NOFO WE Champs _ For Posting 3.14.2022.pdf

S/GWI Notice of Funding Opportunity 1 4/18/2022

Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues (S/GWI)

WE-Champs: Strengthening the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem by Networking

Regional Women’s Chambers of Commerce and Business Associations:

CFDA Number: 19.801 Funding Opportunity Title: WE-Champs: Strengthening the Entrepreneurial

Ecosystem by Networking Regional Women’s Chambers of Commerce and Business Associations

Announcement Type: Cooperative Agreement Anticipated Number of Awards: One (1) Funding: $1,175,308 (not to exceed) Period of Performance: No more than 36 months/ 3 years Deadline for proposal submission: 11:59 PM EST May 13, 2022

Deadline for question submission: 11:59 PM EST April 4, 2022 Federal Agency Contact: SGWIProjectProposals@state.gov

I. Project Description

The U.S. Department of State, Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues (S/GWI) announces an open competition for organizations interested in submitting applications for projects that promote women’s entrepreneurship and dismantle systemic gender barriers by networking regional women’s Chambers of Commerce (Chambers) and business associations. The project will support the U.S Interim National Security Strategic Guidance1, National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality2, and Executive Order 140203, as well as the forthcoming U.S. Strategy for Women’s Economic Security Globally.

Project activities should strengthen women’s economic security by supporting women’s Chambers of Commerce (Chambers) and business associations through locally designed and led responses to building gender-responsive institutions. This project may also partner with existing Chambers and business associations not solely focused on supporting women members, but are conducting advocacy on behalf of women entrepreneurs and women in business to address member-identified concerns, potentially resulting in legal, social and/or institutional change through targeted advocacy.

S/GWI seeks proposals from qualified organizations with demonstrated in-country experience (see below for list of potential countries) in developing partnerships with relevant stakeholders, including the public and/or private sector, civil society, and grassroots organizations. Applicants must demonstrate an ability to design, implement, 1 www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/NSC-1v2.pdf 2 https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/National-Strategy-on-Gender-Equity-and-

Equality.pdf 3 https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/03/08/executive-order-on-establishment-of-the-white-house-gender-policy-council/

S/GWI Notice of Funding Opportunity 2 monitor, evaluate, adapt, and learn in programming that coordinates with existing efforts by U.S. government, other donors, the host country, and local actors.

All projects should lead to improved support from Chambers and business associations to women-led enterprises, advocacy for and implementation of gender-responsive reforms, and strengthened women’s economic security and leadership. Successful projects will be informed by an iterative, participatory gender equality and social inclusion analysis;

demonstrate, through practice and budget allocation, a commitment to meaningfully partnering and supporting local organizations, including those led by or serving women and marginalized groups; integrate practices to ensure the sustainability of efforts after funding ends; incorporate a Do No Harm approach, including through Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) provisions; safely and respectfully engage with all members of a community, including men and boys, gender-diverse persons, indigenous communities, persons with disabilities, and members of historically marginalized groups.

S/GWI’s mandate is to promote the rights and empowerment of women and girls, in all their diversity, in U.S. foreign policy. S/GWI programs promote, respect, and advance human rights. S/GWI projects are flexible, civil society-focused, and global in reach; they are designed to support and foster locally informed and implemented civil society-based solutions, inspiring and providing best practices to the Department to advance women’s equality and empowerment as a keystone of U.S. foreign policy. Learning will inform other U.S. policy, programs, and partnerships. As such, proposals should incubate successful solutions that can be shared and/or replicated elsewhere and prioritize strong local participation and ownership.

S/GWI is dedicated to promoting human rights, fundamental freedoms, gender equality, and equality for all and seeks prioritizes proposals from partners that will strive to inclusively implement these democratic values.

Priority Region and Countries: Significant opportunity exists to build off past and strengthen existing work with Chambers and business associations in advancement of women’s economic security in Europe and Eurasia. Applicants must propose work equal to the planned funding amount ($1,175,308) in no fewer than four countries in the Europe and Eurasia region. Final country selection will be confirmed in consultation between the successful applicant and S/GWI. Additional countries may be selected during project implementation pending availability of additional funding. Country selections may be subject to additional approvals and/or vetting.

The following are countries in which this project may work: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Ukraine.

This notice is subject to availability of funding.

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Note: S/GWI strongly encourages applicants to immediately access SAMS

Domestic, the required system for submission, in order to obtain a username and password. For further instructions, please see Section V below.

