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The program is a two-part initiative designed to foster new connections between scholars and journalists covering international affairs and, to that end, offers an interrelated set of awards, including programming grants for universities and fellowships for scholars in the humanities and social sciences who study religion in international contexts. To be eligible, applicants must be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States as of the application deadline date; have a PhD degree that was conferred by the application deadline; and be able to attend and participate in two program-sponsored events.

The Public Affairs Section of the Embassy of the United States of America in Islamabad, Pakistan, is pleased to announce an open competition for assistance awards through this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). PAS Islamabad invites all eligible organizations (see Section C for Eligibility Requirements) to submit proposals for a Grant or Cooperative Agreement to support activities focused on providing media training and professional development to professionals in the media field through one of the activity areas specified in this NOFO. PAS Islamabad invites proposals for projects that focus on one of the priority areas specified below. Applicants should pay close attention to the Public Affairs Section's goals, priority program areas, target audiences, and geographic locations when developing their proposals. Goals: The goals of this funding opportunity are to: 1. Strengthen People-to-People ties between the United States and Pakistan to increase professional and personal interaction between American media experts and local trainers with Pakistani journalists. 2. Expand Media Engagement by providing training to journalists in new or traditional forms of media that also support professional standards in journalism; increasing participants' knowledge and skills in producing and reporting quality news stories, exposing them to high professional standards, and empowering them to communicate news more effectively to the Pakistani public. Priority Program Areas: This NOFO aims to support the Department of State's initiatives to promote and strengthen the field of journalism and the accuracy of reporting in Pakistan in the areas of: 1. Social media training and digital security 2. Working with police and government 3. Resilience in harsh reporting conditions 4. Covering the 2016 U.S. presidential election

The program is a two-part initiative designed to foster new connections between scholars and journalists covering international affairs. To that end, it offers an interrelated set of awards, including programming grants for universities and fellowships for scholars in the humanities and social sciences who study religion in international contexts.

The American Film Showcase (AFS) is the State Department's flagship film exchange program and is implemented by the University of Southern California's (USC) School of Cinematic Arts. AFS supports the exchange of U.S. films, filmmakers, and film experts in support of foreign policy priorities. The Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy South Africa announces an open competition for organizations to submit applications to support the 2020 American Film Showcase in South Africa, with a specific focus on the use of documentary film for conveying human rights messages. Concept notes are requested from organizations that have the necessary capacity, experience, and knowledge to support the implementation of the AFS 2020 program in South Africa. Logistical and financial management capabilities, linkages with existing film events and programs, and a focus on innovative approaches will be critical components of a successful proposal. AFS brings award-winning contemporary American documentaries, independent films, and filmmaking know-how to audiences around the world, offering a view of American society and culture as seen by independent filmmakers. Funded by a grant from the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and produced by the USC School of Cinematic Arts (SCA), the Showcase highlights the value of film in fostering understanding and cooperation, dialogue, and debate. AFS will include a visit from American documentary filmmakers to engage with local audiences, as well as a film collection for use in related activities. See: http://americanfilmshowcase.com/current-afs-slate/. A U.S. government staff member must be present at all screenings of films provided through AFS, and Embassy officials will guide the selection of films for the activities implemented through this project.

The Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad and the U.S. Consulate General in Lahore announces an open competition for a cooperative agreement to establish an Academic Partnership in Gender and Development Studies between a U.S. educational institution and the Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) in Lahore, Pakistan. Accredited U.S. four-year colleges and universities meeting the provisions described in Internal Revenue Code section 26 USC 501(c)(3) may submit proposals to pursue institutional or departmental objectives in partnership with the Lahore College for Women University. Objectives detailed as priorities for this partnership include: collaborative research, curriculum development, long distance teaching via internet/DVC, professional development for faculty by US counterparts, abroad or locally, and faculty and student exchange. Faculty exchange programs ranging from a few weeks to a full semester, and shorter-term graduate student exchange programs, are preferred by the Lahore College for Women University. In addition, the university is interested in training and other assistance in developing multi-media awareness materials, conducting collaborative workshops, and leadership training for women.

