Deadline: 26 August 2019

In support of the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative (W-GDP), the Bureau of International Labor Affairs, U.S. Department of Labor, has announced its new funding initiative entitled “Equal Access to Quality Jobs for Women and Girls (EQUAL)” with an objective of the project is to reduce the risk of child labor, forced labor, and other violations of labor rights for vulnerable women and girls within the agricultural sector.

Program Outcomes

The project will aim to achieve the following outcomes:

• Outcome 1: Improved economic participation in quality jobs within the agricultural sector by women and adolescent girls identified as vulnerable to child labor, forced labor, and/or other violations of labor rights, including occupational safety and health infractions.
  • Vulnerable women and girls have an improved understanding of their rights and increased ability to access protections against child labor, forced labor, and other violations of labor rights, including occupational safety and health infractions.
  • Vulnerable women and girls have enhanced skills.
  • Vulnerable women and girls have increased opportunities for economic advancement.
• Outcome 2: Improved practices by government and private sector actors to reduce vulnerability of women and girls of legal working age to child labor, forced labor, and other violations of labor rights, including occupational safety and health infractions, within the agricultural sector.

In Mexico, the project must work in the agricultural sector in coffee and sugarcane, but may include other agricultural goods, in one or more of the following states: Oaxaca, and/or Veracruz.  The duration of the project will be a maximum of four years (48 months) from the effective date of the award.

Funding Information

• Estimated Total Program Funding: $5,000,000
• Award Ceiling: $5,000,000

Eligibility Criteria

The following organizations are eligible to apply:

• U.S. organizations:
  • Nonprofits, including any faith-based organizations or community-based organizations
  • Public/State Controlled Institutions of Higher Education
  • Private Institutions of Higher Education
  • For-Profit Organizations
• Non-U.S. organizations:
  • Non-U.S. Entities, including PIOs, as described in 2 CFR 200.46.
• Applicants do not need previous experience managing Federal awards, but they must speak persuasively about their ability to leverage other previous experience and bring it to scale in support of a large Federal investment.
• The following types of organizations are not eligible to apply nor to participate as subrecipients/contractors:
  • Organizations designated by the U.S. Government to be associated with terrorism.
  • Organizations designated by the U.S. Government to have been debarred or suspended.
  • Organizations planning to charge a fee (profit) associated with a project funded by a USDOL award.
  • In most cases, foreign governments and entities that are agencies of, or operated by or for, a foreign state or government. NOTE: If an exception to this eligibility criterion might be appropriate, the application must include a detailed justification for the possible exception. USDOL funds are not intended to duplicate existing foreign government efforts or substitute for activities that are the responsibility of such governments. USDOL will make eligibility decisions on a case-by-case basis after receiving the application.

How to Apply

Applications must be submitted online via given website.

For more information, please visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=317144