Fostering the Future Together: Empowering Youth for a Safe Digital World

The Department of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs is soliciting applications for five cooperative agreements totaling approximately $15 million to implement projects addressing child labor, online exploitation, and positive youth development globally, with applications due September 10, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Each award is capped at $3 million in total costs over a 27-month performance period. No cost sharing is required.

Eligible applicants include U.S. and non-U.S. nonprofits, educational institutions, for-profit organizations, public international organizations, faith-based organizations, and community-based organizations. Each applicant must obtain a letter of support from the country's Office of the First Spouse or appropriate designee such as the Foreign Ministry or Ministry of Labor. Projects must be implemented in one country per award, with geographic distribution requirements: at least one project each in Africa (Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, or other specified African countries), Asia (Bangladesh, Uzbekistan), and Latin America and the Caribbean (Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay).

Projects must focus on four primary activities: enrolling children below minimum working age and those recently withdrawn from child labor in quality education technology programs; connecting youth of legal working age to safe apprenticeships and digital skills training; developing child-centered online safety protocols and training modules; and strengthening government capacity to prevent online exploitation and enforce child labor laws. All projects must demonstrate alignment with the Fostering the Future Together global coalition commitments and document how international labor standards improvements contribute to American job and wage growth.

Applications require a 50-page maximum technical proposal (double-spaced, Times New Roman 12-point font) plus detailed cost proposals using the SF-424 family of forms and three years of organizational financial statements. The Financial System Risk Assessment Form is required. Projects must allocate 5–8 percent of total direct costs to monitoring and evaluation and at least $50,000 (single country) or $75,000 (multiple countries) for communications assets.

Evaluation criteria total 100 points across eight dimensions: literature review (2 points), project strategy and framework including activity execution, analytics, adaptive management, innovation, and U.S. worker benefit (28 points), milestones and targets (5 points), monitoring and evaluation (10 points), work plan (10 points), capacity and partner experience (11 points), key personnel (5 points), management plan (9 points), and budget narrative (20 points). Award decisions are expected between September 30 and December 31, 2026. The assistance listing is 17.401.