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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

U.S. EMBASSY SARAJEVO, OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

NOTICE OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

Funding Opportunity Title: INTERETHNIC RECONCILIATION AND YOUTH CAMPS GRANTS PROGRAM

Funding Opportunity Number: 004-FY2022

Deadline for Application: Friday, March 25, 2022

CFDA Number: 19.900

A. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The United States Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, through the Office of Public Affairs, is pleased to announce a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Interethnic Reconciliation and Youth Camps Grants Program.

INTERETHNIC RECONCILIATION AND YOUTH CAMPS GRANTS PROGRAM

This program supports initiatives with the primary goal of developing peacebuilding, interethnic and intercommunity exchange, collaboration, and community/relationship building among members of different ethnic group. We are seeking projects and initiatives that enable young people to build ties and understanding through activities related to a particular theme while cohabitating for at least 4 consecutive nights in a camp setting. Essential to the projects is that they use the camp to clearly develop increased understanding and community among the ethnically and geographically diverse peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Proposals should engage youth who have had no prior access to similar initiatives, belonging to at least one of two specific age ranges: a. ages 10-17 or b. ages 18-25. The Embassy welcomes all innovative proposals aimed at accomplishing these goals.

PROJECT THEMES AND PROJECT LOCATIONS

We seek applications for medium and large-scale youth camp projects (more than 50 participants together for a minimum of four consecutive overnights in an interethnic setting) designed explicitly to develop connection and collaboration among the religiously and geographically diverse peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Applicants must be able to demonstrate past performance in organizing camps of a similar size with diverse groups.

Proposals should be organized under one of the following themes and take place in areas listed below:

Priority themes:·

Science, coding, and IT skills: Camps that bring together members of neighboring or nearby communities that have had little contact with each other to teach participants skills meant to spur their interest in and prepare them for increased involvement in science, coding and IT-related activities or employment.
Social Media Savvy: Camp projects that bring young people together across ethnic lines to develop critical thinking skills related to social media such as how to know what is true online, how to determine if a profile/account is real, how to deal with online trolls and bullies, and how to identify bias in order to have a positive, community building experience on social media.
Inclusion of Marginalized Groups: Camp projects that develop understanding and inclusion among majority and marginalized minority groups, including (but not limited to) displaced persons, persons with disabilities, socio-economically disadvantaged persons, LGBT persons, Roma, and others.
Dealing with Bullying/Peer Violence: Camp projects that teach conflict avoidance and non-violent skills to deal with peer violence and bullying as they build ties and understanding among members of different ethnic groups. These projects should address self-confidence, insecurity and issues that lead to bullying and peer violence.

Project locations: All projects must bring together members of different ethnic groups and communities and be designed to develop ties and understanding among them. Special consideration will be given to projects that join communities across the interentity boundary line and to projects that involve smaller, rural communities.

B. FEDERAL AWARD INFORMATION

Length of Performance Period: 12 months

Number of Awards Anticipated: At least 4 depending on the amount of each grant

Award Amounts: Awards may range from USD 5,000 to USD 50,000

Total Available Funding: USD 193,750

Type of Funding: FY21/22 Assistance to Europe, Eurasia and Central Asia (AEECA) under the Foreign Assistance Act

Anticipated Award Date: June/July 2022

Funding Instrument Type: Grant, Fixed Amount Award, Cooperative Agreement

Award related to this notice is subject to availability of funding.

PROJECT PERFORMANCE PERIOD

The budget for single project proposals for the Interethnic Reconciliation and Youth Camps Grants Program should not exceed USD 50,000 and program activities are envisioned to take place beginning in July of 2022. Please note that the precise timeframe in which grant money will be received cannot be guaranteed. Grantees should design projects that can be implemented if money is received after July of 2022.

C. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

C1. Who can apply: Non-government, non-profit organizations (including think tanks, civil society organizations), cultural and educational institutions and independent media that are based and legally registered in Bosnia and Herzegovina are eligible to apply. American or other country organizations and individuals are not eligible for grants under this program. Grants are generally awarded only to organizations.

C2. Other eligibility requirements: All organizations must have DUNS unique entity identifier and a valid registration on SAM.gov before their projects proposals can be funded. Organization must obtain a DUNS number and SAM registration in order to receive funding.Please see Section E for information on how to obtain these registrations.

C3. Proposals from prior grantees: Organizations may only submit one proposal for an Interethnic Reconciliation Youth Camps Program. In addition, organizations that have received a grant from Interethnic Reconciliation Camps Grants Program in a previous cycle and have not completed their projects are not eligible to apply for another grant from this program until they have submitted their final reports. You may still apply for grants from the Democracy Commission Small Grants Program or the Women’s Empowerment Small Grants Program or Interethnic Small Grants Program.

