NOFO BOLD Economic Development Workshop-FY24-final.docx

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

U.S. EMBASSY SARAJEVO, PUBLIC DIPLOMACY SECTION

NOTICE OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

Funding Opportunity Title: BOLD WORKSHOP ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Funding Opportunity Number: BH-012-FY2024

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

CFDA Number: 19.900

Total Amount Available: Up to USD 70,000

A. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The United States Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, through the Public Diplomacy Section (PDS), is pleased to announce a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to design and implement one (seven-day) BOLD (Balkanski Omladinski Lideri, Young Balkan Leaders) Economic Development/Entrepreneurship Workshop for Young Leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES:

The goal of the workshop is to develop the skills of young leaders in BiH to create opportunities for economic development in their communities through developing and/or launching their own business plan or developing projects in support of entrepreneurship.

Special emphasis should be placed on innovative business model design; project-based collaboration; and leveraging assets within the BOLD network to ensure project success.

MANDATORY COMPONENETS OF APPLICATION:

1. Applicants should propose one seven-day workshop (excluding arrival and departure dates) for up to 50 participants from across BiH. The minimum number of participants is 45. The age range of possible participants is 18-35, but the applicant may limit the range further for participation to best fit the proposed workshop’s theme.

2. The workshop should be planned, organized, and take place within 18 months of the grant’s awarding.

3. The workshops should offer an innovative plan and provide young people with practical skills to contribute to the economic development of their communities.

Content can include, but is not limited to, ideas for starting and running a small business in BiH, market research and pitching business ideas, organizational development and management, innovation, emerging markets, risk analysis, strategic business planning, corporate social responsibility, gaining entrepreneurial skills that will better prepare them for the 21st century market, and ideas to enhance existing enterprises.

4. The primary outcome of the workshops is for participants (individually or groups of participants jointly) to design an economic development project to be implemented in their communities over the course of the following year.

The workshop should deliver training in project management and the design and development of a project proposal and/or business plan, including a budget. By the end of the workshop participants should complete a basic draft of their project designs in the form of a project proposal which will be competitive for funding from the Embassy or other donors.

5. Participants will be eligible to submit proposals in a BOLD small grant competition that will take place in 2025.

6. The proposal should contain a detailed day-to-day schedule for the workshop, and other necessary information that makes it clear to anyone not familiar with it how the program will meet the stated objectives and projected outcomes.

7. There should be a strong American component in the delivery of the workshop, ideally, with at least one participating American trainer contributing their expertise and experience from the economic or business field (either virtually or in person).

8. The applicant should propose a nationwide recruitment plan to reach workshop participants from all parts of the country that goes beyond a public call for applications to include targeted outreach to appropriate youth audiences.

PDS should review the final list of participants for each workshop before they are notified of their selection.

9. It is the obligation of the applicant to ensure that workshop participants’ information about themselves, their experience in the workshop, and/or their project ideas are shared and publicized on social media platforms of the BOLD network so that others can see their leadership examples and be motivated by their experience in the workshop. All photos, videos, or text material produced during the workshop or after should be submitted to PDS at SarajevoBOLD@state.gov . In the subject line of your email please write “application for BOLD Action Workshops on Economic Development.”

Please note that a detailed budget should be expressed in USD, with a maximum amount of $70,000.

PDS reserves the right to reduce, revise, or increase proposal budgets and participant numbers based on program needs and the availability of U.S. government funding.

B. FEDERAL AWARD INFORMATION

Length of Performance Period: 18 months

Number of Awards Anticipated: One

Award Amounts: One award in the amount of USD 70,000

Total Available Funding: USD 70,000

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

Anticipated Award Date: September 2024

Funding Instrument Type: Grant, Fixed Amount Award (FAA) B1. Awards related to this notice are subject to the 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. Awarding of a non-competitive continuation in FY 2025 is contingent on the availability of funding and successful performance.

B2. Project performance period. All activities should last for a maximum of 18 months.

C. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

C1. Who can apply: Non-government, non-profit organizations (including think tanks, civil society organizations) educational institutions that are based and legally registered in Bosnia and Herzegovina are eligible to apply. Applicants must demonstrate an ability to work in all parts of BiH, whether independently or in cooperation with a partner organization.

