time without any commitment to any applicant.

B.2. Project performance period. All activities should last for a maximum of 12 months and take place between September 2024 and September 2025.

C. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION: All BOLD fellowship program alumni are eligible to reply to this Notice of Funding Opportunity.

D. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

D.1. Mandatory application forms: Your application cannot be reviewed without all the below elements.

· SF-424 I- (Application for Federal Assistance – Individual).

· SF-424 A- (Budget Information for Non-Construction programs)

· SF-424B I- (Assurances for Non-Construction Programs-Individual)

· Project Proposal (10 pages maximum): The proposal should be submitted exclusively in the appropriate application form from the Embassy’s website and should contain sufficient information so that anyone not familiar with it would understand exactly what the applicant wants to do.

D.2. 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.

· One individual may submit only one proposal under this Notice of Funding Opportunity.

· Proposals may not exceed 10 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.

· Project duration may not exceed 16 months.

The deadline for submission of proposals /supporting documentation is July 22, 2024, by 17:00 (GMT + 1).

Please submit your completed application to the following e-mail address: SarajevoBOLD@state.gov.

In the subject line of your e-mail please write “Application for BOLD Alumni Small Grants Program.”

D.3. Budget Guidelines: Any application not meeting the budget requirements below will not be considered for funding.

· The detailed budget should be written in U.S. Dollars (USD) and not exceed the maximum allowable amount for the type of project.

· The budget should NOT include VAT expenses. Upon signing the award with the grantee, the Embassy will explain the procedure of VAT refund.

· Budget costs should be grouped into the following categories:

· Personnel costs (salaries for staff who already work for your organization, fees for project manager, project coordinator/assistant, and or accountant)

· Fringe (social and pension insurance contributions)

· Travel (transportation costs, lodging, meals, and incidentals)

· Supplies (office supplies and other materials for project implementation)

· 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: (office rent, utilities, phone/fax/internet, office supplies, bank charges, etc.)

· Alcohol, entertainment, or “miscellaneous” expenses are not allowed.

· Costs incurred before the grant period start date will not be reimbursed.

Grant funds may not be used for the following:

· Long-term infrastructure needs

· Provision of direct social services to a population

· Partisan political activity. (Note: non-partisan election education and public information activities are allowable.)

· Funding of charitable activity and humanitarian aid, commercial projects, or fund-raising campaigns

D.4. Application Guidelines: Please read carefully and complete each question as instructed. Omitting any of the requested information will delay the review of your proposal and may result in it being eliminated from consideration.

1. Applicant’s Contact Information

a. Applicant(s) Name(s): Specify the name of the person(s) who apply.

b. Address/Postal Code and City:

c. Phone number:

d. E-mail:

e. Year of fellowship and which fellowship program (BOLD Academic Fellowship on Civic Engagement or BOLD Academic Fellowship on Economic Development):

2. Basic Information about the Proposal

a. Project title:

b. Amount requested (USD)/ Total cost (USD):

Please list the amount of funding requested from the Embassy in USD.

3. Elevator pitch: In 50 words or less, describe what your project is designed to accomplish, and why it should receive support from the U.S. Embassy.

4. Definition of the Situation: Please describe the problem or challenge in your community that you are addressing and would like to change or improve. Please explain what causes the problem, and what aspect of this issue you are addressing. If you are proposing a business or entrepreneurship idea, explain what need or interest your idea addresses and what demand exists for this particular venture.

5. Project outcomes: Please explain how you want to solve this problem by explaining the outcomes of your project. An outcome is defined as the impact or change in a participant’s knowledge, skills and/or attitudes as well as the longer-term impact on their communities. For example, an outcome could be the creation of new businesses started by young entrepreneurs. A longer-term outcome might be a more favorable environment for entrepreneurship in a community.

6. Description of project activities: Please provide a detailed explanation of mandatory activities stated in this Notice of Funding Opportunity, and how you plan to implement them as part of the project to reach the outcome.

7. Anticipated outputs: Outputs are defined as direct and tangible results of the project activities.

For example, outputs could be 30 participants trained in basic business skills and entrepreneurial training, and 20 businesses plans are ready to start up.

8. Plan for Engagement with the BOLD network: Please present a plan for how you will engage with the BOLD network during the course of your project.

You may publicize your project to the network, from its development phase through its completion, and/or utilize the network for support of your project.

9. Project locations: Please state project locations. Virtual engagement is not required, but you are welcome to propose virtual components to your project if it helps to accomplish your goals.

10. Project beneficiaries: Describe the anticipated beneficiaries of your project, including estimated number and age range, e.g, “approximately 50 young people in Capljina, ages 18-25” or “about 100 high school students in Rogatica.”

11. Project schedule and timeline: Please submit a comprehensive timeline of major activities and give an overview of the schedule.

If you have a specific timeframe, please list the dates, and explain why your project must take place within that timeframe.

