OARS funding International

The U.S. government's (USG) Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) envisions a world safe and secure from global health threats posed by infectious diseases, and the current Ebola epidemic in West Africa further underscores the economic and humanitarian impacts of infectious diseases. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is working to help Ministries of Health meet key International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005) requirements through implementation of the GHSA. CDC seeks to work with partner countries and other USG agencies in a collaborative effort to achieve specific goals in three focus areas:

The Borlaug International Agricultural Science and Technology Fellowship Program (Borlaug Fellowship Program) advances USDA's agricultural research goals of promoting collaborative programs among agricultural professionals of eligible countries, agricultural professionals of the United States, the international agricultural research system, and United States entities conducting research by providing fellowships to individuals from eligible countries who specialize or have experience in agricultural education, research, extension, or other related fields. Fellowships promote the expansion of domestic and international markets in eligible countries by educating a new generation of agricultural scientists, increasing scientific knowledge and collaborative research to increase trade and agricultural economic activity by extending that knowledge to users and intermediaries in the marketplace. The collaborative nature of the training and research programs not only benefits the Fellow, his or her home institution, and partner country; the U.S. host institution, its professors, researchers, and students; and the global agricultural sector by improving agricultural productivity, systems, and processes in partnering nations through the transfer of new science and agricultural technologies. As part of the Borlaug Fellowship Program, Fellows will attend the Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium (Borlaug Dialogue) hosted by the World Food Prize in Des Moines, Iowa during the week of October 11, 2020.

Consolidating and organizing public health expertise and systems within a National Public Health Institute (NPHI) is a successful way for countries to carry out essential public health functions and improve their accountability and efficiency. The CDC, with over 70 years of experience as the U.S. NPHI, is helping countries around the world increase surveillance, laboratory, and outbreak response capacity to improve recognition of and response to health threats. An NPHI coupled with stronger local outbreak detection and response capabilities offers a sustainable solution for building global public health capacity, achieving global health security, and increasing public health impact. This Notice of Funding Award (NOFO) seeks to build upon activities supported by CDC through partnerships with Ministries of Health, National Public Health Institutes, and organizations that have capacity by providing technical assistance supporting the establishment and development of strong NPHI's globally. The CDC seeks to continue strengthening NPHI's so that they are credible, technically expert, apolitical and prioritize the protection of the publics' health.

MENA governments - especially in Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia - have undertaken important reform initiatives to modernize their public administrations and pass access to information laws. Several have applied to join the Open Government Partnership (OGP), an international initiative that aims to leverage capabilities of new technologies to strengthen participatory governance and fight corruption. Further actions are required to sustain this progress and implement open government principles that foster civil society collaboration with government. This project will assist governments in developing action plans to improve management and governance activities such as: budgeting, human resources management, regulatory practices, public integrity, public procurement, digital government, open government and data, risk management, and innovations. By focusing on public governance areas and creating inclusive economies and societies, this project will guide governments to benchmark their countries' progress on public sector reforms at the national and regional levels, and to compare them against international standards. Additionally, it will create the first MENA long-term strategic partnership and governance network for policy dialogue and exchange of good practices. Finally, it will deliver ad hoc policy recommendations to advance public sector reform agendas in specific sectors at the national or regional level with a focus on policies pertaining to women and youth.

Nigeria has a projected estimated population size of 203,452,505 (July 2018), which makes Nigeria the most populous nation in Africa. The country's National Health Act 2014 (NHA 2014) was signed into law on October 31, 2014 and provides a legal framework for the regulation and management of Nigeria's national health system, however, much work is needed to operationalize the law. Monitoring and mitigating recurring infectious disease outbreaks, as well as detecting and controlling emerging infectious diseases, will be impacted by multiple factors that include inadequate surveillance and response systems, weakened or non-existent infrastructure and health systems and poor coordination among stakeholder agencies. Nigeria is a major gateway to many global destinations. In July 2014, the index case in the Nigeria Ebola Virus disease outbreak arrived at the international airport in Lagos, Nigeria. This index patient potentially exposed 72 persons at the airport and the hospital where he was admitted. The Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH), with guidance from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), declared an Ebola emergency and rapidly implemented a response using all available public health assets and resources. An Ebola Incident Management Center (a precursor to the current Emergency Operations Center) was established to rapidly respond to the 2014 outbreak. Using an Incident Management System (IMS) to coordinate the response and consolidate decision making, largely contributed to helping contain the Nigeria outbreak early.

