WHA Access to Justice and Freedom of Expression/Press
Document Type: Grants Notice Funding Number: DRL-11-WHA-RFP-220411 Close Date: 2011-05-23 00:00:00 Agency: Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Opportunity Category: Discretionary Posted Date: 4/22/2011 Creation Date: Apr 28, 2011 Original Closing Date for Applications: May 23, 2011 Archive Date: Jun 22, 2011 Funding Instrument Type: Grant Category of Funding Activity:Other (see text field entitled "Explanation of Other Category of Funding Activity" for clarification) Category Explanation: The
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) announces a Request
for Proposals from organizations interested in submitting proposals for
projects that promote democracy, human rights, rule of law, and freedom
of expression/press in the following regions and countries: Western
Hemisphere (Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Argentina). Expected Number of Awards: 2 Estimated Total Program Funding: $1,525,000 Award Ceiling: $1,000,000 Award Floor: $525,000 CFDA Number(s):19.345 -- International Programs to Support Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement: No Eligible Applicants: Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education Additional Information on Eligibility: Organizations
submitting proposals must meet the following criteria:
* Be a U.S. non-profit organization meeting the provisions described in
Internal Revenue Code section 26 USC 501(c) (3) or a comparable
organization headquartered internationally, or an international
organization.
* Have demonstrated experience administering successful and preferably
similar projects. DRL reserves the right to request additional
background information on organizations that do not have previous
experience administering federal grant awards. These applicants may be
subject to limited funding on a pilot basis.
*Be a registered user of grants.gov.
* Have existing, or the capacity to develop, active partnerships with
in-country entities and relevant stakeholders including industry and
non-governmental organizations.
* Organizations may form consortia and submit a combined proposal.
However, one organization should be designated as the lead applicant.
* An OMB policy directive published in the Federal Register on Friday,
June 27, 2003, requires that all organizations applying for Federal
grants or cooperative agreements must provide a Dun and Bradstreet
(D&B) Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number when applying
for all Federal grants or cooperative agreements in or after October 1,
2003. Please reference:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/fedreg/062703_grant_identifier.pdf for the
complete OMB policy directive. Description: Access
to Justice:
Central America (Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua) Access to Justice
(subject to the availability of funding approximately $525,000): DRL
seeks proposals for a two-year project directed at increasing citizen
confidence in the judicial system and strengthening citizen access to
justice by combating impunity, raising citizen awareness of civil and
political rights and increasing availability of legal services. The
project will target the general population in the identified project
countries (at least two countries per proposal; proposals focusing on a
single country will not be considered competitive), with an emphasis on
reaching marginalized and vulnerable communities in Guatemala, Honduras,
and Nicaragua.
� The project's objectives will include: outreach to, and education
of, general and underserved populations on civil and political rights,
and in particular human rights issues especially relevant to their
communities; information regarding how to use/navigate the justice
system and the avenues by which these populations may be able to achieve
access to justice and redress for human rights abuses committed against
them (including alternative methods to register complaints other than
filing them with the police). For example, a legal clinic could
establish paralegal services in a local community in order to conduct
outreach to the general and vulnerable populations (LGBT or indigenous
communities, for example), or local NGOs that serve these communities.
Legal clinics could also facilitate the establishment of community
leader networks for those who have gained knowledge of legal aid
services through project paralegals.
This outreach could include: 1) informational meetings with members of
vulnerable populations to learn of human rights problems of ongoing
concern such as excessive use of force by the police and specific abuses
or crimes, and 2) education sessions for those communities on civil and
political rights and the options available through the justice and
prosecutorial systems for pursuing remedies.
Clinics, with the participation of local partner NGOs, would help
citizens who are victims of human rights abuses prepare a legal strategy
and bring the case to trial. Program success might be measured through
the number of cases taken up, and/or successfully litigated, by the
clinic, as well as concrete feedback through surveys and other tools to
assess understanding by target populations of their civil and political
rights and the means for protecting them.