12. Monitoring and evaluation: Please indicate how you plan to measure the success of the project.

This could involve pre- and post-project surveys of participants; it could be evidence that your project changed/improved a situation or contributed to change in attitude/ behavior of participants.

We encourage you to consider the following examples of indicators to use when evaluating your project:

· Participant satisfaction with the program.

· Participant learning, such as increased knowledge, aptitude, skills, and changed understanding and attitude. Learning includes both substantive (subject-specific) learning and mutual understanding.

· Participant behavior, such as concrete actions to apply knowledge in community; greater participation and responsibility in municipalities; interpretation and explanation of experiences and new knowledge and experience gained; continued contacts between participants, community members, and others.

Please note: Consideration should be given to the appropriate timing of data collection for each level of outcome.

13. Project publicity:

Please describe if and how you plan to publicize the project through traditional media and/or social media.

14. Project sustainability:

Please explain your plans for follow-on activities after the grant period ends to ensure project impact continues. Example: “After the workshop series, the participants will continue to meet and serve as a support network to each other, as well as mentor other young people.”

15. Previous U.S. government funding: Indicate whether the grant recipient or implementing team or partner(s) has received previous funding from the U.S. government.

If so, please state the name of the project, the year, and the amount of funding for each project.

16. Short biography of applicant: Please provide your short biography (education, work experience, etc.)

17. Detailed budget: Present the budget in the form of a spreadsheet, in USD amounts, dividing the budget into the categories delineated in the application.

18. Budget narrative: Please explain your budget in narrative form and provide rationale for the items included.

D.5. APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION:

All proposals will be evaluated by the review panel according to the below criteria:

· Quality and feasibility of the project idea: The proposal is well developed, innovative and offers creative solutions with all necessary details about how project activities will be carried out (location, number of participants, events to organize, media coverage etc.).

· Outcomes: Project clearly identifies goals and objectives of the project and is likely to provide maximum impact in achieving proposed results.

· Budget and narrative justification are completed and reasonable in relation to the proposed activities and anticipated results.

· Monitoring and evaluation: The proposal outlines how project success and impact will be determined. Grantee needs to send a report 6 or 12 months after the project concludes to report any impact of the project’s progress toward achieving the outcomes outlined in the proposal.

Plan for engagement within the BOLD network: The proposal needs to contain information about how you will engage with the BOLD network during your project. Project activities should continue to have a positive impact after the end of the project. Proposals should explain this future impact.

You may publicize your project to the network, from its development phase through its completion, and/or utilize the network for support of your project.

E. FEDERAL AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION

E.1. Federal Award Notices The grant award will be written, signed, awarded, and administered by the Grant Officer and the grants management team. The Recipient may only start incurring project expenses beginning on the start date shown on the grant award document signed by the Grant Officer. The assistance award agreement is the authorizing document, and it will be provided to the recipient for review and signature by email.

Funding decisions are contingent on the availability of funds. The U.S. Embassy reserves the right to cancel this Notice of Funding Opportunity at any time without any commitment to any applicant.

If a proposal is selected for funding, the Department of State has no obligation to provide any additional future funding. Renewal of an award to increase funding or extend the period of performance is at the discretion of the Department of State.

Issuance of this Notice of Funding Opportunity does not constitute an award commitment on the part of the U.S. government, nor does it commit the U.S. government to pay for costs incurred in the preparation and submission of proposals. Further, the U.S. government reserves the right to reject any or all proposals received.

E.2. Payment Method:

The Recipient must request payment under this award by completing form SF-270—Request for Advance or Reimbursement and submitting the form to the Grants Officer. Failure to comply with the terms and conditions of this award may result in payment delays.

The payment of the award amount will be made in two installments. A certain percentage of the total award amount up to 60% of the total will be paid immediately after signing the grant and submission of the valid bank account by Recipient. The rest will be paid upon submission of the interim narrative program report by Recipient. Each award document will contain detailed payment information. The U.S. government reserves the right to retain the last payment up to 10 % of the award amount until all project activities are completed and the final program and financial reports are submitted by the Recipient and approved by the Grant Officer and the Grant Officer Representative.

E.3. Terms and Conditions

Before submitting an application, applicants may wish to review all the terms and conditions and required certifications which will apply to this award, to ensure that they will be able to comply. These include:

2 CFR 200, 2 CFR 600, Certifications and Assurances, and the Department of State Standard Terms and Conditions, all of which are available at: https://www.state.gov/about-us-office-of-the-procurement-executive/. Note the U.S Flag branding and marking requirements in the Standard Terms and Conditions.

E.4. Reporting Requirements

Recipients will be required to submit financial reports and program reports. The award document will specify the forms and how often these reports must be submitted.

F. FEDERAL AWARDING AGENCY CONTACTS

For more information, please contact us by e-mail at SarajevoBOLD@state.gov .