Globally there is insufficient capacity to adequately prevent, detect and respond to public health issues. Field epidemiology networks have been assisting countries with developing and strengthening their public health workforce and are essential to strengthening health systems worldwide and achieving global public health objectives. The purpose of this announcement is to partner with an established Global Network and at least two established Regional Networks of public health training in target regions (Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia Pacific) to strengthen and sustain applied epidemiology.

The purpose of this NOFO is to collaborate with implementing partners to support the Indonesia Government, primarily the Ministry of Health (MOH), to achieve Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) targets; implement International Health Regulations (IHR) core competencies; and prevent, detect, and respond to public health threats by targeting activities to strengthen capacity in four core public health areas: 1) Real-Time Surveillance and Reporting; 2) National Laboratory Systems; 3) Workforce Development; and 4) Emergency Management and Response. Projects considered for this NOFO should build upon the existing public health infrastructure. Activities should address recommendations from the 2017 Joint External Evaluation (JEE), align with the MOH Five Year Strategic Plan, and prioritize gaps identified in the 2018-2022 National Action Plan for Health Security. Recipients will work primarily and directly with partner governments, specifically the MOH and other government entities on the national, regional, and local levels. In addition, projects must incorporate monitoring and evaluation of overall program performance and the progress of projects or activities, including implementation of the GHSA targets.

This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) seeks to build upon activities funded by CDC to support Global Health Security (GHS) through implementation of programs and activities that focus on protecting and improving health globally through partnerships with Ministries of Health and other governmental institutions. After five years of implementing and strengthening global health security systems, the USG will continue to advance prevent, detect, and respond strategies to mitigate threats. This NOFO's main outcomes are to: Improve prevention of avoidable epidemics including naturally occurring outbreaks and intentional or accidental releases of dangerous pathogens Improve ability to rapidly detect threats early, including detecting, characterizing, and reporting emerging biological threats By responding rapidly and effectively to public health threats of international concern

Recurring infectious disease outbreaks, Nigeria's population, inadequate allocation to healthcare in annual appropriations, inadequate surveillance, weakened or non-existent health infrastructure and systems and poor coordination among stakeholder agencies have all contributed to the weaknesses highlighted in the JEE. This impacts on the country's preparedness to respond to public health emergencies. The purpose of this NOFO is to provide technical assistance and support the ability of the NPHI to implement programs focusing on protecting and improving health through addressing the gaps and weaknesses identified in the JEE.

The purpose of this NOFO is to support the implementation of programs and activities that focus on protecting and improving health globally and further implementing Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) through partnership with the Tanzania Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children (MOHCDGEC). CDC seeks to continue working collaboratively with partners and other United States Government (USG) agencies to achieve specific goals in three main strategic areas: prevent avoidable epidemics, detect threats early, and respond rapidly and effectively to potential events of concern for public health and health security. CDC, through this NOFO, will leverage and complement the MOHCDGEC resources in the following activities: promote national initiatives and frameworks that support International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005) core capacities: detect and reduce biothreats, improve sharing of best practices, use of relevant tools to promote health security, strengthen accountability and transparency of data sharing, and participate in regional and international health security initiatives. The outcomes are to further strengthen capacities to prevent, detect, respond to potential events of concern for public health and health security and demonstrate improvement in at least 5 GHSA/IHR technical areas to a level of "Demonstrated Capacity" as measured by relevant health security assessment in line with GHSA 2024 Framework (https://www.ghsagenda.org/ghsa2024).

Through this Notice of Funding Opportunity Announcement (NOFO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) seeks to support routine laboratory-based surveillance of priority infectious diseases and lab confirmation of outbreaks in India by strengthening laboratory-based surveillance and specimen referral systems. This will involve advocacy and consultation/strategic planning meetings with various national and international stakeholders of human and veterinary sectors; training on routine laboratory-based surveillance and follow up. The identified laboratories should also be trained on biorisk management and safe packaging and referral of specimens using IATA-DGR (International Air Transport Association's Dangerous Goods Regulations).

The U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) announces an open competition for organizations interested in submitting applications for projects focused on understanding and exploring how communities define impact(s) related to democracy and human rights contexts.

