Strength in Partnership: Call for Proposals | PAS ZAF FY23 03

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAS ZAF FY23 03

Strength in Partnership: Call for Proposals is a funding opportunity from the Public Affairs Section (PAS) at the U.S. Mission to South Africa (U.S. Department of State) designed to support public diplomacy projects that deepen ties between the United States and South Africa. The core idea is relationship-building: PAS is looking for programs that create practical, people-to-people and institution-to-institution connections, encourage dialogue, and promote the exchange of knowledge and experience in ways that support mutually beneficial cooperation. Proposals must be built around a partnership: South African organizations are encouraged to apply with a U.S. partner, and U.S. organizations can apply as long as they have a South African partner. Awards are offered as grants or cooperative agreements, which also signals that PAS may be actively involved in project implementation, especially in projects that are designed to scale.

The opportunity focuses on four main thematic areas. The first theme is adapting to climate change and advancing a just green energy transition. PAS is interested in projects that connect Americans and South Africans to share expertise, experiences, and workable solutions related to climate mitigation and adaptation, while also addressing the social and economic disruptions that come with moving from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Competitive ideas would not only raise awareness, but also encourage collaboration and shared action, with particular attention to a transition that protects livelihoods through reskilling, support systems, and community resilience. Priority subtopics include expanding economic opportunity linked to the green transition, sustainable waste management and recycling, clean water solutions in urban and peri-urban areas, climate adaptation efforts, and urban gardening or greening initiatives.

The second theme centers on promoting equity, social justice, and social cohesion. PAS frames this around parallel challenges and histories in both countries, pointing to recent events such as the global impact of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and South Africa's July 2021 unrest, and the continuing consequences of racial and social division, economic inequality, and exclusion. PAS wants projects that create constructive, safe spaces for dialogue and exchange, connect historical injustices to present-day realities, and support human rights and social inclusion. There is a strong emphasis on reaching and supporting marginalized communities, including women and girls, LGBTQI people, people with disabilities, religious minorities, and others who face discrimination, especially when multiple identities compound exclusion. Priority activities include programming that draws connections between civil rights struggles in the United States and South Africa's liberation history, exploration of the literature and cultural histories of marginalized groups in the United States for South African audiences, and facilitated dialogues or exchanges linking U.S. and South African individuals and organizations working on equity and inclusion. PAS also leaves room for approaches that use sport or art, as long as the proposal clearly explains why those methods will resonate with South African audiences.

The third theme addresses trafficking in persons (TIP) as a global crisis affecting both countries, with serious impacts on community safety, social wellbeing, and economic stability. PAS seeks public diplomacy projects that strengthen public understanding of trafficking, improve the ability of communities to recognize and report trafficking, identify risk factors, and reduce demand for forced labor and sexual exploitation. Proposals are expected to align with recommendations in the most recent U.S. Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report for South Africa, translating those recommendations into practical public awareness and grassroots action. Priority directions include general TIP awareness, targeted awareness for populations most vulnerable to exploitation (such as children, LGBTQI persons, refugees, migrants, and commercial sex workers), efforts to reduce demand, and initiatives that increase reporting of trafficking offenses and official complicity to appropriate South African authorities. PAS explicitly welcomes partnerships that include South African government entities for this theme.

The fourth theme focuses on expanding cooperation in higher education and vocational training, recognizing universities, colleges, community colleges, and vocational institutions as engines of skills development, economic resilience, and social problem-solving. Under the University Partnership Initiative (UPI), PAS wants proposals that strengthen existing institutional ties and create new collaborations between U.S. and South African institutions, ideally with a plan for sustainability after the grant ends. Projects should also consider the possibility of scaling up if additional funding becomes available and should anticipate meaningful PAS involvement. Competitive ideas include faculty and student exchanges and dual degree models that allow South Africans to complete studies locally while building academic capacity, curriculum alignment to real labor market needs, instructional technology to expand access (including lessons from the COVID-19 period), early-career training for academics, joint research (especially in agriculture, food security, health, and STEM), skills transfer for institutional administration and management, better student recruitment and retention and job placement strategies (including countering misconceptions about TVET and community college pathways), and public-private partnerships emphasizing commercialization, technology transfer, job creation, and post-graduate placement. PAS particularly encourages linkages between South African technical universities and U.S. counterparts.

Across all four themes, PAS requires proposals to clearly define a single primary audience made up of real people (not institutions as an abstract category) and to estimate how many individuals are in that audience. A project can involve multiple groups, but it must name one countable primary audience, such as vocational students, educators, community leaders, civil society representatives, journalists, religious leaders, vulnerable populations, administrators, or relevant government officials, depending on the theme. PAS also notes that short-term outcomes are acceptable if they realistically lay the groundwork for longer-term impact, which is typical for relationship-driven public diplomacy programs.

Administratively, this is a discretionary funding opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number PAS ZAF FY23 03) with an award ceiling of $200,000 and an expectation of around four awards. Eligible applicants include public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, and nonprofit organizations (both with and without U.S. 501(c)(3) status). The opportunity was posted on November 22, 2022, and it used two submission deadlines: February 28, 2023 and April 30, 2023. The activity areas are broadly categorized under arts/cultural affairs, education, and humanities, reflecting PAS's public diplomacy focus on exchanges, dialogue, and collaborative problem-solving rather than purely technical assistance delivered in isolation.

• The Department of State, U.S. Mission to South Africa in the arts (see cultural affairs in cfda), education, humanities (see cultural affairs in cfda) sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Strength in Partnership: Call for Proposals" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 19.040.
• This funding opportunity was created on Nov 22, 2022.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Apr 30, 2023 Two deadlines February 28, 2023 and April 30, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $200,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 4 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

Apply for PAS ZAF FY23 03

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