Advancing Sports Diplomacy Through Adaptive Sports

The U.S. Department of State's U.S. Embassy Kyiv is soliciting cooperative agreement applications to build Ukraine's capacity to support wounded veterans through adaptive sports, with applications due August 31, 2026 at 23:59 Kyiv time. Total available funding is $150,000 pending availability of funds, with individual awards ranging from $30,000 to $150,000 and an anticipated 1–3 grants.

Eligible applicants are U.S. or Ukrainian not-for-profit organizations with demonstrated experience working in Ukraine and a legally registered office; for-profit entities are ineligible. All applicants must obtain a Unique Entity Identifier and maintain active SAM.gov registration. The program will not support partisan political activities, direct social services, construction, religious activities, fundraising, lobbying, scientific research, commercial projects, or duplicative initiatives.

Projects must establish formal institutional linkages with U.S.-based adaptive sports organizations, university sports science departments, or VA-affiliated networks. Key deliverables include training regional coaches based on U.S. best practices with local certification, expanding adaptive sports programs to defined oblasts beyond Kyiv, and organizing at least one adaptive sports tournament while producing promotional materials showcasing U.S. excellence. The period of performance is up to 18 months with an anticipated start date of October 1, 2026.

Evaluation emphasizes program idea quality and feasibility (30 points), organizational capacity and grant history (25 points), project planning ability (20 points), budget detail and reasonableness (10 points), monitoring and evaluation plan (10 points), and sustainability approach (5 points). Recipients must submit quarterly financial and program reports with monitoring and evaluation data, with final reports due 120 days after project completion.

This opportunity operates under CFDA 19.040 (Public Diplomacy Programs).