The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) announces a Request for Statements of Interest (RSOI) outlining project concepts and capacity to manage programs in Iraq that will: strengthen effective governance; increase political participation and civic activism; promote fundamental freedoms; and support atrocities prevention, accountability, and conflict mitigation.

The U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) announces an open competition for organizations interested in submitting applications for projects that promote the rule of law for the protection and realization of human rights; create the necessary conditions for accountability; improve access to justice in Libya; promote gender equality; and combat gender-based violence (GBV).

Priority Region: Proposals must be implemented in Lebanon, with priority given to projects implemented partially or entirely in underserved areas. Program Objectives: U.S. Embassy Beirut seeks proposals that promote English language education through youth engagement, women empowerment, community service, Science Technology English Math (STEM), English for Specific Purposes (ESP) or other relevant activities. Key Guidelines: - Applicants can apply as individuals or as groups (for example, a group of alumni), organizations, or as non-profit organizations. - All applicants should be Lebanon-based. - For alumni proposals, partnerships with existing, active alumni organizations are encouraged. - Successful projects should identify and work with appropriate partner institutions. Partner institutions can be engaged to provide expertise as well as cost-share activities. Cost-sharing (financial and/or in kind) is encouraged for a competitive grant. - Each project will evaluated based on its potential sustainability, meaning its ability to reach different audiences and goals during and beyond the grant cycle; projects that demonstrate sustainability will be given preference.

In 2012, the Ministry of Public Security of Costa Rica designed a model of the police service implemented by quadrant, which aimed to improve the quality of service provided to citizens by assigning specific responsibilities to police officers who serve in a small geographical area, called a quadrant. However, seven years later the police service model is not being implemented in all police stations in the country and, where it is being implemented, there is no evidence that the model has achieved its main objective. For this reason, the Directorate of Public Force has expressed the need to optimize this police service model by incorporating the principles of the problem-oriented policing (POP) and evidence-based policing. This will enable evidence with targeting and scientific methods to improve the quality of police services, reducing crime rates and increasing the confidence and perception of security in Costa Rica. The specific problem is that the current management model for the police force is ambiguous, inadequate and has no scientific basis, which makes the model urgent to be optimized in order to improve the police force's response to the population's security needs.

The Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs' (OES) Office of Environmental Quality and Transboundary Issues at the U.S. Department of State (DOS), announces the Notice of Funding Opportunity ("NOFO") for activities under the "Building Air Quality Management Capacity in Central Asia" project. The agreement awarded will use U.S. Fiscal Year 2019 Economic Support Funds, subject to Congressional approval and availability of funds. The "Building Air Quality Management Capacity in Central Asia" project intends to strengthen regulatory and monitoring capacity of government actors and expand awareness of air quality issues among decision makers and the general public in at least one Central Asian country. More specifically, the project would target key host government entities to develop and enhance air quality monitoring capacity with low cost sensors, educational materials on AQI PM2.5 and PM10, formal expert workshops, and through the services of a professional monitoring and evaluation expert to develop and design a monitoring and evaluation plan to be used by key agencies.

The U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) announces an open competition for organizations interested in submitting applications for projects that support social cohesion and national unity in Ukraine.

The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) announces a Request for Statements of Interest (RSOI) outlining project concepts and capacity to manage programs in Iraq that will: strengthen effective governance; increase political participation and civic activism; promote fundamental freedoms; and support atrocities prevention, accountability, and conflict mitigation.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), through the Regional Contracting Office in Kyiv, Ukraine is seeking applications from qualified U.S. or Non-U.S. non-profit or for-profit Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and other qualified non-USG organizations for funding of an activity entitled "Ukraine National Identity Through Youth (UNITY) Activity." The purpose of the Activity is to foster vested ownership among young people in Ukraine's democratic, European future by further mobilizing youth leadership of a values-based conception of Ukrainian identity grounded in innovation, engagement, and pluralism. This will be achieved through the following interconnected objectives: 1) Youth innovation, entrepreneurship, and career preparedness expand economic opportunities; 2) Youth broaden their engagement in civic and community problem-solving; 3) Youth drive Ukraine's pluralism and respect for diversity; and 4) Research and learning on youth-related data, trends, and approaches inform youth policy and programming.