Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues (S/GWI) has announced a Request for Statements of Interest (RSOI) outlining concepts and capacity to manage a program that will (1) partner equitably with a range of local, women’s civil society organizations in no fewer than five countries in three regions to advance locally-designed Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) initiatives, and (2) provide limited, rapid-response WPS support globally.

Goal: To grow and sustain the leadership of women’s civil society organizations in advancing women’s safety and meaningful participation in processes related to peace and security and decision-making institutions.

Objectives

• Support to WPS Initiatives: Partner equitably with a range of local women’s civil society organizations in no fewer than five countries in at least three regions to advance locally-designed WPS initiatives. This will include support for participation in peace processes and other peace and security decision-making institutions as well as engagement on preventing and responding to gender-based violence.
• Rapid-Response Fund: Provide a limited (up to approx. $1 million), global rapidresponse fund to ensure women leaders and women’s organizations can respond to unanticipated, high-impact opportunities and challenges as they arise to advance WPSrelated priorities. This must include (but is not limited to) reserve capacity to deploy expert technical assistance for the development, implementation, and/or evaluation of high-impact National Action Plans (NAP) on WPS or similar instruments, if requested.

Funding Information

• Estimated Funding Amount: $5,200,000
• Award Ceiling: $5,200,000
• Award Floor: $5,200,000

Priority Regions and Countries

Applicants must propose work equal to the planned funding amount ($5,200,000) in no fewer than five countries in at least three of the following regions. Applicants must demonstrate the ability to work in as many as possible of each of the these regions: Africa (AF); East Asia and the Pacific (EAP); Europe (EUR); the Middle East and North Africa (MENA); the Western Hemisphere (WH) and South and Central Asia (SCA). 2 Final country selection will be confirmed in consultation between the successful applicant and S/GWI. Country selections may be subject to additional approvals and/or vetting.

S/GWI’s priority countries include the following. Work to assist civil society in the priority countries may include work in-country or with populations displaced to other countries:

• AF: Burkina Faso; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Mali; Somalia; South Sudan
• EAP: Burma; Papua New Guinea; Vietnam
• EUR: Bosnia and Herzegovina; Georgia; Kosovo; Moldova; Turkey; Ukraine
• MENA: Iraq; Syria; Yemen
• SCA: Afghanistan; India; Pakistan; Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan
• WH: Colombia; El Salvador; Guatemala; Haiti; Honduras

Eligibility Criteria

Organizations submitting SOIs must meet the following criteria:

• Be a U.S.- or foreign-based non-profit and non-governmental organization (NGO); or
• Be a private, public, or state institution of higher education; and
• Have existing, or the capacity to develop, active and equitable partnerships with incountry partners, entities, and relevant stakeholders, including NGOs and private sector actors; and
• Have demonstrable experience administering successful and preferably similar programs in size, scope, and focus. S/GWI reserves the right to request additional background information on organizations that do not have previous experience administering federal awards. These applicants may be subject to limited funding on a pilot basis.

For more information, visit Grants.gov.