Dear friends, The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has released a new funding opportunity called “Human Rights Support Mechanism (HRSM)”, solicitation number SOL-OAA-16-000018. Proposed activities should last for five years, with a start date on or about the date of the signature of the award.
Funder: The opportunity is funded by USAID, the U.S. Government agency that works to end extreme global poverty and enable resilient, democratic societies.
Eligibility: US non-governmental and non-US non-governmental organizations may participate.
Due dates:
- January 15, 2016: application close date
Award ceiling: $25,000,000
Cost share: No requirement
Goal: To provide a wide range of services and support for the purpose of protecting human rights around the world, in USAID presence as well as non-presence countries.
Objectives:
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Improved enabling environments for preventing and addressing human rights violations and abuses. This objective aims to strengthen the policy and institutional architecture that helps states respect their human rights obligations, and build the capacity of non-state actors to promote those rights, monitor compliance and demand accountability. Activities may include legislative reform, strengthening institutional safeguards, supporting grassroots movements and actors, and changing social norms to advance and protect human rights.
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Effective response actions to mitigate the impact of human rights violations and abuses. This objective acknowledges that in many countries - particularly those in conflict or post-conflict settings - widespread or systematic human rights violations or abuses may be ongoing. In these situations, there may be specific short or medium-term assistance ations that can be taken.
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Effective remedies to human rights violations and abuses. Under this objective, USAID will support longer-term remedial actions that assist individual victims to access justice and efforts that help societies recover from past violations or abuses.
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Identification of effective approaches for protecting human rights. Through the award, HSRM will utilize a range of techniques to create, organize, share and use knowledge about how foreign assistance can be used to protect human rights. The implementer will identify knowledge created under HSRM and will create materials that will be organized and shared in various forms, including practical tools that Missions can use to inform their activities.
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Rapid response to urgent or unforeseen crises. In many instances, human rights crises require response times that challenge USAID’s standard procurement process. Where at-risk populations or Human Rights Defenders are in imminent danger, programmatic responses are required in days or weeks, as opposed to months or longer. HSRM will support initial, short-term responses to urgent and/or unforeseen human rights crises. Activities may include rapid field assessments, in-kind support to improve security, or small grants or in-kind assistance to local human rights defenders to support monitoring or documentation.
Reporting:
The Recipient shall submit a performance report on a quarterly basis due within 30 days following the end of each quarter. Quarterly financial reports shall also be submitted within 30 days following the end of each quarter.
For all rapid response activities the Recipient shall submit brief weekly reports which should include an update on current and planned activities, key assumptions related to the recipient’s response, and any significant challenges related to the response.
A final performance report will replace the last quarterly progress report, and shall be due no later than 90 days after the completion, expiration, or termination of the award. The final financial report shall also be due within 90 days following the expiration of the award.