MacArthur's goal in media grantmaking is to provide the public with high-quality, professionally-produced documentary films, deep and analytical journalism, and well-produced news and public affairs programming. In a media environment characterized by proliferating information sources of varying degrees of reliability, the Foundation seeks to support serious, fact-based journalism for television, radio and the web, the type of original reporting that is likely to be blogged about, linked to, tweeted, and otherwise circulated throughout the Internet. Programs supported by the Foundation inform and educate their viewers about important and under-reported topics, provide balance and accurate information, encourage global conversations, and use technology to tell stories in engaging and interactive ways.

The Public Affairs Section of the North India Office at the U.S. Embassy New Delhi seeks proposals for a project entitled "Beyond Borders: A Workshop on Filmmaking Across the Punjab Region." The grantee will bring together a total of thirty participants, fifteen each from India and Pakistan from the greater Punjab region on both sides of the border, to work together on conceptualizing, writing, and producing short films. The thirty participants will travel together to the United States for a three-week filmmaking workshop, led by the grantee. The participants will be between the ages 22-30 with an interest in filmmaking and storytelling, but no formal prior training is required. The participants will work in pairs or small groups, ideally including participants from both India and Pakistan, to produce short three-five minute narrative (fiction) films over the course of the seminar.

MOVO will be a five-year regional messaging and communication effort that leverages both traditional and new media to counter violent extremism and promote democracy, human rights and governance. MOVO will aim to form lasting partnerships to amplify moderate voices in communities as well as national and regional networks and institutions. MOVO will use a strategic information campaigns to tackle difficult, long-standing issues critical to VE vulnerability as well as to respond directly to events and hot topics. MOVO will integrate with other USG CVE and messaging efforts, such as State and USAID-funded programs, Public Affairs Sections and Military Information Support Teams (MIST) in the region. With regard to mediums of information exchange, MOVO will strengthen and expand existing PDev II radio networks and programming, continuing to invest in the medium most easily accessible to rural communities at-risk. However, MOVO will also produce targeted video content in targeted countries that is easily sharable and of most interest to target demographics. Mobile platforms that leverage feature phones have proved wildly popular and are useful in engaging rural audiences. Social media offers exciting new opportunities to connect with target audiences. However, poor internet penetration in target areas and among target demographics may limit the applicability of the medium. MOVO will expand its emphasis on social media in a measured, iterative manner that builds on effective, cost-efficient approaches. To the extent possible, all content will be cross-promoted across radio, video, mobile and social media to increase dissemination and build audiences across demographics and platforms.

The Public Affairs Section (PAS) of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan is pleased to announce an open competition for assistance awards through this Request for Grant Proposals (RFGP). PAS Kabul invites all eligible organizations (See Section III. Eligibility Requirements on page 5) to submit a proposal for a grant with the U.S. Embassy to enhance the capacity of three Afghan government media relations offices so that their media outreach increases in number and effectiveness and the gap between the Afghan public and their governemnt is narrowed. The grant's goals will be achieved by strengthening the capacity of the ministries to engage in proactive, effective, and truthful outreach to both public and private media. The three ministry media relations offices that this grant will train and support are: the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Public Health, and the Independent Directorate for Local Governance. This will be a one-year project, focused on training and production of new stories for a variety of different media. The successful applicant must have strong experience in communications, media training and public relations, with a broad track record in developing and placing stories about the real and measurable progress in Afghanistan with the Afghan media. The successful proposal also must show strong project management experience that demonstrates success in meeting both short- and long-term milestones. Success for this project also will be measured by the number of media activities, the number and impact of stories placed in the media, and the ability of the ministry press office to sustain and carry on this work after the award performance period has been completed.