C2. Other eligibility requirements: All organizations must have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number issued via www.SAM.gov as well as a valid registration on www.SAM.gov before their project proposals can be funded. Please see Section E for information on how to obtain these registrations.

D. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

D1. Mandatory application forms: Your application cannot be reviewed without all of the below elements. All forms and instructions are available at https://ba.usembassy.gov/ under Grants and under Application package.

Please note: Obtaining the Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) and registering in the SAM system can take up to one month. We strongly encourage you to start this process as soon as possible.

· SF-424 (Application for Federal Assistance – organizations). Please make sure to include your UEI in the application.

· SF424A (Budget Information for Non-Construction programs)

· Project Proposal (10 pages maximum): The proposal should contain sufficient information that anyone not familiar with it would understand exactly what the applicant wants to do.

D2. 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 organization may submit only one proposal to this notice of funding opportunity.

· Proposals may not exceed 10 pages in length (including budget) in Calibri size 12 font.

· All fields in the grant application form must be completed and sent via email as one document.

· Project duration may not exceed 18 months.

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

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

Upon submission, please request a confirmation of the receipt of your application.

D3. Budget Guidelines: Any application not meeting the budget requirements below will not be considered for funding.

· Detailed budget should be written in USD, with a maximum amount of

USD 70,000.

· Budget should NOT include VAT expenses; organizations need to ask for VAT return based on bilateral agreement signed between the U.S. government and the BiH government.

· 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, web site 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

· Vocational training, for example teaching participants to weld, perform electrical work, sew, raise bees, etc.

· 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

D4. Application Instructions: 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.

Program Type: Economic Development.

1. Applicant’s Contact Information

a. Implementing organization: Specify the officially registered name of the organization.

b. Contact person and title: Name and the title of the person who is authorized to sign official documents, if different from the Project Coordinator. You may state the name of the Project Coordinator too.

c. Address/Postal Code and City:

d. Phone number:

e. E-mail: Please include both the general e-mail address for your organization and the e-mail address of the project coordinator or person who is authorized to sign official documents.

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.

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 situation:

Clearly identify the problem your project will address. Please explain what causes the problem, and what aspect of the causes you are addressing.

· For example: The percentage of unemployment is the highest among the youth population (60%) in my local community. Lack of employment contributes to the departure of young people from the country. The IT sector offers a promising employment opportunity, but youth lack the required skills. Existing educational institutions do not have adequate curriculum to meet the needs of the IT market.

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 effect on their organization or community.

· Following the above example, a project outcome might be “Create conditions to increase job opportunities for youth in the IT sector in my local community.”

6. Description of the project activities:

Explain the activities you plan to implement in the scope of your project and how those activities will achieve the projected outcome(s).

7. Activity locations:

List the cities/towns/communities where the project activities will take place.

8. Project beneficiaries:

Describe the anticipated beneficiaries of your project, including estimated number and age range.

9. Project schedule and timeline:

Note your project duration in months 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.

10. Project partners:

If you are implementing your project jointly with any other organizations, please list the names and type of involvement of those partner organizations. A partner organization is an organization with which you work to develop and implement the project. Please note: contractors you engage to deliver goods or services such as trainers, web developers or suppliers are NOT partner organizations.

11. Key personnel:

List the names, titles and roles of key personnel involved in the project, including organization staff and any experts or trainers you will engage to implement the project. Give a brief overview (1-2 sentences) of their experience/qualifications. What proportion of their time will be used in support for your project?

12. Anticipated outputs of the project:

An output is defined as the direct and tangible results of the project activities, which can usually be measured (number of people trained, number of public advocacy campaigns conducted, number of media articles or social media posts published, etc.)

13. Monitoring and Evaluation Plan:

Monitoring and Evaluation plan: The proposal should outline in detail how project success and impact will be determined. Please include how you intend 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.

· For the initial example, it could be proof of new training programs for youth in the IT sector, or it could be a post-project report that indicates how many youths had secured internships or jobs.

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 work or community; greater participation and responsibility in civic organizations; interpretation and explanation of experiences and new knowledge gained; continued contacts between participants, community members, and others.

· Institutional changes, such as increased collaboration and partnerships, policy reforms, new programming, and organizational improvements.