Proposals should indicate how project activities would be complementary,
rather than duplicative, of current USG funding in the access to
justice area in the targeted countries. For purposes of coordinating and
creating synergies among ongoing USG efforts, applicants will work in
at least two countries and in two (for each selected country)
communities/municipalities per country (see list of
communities/municipalities below):
Guatemala: Guatemala City; Villa Nueva; Villa Canales; Mixco; Cob�n;
Quetzaltenango; Tact�c; Tamah�; Santa Cruz; Mancomunidad
Copanch�orti; Limon; Santa Elisa; El Esfuerzo; Santa Fe; Santa Faz;
Jocotenango; Brigada; Lo de Fuentes; Milagro; Casco de Mixco;
Carolingia; Palencia; Pal�n Escuintla; Ciudad Quetzal; Brisas; Santa
Catarina; Ciudad del Sol; B�caro, Mezquital; B�rcenas; Mezquital;
Villalobos; Santa Isabel; and Peronia.
Honduras: Tegucigalpa; Chamelecon district of San Pedro Sula; Jap�n;
Las Pilas; Lopez Arellano; Los Invencibles; Rivera Hernandez; San Jose
in Chamelec�n; Padre Claret; Los Angeles/el Carmen; Suazo Cordova;
Cofradia Centro; Cofradio Casa Quemada; Villafranca (Comayaguela);
Buenas Nuevas; Nueva Suyapa; and Puerto Lempira.
Nicaragua: Managua; Bluefields; Pearl Lagoon; Bilwi; and Corn Islands.
Applicants should also provide brief rationale/criteria for the selected
communities/municipalities.
To foster sustainability after the end of DRL funding, the project
implementers will develop partnerships with these legal clinics. As
project partners, the legal clinics would continue working with
government and civil society partners to enhance their services and
promote public awareness. An additional sustainability component could
include local civil society partners seeking and obtaining longer-term
funding through public-private partnerships with the business sector in
each country.
Freedom of Expression/Press
WHA Regional (Honduras, Ecuador, and Argentina) Freedom of
Expression/Press (subject to the availability of funding, approximately
$1,000,000): DRL seeks proposals for a regional project designed to
decriminalize press offenses; reduce harassment and intimidation of
journalists; address self-censorship in the media resulting from
intimidation; and advance techniques to protect journalists from
political interference in Ecuador, Honduras, and Argentina, or at least
two out of three of those countries. Issues to be addressed and proposed
interventions will vary in accordance with the targeted
country/countries. The project�s end goal will be to strengthen press
freedom. Project activities may include:
� Enabling Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to lobby legislatures to
decriminalize press offenses/defamation and/or working with CSOs to
press governments to implement decriminalization of press offences;
� Working with CSOs and media professionals to guarantee the
independence of media regulatory bodies from government political
interference and improve these bodies� ability to protect journalists
and other media sector workers and managers from political interference;
� Activities to strengthen self-regulatory media regulatory bodies
(such as Press Councils) to enable media to effectively address
complaints and initiate their own actions (receive, investigate, hear,
and resolve complaints) when laws or regulations are breached, with the
goal being to enable and encourage the bodies to protect journalists and
media outlets (not simply to focus on punishing them in the court
system for infractions/offenses);
� Supporting civil society in advocacy on the appropriate use of civil
defamation laws in order to reduce senseless or retaliatory lawsuits
against journalists; and
� Enabling CSOs to lobby legislators to pass new laws that penalize
frivolous lawsuits against the press. Link to Additional Information: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/p/c12302.htm Contact Info: Violeta Roman
Program Officer
Phone 2022618107
Please contact DRL if you have questions on this solicitation.
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Synopsis Version NameModification DescriptionDate ModifiedCurrent VersionApr 28, 2011Version #2Apr 25, 2011Version #1Apr 25, 2011Original VersionApr 22, 2011