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II. Funding Opportunity Description

Background Information:

As outlined in the National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality,2 strengthening women’s economic security and labor force participation is vital to advancing gender equity and equality. Women’s full economic participation is essential to the global economy and to enable their leadership and participation in every aspect of economic, political, and social life. Gender-based violence (GBV), along with other systemic barriers, can prevent women’s full economic participation. Therefore, holistic approaches to advancing both women’s economic security, leadership, and promoting respect for human rights are required.

When women and men have equal access to opportunities to participate fully in their economies and societies, countries are safer and more prosperous. When women are economically empowered, they invest in their families and communities, producing a multiplier effect that increases economic growth and stability. Women’s economic empowerment boosts productivity and income equality. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing gender gaps in women’s economic participation and leadership, and raised significant obstacles for women workers and entrepreneurs and women-led small-and medium-sized enterprises. Women working in the informal economy are facing great challenges, experiencing dramatic losses in earnings, which are not recovering at the same rate as those of men.4 Across sectors, the pandemic has amplified the unequal burden of care work often shouldered by women and girls, affecting women’s economic participation and wage earning.5

Since the onset of the pandemic, women-led businesses have experienced disrupted access to relational and network capital, which may stifle growth and prevent new women entrepreneurs from joining the marketplace.4 Networking, an important activity to start and grow businesses, has largely transitioned to virtual environments, which may disproportionately affect women entrepreneurs given caregiving commitments and the digital gender gap.6 These and other factors have left many women struggling to maintain, let alone grow, their businesses and meaningfully participate in the economy.

Women and girls are more affected by climate change than male peers, yet innovation and entrepreneurship in this sector are male-dominated and women entrepreneurs face heightened barriers such as capital and structural discrimination to achieving success in “greentech” and related fields.7 Significant opportunity exists to mitigate the disproportionate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on women entrepreneurs by enabling women-led businesses to adapt to new technology, including but not limited to

4 https://genderequalitycovid19recovery.com/ 5 https://blogs.worldbank.org/voices/covid-19-highlights-unfinished-business-ensuring-equality-women-entrepreneurs 6 http://www7.bbk.ac.uk/cimr/2021/04/22/women-entrepreneurs-and-networking-during-covid-19/ 7 https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/09/why-invest-female-climate-entrepreneurs/

S/GWI Notice of Funding Opportunity 5 financial technology and digital and e-commerce.8 Women’s Chambers and business associations are fora in which women entrepreneurs work to mitigate these and other challenges

Strategic Policy Framework:

The project resulting from this NOFO will support S/GWI’s implementation of the National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality, the forthcoming U.S. Strategy for Women’s Economic Security Globally, and the U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally, and will further the priorities of the Gender Equity and Equality Action (GEEA) Fund, which was announced at the Generation Equality Forum.9 The GEEA Fund, which provides the basis of funding for this NOFO, aims to advance women’s economic security and to employ a holistic approach to advancing gender-equitable and secure access to economic resources, services, and decision-making opportunities. To address systemic gender barriers that prevent full economic participation, including gender-based violence, it will also support the U.S. Strategy to

Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally.10

This project will support this GEEA Fund priority:

• Promote Entrepreneurship, and Financial and Digital Inclusion, including through Trade and Investment. Under this priority, programming will invest in female entrepreneurship, including through investing in gender-smart business and transforming capital markets; advance trade and investment opportunities for women-owned, -led, and -managed businesses; close gender gaps in access to banking and financial services, such as credit and insurance, including by increasing access to national identification, supporting financing for digital infrastructure, and incentivizing reform of discriminatory laws and social norms;

supports bridging the gender digital divide and foster inclusive economies, including in digital industries.

In support of this priority, the project may work to ensure that women-owned and led businesses, and other private-sector institutions, are quality workplaces for women and other workers and may address systemic gender barriers that prevent women’s full participation in the workforce or as entrepreneurs, including in light of the COVID-19 context. Human rights abuses and discriminatory gender and social norms – including gender-based violence, employer policies and practices, customary systems, and laws and regulations – limit the ability of women to be equal and catalytic economic actors.

Barriers can compound, necessitating an intersectional approach to ensure that women in marginalized populations are afforded equal access and opportunities. Furthermore, economic security can only be achieved if women’s safety and well-being are ensured, 8 https://www.cfr.org/blog/women-and-e-commerce-300-billion-opportunity 9 https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/06/30/fact-sheet-united-states-to-announce-commitments-to-the-generation-equality-forum/ 10 https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/258703.pdf

S/GWI Notice of Funding Opportunity 6 including through protection from gender-based violence as a precondition to women’s economic security.