An enormous appetite for professional training exists among Pakistan's journalists. The industry has expanded rapidly in the past decade with the privatization of television but the training opportunities have not kept pace. Journalism education emphasizes the theoretical over the practical. The majority of Pakistan's media companies do not offer training to their staff and salaries are low, so journalists struggle to pay for training themselves. Thus the proposal to create a Center of Journalism Excellence will fill a major gap in providing much needed journalism skills training. The Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad announces an open competition for a cooperative agreement to establish a Center of Journalism Excellence (CJE) by a U.S. or foreign university housing a journalism school of international stature, or U.S. or foreign media development organization that offers in-service professional development training for journalists of the highest quality. Accredited U.S. four-year colleges and universities must meet the provisions described in Internal Revenue Code section 26 USC 501(c)(3). Strong preference will be given to applications in which the primary grantee is explicitly linked with a Pakistani partner institution(s) and there is a clear path to sustainability. Additional preference will be given to proposals that include cost sharing by a foundation or non-governmental organization.

The U.S. Embassy Islamabad Public Affairs Section (PAS) announces an Open Source RFP and invites organizations to submit a proposal supporting people-to-people activities between the people of the United States and Pakistan, specifically in the area of filmmaking and capacity building within the film industry. These activities should expand people-to-people relationships between non-officials (e.g. academic scholars and filmmakers), strengthen peaceful regional relationships, and increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of Pakistan. Film has the power to transform lives, communities, and societies, and create a more just, humane, and sustainable future. Program goals: 1. Strengthen People-to-People Ties between the U.S. and Pakistan: Increase mutual understanding between U.S. and Pakistani film professionals. 2. Create Institutional Linkages Between the U.S. and Pakistani Film Industries: Encourage the local filmmaking industry to build long-term, self-sustaining relationships between U.S. and Pakistani filmmaking institutions, existing or new film festivals, and film schools. 3. Expand Filmmaking Capacity: Provide Pakistani filmmakers with training on professional standards in filmmaking, with venues to exhibit their work and opportunities to engage in substantive dialogue with film industry professionals. 4. Strengthen Regional Cooperation between Afghanistan, Pakistan and India: Increase mutual understanding on a regional level by including Indian and Afghan filmmakers in film capacity-building projects. 5. Encouraging Accurate Messaging: Build local filmmaker capacity to generate narratives that confront ideological support for terrorism, through projects that develop credible local broadcast content and present accurate information on U.S.-Pakistan cooperation.

The Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Consulate General in Chennai (PAS Chennai) seeks proposals for a project entitled "Women Shaping the Narrative in Media and Entertainment." Under this project, a grantee will conduct series of workshops and training programs on "Women First, Prosperity for All: Opportunities for Women in the Media and Entertainment Industry in South India." The workshop will highlight issues that preclude and challenge women from reaching their full potential in this industry and find practical solutions to address them. It will also highlight the economic and creative benefits of having more women in the workforce in this sector.

The Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy in Rangoon announces an open competition for a cooperative agreement to develop and implement a six-day workshop (inclusive of arrival and departure days) in Rangoon on Media Literacy for the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI), pending the availability of funds. The program will bring together 50 to 60 YSEALI members from the eleven YSEALI member countries, namely, the ten ASEAN member states and Timor-Leste, who have backgrounds or current experience working in media, the opportunity to act as trainers or educators on the issue of media literacy, and leadership potential.

The Public Affairs Section (PAS) of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan is pleased to announce an open competition for eligible organizations to submit applications to carry out a program to create and broadcast via television and radio a multi-language drama series set a few years in Afghanistan's future showing what could be possible if the nation embraced peace and reconciliation. This cooperative agreement will support the development, production, and television and radio broadcast of a Pashto- and Dari-language television and radio drama series set in Afghanistan's future following successful peace and reconciliation. It will show possibilities for Afghans as individuals, as communities, and as a nation under a lasting peace and reconciliation process. The drama will attempt to foreshadow the positive results of a successful peace reconciliation process: harmony between ethnicities, safe travel between provinces, job creation, economic growth, foreign investment, construction in the capital and provinces, and Afghanistan's role as a peaceful and independent nation on the world stage. Through flashbacks, the drama will also show pivotal times in Afghanistan's history as well as difficult and complex past decisions made by individuals, communities, and the nation that resulted in this peaceful and prosperous future. The series should acknowledge that conflict between characters and groups will remain, but demonstrate how those conflicts are managed peacefully.

