The DRL Department is offering this grant to strengthen labor rights and democratic unionism in the CAFTA-DR region

?Provide advanced-level trainings on internationally recognized labor rights; labor law; advocacy, civil society engagement and building cross-organizational partnerships; and effective management skills for building inclusive, democratic and representative unions for union members and leaders;
?Increase basic knowledge of labor rights at the local level, with a focus on previously under-served and marginalized populations;
?Support greater participation in and new affiliations to existing worker organizations;
?Include activities that address barriers to the collection of union dues, and increase capacity of trade unions to transparently and effectively manage dues collected;
?Incorporate a training-of-trainers approach to ensure sustainability;
?Propose activities that increase the capacity of workers and worker organizations to advocate on behalf of their interests with individual companies at the local, national and international level as well as governments;
?Include marginalized populations such as persons with disabilities, women, LGBT, and youth;
?Document and encourage the sharing of lessons learned and promising practices across CAFTA-DR countries, as well as increase collaboration across the regional sectoral level.

Proposals should have a start date of no later than September 30, 2013 and project duration is to be determined by the applicant.