The activities engaging and supporting religious, ethnic, or racial minorities, individuals with disabilities, or other historically marginalized and underrepresented/underserved groups will support implementation of the State-USAID Joint Strategic Plan (publication forthcoming) Goal 3 Objective 2 on Equity and Inclusion, including as it relates to supporting: the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6401 et seq), E.O. 14020 Establishment of the White House Gender Policy Council, E.O. 13985 Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government, P.M. #NSM-4 Advancing the Human Rights of LGBTQI+ Persons around the World, and Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to ensuring that all individuals are treated fairly and equitably, adopting an intersectional approach that considers the barriers and challenges faced by those who experience intersecting and compounding forms of discrimination and bias related to gender, race, and other factors, including sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, sex characteristics, ethnicity, religion, ability, age, socioeconomic status, and other aspects of identity that impact a person’s relative power, access, and ability to meaningfully participate in society. Intersectionality does not consider one characteristic to be a person’s primary source of marginalization but seeks to understand how multiple characteristics can compound and shape marginalization. Multiple marginalized communities are also affected by the broader existence of privilege and oppression in society. The design and implementation of this opportunity must reflect that commitment to equity and equality for all.

Applications must support the policy guidance described above, while complementing existing local and national initiatives.

Results Framework:

Theory of Change:

If women’s Chambers of Commerce and business associations are established and/or strengthened through increased training, resources, and connections with similar bodies in their regions, then they can improve support to women-led enterprises, advocate for and implement gender-responsive reforms, and strengthen women’s economic security.

Goal:

To strengthen women’s economic security by supporting women’s Chambers of Commerce (Chambers) and business associations through locally designed and led responses to building gender-responsive institutions and responding to needs of women members, in all their diversity.

Objectives:

Applicants should propose objectives that support regional networking among women’s Chambers and business associations to:

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1. Support women entrepreneurs and WSMEs: Provide Chambers and associations with support to strengthen services for women entrepreneurs and WSMEs including by addressing member-identified needs, such as mentorship, networking, leadership and entrepreneurship training, and/or facilitating cross-regional linkages. Member interest and/or country economic context may facilitate work in climate-change adaptation/resilience, e-commerce and business technology, and value-chain linkages, among others.

2. Gender-responsive pandemic recovery: Address systemic barriers to women’s full economic participation through a coalition/network facilitated by Chambers, including to address gender-based violence (GBV), unpaid care work, and other impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic – as well as addressing broader social norms that are contributing to these impacts – affecting women’s economic security through advocacy and implementation of member-developed and supported reforms. Member-identified needs may include access to social protection for women entrepreneurs and their families, financial relief funds, or opportunities specifically designed for WSMEs, among others.

3. Chamber-facilitated advocacy: Further Chamber- and association-supported women’s advocacy for gender-equitable reforms to legal frameworks, regulatory systems, access to services, and business communities. This may include social and behavior change communication activities around gendered stereotypes, engaging men and boys in support for women’s economic participation and leadership, liaising with government officials to advocate for reform; and other member-identified needs.

Illustrative activities may include:

• Facilitation of learning between women’s Chambers and/or business associations, as well as those serving members of historically marginalized communities, within a region related to issue-based advocacy, including as it relates to identifying challenges, crafting solutions, and communicating to public and private-sector decision-makers as well as the general public;

• Technical assistance to women’s Chambers and/or business associations related to organizational health by addressing gaps identified though capacity and technical needs assessment, including but not limited to governance, strategic planning, management, membership development, and communications;

• Facilitation of learning between women’s Chambers and/or business associations related to organizational capacity and management practices;

• Small grants to participating Chambers for organizational development activities including but not limited to membership services, improved communications and marketing, and/or staff development;

• Support for advocacy of member-identified reforms affecting women entrepreneurs, potentially addressing legal, regulatory, and cultural barriers to their economic participation and security;

• Organize virtual or in-person regional conference of women’s Chambers and/or business associations;

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• Virtual or in-person learning visits within regions or across regions between women’s Chambers’ and/or business associations’ leadership and advocacy;

and/or

• Build resilience of women-owned businesses by sharing best practices and capacity building through Chamber networks to support innovative approaches, including tech, to deal with various crisis such as the pandemic or climate change.

Intended Results:

Possible intended results may include, but are not limited to:

• Women entrepreneurs and WSMEs have increased access to holistic support from

Chambers and business associations to start, grow, and sustain their businesses.

• Chambers and business associations are equipped to implement member-led reforms to address barriers inhibiting women’s economic participation and security.

