NOFO Questions and Answers.pdf

NOFO Questions and Answers

TUNIS06082024

Local Grant: University Leadership and Engagement

Question: Objective 1 in the NOFO (TUNIS06082024) states the need for “the creation of clubs”, can we use already existing clubs within the universities instead of creating new clubs and help improve the level of student engagement?

Answer: Applications should propose activities that empower students and increase their leadership skills by developing and managing clubs within university campuses, which may include existing clubs at a university.

Question: Are local civil society organizations, non-profit organizations, community groups, non-governmental organizations, professional associations, private sector organizations, and universities registered in the official gazette of the Tunisian government but headquartered outside Tunisia are eligible to apply?

Answer: In this announcement, we seek to support projects in Tunisia and work with locally registered organizations. Please note:

Applications that focus on activities in countries and territories other than Tunisia will NOT be considered. Applicants must be locally registered with the JORT, but may be headquartered outside of Tunisia. Please see the full announcement for all eligibility requirements.

Question: Can the applicant be a consortium of NGOs? In that case, does it have to register on SAM.gov as such? Or should each member register separately?

Answer: The applicant must be a single entity that meets the eligibility requirements stated in the NOFO. The prime applicant may propose subawards with other entities to conduct award activities.

Question: Can one of the consortium members be an NGO that operates in Tunisia but that is registered in Europe, and not in Tunisia (where CSO registrations are de facto blocked since 2020, except for very rare cases that definitely do not focus on policy engagement)

Answer: The prime applicant must be registered with the JORT and meet all eligibility requirements as stated in the NOFO.

Question: Is the Tunisian Ministry of Education informed about this NOFO?

Is there already a framing agreement?

Answer: The proposed activities to be conducted are extra-curricular activities at the proposed universities. The participating universities may notify the Ministry of Higher Education at their discretion.

Question: Has DOS identified specific champions of this idea in the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and/or specific universities, and has USDOS already established a dialogue with them about this project? In other words, will it be our job to generate such buy-in, or is there already a unit or champion of this concept?”

Answer: The substantial involvement of the U.S. Government is outlined in the NOFO.

Question: When stating 5 partner universities as Project beneficiaries, do they include the US universities?

Answer: Beneficiary universities must be Tunisian universities.

Question: Do Project beneficiaries need to be distinct universities, or can they be distinct faculties in the same university?

Answer: As stated in the NOFO, Project beneficiaries should be at least five universities, with a total of at least 50 students per university.

Question: Part of our approach is to systematically connect North African youth to each other when possible. For this NOFO, could we involve youth from other North African countries in our online activities based in Tunisia?

Answer: Participants and beneficiaries must be Tunisian.

Question: Aside from having a UEI number, are there any other specific registration requirements for sub-awardees?

Answer: Grantees awarded under this announcement will be required to report all sub-awardees receiving funds of $25,000 or more to http://www.fsrs.gov.

Question: When we talk about clubs, some are based in and sanctioned by the university, have space in the university, etc., and some are fully independent of the university but most members are current or former students. Is there any explicit limitation that we need to focus exclusively on one or the other?

Answer: This solicitation invites applications to empower students and increase their leadership skills by developing and managing clubs within university campuses. Working directly with universities is crucial as successful project will provide tools and techniques to promote student-administration collaboration in the financial and administrative management of extracurricular activities. To ensure sustainability, the project will help universities adopt new mechanisms that engage students in decision making beyond the project timeframe. Funds are available to support projects that increase youth resilience and empower them to take an active role in their communities.