NOFO BOLD Mentorship grant-FY24-final.docx

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

U.S. EMBASSY SARAJEVO, PUBLIC DIPLOMACY SECTION

NOTICE OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

Funding Opportunity Title: BOLD SMALL GRANTS MENTORING PROGRAM

Funding Opportunity Number: BH-010-FY2024

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

CFDA Number: 19.900

Total amount available: Up to USD 12,000

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 to design and implement the BOLD (Balkanski Omladinski Lideri, Young Balkan Leaders) Small Grants Mentoring Program.

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

This mentoring program is complementary to the BOLD Small Grants Competitions, which will be announced in separate notices of funding opportunities.

One Small Grants Competition will be open to all BOLD members, while the other will be open only to BOLD fellowship alumni to compete for funds of up to $15,000 to implement projects in the areas of economic development and civic engagement over the course of a year.

Funding will be awarded to grantees of the small grant competition only after they work with the applicant in a mentoring workshop to fine-tune their projects (see no. 1 below).

The goal of the mentoring program is to equip awardees of the grant competition with the skills and support needed, throughout the grant year, to effectively implement their projects in their communities, and to become skilled project managers and grant administrators.

The applicant will be expected to guide the winning grantees through the administrative process of receiving their award, successfully implementing their program, handling problems as they arise, and regularly reporting on the project’s progress to PDS.

The most qualified applicants will have a thorough understanding of the U.S. government’s grant process and how to be a steward of those funds for the most effective outcome. Applicants should also be willing and available to expertly impart that knowledge and experience to young grantees who are seeking to successfully make a difference in their communities.

Mandatory components:

1. Applicants should propose a plan to convene all BOLD grant recipients in-person or online immediately after the notification of their selection, for a comprehensive workshop on the basics of grant management. The applicant should familiarize grantees with what to expect in terms of the mandatory grants’ forms, which they will receive from PDS prior to receiving the funds. The applicants should introduce grantees to best practice communications skills with the granting organization (PDS), including timely and effective reporting on grant activities. During this introductory workshop, the applicant should inform grantees that individual sessions will be scheduled to go through the process of making potential adjustments to the budget, to ensure that the activities planned consistently support their goals and objectives, that activities are feasible and maximally effective, and that the budget is realistic and economical. The applicant will then schedule individual sessions with grantees and work with each one on thoroughly reviewing and revising their proposals and budgets. Following the sessions, grantees will resubmit their proposals to PDS for the disbursement of funds.

2. Applicants should include a plan to convene a minimum of two additional group, online or in-person, training sessions to ensure the most effective implementation of the proposals. Topics of these sessions should include, but not be limited to, finding partners for community projects and how to make the most of them, how to get buy-in and public support for the grantees’ ideas for community solutions, putting together a public communications and social media campaign, troubleshooting when problems arise, and coping with disappointment when expectations are not met.

3. The applicant should propose a plan for ongoing personal mentoring support for each grantee throughout the grant year – whether in-person or remotely – to help them overcome hurdles in reaching their goals, identify problem areas, and encourage them to meet deadlines and keep to their plans. The applicant should be an approachable resource for grantees to go to for advice and learned experience.

4. The applicant will be the primary liaison between PDS and the grantees and should keep up regular communication with PDS about the progress of the projects and notify PDS in a timely manner of any problems that arise.

5. The applicant will report quarterly to PDS on progress of the projects, in a written format.

6. The applicant will attend the projects’ main and final events and write a social media post (accompanied with photos) about them and share them with PDS for further posting and distribution.

A detailed budget should be expressed in USD, with a maximum amount of $12,000.

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

B. FEDERAL AWARD INFORMATION

Length of Performance Period: 16 months

Number of Awards Anticipated: One

Award Amounts: One award in the amount of USD 12,000

Total Available Funding: Up to USD 12,000

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

Anticipated Award Date: August 2024

Funding Instrument Type: Grant, Fixed Award Amount (FAA)

B1. Awards related to this notice is 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. Awarding of non-competitive continuations 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 16 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, and individuals 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: 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 number in the application.

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

· SF424A (Budget Information for Non-Construction programs)

· SF424B I (Assurance for Non-Construction Programs-Individual

· 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/individual may submit only one proposal to this 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 16 months.

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

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

In the subject line of your email please write “Application for BOLD Small Grant Mentoring Program.”

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 12.000.

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

D.4. 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:

Please indicate which program you are applying for (BOLD Small Grants Mentoring Program).

1. Applicant’s Contact Information

a. Implementing organization: Specify the officially registered name of the organization/specify the name of individual.

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

Project title: Please write “BOLD SMALL GRANTS MENTORING PROGRAM” in this field.

Amount requested (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 why it should receive support from the U.S. Embassy.

4. Project outcome: Please explain what you want to achieve by implementing your project?

5. Description of project activities: Please provide a detailed plan of activities you want to implement. The applicants need to provide a detailed plan of the training sessions with grantees, as well as mentoring plan.

6. 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.

7. Project schedule and timeline: Note your project duration in months and give an overview of the schedule.

8. Background of implementing organization/Individual: 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. Please briefly explain the past experience in case individuals apply in implementing similar projects.

9. Previous U.S. government funding: Indicate whether the implementing organization/individual 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. Please, state whether the project was successfully concluded,

10. 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.

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

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:

•Description of project activities. The proposal is well developed and provides a lot of details on how is going to be implemented. The proposal contains a detailed training plan for grantees as well as mentoring plan.

•Outcome. Project clearly identifies goal to be achieved.

•Budget is reasonable in relation to the proposed activities and anticipated results.

•Monitoring and evaluation. The proposal outlines how project success and impact will be determined.

•Previous US government funding. Please outline the past experience you had working with USG.

G. FEDERAL AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION

G1. Federal Award Notices

The grant award will be written, signed, awarded, and administered by the Grants 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 12,000 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 80% 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 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 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.