• Chambers and business associations adopt gender-responsive plans and policies to support members, including women and members of historically marginalized groups, in addressing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring that women-owned and led businesses are quality, safe workplaces for women and other workers and addressing systemic gender barriers that prevent women’s full participation in the workforce.

• Chambers, business associations, and their members have the skills, access, and support needed to advocate for the enactment of gender-equitable reforms to legal frameworks, regulatory systems, and in business communities to advance women’s economic security to ensure institutions are more responsive to members and communities more broadly.

• Members of Chambers and women’s business association have increased access to information, mentors, networks, and markets throughout the region.

• Chambers and business associations are enabled to transform structural inequities faced by their members.

• Chambers and business associations provide strengthened, inclusive services to all members through regional support and networking.

Indicators:

• See Annex B for a list of possible indicators to include.

III. Proposal Requirements

Please read the entire NOFO and utilize the provided checklist in order ensure a complete proposal. In addition to referencing B (Bureau-Specific Award Provisions) and C (Indicators), applicants must include the following for this proposal submission:

1. Completed and signed SF-424, SF-424A and SF424B and SF-LLL forms.

Applicants under consideration for an award that may engage in lobbying activities will be required to submit a Disclosure of Lobbying Activities (SF-

LLL) form. The SF-424 documents collect basic information on the applicant, S/GWI Notice of Funding Opportunity 9 the proposed project, the funding amount requested, and information about the announcement to which it is applying;

2. Proposal Narrative (not to exceed 15 pages, single-spaced, 12-point Times New

Roman font in Microsoft Word, at least one-inch margins). Use of the S/GWI proposal narrative format is recommended, but not required. Proposal narrative must include:

• the problem the applicant seeks to address;

• the planned countries for the project;

• the implementation context, including any relevant details on the socio-political environment and target beneficiaries. not including refugees or IDP camps11; and,

• how the proposal meets required U.S. Congressional directives, strategies, and policy goals described herein;

3. Summary and Detailed Budget in USD, in Excel, using the format shown in the included budget template. Please note support for the establishment of new in-country offices is not envisioned under this project.

4. Detailed Budget Narrative (not to exceed 6 pages, single-spaced, 12-point

Times New Roman font in Microsoft Word, at least one-inch margins) that includes an explanation for each line item in the spreadsheet, as well as the source and description of any cost share offered. Directions on completing a budget narrative are included. Use of the S/GWI budget narrative template is recommended but not required;

5. Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Plan detailing project’s short-term and long-term goal(s), objective(s), activities, outputs and intended results;

provide matching indicators and explain how impact and effectiveness will be monitored, evaluated, and used for learning and adaptation throughout the program. Directions on completing a MEL plan are included. Use of the S/GWI MEL plan template is recommended but not required.

The MEL plan must include:

11 S/GWI funds are different from, but are intended to complement, other USG funds that working specifically with refugee camp populations.

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• A notional logic model/results framework12 and performance monitoring plan (PMP), including a succinct Theory of Change and a streamlined set of indicators at each of the following levels: objective, intermediate outcome, and output. Please find in Annex B to the NOFO a chart of standard U.S. Foreign Assistance (FA) indicators that S/GWI commonly uses for programming. In addition to designing their own indicators, applicants should integrate the most relevant indicators from this list into their MEL plan, as appropriate;

• A description of how the project will be monitored and analyzed for impact, effectiveness, learning, adaptation and to avoid unintended consequences;

• A timeline for data collection, analysis, and how this will inform midstream program management;

• A rigorous plan for compiling, documenting, and disseminating program results and lessons learned;

• An independent evaluation, elaborating on the type (quasi-experimental, developmental, outcome harvesting, process tracing, etc.) While the type of evaluation is flexible, State Department guidance requires it to be independent13;

• The resources, including budget, needed to implement the MEL plan;

• A demonstrated commitment to inclusive and equitable MEL, including whether evaluation design, data collection, analysis, reporting and learning are conducted in an ethical, participatory, and responsible way14; and

• Adequate provisions for data security to protect the privacy of human subjects when collecting data from individuals.

6. Implementation Timeline (not to exceed one [1] page), indicating which month(s) activities are to be implemented. The timeline of the overall proposal should include activities, evaluation efforts, and project closeout. Use of the S/GWI timeline template is recommended but not required;

13 An independent evaluation must be (1) conducted by a third-party external evaluator or conducted by the recipient if those responsible for the evaluation do not report to any program staff or managers, and (2) budgeted and scoped to provide insight and analysis of the work.