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 the top of this webpage in the box marked ‘Application package.’

Please note: Obtaining the DUNS number and 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 DUNS number in the application.
SF424A (Budget Information for Non-Construction programs)
Project Proposal (6 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.
Proposals may not exceed 6 pages in length (including budget and checklist) in Times New Roman Size 12 font.
All fields in the grant application form and check-list must be completed and sent via email as one document.
Project duration may not exceed 12 months.
Grants are normally made on a one-time basis and reiterations of past programs usually do not receive funding. If you are requesting support to fund a repetition of a project you previously implemented, you must include a very strong justification as to why the repetition is necessary.
Please submit your filled in application to the following e-mail address: IECampsBiH@state.gov.
The deadline for submission of the Interethnic Reconciliation and Youth Camps Grants proposals/supporting documentation is Friday, March 25, 2022 by COB (close of business) 17:00.

Upon submission, please request a confirmation of the receipt of your application.

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 50,000.
Budget should NOT include VAT expenses; organizations will be able to be reimbursed VAT money.
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
Funds may not be used to pay for travel to the United States. Projects involving regional travel will be considered on a case-by-case basis and must have a clear justification outlining why the travel is integral to the project.
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

D4. 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.

Applicant’s Contact Information

Implementing organization: Specify the officially registered name of the organization.
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.
Address/Postal Code and City
Phone number
E-mail: Please include both the general email address for your organization and the email address of the project coordinator or person who is authorized to sign official documents.

Basic Information about the Proposal

Project title:
Amount requested (USD)/Amount of cost share (USD)/Total cost (USD): Please list the amount of funding requested from the Embassy. If there is a cost share (another organization covering part of the total cost of the project), please list the amount here. Please list the total cost of the project which you get when you sum the amount you request from U.S. Embassy and amount of co-share.
Duration of camp: Please list the total camp duration, for example “a 5-day camp will be held, in addition to workshops, training etc…” It is important that for application to be considered a camp it has to be consecutive nights.
Number of beneficiaries: Please enter the total number of project and camp participants and their age range in accordance to the description above.
Elevator pitch: In 50 words or less, describe what your project is designed to accomplish and why it should receive support from the U.S. Embassy.
Definition of situation: Clearly identify the problem of peacebuilding and reconciliation your project will address. Please explain what causes the problem, and what aspect of the this cause you are addressing. For example: 25 years after the war young people in ethnically divided communities can’t see past the conflict and into a better future. The problem is that they receive information, either from politicians, media or education which is very ethnocentric and does not present multiple perspectives.
Project outcomes: Please explain how you want to solve this problem by explaining the outcomes of your project. An outcome is defined as the impact or change in a participant’s knowledge, skills and/or attitudes as well as the longer-term effect on their organization or community. For example, a short term outcome would be that the project will result in increased tolerance, better understanding of how the ethnic conflict arises, what the drivers are, and what can be done to mitigate this conflict. A long-term outcome may be that they, as individuals and groups, work together to reduce conflict and find peaceful solutions to conflict, and have a better understanding of the rights and needs of each individual in their communities and the country. Outcomes may also include creation of networks and platforms which will connect peacebuilders and reconciliation activists to strengthen their influence in local communities and throughout the country.
Description of project activities and reconciliation methodology: Explain the activities you plan to implement as part of the project in order to reach the outcome. Please elaborate on the methodology you plan to use to address issues of reconciliation, youth cooperation and development of tolerance and empathy among different ethnic groups.
Activity locations: List the cities/towns/communities where the project activities will take place, and where the beneficiaries come from.
Project beneficiaries and selection process: Describe the anticipated participants and/or beneficiaries of your project, including estimated number and age range, i.e., “30 young people from each of the ethnically divided communities who have had little or no contact with other ethnic groups will learn about each other and increase mutual understanding and appreciation; and citizens will benefit from less ethnically charged conflicts and more peaceful communities focused on progress.” Please provide explicit details about how the program’s participants will be selected and how organizers will ensure the diversity of participants. Participants who have attended any USG funded programs in the past two years should not be eligible to take part, unless they possess specific expertise/qualities which would otherwise be lacking.
Project schedule and timeline: Note your project duration in months and give an overview of the schedule, including a brief schedule of the camp. If you have a specific timeframe, please list the dates and explain why your project must take place within that timeframe. Please note that grant money could be received any time between June and September 2022, depending on the U.S. budget cycle.
Project partners: If you are implementing your project jointly with any other organizations, please list the names and type of involvement of those partner organizations. A partner organization is an organization with which you work to develop and implement the project. Partner organizations also need to obtain DUNS numbers. Please note: contractors you engage to deliver goods or services such as trainers, web developers or suppliers are NOT partner organizations.
Key personnel: List the names, titles and roles of key personnel involved in the project, including organization staff and any experts or trainers you will engage to implement the project. Give a brief overview (1-2 sentences) of their experience/qualifications. What proportion of their time will be used in support for your project? Please specify the total number of employees, full or half-time.
Anticipated outputs of the project: An output is defined as the direct and tangible results of the project activities (number of people trained, number of public advocacy campaigns conducted, number of media articles or social media posts about corruption etc.).
Monitoring and evaluation plan: The proposal should outline in detail how project success and impact will be determined. Please include how you intend 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. For the initial example, it could be proof of how many participants joined peacebuilding or the BOLD network. If effective evaluation involved follow up more than a year after the initial grant, we are open to a grant that will allow this. We encourage you to consider the following examples of indicators to use when evaluating your project:

Participant satisfaction with the program.
Participant learning, such as increased knowledge, aptitude, skills, and changed understanding and attitude. Learning includes both substantive (subject-specific) learning and mutual understanding.
Participant behavior, such as concrete actions to apply knowledge in work or community; greater participation and responsibility in civic organizations; interpretation and explanation of experiences and new knowledge gained; continued contacts between participants, community members, and others.
Institutional changes, such as increased collaboration and partnerships, policy reforms, new programming, official adoption of a new curricula or teacher training program, and organizational improvements.
Please note: Consideration should be given to the appropriate timing of data collection for each level of outcome. For example, satisfaction is usually captured as a short-term outcome, whereas behavior and institutional changes are normally considered longer-term outcomes

Project sustainability: Please explain your plans for follow-on activities after the grant period ends to ensure project impact continues. Example: “After the project ends, the participants will continue to meet through school activities, community facilitated programs, and youth leadership opportunities, serving as a support network to each other, as well as peer educators with continued support from our organization.”
Background of implementing organization: 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. It is very important that you enter the number of volunteers who are engaged on a regular basis in your activities, and how the record of such engagements is kept. Please briefly explain what internal control procedures, checks and balances you have put in place to manage grant funds.
Previous U.S. Government funding: Indicate whether the implementing organization 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.
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. The ratio between administrative costs (personnel, fringe and other direct costs) and program costs (travel, supplies and contractual) will have impact to project evaluation. Cost sharing is not required. However, the Recipient may present cost-sharing on voluntary basis including in-kind contributions. The absence of cost sharing will not in any way impact evaluation of the project. However, if the Recipient includes cost sharing in the project proposal, then the Recipient is accountable for providing it. In the event the Recipient does not provide the minimum amount of cost-sharing as stipulated in the Recipient’s approved budget, the government contribution may be reduced in kind.
Budget narrative: Please explain your budget in narrative form, detail personnel duties, list names of trainers/moderators/experts and project staff and break down travel and lodging costs (i.e., how many people, how many overnights, cost per person per day).

E. HOW TO APPLY FOR REQUIRED REGISTRATIONS

Required Registration:

Any applicant listed on the Excluded Parties List System (EPLS) 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.” Additionally, no entity listed on the EPLS can participate in any activities under an award. All applicants are strongly encouraged to review the EPLS in SAM to ensure that no ineligible entity is included.

E1. Who must apply? All organizations applying for grants (except individuals) must obtain these registrations. All are free of charge:

Unique entity identifier from Dun & Bradstreet (DUNS number)
NCAGE/CAGE code
www.SAM.gov registration

E2. First, get your DUNS Number

Please use the link to obtain your DUNS number.

The system is set up to be user-friendly and we encourage you to use it to obtain your DUNS number for yourself. However, if you experience problems, you may seek further assistance from:

To get a DUNS number please contact:

Bisnode BH, Vrazova 8, 71000 Sarajevo

info.ba@bisnode.com

Tel: +387 33 215 454

+387 33 215 452

Bisnode web site

E3. Next, get your NCAGE/CAGE code

To apply, go to CAGE/NCAGE Code Request page
Instructions for the NCAGE application process are available here.
For NCAGE help from outside the U.S., call 1-269-961-7766
Email: ncage@nato.nspa.int for any problems in getting an NCAGE code.

E4. After you receive your NCAGE code, complete your SAM.gov registration

To register in the SAM system, go to their web site.
Please read the quick guide for International Entity registration which is the part of the application package you can find on the top of this page.
SAM registration must be renewed annually, so even if you are already registered in SAM from a previous grant, please check to see if your registration is still valid.
Entities registering in SAM must submit a letter appointing their authorized Entity Administrator. Please check the template of the letter which is the part of the application package.

However, if you experience any problem in registering in SAM.gov use the following link 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.

IMPORTANT NOTICE!!!

