The U.S. Small Grants Program: Opportunities for Rule of Law and Human Rights Advocacy

This program has two deadlines for submission of Application forms which are

1)     11:59 pm January 20, 2020 (Nur-Sultan time)

2)     11:59 pm March 9, 2020 (Nur-Sultan time)

Applications submitted by the first deadline have a greater likelihood of consideration while funding is available.

Due to the volume of applicants and inquiries, PAS does not accept letters of intent, concept papers, or requests for meetings prior to application.

This program will be funded under the appropriate Foreign Assistance Act authorization.

Project proposals must address one of the following themes:

1.     Rule of law and legal reform;

2.     Transparency in government and anti-corruption;

3.     Anti-trafficking

4.     Protection of human rights and promotion of tolerance;

5.     Public education and advocacy (including civic education);

6.     Minority rights;

7.     Women’s empowerment;

Priority focus will be given to the following themes:

·        Trafficking in persons (Anti-trafficking):

–         Building capacity of responsible agencies to improve identification of labor victims (both foreign and domestic) of trafficking;

–         Reintegration, rehabilitation and vocational training programs for victims of trafficking;

–         Prevention of trafficking in persons by addressing the demand;

–         Assistance and protection programs for foreign victims;

·        Public Education and Advocacy: Air Quality Management:

–         Emissions inventories, including using existing modeling techniques to conduct, publish, and implement outreach campaigns educating the public about actual sources of significant pollution, versus presumed sources;

–         Outreach campaigns, highlighting the actual economic costs and benefits of improving air quality, focusing on economic and morbidity data.

Preference will be given to projects that engage in the following activities:

–       Activities that will result in concrete outcomes (versus only discussions);

–       Advocacy for solving societal issues;

–       Development of proposals for legislative changes;

For all themes, priority will be given to projects that yield concrete results. Projects consisting solely of conferences or roundtable discussions are unlikely to be funded. Also, all things being equal, projects implemented in the regions (including rural areas), are preferable to those focusing only on Almaty, Nur-Sultan, or Shymkent.