14 For best practices, see the WHO ethical and safety recommendations for researching, documenting and monitoring sexual violence in emergencies

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7. Risk Assessment and Mitigation Plan detailing adequate risk analysis and remediation for all of its operations. Risk assessment and mitigation planning should occur throughout the life of a project, resulting in revisions to risk analysis documents and processes as necessary but at lease annually. Applicants should include all assumptions and external factors in the risk analysis, including and especially safety and security of staff, participants and beneficiaries, as well as, technology. Applicants should rate the likelihood of a risk and potential impact of the risk as “High,” “Medium,” or “Low.”

Risks are unavoidable – all projects inherently contain both internal and external risks. However, with proper identification and management, risks can be prepared for, minimized, or mitigated. The purpose of a risk analysis is to identify the internal and external risks associated with the proposed project in the application, rate the likelihood of the risks, rate the potential impact of the risks on the project, and identify actions that could help mitigate the risks. S/GWI’s SAMPLE Risk Assessment template is provided, but S/GWI also welcomes more detailed models;

8. Gender and Inclusion Analysis (not to exceed 3 pages per benefitting country, single-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font in Microsoft Word, at least one-inch margins), identifying relevant gender gaps and opportunities and ways the work will address those gaps and opportunities. The analysis should also demonstrate sound approaches to inclusion, including but not limited to ethnic and religious minorities, women with disabilities, and other marginalized groups.

Proposals should demonstrate how addressing relevant gender gaps enhance the project’s goals and objectives and how the gender and inclusion analysis will be revisited, updated, and adapted throughout implementation. In addition to being weaved into the proposal narrative, this should also be a standalone document and attached to the application. The S/GWI SAMPLE Gender Analysis Questions are provided in Appendix 9 of this NOFO package, but S/GWI also welcomes more detailed models;

9. Additional attachments may be included, (letters of commitment from the applicant institution and sub-award partners, CVs of key personnel, program experience, etc.) but should not be unreasonably lengthy; and will not count against page limitations;

10. If your organization has a negotiated indirect cost rate agreement (NICRA) and includes NICRA charges in the budget, include your latest NICRA as a PDF file;

11. A PDF file copy of your organization’s most recent financial audit; and

12. Number all pages, including budget and addenda.

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Additional Information Requested:

If successful, the applicant must submit after notification of intent to make a federal award, but prior to issuance of a federal award:

● Completion of the Department’s Financial Management Survey, if receiving S/GWI funding for the first time;

● Submission of required documents to register in the Payment Management System managed by the Department of Health and Human Services, if receiving S/GWI funding for the first time (unless an exemption is provided);

and

● Other requested information or documents included in the notification of intent to make a federal award or subsequent communications prior to issuance of a federal award.

Substantial Involvement:

Applicants should be aware that if their application results in an award, S/GWI will be involved in the program and management performance of the grant in the form of a cooperative agreement, which allows S/GWI consultation and technical collaboration rights on specified project activities. Examples of substantial involvement can include:

a. Approval of the Recipient’s annual work plans, including: planned activities for the following year and changes to any activity to be carried out under the agreement;

b. Coordination with U.S. government stakeholders and partners on programming and efforts around women’s economic participation;

c. Approval of sub-award recipients, concurrence on the substantive provisions of the sub-awards, and coordination with other cooperating agencies;

d. Approval of communication and branding strategies to inform public-facing materials, social media, and publications;

e. Approval of Terms of Reference (TOR) or scope for program evaluations;

f. Approval of hiring/opportunity announcements and selection/assignment of technical experts, including but not limited to key personnel;

g. Approval of the MEL plan(s) for the Recipient and sub-award recipients;

h. Collaboration in assessing progress and identifying issues that might affect the success of the program; and

i. Other approvals that will be included in the award agreement.

Incremental Funding and Non-Competing Continuation:

Continuations beyond the initial budget period or funding amount of an award will be contingent upon the availability of funds; grantee’s progress in meeting grant requirements, including timely submission of required reports and compliance with all terms and conditions of the award; timely submission of a request for additional funding;

and a determination that continued funding would be in the best interest of the Department of State.

S/GWI Notice of Funding Opportunity 13

Pending successful implementation of this project and pending the availability of funds in subsequent fiscal years, S/GWI may add incremental funding and/or extend the award for additional time, not to exceed a five (5) year total period. In future, S/GWI may seek expansion of this project to include additional regions.

