The U.S. Embassy Burkina Faso is offering the Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund 2025 to empower U.S. exchange program alumni in developing public service projects that support U.S. foreign policy objectives.

The U.S. Embassy Burkina Faso announces an open competition for past participants (“alumni”) of U.S. government-funded and U.S. government-sponsored exchange programs to submit applications to the 2025 Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (AEIF 2025).   We seek proposals from teams of at least two alumni that meet all program eligibility requirements below.

The 2025 Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (AEIF) promotes a post-driven alumni engagement opportunity, offering posts flexibility in collaborating with alumni teams to develop public service- oriented projects that directly support their individual Mission goals and foreign policy objectives. This annual funding opportunity is designed to amplify the return on the investment of the U.S. government in exchange programs. Pending availability of funds, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) will review and recommend proposals for funding on a yearly basis.

Exchange alumni interested in participating in AEIF 2025 should submit proposals to OuagaPDCultural@state.gov by January 31, 2025.

A.   
Eligibility

·        Alumni who participated in a U.S. government-sponsored exchange program.

·        Alumni Associations from countries with current U.S. representation.

·        Public Diplomacy Sections partnering with alumni in support of Mission goals.

1.  Cost Sharing or Matching

Inclusion of cost share is not a requirement of this opportunity. But it is highly recommended. We encourage all proposals to include some form of cost sharing.

2.  Other Eligibility Requirements

All organizations must have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) issued via SAM.gov as well as a valid registration in SAM.gov. Please see Section D.3 for more information. Individuals are not required to have a UEI or be registered in SAM.gov.

Applicants are only allowed to submit one proposal per organization. If more than one proposal is submitted from an organization, all proposals from that institution will be considered ineligible for funding.

3.     Application requirements:

·        The proposed project identifies and supports Mission priorities through public service-oriented activities.

·        The proposed project involves at least two U.S. Government-sponsored exchange program alumni and needs to specify a team lead. (All alumni involved in the project will need to be identified as well as verified by post prior to submission of the project proposal. Any non-alumni team members need to be included as well.)

·        Applications from Alumni Associations will need to specify a team lead.

·        U.S. citizen alumni may be included on alumni teams; however, the team must have at least two non-U.S. citizen exchange program alumni. U.S. citizen alumni cannot be team leads on projects.

B.   Program Description

1.  Goals and Objectives

Goals and Objectives

AEIF is designed to increase the impact of the U.S. government’s investment in exchange participants and programs by helping alumni develop and implement projects that support U.S. foreign policy objectives, promote shared interests, and benefit local communities.

All AEIF projects must achieve U.S. foreign policy goals, ICS goals, or other mission priorities.

In addition, AEIF projects must address at least one of the following:

1)     Bring alumni together from different exchange programs to build or expand an alumni network capable of working together on common interests and increase regional and global collaboration of alumni.

2)     Strengthen the relationship between alumni and the U.S. government to work together on activities that address mutual goals and challenges.  

3)     Support alumni as they develop their leadership capacity and implement projects in their communities.