Under this APS for Conflict Mitigation and Reconciliation Programs and Activities, USAID is encouraging new partners though this may involve their scrutiny, which can sometimes delay the release of the actual grants. USAID also expects that organizations “…must possess, or have the ability to obtain, the necessary management and technical competence to conduct the proposed program, and must agree to practice mutually agreed-upon methods of accountability for funds and other assets provided or funded by USAID.” Also, any ongoing program can also seek funding support from this opportunity provided that it demonstrates significant proposed change in direction or scope to respond against conflict.
The application for submitting the proposal should not be more than 17 pages, out of which 12 or less than 12 should be for the technical component while the rest of the 5 or less pages will be for presenting the budget. Additional attachments such as partnership agreements (if there are partners involved) and documentation of various proposed costs) can also be included but these attachments will not be provided to the technical evaluation committees. Only applications written in English will be accepted. In-depth information on how to effectively write and cover different aspects of the proposal from the cover page to the budget and various components that need to be carefully detailed out is given the APS FY 10 Conflict Mitigation and Reconciliation Programs and Activities document (link given below). Applicants should go through the document carefully to develop their proposals. Proposals have to be submitted by email (given in the APS document). In addition to this, the copy of the application also needs to be submitted to the USAID mission or the local point of contact for APS in the country for which the project has been proposed. In cases where projects are implemented in more than one country, the proposal has to be submitted to that mission of the country where the most number of activities are to take place. The list of USAID missions with their contact information is also given in the APS document. Submitting applications through grants.gov is optional but applicants can still register at it and get their DUNS number.
The grant opportunity is open for next six months during which USAID will receive proposals in batches. However, the deadline for accepting proposals under the first batch is 5 March 2010. For more information, you can visit http://grants.gov and search for this funding opportunity number: M-OAA-DCHA-DOFDA-10-390-APS and download the document/s therein.
