U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE U.S. EMBASSY COLOMBO PUBLIC AFFAIRS SECTION GRANTS PROGRAM FOR MALDIVES

Grants are intended for local representatives of civil society including non-governmental organizations, cultural institutions, universities, schools, and individuals. To receive funding, grants must support one of the following goals:

1. Promote tolerance, by funding proposals that combat hate and build community cohesion; engage at-risk youth; promote digital literacy; and engage communities on respect for diversity.

2. Improve respect for human rights, through programs which strengthen democratic values; enhance awareness and protection of human rights principles; and encourage gender equality.

3. Improve respect for and application of freedom of expression, through programs that promote a free and open media; strengthen understanding of social media; empower journalists through training (including ethics, investigative techniques, and English language).

Activities that are typically funded include, but are not limited to:

• Youth engagement, leadership, and education programs;
• Programs that promote gender equality and the rights of girls and women;
• Programs that build the capacity of civil society;
• New media concepts aimed at reaching wide audiences;
• Media training programs;
• Cultural programs;
• Radio, television, social media, and film programming in support of the above three goals.

Activities that are not typically funded include, but are not limited to:

• Projects that do not have a plan for sustaining the activity or monitoring results;
• Social welfare or development projects;
• Projects that are primarily designed to cover organizational salaries or to cover only an organization’s logistical costs (e.g. rent/mortgage payments, room rental, coffee breaks, etc.);
• Costs to complete activities begun with other funding;
• Projects that are inherently political in nature or that contain the appearance of partisanship/support to individual or single party electoral campaigns;
• Citizen exchange programs with foreign countries;
• Political party activities;
• Projects that support specific religious activities