Please be informed that DUNS is going away next April 2022. It will be replaced by UEI which will be assigned by sam.gov. UEIs are being given to organizations who register/renew this year. As a reminder sam.gov needs to be renewed yearly.

The site to obtain a UEI is the same for registrations, but when the organization answers the questions, they can select UEI only.

https://sam.gov

We recommend you start asking for your UEIs and NCAGE/CAGE in addition to DUNS. This way you start socialize the change. After April 2022 DUNS will not show in SAM.gov and the DUNS site for SAM.gov, https://fedgov.dnb.com/webform/ will go away. While you can search on names in sam.gov, it is much easier to search using the NAGE/CAGE, also this number will be needed if you want to see the status of progress in sam.gov. Found here.

For instructions on UEI transition, please check the following link.

E5. APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION

Review criteria: All proposals will be evaluated by the Interethnic, Reconciliation and Youth Review Panel on the below criteria.

Innovation, quality and feasibility of the project idea. The proposal is new, innovative, well developed, and offers creative solutions with all necessary details about the scope of the project and how project activities will be carried out (location, number and location of participants, events to organize, media coverage etc.) (15 points)
Outcomes. Project clearly identifies goals, and objectives of the project, and the reconciliation methodology used, and is likely to provide maximum impact in achieving proposed results. (20 points)
Organizational capacity and record on previous grants. The organization has sufficient number of employees and volunteers, demonstrates past performance in organizing camps of similar size with participants from both entities, all ethnic groups and BiH minorities; and has existing expertise and the ability to perform the proposed activities. All former grants completed without major setbacks. (15 points)
Budget and narrative justification are cost effective, completed and reasonable in relation to the proposed activities and anticipated results. (20 points)
Monitoring and evaluation. The proposal outlines in detail indicators of how project success and impact will be determined and provides details of formative monitoring and evaluation. The applicant demonstrated its ability to measure project impact and provides milestones to indicate project progress towards goals/ objectives outlined in the proposal. Major risks and mitigation strategies should be included (10 points)
Sustainability. The proposal needs to contain information about the sustainability of the project. Project activities should continue to have a positive impact after the end of the project. Proposals should explain this future impact and/or sustainability of the project. (10 points)

F. FEDERAL AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION

F1. 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. Total amount for this program may not exceed 193,750 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 NOFO 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 effected in two or three installments. Certain percentage of the total award amount up to 50% of the total will be paid immediately after signing the grant and submission of the valid bank account by Recipient. However, if the project implementation requires a higher percentage of advance payment than 50 %, the Office of Public Affairs will make a payment based on the Recipient’s justification. The rest will be paid upon submission of the interim and final program and financial reports by Recipient. Each award document will contain detailed payment information. The USG holds 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.

F2. 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:

In accordance with the Office of Management and Budget’s guidance located at 2 CFR part 200, all applicable Federal laws, and relevant Executive guidance, the Department of State will review and consider applications for funding, as applicable to specific programs, pursuant to this notice of funding opportunity in accordance with the following: NOTE:

Guidance for Grants and Agreements in Title 2 of the Code of Federal Regulations (2 CFR), as updated in the Federal Register’s 85 FR 49506 on August 13, 2020, particularly on:
- Selecting recipients most likely to be successful in delivering results based on the program objectives through an objective process of evaluating Federal award applications (2 CFR part 200.205),
- Prohibiting the purchase of certain telecommunication and video surveillance services or equipment in alignment with section 889 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2019 (Pub. L. No. 115—232) (2 CFR part 200.216),
- Promoting the freedom of speech and religious liberty in alignment with Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty (E.O. 13798) and Improving Free Inquiry, Transparency, and Accountability at Colleges and Universities (E.O. 13864) (§§ 200.300, 200.303, 200.339, and 200.341),
- Providing a preference, to the extent permitted by law, to maximize use of goods, products, and materials produced in the United States (2 CFR part 200.
- Terminating agreements in whole or in part to the greatest extent authorized by law, if an award no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities (2 CFR part 200.340

F.3. Reporting Requirements

Recipients will be required to submit financial reports and program reports. The award document will specify the forms and how often these reports must be submitted.

G. FEDERAL AWARDING AGENCY CONTACTS

The U.S. Embassy receives hundreds of proposals and takes time to carefully review each application. We expect to inform applicants of the status of their proposals approximately 4-6 months from the closing date of this Notice of Funding Opportunity. Funding decisions are contingent on the availability of funds. The U.S. Embassy reserves the right to cancel this Notice of Funding Opportunity at any time without any commitment to any applicant.

For more information, please contact us by phone: + 387 33 704-285,704-344, fax: + 387 33 704-432 or e-mail at IECampsBiH@state.gov .