A. Funding Opportunity Description Summary Executive Summary: The U.S. Embassy Dushanbe Public Affairs Section (PAS) of the U.S. Department of State is pleased to announce a call for proposals for the 2022-2023 English for Journalists Program. These are one-year programs with the possibility of extending for another year. This program supports the development of Tajikistan’s media environment and digital journalism capabilities through English language learning. Background: The U.S. Embassy Public Affairs Section (PAS) in Dushanbe is soliciting proposals for English for Journalists Program from Tajikistan’s accredited schools, institutes, teacher training centers, universities, or non-profit organizations based in Tajikistan that focus on the priority areas specified below. Applicants should pay close attention to the Public Affairs Section’s goals, priority program areas, and target audiences when developing their proposals. Current Situation & Problem Statement: Journalists in Tajikistan generally lack the ability to cover stories in English as the capacity of English language knowledge is low. Due to this, most journalists are not able to access accurate sources of information that will allow them to recognize, respond to, and combat disinformation, misinformation, and propaganda in the news and on the internet. Additionally, many journalists miss out on opportunities to learn skills in high quality field reporting through studying the most prestigious international sources of information, or adequately cover international stories. Review of Past Projects: The U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe previously supported English for Journalists projects that trained hundreds of journalists and bloggers, which increased the professional skills of professional journalists; increased their ability to read and write stories in English, strengthened the investigative journalism skills of media professionals; and trained journalists on new techniques and approaches to make the transition to digital journalism. Proposed Project Introduction: This funding opportunity seeks to provide an opportunity for journalists to gain English language skills to access English language news sources, write articles in English, and conduct interviews and reports in English. During the course, journalists will also become familiar with international standards of journalism ethics. There are many talented journalists and university students specializing in journalism, and participation in English courses will increase their professional skills and educate them on how to recognize, respond to, and combat disinformation, misinformation, and propaganda in the news and on the internet. The Embassy requests creative proposals from English language institutions to establish English for Journalists courses that can boost the English language ability of journalists and develop their critical thinking and decision-making skills. The program should consist of English language courses (beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels) of at least 20 hours per month, with a total of 200 hours of English language instruction over one year. The projects can be implemented in Dushanbe, Khujand, Kulob, Khorugh or Bokhtar. The project in Dushanbe should be for 90 journalists, 30 in Khujand, 30 in Kulob, 30 in Khorugh, and 30 in Bokhtar. Projects that involve higher numbers of journalists with lower costs are encouraged. To be eligible for consideration, the organization must be currently engaged in an English language teaching program and should have highly qualified English language instructors both at the elementary and advanced levels. Both governmental and non-governmental organizations are eligible to apply for this program and should have a teaching license. Project Goal: Improve and diversify Tajikistan’s media environment, access to credible sources of information, and ability to push back against malign information by improving the English language proficiency of journalists. Project Audience(s): The primary target audience for these projects should be media professionals, including at least 210 journalists living in Tajikistan with limited or no English language background, managers, editors, and translators of media outlets, university students specializing in journalism, and social media influencers who are committed to engaging on social issues in English. Project Objectives: Successful proposals would achieve one or more of the following objectives: · Objective 1: Journalists will improve their speaking, writing, reading, and listening skills in English. · Objective 2: Journalists will improve their critical thinking skills, public speaking, investigative journalism skills, and media literacy by participating in activities with English as the language of instruction. · Objective 3: Aspiring young journalists will establish regional collaboration among professional journalists and journalism students by attending virtual summer English language camps. · Objective 4: Journalists will learn how to recognize, respond to, and combat disinformation, misinformation, and propaganda in the news and on the internet through English language learning. Examples of activities include but are not limited to: · English classes for journalists. · English camps for journalists. · Lessons in English that focus on advancing skills listed in the objectives section above · Practical reporting assignments that require students to use English to produce media reports, including the conducting of interviews in English; and reading, listening or watching media reports in English and using that information in their own products. The Public Affairs Section reserves the right to award less or more than the funds described under circumstances deemed to be in the best interest of the U.S. government, pending the availability of funds and approval of the designated grants officer. This program will be funded under the Foreign Assistance Act authorization. All programming is subject to the statutory limitations of the funding determined. For this announcement, only Tajikistan-based organizations are eligible to apply. 2. Organizations may sub-contract with other entities, but only one, non-profit, non-governmental entity can be the prime recipient of the award. When sub-contracting with other entities, the responsibilities of each entity must be clearly defined in the proposal. 3. In order to be eligible to receive an award, all organizations must have a unique entity identifier (Data Universal Numbering System/DUNS number from Dun & Bradstreet), as well as a valid registration on www.SAM.gov. 4. Cost sharing or matching is not required for this funding opportunity. 5. Pre-award costs are not an allowable expense for this funding opportunity. 6. This award does not allow: · Projects relating to partisan political activity; · Conferences abroad or individual trips abroad; · Charitable or development activities; including direct social services; · Construction projects; · Projects that support specific religious activities; · Fund-raising campaigns; · Lobbying for specific legislation or programs · Medical, scientific research or surveys; · Art or cultural projects; · Commercial projects; or · Projects that duplicate existing projects D. Proposal Submission Information Please follow all instructions below carefully. Proposals that do not meet the requirements of this announcement or fail to comply with the stated requirements will be ineligible. Application Deadline: All Proposals must be received by July 15, 2021 (11:59 p.m. U.S. Eastern Standard Time). For the purposes of determining if an award is submitted on time, PAS will utilize the time-stamp provided by Grants.gov. This deadline is firm and is not a rolling deadline. If organizations fail to meet the deadline noted above their application will be considered ineligible and will not be considered for funding. Content and Form of Proposal Submission Please ensure: 1. The proposal clearly addresses the goals, audiences, and objectives of this notice. 2. All documents are in English. 3. All budgets are in U.S. dollars. 4. All pages are numbered. 5. All documents are formatted to 8 ½ x 11 paper. 6. All Microsoft Word documents are single-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, with a minimum of 1-inch margins. 7. All applicant authorized signatures are provided where indicated on the various, required forms. 8. Proposal cannot exceed 12 pages. All Proposals should address the following areas: a. Explain the problem your project will address and why this project is needed b. Give a short summary that outlines your proposed project c. List your project goal and objectives. The “goal” describes what the project is intended to achieve. The “objectives” refer to the intermediate accomplishments on the way to the goals. These should be achievable and measurable. d. Describe a sample project activity and how it will help achieve the objectives. e. Describe the expected results of the program. Application Submission Process: There are two application submissions methods available to applicants. Applicants may submit their application using Submission Method A or Submission Method B outlined below. · Submission Method A: Submitting all application materials directly to the following email address:
[email protected]. Applicants opting to submit applications via email to
[email protected] must include the Funding Opportunity Title and Funding Opportunity Number in the subject line of the email. · Submission Method B: Submitting all application materials through Grants.gov. For those opting to apply through Grants.gov, thorough instructions on the application process are available at http://www.grants.gov. For questions relating to Grants.gov, please call the Grants.gov Contact Center at 1-800-518-4726 or go to https://www.grants.gov/support.html. Please note that
[email protected] is unable to assist with technical questions or problems applicants experience with Grants.gov.