USAID’s Global Development Alliance inviting NGOs and Private Sector to address development challenges

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has issued the Annual Program Statement (APS) for the FY2012 Global Development Alliance (GDA) which brings together NGOs and the for-profit agencies together under the public-private partnership to address critical development challenges worldwide.

Under this APS, USAID is inviting the private sector for a mutually beneficial partnership where resources from both the parties will be leveraged equally leading to an increase in the sustainable impact of development assistance programs. Apart from the private sector, USAID has also opened the invitation to submit project ideas that reach out to the private sector and explore ways in which collaboration might help all the partners to more effectively solve key problems, advance respective interests and achieve far greater development results and impacts.

The alliances developed under the APS must support one or more of USAID’s core development initiatives and advance the development objectives and priorities that guide USAID’s development assistance programs and investments.

Only concept notes have to be submitted initially. Fully applications will be requested after review of concept notes. These have to be submitted at USAID Missions and B/IOs (i.e. regional bureaus, pillar bureaus, offices) of the USAID.

USAID will consider alliance concept papers as they arrive throughout the issuance period of the APS. However, resources are limited and we expect a significant number of submissions. The earlier a concept paper is received the greater the chance that funding might be available. The APS is issued annually and is open from date of release in 2012 until January 31, 2013.

For more information, visit grants.gov and search by funding opportunity number for: APS-OAA-12-000003

Call for Applications: Global Faculty Grants Program

Deadline: April 15, 2012

The Open Society Scholarship Program has launched a call for proposals for the Global Faculty Grants Program. This program will offer and support professional development and research to faculty in the social sciences and humanities in select countries.

Two separate tracks of support are available for eligible scholars:

Track I is devoted primarily to developing the teaching and research expertise of younger faculty with an eye towards encouraging improved course content via improved research and pedagogy. These fellowships last up to 10 months, are not renewable, and are tenable at universities arranged by program administrators.

Track II is devoted to helping well-established faculty to pursue research leading to publication at universities outside of their home country. These fellowships last up to 5 months, and are renewable once, after residence in the home country for a minimum one (1) year.

For further details visit this link.

Fund for Gender Equality Call for Proposals

This is the second call for proposals (2011-2012) for the Fund for Gender Equality that aims to provide grants for projects promoting women’s economic and/or political empowerment grants with a focus on women in situations of marginalization.

This UN Women’s global grantmaking fund was launched with an initial contribution from Spain (USD $65 million), Norway (USD $3 million), Mexico (USD $800,000) and most recently, the Netherlands (USD $1.18 million). It is currently seeking innovative and impact-oriented proposals from eligible countries in Africa, the Arab States, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Central Asia and the Caribbean.

The themes to be covered under this Fund are:

Women’s Political Empowerment Grants:

To increase women’s political participation, leadership, and influence in the decisions that affect their lives, including through leadership trainings and education and with a focus on youth.

Women’s Economic Empowerment Grants:

To increase women’s access to and control over resources and assets – including land, water, technology, and viable employment – while also addressing the disproportionate burden of unpaid care work on women and girls, with particular emphasis on holistic and environmentally sustainable  development approaches.

Priority areas cover economic/political empowerment, gender equality, innovation & creativity, fostering dialogues, a rights-based approach, engagement of women in situations of marginalization, matching funds and sustainability. All programmes must articulate how they will achieve tangible results in the lives of specific groups of women and girls.

All grants range from a minimum of US$200,000 to a maximum of US$1 million distributed over a period of one to three years.

Proposals have to be submitted through an online application process which will open on March 12, 2012.

The deadline to submit applications is 23 March 2012. For more information, visit this link.

Saving Lives at Birth: Grant Opportunity includes seed funds, transition funding

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Government of Norway, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada, and the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID) have again come together to seek applications for the second round of Saving Lives at Birth Challenge, which offers seed funding and transition funding for innovative projects. The Challenge seeks entries on groundbreaking prevention and treatment approaches for pregnant women and newborns in poor, hard-to-reach communities around the time of delivery.

In order to address the problems of maternal deaths, neonatal deaths and stillbirth in low- and middle- income countries especially in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, this Challenge is organized to find innovative solutions based upon scientific, technological and operation breakthroughs.

This Challenge seeks innovative approaches to prevention and treatment across the following three areas.

 (1) Technologies: Inviting bold ideas for science and technology advances that prevent, detect or treat maternal and newborn problems at the time of birth. Examples include simpler or portable technologies for newborn resuscitation, feeding, warming, and care of preterm and low birthweight newborns, infection management, and prevention and treatment of hypertensive disorders like preeclampsia/eclampsia.

 (2) Service Delivery: Bold ideas for new approaches to provide high-quality care at the time of birth. Examples may include new ways of using information and communication technology (ICT) to improve health and healthcare delivery in rural areas, approaches that bring the benefits of fixed health systems to the community setting, new incentive plans for recruiting and retaining skilled personnel, training programs for community-based or alternative health workers, or better ways to refer and transport sick newborns and mothers with complications.

 (3) Demand: Bold ideas for empowering and engaging pregnant women and their families. Examples may include innovative use of Information and computer technology (ICT) to incentivize individuals to seek care and/or adopt healthy behaviors; or mass communication methods that can change individual and collective behavior to improve outcomes around the time of birth.

The deadline to submit applications is 2 April 2012. For more information, visit this link.