Notice of Funding Opportunity - PAS Beirut | LBN PAS 20 001

Opportunity Information: Apply for LBN PAS 20 001

The U.S. Embassy in Lebanon, through its Public Affairs Section (PAS), is offering funding under its Public Diplomacy Small Grants Annual Program Statement (Funding Opportunity Number LBN-PAS-20-001; CFDA 19.040). The overall goal is to support public diplomacy projects that strengthen cultural ties between the United States and Lebanon. Proposals are expected to use cultural and exchange programming to engage young people and empower women, while also building understanding of U.S. policy and perspectives. A core requirement is that every project includes a clear American element, such as collaboration with U.S. experts, U.S. organizations, or U.S. institutions, or programming that meaningfully connects participants to American culture, practice, or expertise in the relevant field.

Program ideas can take many forms as long as they fit the public diplomacy purpose. The opportunity explicitly welcomes activities like academic or professional lectures, seminars, and speaker series; artistic and cultural workshops, joint performances, and exhibitions; cultural heritage conservation and preservation efforts; and professional or academic exchanges. Within that broad scope, PAS Beirut highlights three priority areas. The first is expanding the role of women in society through civic participation, economic empowerment, and improved access to education, including activities such as social entrepreneurship, volunteerism, and community engagement. The second is youth empowerment, including (but not limited to) STEAM-related programming, entrepreneurship, and inclusive citizenship. The third is media literacy and promotion of freedom of speech.

The Embassy places special emphasis on reaching communities outside Beirut and gives preference to projects that serve a large number of beneficiaries. For youth-centered proposals, the typical target age range is 14 to 30. Programming focused on women does not have a fixed age range and may include youth or broader community members. At the same time, the announcement is clear about what it will not fund. Ineligible activities include partisan political work, charitable or development assistance activities, construction, programs supporting specific religious activities, fundraising campaigns, lobbying for legislation or government programs, scientific research, organizational capacity building that primarily benefits the applicant institution itself, and projects that duplicate existing programs.

Awards are supported by FY20 Smith-Mundt public diplomacy funds. The performance period can range from 3 to 24 months, and projects are expected to be completed within 24 months or less. The Embassy anticipates making roughly 5 to 10 awards depending on award sizes. Individual awards generally range from $10,000 to $50,000 (with a $50,000 maximum per award). Total funding listed in the notice is approximately $200,000 to $250,000, with the final amount subject to availability of funds. Funding may be issued as a grant, a fixed amount award, or a cooperative agreement. Cooperative agreements involve more substantial Embassy involvement than standard grants, such as collaboration during implementation, formal approvals between stages, joint presentation of results, or additional oversight of sub-awards or contracts beyond typical federal monitoring.

Eligibility is open to applicants in both the United States and Lebanon, including registered nonprofit organizations (such as NGOs, civil society groups, and think tanks with relevant programming experience), individuals, and nonprofit or governmental educational institutions. For-profit and commercial entities are not eligible. Cost sharing is not required, but it is encouraged, and proposals that include meaningful cost share may receive additional consideration. There is also a submission limitation: each organization may submit only one proposal per quarter; if an organization submits more than one during the same quarter, all of that organization’s proposals for that period are deemed ineligible.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis throughout the fiscal year, subject to funding availability, with quarterly review cycles. Proposals submitted between October 1 and December 31 are reviewed by February 28 with responses by March 7; submissions from January 1 to March 31 are reviewed by May 31 with responses by June 7; submissions from April 1 to June 30 are reviewed by August 31 with responses by September 7; and submissions from July 1 to August 30 are reviewed by September 30 with responses by October 7. For official guidance on application requirements, submission procedures, and award administration details, applicants are directed to the Embassy website or to contact PDBeirutGrants@state.gov.

• The Department of State, U.S. Mission to Lebanon in the arts (see cultural affairs in cfda), community development, education, environment, humanities (see cultural affairs in cfda) sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Notice of Funding Opportunity - PAS Beirut" 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 08, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by The Public Affairs Section will accept proposals throughout the year and will review proposals according to the following schedule 1) proposals received between October 1 and December 31 will be reviewed by February 28, 2020, with responses going out by March 7, 2020 2) proposals received between January 1 and March 31 will be reviewed by May 31, 2020, with responses going out by June 7, 2020 3) proposals received between April 1 and June 30 will be reviewed by August 31, 2020, with responses going out by September 7, 2020 and 4) proposals received between July 1 and August 30 will be reviewed by September 30, 2020 with responses going out by October 7, 2020. (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 $50,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 10 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for LBN PAS 20 001

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