Application opens for John Paul Usman Award for civic leadership

The Public Affairs Section (PAS) of the U.S. Embassy Abuja, has announces a notice of funding opportunity for the John Paul Usman Award for Civic Leadership. The purpose of this grant is to memorialise the late John Paul Usman, 2016 Mandela Washington Fellow, by funding project(s) submitted by the Young African Initiative (YALI) Network members from Nigeria, focusing on children’s rights issues and pace building.

PAS encourages applications from YALI Network members or their organisations located in Nigeria, including registered not-for-profit and civil society/non-governmental organisations with at least two years of programming experience and individuals with two years of not-for-profit, project management, or education; experience.

Though this opportunity is open to RLC alumni, alumni of the Mandela Washington Fellowship program or their organisations are not eligible to apply for the award, which will be open till April 14, 2017. Meanwhile, grant proposals must demonstrate how projects support these thematic areas.  Any project outside these areas will not be considered.

Proposals should be submitted online to U.S. Embassy Abuja at the following email address: [email protected] using the attached proposal and budget templates. Applicants are also required to fill out the attached SF-424 form and submit with their application, which must be in English only; final grant agreements will also be concluded in English. Applications that do not use the proposal and budget templates and do not submit the SF-424 will not be considered.

Depending on the response, U.S. Embassy Abuja will attempt to notify those proposals not selected. Proposals will be accepted until April 14, 2017 and with positive responses issued by April 30, 2017. However, the application form requires a DUNS number, a unique nine-digit identification number. DUNS Number assignment is free for organisations required to register with the federal government for grants.

However, public diplomacy grant funding from the U.S. government may not be used for any commercial, for-profit activity or business operations. All events, conferences, workshops, training, or other engagement activities must be free of charge to participants and audiences.