This notice is subject to availability of funding. The Public Affairs Section (PAS) of the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade announces an open competition for organizations to submit applications in response to issuance of this Annual Program Statement (APS). Priority Region: Serbia. Note: PAS Belgrade strongly urges potential applicants to consider submitting proposals with activities focusing on participants or audiences in cities and towns in Serbia besides Belgrade. Program Objectives: PAS welcomes proposals for creative, engaging projects that line up with the U.S. Embassy’s main objectives. That includes strengthening the Serbian-U.S. relationship and explaining U.S. culture, society, values, and policies to Serbian audiences. The Embassy is also working with Serbia’s government, civil society, business community, and other partners on: promoting economic development and fighting brain drain; strengthening democracy, including through supporting civic participation; a free press, and human rights; and advancing regional stability and cooperation. Progress in those areas should assist Serbia on the path toward its stated goal of European Union (EU) membership. Please be aware that projects funded through this APS must include an American element. That could involve a connection or partnership between Serbian and American organizations or institutions. Maybe an American expert will take part, in person or virtually, in your project. Activities might highlight or examine shared Serbian-American values, national interests, etc. You might incorporate a U.S. approach or method you have learned about to addressing an issue or challenge facing your community, institution, or profession. Grant activities may take any number of forms, including academic competitions, spelling bees, summer camps (focused on language study, sports, etc), cross-border exchanges, conferences, workshops, courses, curriculum development, exhibits, hackathons or app development, online projects, mock trials or moot court competitions, simulations and role-playing activities (e.g., Model Congress, Model United Nations), film or theater festivals, performances, or other activities. Projects should begin no earlier than 1 May 2021, and should start no later than 1 May 2022, i.e., about a year from now. All activities and your evaluation or assessment of the project should be completed within 18 months. Activities should focus on audiences in Serbia. However, applicants can certainly include participants or partners from neighboring nations of the Western Balkans, assuming that makes sense in terms of your project’s objectives. (See “Participants and Audiences” below.) Participants and Audiences: The challenge or problem you are looking at, your goals and objectives, and the activities will help you determine the participants or primary audiences for your project. You might have secondary audiences or beneficiaries, too. For example, if you are training the teachers in a new teaching methodology, they are your primary audience and all their students who benefit from the updated methodology would be the secondary audience or final beneficiary. Please note that the participants or audiences for the proposed activity should be citizens or legal residents of Serbia. See Funding Restrictions below, however, regarding incorporating participants or audiences from other countries into the project activity. Even if some participants come from a regional neighbor or from the U.S., PAS is primarily interested in the participants from Serbia and the project’s impact on them. Funding Restrictions: You may NOT apply for a grant from PAS if your project: · involves partisan political activity; · involves charitable activities and/or the distribution of humanitarian aid; · is a fundraising campaign; · is commercial in nature, i.e., you or a project partner are making money from this project, or the activity supports a current or future business or entrepreneurial venture. · involves the provision of health care or services, child care, food subsidies, or other social services to populations. Please be aware, too, that this funding opportunity aims to support specific projects with objectives which can be achieved within a set timeframe. We will not accept applications which are aimed more broadly at supporting your organization’s usual or typical daily activities and operations. Those will be deemed technically ineligible and will not be considered for funding by the review committee. For this particular NOFO, grant funding can be used to cover the cost of travel within the region if attendance by participants from neighboring countries is an essential part of the project. As a general rule, at least half the participants in your project should still be citizens of Serbia. Please contact PAS if you have further questions about projects involving participants from other countries besides Serbia. Grant funding can likewise be used to cover the cost of travel between the U.S. and Serbia for program participants if that is an essential part of the project. As a general rule, participants or audiences should not be charged for taking part in any PAS-funded activity. If you envisage that your project activity will not be free for some reason, please contact PAS while you are in the process of completing the application to see whether that could be allowed. Depending on the funding source, PAS might be able to support your project, but only if you can demonstrate how the revenue generated will used to support the larger objectives and explain that your organization will profit from the modest entrance fee. Funding Instrument Type: Grant or Fixed Amount Award Program Performance Period: Proposed projects should generally be completed within 6-12 months, or up to 18 months for bigger, more complex projects. (This includes the time for assessment and evaluation, as well as the drafting of the final report.) Information Session: PAS will hold a virtual information session on March 31, 2021 at 16:00 (4pm) CET to discuss this funding opportunity and to answer questions from potential applicants. To join the information session, please register at: http://bit.ly/3b5OBKU. If you happen to miss that online session for any reason, we will provide a link to the recording on the website. All the mandatory application forms required below are available online via the Related Documents Tab and at https://rs.usembassy.gov/annual-program-statement-for-fiscal-year-2021/. We do not send out hardcopy versions of the application packages. All application materials must be submitted by email to
[email protected]. If PAS does not receive a complete project proposal at the above address by the deadline, it will be considered technically ineligible and will not be considered for funding. Please check for information on other PAS funding opportunities on the U.S. Embassy website at: https://rs.usembassy.gov/education-culture/grants-programs/.