· Please note: Consideration should be given to the appropriate timing of data collection for each level of outcome. For example, satisfaction is usually captured as a short-term outcome, whereas behavior and institutional changes are normally considered longer-term outcomes.

14. Project publicity:

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

15. 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.”

16. Background of implementing organization:

Briefly explain the mission of the organization, date of registration, number of employees, their work experience, number of volunteers, past and current programs implemented, as well as its technical and management capacity. Please briefly explain what internal control procedures you have put in place to manage grant funds.

17. Previous U.S. government funding:

Indicate whether the implementing organization 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.

18. Detailed budget:

Present the budget in the form of a spreadsheet, in USD amounts, dividing the budget into the categories delineated in the application. Ensure that your stated project activities are properly budgeted based on reasonable market price for personnel, fringe, travel, contractual services, supplies, and other direct costs.

The ratio between administrative costs (personnel, fringe, and other direct costs) and program costs (travel, supplies and contractual) will have impact to project evaluation.

19. Budget narrative:

Please explain your budget in narrative form, detail personnel duties, list names of trainers/moderators/experts and project staff and break down travel and lodging costs (i.e., how many people, how many overnights, cost per person per day, etc.)

E. HOW TO APPLY FOR REQUIRED REGISTRATIONS

All organizations applying for grants (except individuals) must obtain the following registration which is free of charge:

www.SAM.gov registration which will generate a UEI.

Any applicant with an exclusion in the System for Award Management (SAM) is not eligible to apply for an assistance award in accordance with the OMB guidelines at 2 CFR 180 that implement Executive Orders 12549 (3 CFR, 1986 Comp., p. 189) and 12689 (3 CFR, 1989 Comp., p. 235), “Debarment and Suspension.”

The Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) is one of the data elements mandated by Public Law 109-282, the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA), for all Federal awards. SAM.gov is the Federal government's primary database for complying with FFATA reporting requirements. OMB designated SAM.gov as the central repository to facilitate applicant and recipient use of a single public website that consolidates data on all federal financial assistance. Under the law, it is mandatory to register in SAM.gov.

The UEI will be assigned when an organization registers or renews its SAM registration. To access SAM.gov an organization is required to have a Login.gov account. Organization can create an account at https://login.gov/. As a reminder, organizations need to renew its sam.gov registration annually.

www.SAM.gov requires all entities to renew their registration once a year to maintain an active registration status in SAM.gov. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure it has an active registration in SAM.gov.

If an organization plans to issue a sub-contract or sub-award, those sub-awardees must also have a unique entity identifier (UEI number). Those entities can register for a UEI only at SAM.gov.

If an organization does not have an active registration in SAM.gov the grant will not be signed with that organization. If you experience difficulties in registering in SAM during the process of applying, you may send us the screenshot as the proof that you already started the SAM registering process. All organizations applying for grants (except individuals) must obtain these registrations, the latter are free of charge.

However, if you experience any problem in registering in SAM.gov use the following link (www.SAM.gov) to register for live chat, so the SAM administrators can answer your questions. Working hours for this service are from Monday through Friday after 14:00.

F. 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.) (25 points)

· Outcomes. Project clearly identifies the goals and objectives of the project and is likely to provide maximum impact in achieving proposed results. (15 points)

· Organizational capacity and record on previous grants. The organization demonstrates expertise and the ability to perform the proposed activities. (25 points)

· Budget and narrative justification are completed and reasonable in relation to the proposed activities and anticipated results. (10 points)

· Monitoring and evaluation. The proposal outlines in detail how project success and impact will be determined. This will include methods to measure project impact and/or indicators/milestones to indicate project progress towards achieving the outcomes outlined in the proposal. (15 points)

· Sustainability. The proposal needs to contain information about the sustainability of the project. Project activities should continue to have a positive impact after the end of the project. Proposals should explain this future impact and/or sustainability of the project. (10 points)

G. FEDERAL AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION

G1. 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 total amount for this program may not exceed 70,000 USD. 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.

Payment Method: The payment of the award amount will be made in multiple 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 the Recipient. The rest will be paid upon submission of the interim narrative program and financial reports by the Recipient. Each award document will contain detailed payment information. The USG 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.

G2. 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.

G.3. 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.

FEDERAL AWARDING AGENCY CONTACTS

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