Bureau of International Labor Affairs Grant: Strengthening Governments’ Capacity to Address Child Labor and Forced Labor

The Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB), U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) announces the availability of approximately $10,000,000 total costs (subject to the availability of Federal funds) for two cooperative agreements of $5,000,000.  These cooperative agreements will fund one technical assistance project in Asia and one technical assistance project in Sub-Saharan Africa to strengthen the capacity of governments to address child labor and/or forced labor, and violations of acceptable conditions of work.  Project outcomes include: (1) improved enforcement of the legal framework and/or policies pertaining to child labor and/or forced labor, and violations of acceptable conditions of work; (2) improved assistance services for victims of child labor and/or forced labor; and (3) strengthened partnerships to accelerate progress in addressing child labor and/or forced labor, and violations of acceptable conditions of work.  Strategies and activities may address child labor solely, forced labor solely or both child labor and forced labor, as well as must address acceptable conditions of work.

The duration of the project will be a maximum of four years (48 months) from the effective date of the award.  Applicants may apply for one or two cooperative agreements.  If applying for both cooperative agreements, applicants may not combine applications into one—they must submit separate applications.  Each application should request no more than $5 million total costs in funding.  In the event that the same applicant is selected for award for both cooperative agreements, USDOL reserves the right to issue one cooperative agreement covering more than one region.  The recipient awarded the cooperative agreement in Asia must work in the Philippines and in a minimum of one additional country in Asia.  The recipient awarded the cooperative agreement in Sub-Saharan Africa must work in Kenya and in a minimum of one additional country in Sub-Saharan Africa.  Applicants must not budget more than $1,500,000 for the Philippines or $1,500,000 for Kenya within the respective applications and must not propose additional countries in their application beyond the Philippines or Kenya.  The additional countries will be finalized by USDOL after award in consultation with the recipient.  Future activities for the additional countries may vary in size, scope, duration, and funding amounts.  All related activities and budgets will be finalized by the recipient during the initial months of the period of performance in consultation with and subject to the approval of USDOL.  The additional countries in both Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa will be countries that meet the criteria of possessing current capacity needs that fall within the framework of the outcomes described in this FOA.