IV. Funding Restrictions

This cooperative agreement will be funded from money appropriated under the “Assistance for Europe, Eurasia, and Central Asia” (AEECA) heading in the Department of State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Act, 2021 (Div. K, P.L. 116-260) (SFOAA). AEECA is available for foreign assistance programs supporting economic or political stability, among other things, in AEECA-eligible countries. Given restrictions under section 660 of the FAA, assistance may be provided to law enforcement forces only under certain circumstances. Activities that involve assistance to law enforcement will be subject to vetting to ensure compliance with section 620M of the FAA (“Leahy Vetting“).

Activities must align with the Democracy Programs earmark by explicitly empowering marginalized communities, which include groups that have been traditionally discriminated against because of their race, nationality, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, disability status, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation, to secure their human rights on the basis of equality and with dignity; raising awareness on issues affecting marginalized populations, including programs that teach tolerance and acceptance, and build capacity to advocate for the rights of marginalized populations both in and out of the government arena; and ending discrimination, hostility, or violence against marginalized communities, including promoting robust legal protections against discrimination and hate crimes and seeking redress against discrimination.

The recipient is reminded that funds provided under this agreement must be used in a manner fully consistent with U.S. law. The recipient agrees that none of the funds provided by this award shall be used to lobby for or against abortion. The recipient agrees that none of the funds provided by this award shall be used to pay for the performance of abortion as a method of family planning or to motivate or coerce any person to practice abortions.

The following activities and costs will not be allowable:

• Construction

• Activities that appear partisan or that support individual or party electoral campaigns.

• Engagement with religious leaders and communities is encouraged; however, direct support or the appearance of direct support for any religious organization for the sole purposes of promoting religious beliefs cannot be included for funding.

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• Military assistance of any kind, including weapons buy back or rewards programs.

• Purchase of firearms, ammunition, or removal of unexploded ordnance.

• Payments for any partner government, military, or civilian government employee salary or pension.

• Duplication of services immediately available through municipal, provincial, or national government.

• Funds for market research, advertising (unless public service related to grant) or other promotional expenses.

• U.S.-based activities, study tours, scholarships, or exchange projects.

• Initiatives directed towards a permanent diaspora community as ultimate beneficiaries.

• Projects that have a predominant academic or basic research focus.

• Social welfare projects that purely provide service-delivery or humanitarian assistance.

• Costs incurred to complete activities begun with other funds.

• Medical and psychological research or clinical studies using human subjects.

• Projects exclusively of a commercial or profit-making nature.

• Cultural presentations, cultural research, cultural clubs, or festivals, etc. unless they have a specific programmatic purpose.

• Entertainment costs (e.g., receptions, social activities, ceremonies, guided tours) unless they have a specific programmatic purpose.

V. Technical Eligibility and Submission Instructions

Eligible Applicants:

Organizations submitting applications must meet the following criteria:

• Be a U.S.- or foreign-based non-profit/non-governmental organization (NGO); or

• Be a private, public, or state institution of higher education; and

• Have existing, or the capacity to develop, active and equitable partnerships with in-country partners, entities, and relevant stakeholders, including NGOs and private sector actors;

• Have capacity to carry out similar projects in up to three (3) global regions, should additional funding become available and upon proof of concept; and

• Have demonstrable experience administering successful and preferably similar programs in size, scope, and focus. S/GWI reserves the right to request additional background information on organizations that do not have previous experience administering federal awards. These applicants may be subject to limited funding on a pilot basis.

Ineligible Beneficiaries:

Given restrictions on funding, no assistance under this NOFO will be provided for military or paramilitary forces. Assistance for law enforcement may only be provided in certain limited circumstances. Unless prohibited by applicable restrictions, programming

S/GWI Notice of Funding Opportunity 15 may provide technical assistance to government officials or include government officials or to provide training or outreach to governments or involving government officials. Civil society organizations, Chambers and business associations, and their members should generally be the beneficiaries of the program. Additional restrictions may apply to certain countries or activities. As noted above, country selections may be subject to additional approvals. Any assistance under this NOFO must comply with all applicable legal restrictions.

Public International Organizations (PIOs) are not eligible to apply as prime applicants under this NOFO, though they may partner on a proposal as a sub-awardee.

S/GWI maintains an anti-discrimination policy in all of its programs and activities.

S/GWI welcomes submissions irrespective of race, ethnicity, heritage, color, creed, national origin, gender, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or other status.

Project activities must take place outside the United States.

No entity listed on the Excluded Parties List System (EPLS) in the System for Award

Management (SAM) is eligible for assistance or can participate in any activities under an 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 CFR1989 Comp., p. 235), “Debarment and Suspension.” All applicants are strongly encouraged to review the EPLS in SAM to ensure that no ineligible entity is included.