The Information Office (IO) in the Public Affairs Section of the Embassy of the United States of America in Islamabad, Pakistan, is pleased to announce a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) for an assistance award through the Public Diplomacy Grants program. PAS Islamabad invites organizations to submit proposals for an award to provide training to media professionals through the program specified in this specified in this NOFO. Programs will take place in various locations in Pakistan including Islamabad, Karachi, Kyber Paktunkhwa and the newly merged tribal areas (the former FATA). The objective of this program is to strengthen Pakistan's free press. Its aim is to strengthen the capacity of journalists and the accuracy of reporting in Pakistan. This program seeks to address the gaps in their professional knowledge by providing training to journalists in new or traditional forms of media that also support professional standards in journalism, increasing participants' knowledge and skills in producing and reporting quality news stories, and exposing them to high professional standards.

The Public Affairs Section (PAS) of the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia is pleased to announce an open competition for assistance awards through this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for a pilot Program in Media Literacy. PAS invites organizations to submit proposals for an up-to- 24 months project to improve media literacy skills among young Georgians between the ages of 16 - 24 to include ethnic minorities and people at risk of being socially marginalized. Expected results include an increase of at least 20% in program participants' ability to distinguish trustworthy news from fake news and an increase of at least 20% in those who cross-check the information from the news.

The Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Consulate General Karachi (PAS Karachi) is pleased to announce an open competition for an assistance award through this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), contingent on funding availability, through the Public Diplomacy Grants Program. This opportunity provides funding to an organization to manage the below-mentioned programs that will be executed by the Centre for Excellence in Journalism (CEJ) at the Institute for Business Administration (IBA) to support scholarships, internships and journalism training workshops. The Centre for Excellence in Journalism (CEJ) offers Pakistan's only professionally-focused master's degree in journalism. The 1.5-year long Masters of Science in Journalism (MSJ) allows students to immerse themselves in all forms of journalism - digital, audio and video - and gain practical experience in a newsroom under the guidance of experienced instructors. This award will provide opportunities for CEJ students, including eight-week internships at U.S. media outlets in the final semester of their MSJ degree; partial scholarships (50% of tuition) to attend CEJ; and (3) thematic training led by specialists and professional journalists from the U.S. who will be brought to CEJ to lead the workshops.

The Public Affairs Section (PAS) of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan is pleased to announce an open competition for eligible organizations to submit applications to carry out a program to improve access to information for journalists and civil society in accordance with Afghanistan's Access to Information Law. Based on funding availability, this grant intends to develop and provide training for journalists and members of civil society on access to information procedures under Afghan law. The recipient will demonstrate a thorough understanding of the current legal framework surrounding access to information in Afghanistan, and create a strategic plan that will increase awareness of the law and how to use it. Participants will become more aware of the law, how it works, and how to make access to information requests. A successful proposal will include a detailed plan for recruiting a diverse group of journalists from a variety of outlets and employees from a cross-section of civil society organizations working on democracy and governance issues to take part in these trainings. Training activities should take place in Kabul and in no less than five provincial capitals.

The Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs is seeking Statements of Interests (SOIs) from qualified organizations to implement a program to strengthen investigative journalism on the topic of corruption, corruption proceeds, and illicit financial transactions (i.e. money laundering) of such proceeds. The goal of this project is to improve the quality and quantity of investigative pieces exposing corruption and illicit finance, particularly as facilitators of transnational crime, and to increase awareness among justice sector actors and journalists of relevant information produced by each group (i.e. law enforcement alerts, tips, or actionable reporting), and identify and promote ways in which they might more effectively engage each other when possible. The project will aim to build this capacity in the Western Hemisphere. INL will review all SOIs for eligibility. Eligible SOIs will be subject to compliance of Federal and Bureau regulations and guidelines and may also be reviewed by the Office of the Legal Adviser or by other Department elements.Organizations may be recommended to submit a full proposal based on an evaluation of how the SOI best meets the solicitation review criteria, U.S. foreign policy objectives, and the priority needs of INL. The anticipated notification date is within five weeks of the closing date of this announcement.

The U.S. Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City Public Affairs Section (PAS) is pleased to announce funding is available through the Public Diplomacy Federal Assistance Awards program to run the Journalism Club at the American Center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.