All prime applicant organizations, whether based in the United States or in another country, must have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number – formerly referred to as a DUNS (Data Universal Numbering System) number – and an active SAM.gov registration before submitting an application. S/GWI may not review applications from or make awards to applicants that have not completed all applicable UEI and

SAM.gov requirements. A 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. The 2 CFR 200 requires that subgrantees obtain a UEI number. Please note that the UEI for subgrantees is not required at the time of application but will be required before the award is processed and/or directed to a subgrantee.

All prime organizations must also continue to maintain an active SAM.gov registration with current information at all times during which they have an active Federal award or application under consideration by a Federal award agency. Please note that a “pending renewal” registration status will not be considered “active.” SAM.gov requires all entities to renew their registration once a year in order to maintain an active registration status in SAM.gov. If an applicant has not fully complied with the requirements at the time of application, S/GWI may determine that the applicant is technically ineligible to receive an award and use that determination as a basis for making an award to another applicant.

Note: The process for obtaining or renewing a SAM.gov registration has changed.

S/GWI encourages all organizations to begin the process of registering or renewing

S/GWI Notice of Funding Opportunity 16 with SAM.gov as early as possible. The registration process may take anywhere from 4-8 weeks on average.

• If you are based in the United States or pay employees within the United States, prior to registering in SAM.gov you will need an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), a Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) code, and a UEI number from Dun and Bradstreet.

• If you are based outside of the United States and do not pay employees within the United States, you do not need an EIN from the IRS. Prior to registering in SAM.gov you will need a NATO CAGE (NCAGE) code and UEI number from Dun and Bradstreet.

Legal Business Name and Banking Physical Address (entities must ensure that the physical address used is the same physical address used when establishing the primary banking account and that both addresses match) must be precise and match exactly when entering it into the IRS, D&B DUNS, NCAGE, and SAM.gov websites. Legal Business Name and Banking Physical Address given must be exactly the same—this includes spaces, parentheses, capitalization, small letters, punctuation, letters with accents, etc.;

other features not commonly used in U.S. English should be avoided. A mismatch of information will cause validation to fail.

Note: SAM.gov is not the same as SAMS Domestic. It is free to register in both systems, but the registration processes are different.

In October 2017, new information was added to the SAM.gov website to help international registrations, including “Quick Start Guide for International Registrations” and “Helpful Hints.” Navigate to SAM.gov, click Help in the top navigation bar, then click International Registrants in the left navigation panel. Please note, guidance on SAM.gov and the guidance on GSA’s website about requirement for registering in SAM.gov is subject to change. Applicants should review the website for the most up-to-date guidance.

An exemption from these requirements may be permitted on a case-by-case basis if:

An applicant’s identity must be protected due to potential endangerment of their mission, their organization’s status, their employees, or individuals being served by the applicant.

Organizations requesting exemption from UEI or SAM.gov requirements must email the point of contact listed in the NOFO at least two weeks prior to the deadline providing a justification of their request. Approval for a SAM.gov exemption must come from the warranted Grant Officer before the application can be deemed eligible for review.

Note: Foreign organizations will be required to register with the NATO Support

Agency (NSPA) to receive a NCAGE code in order to register in SAM.gov. NSPA will forward your registration request to the applicable National Codification Bureau (NCB) if your organization is located in a NATO or Tier 2 Sponsored Non-NATO Nation. As of October 2019, NATO nations included Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, S/GWI Notice of Funding Opportunity 17

Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States of America. As of October 2019, Tier 2 nations included Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Finland, India, Indonesia, Israel, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Morocco, New Zealand, Serbia, Singapore, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, and Ukraine.

NSPA and/or the appropriate NCB forwards all NCAGE code information to all Allied Committee 135 (AC/135) nations, which as of October 2019 also included Afghanistan, Belarus, Bosnia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Egypt, Georgia, Japan, Jordan, North Macedonia, Oman, Peru, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Thailand.

All organizations are strongly advised to take this into consideration when assessing whether registration may result in possible endangerment.

Cost Sharing or Matching:

Cost-sharing or matching is NOT an evaluation criteria of this NOFO.

When cost sharing is offered, all cost share or matching must be included in detail in the line item budget and noted in the budget narrative. It is understood and agreed that the applicant must provide the amount of cost sharing that it elects to stipulate in its proposal and that is later included in an approved agreement. Cost sharing may be in the form of allowable direct or indirect costs. For accountability, recipients must maintain written records to support all costs that are claimed as their contribution, as well as costs to be paid by the federal government. Such records are subject to audit. The basis for determining the value of cash and in-kind contributions must be in accordance with 2 CFR 200.306 – Cost Sharing and Matching.

Other:

Any applicant listed on the Excluded Parties List System in the System for Award Management (SAM)(www.sam.gov) 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.” Additionally no entity listed on the Excluded Parties List System in SAM can participate in any activities under an award. All organizations are strongly encouraged to review the Excluded Parties List System in SAM to ensure that no ineligible entity is included.

Organization Criteria:

● Applicants should have existing, or demonstrate the capacity to develop, active partnerships with in-country entities and relevant stakeholders including women’s civil society networks, other civil society actors, the public sector, and the private sector, as relevant to the proposed project objectives. However, one organization must be designated as the lead applicant and prime grantee for the proposed cooperative agreement.

S/GWI Notice of Funding Opportunity 18

● Applicants must demonstrate an ability to provide appropriate resources and support for the psychosocial health of staff (i.e. access to educational materials, training opportunities, counseling services, or other contextually-relevant support)

▪ References: For reference to international guidance, please see the following:

Core Humanitarian Standard Commitment 8.9 (https://corehumanitarianstandard.org/files/files/CHS-Guidance-Notesand- Indicators.pdf); and IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and

▪ Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings Action Sheet 4.4 (http://www.who.int/mental_health/emergencies/guidelines_iasc_mental_healt h_psychosocial_june_2007.pdf).

● S/GWI reserves the right to request additional background information on applicants that do not have previous experience administering federal grant awards, and these applicants may be subject to limited funding on a pilot basis.

● The Department of State generally prohibits profit under its assistance awards to for-profit or commercial organizations. No funds will be paid as profit to any recipient. Profit is defined as any amount in excess of allowable direct and indirect costs. The permissibility of costs incurred by commercial organizations is determined in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) at 48 CFR Part 30, Cost Accounting Standards, and Part 31 Contract Cost Principles and Procedures. Project income earned by the recipient must be deducted from the total project allowable cost in determining the net allowable costs on which the federal share of costs is based.

Application and Submission Information

Address to Request Application Package:

Please contact the S/GWI Programs Team at SGWIProjectProposals@state.gov if requesting reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities or for security reasons. Please note: reasonable accommodations do not include deadline extensions.

The applicant can find application forms, kits, or other materials needed to apply on SAMS Domestic under the Funding Opportunity entitled “WE-Champs: Strengthening the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem by Networking Regional Women’s Chambers of

Commerce and Business Associations,” solicitation number SFOP0008718.

Key Registrations:

The U.S. Department of State requires that all applicants complete the following registrations:

● Register for a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number at http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform

● Obtain necessary codes: for non-U.S. organizations, an NCAGE code at https://eportal.nspa.nato.int/AC135Public/scage/CageList.aspx; if based in the U.S or pay employees within the U.S., an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and a Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) code.

S/GWI Notice of Funding Opportunity 19

● Register for an individual account for your organization with the System for Award Management (SAM.gov): https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/

● Register for an individual account for your organization on SAMS Domestic:

https://mygrants.service-now.com/grants. Please be advised that applicants will need to validate their email address once a request for an account has been submitted to SAMS Domestic. Additionally, applicants will be required to log into SAMS Domestic using multi-factor authentication.

It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure an active registration in SAMS Domestic. Applicants are required to document that the application has been received in its entirety by SAMS Domestic. S/GWI bears no responsibility for disqualification that result from applicants not being registered before the due date, for system errors in SAMS Domestic, or other errors in the application process.

Organizations must maintain an active SAM.gov registration with current information at all times during which they have an active federal award or application under consideration by a federal award agency. SAM.gov requires all entities to renew their registration once a year in order 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 and to maintain that active registration. If an applicant has not fully complied with the requirements by the time S/GWI is ready to make an award, the applicant may be deemed unqualified to receive an award and use that determination as a basis for making an award to another applicant.

It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure the proposal has been submitted in its entirety to SAMS Domestic and sent via email. S/GWI bears no responsibility for data errors resulting from transmission or conversion processes.

Should any safety or security concerns arise regarding registration within any of the above required systems, please contact the S/GWI Programs team (SGWIProposals@state.gov) for assistance.

Designated Performance and Integrity System (currently FAPIIS)

The Department of State, prior to making a federal award with a total amount of federal share greater than the simplified acquisition threshold, is required to review and consider any information about the applicant that is in the designated integrity and performance system accessible through SAM (currently FAPIIS) (see 41 U.S.C. 2313).

The applicant has the option to review information in the designated integrity and performance systems accessible through SAM and comment on any information about itself that a Federal awarding…