The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is seeking applications for a Leader with Associate (LWA) cooperative agreement from qualified entities to implement the Civic DEFENDERS program. Eligibility for this award is not restricted.
Civic DEFENDERS will be a global program that supports local civil society, independent media, and human rights defenders to better prevent, mitigate, and respond to digital repression in their own contexts, particularly in closed and closing civic spaces.6 The activity will focus on building long-term, local and regional resilience7 among civil society through a networked approach involving global, regional, and local actors, with a particular emphasis on the needs of women and other marginalized groups.
This activity will advance USAID’s internet freedom objectives, which are to protect: (1) the exercise of internationally recognized human rights online, such as freedoms of expression, assembly, association, access to information, and privacy, regardless of borders and through any medium, and (2) an open, interoperable, reliable, and secure global internet.
USAID does not intend to address every internet freedom issue through this global program. For example, Civic DEFENDERS will not focus on expanding infrastructure to increase access to the internet and close the digital divide. The program will also not seek to address the full range of information integrity issues that are often associated with internet freedom. These are important issues, and this program will coordinate with related efforts. However, the funding levels, funding directive definitions (see “Funding Parameters” below), and U.S. policies applicable to this program require strategic choices to be made that preclude the project from addressing the full range of issues related to the digital repression of civil society.
All applicant organizations are restricted to submitting only one application as the “Prime” or Primary Applicant. Interested applicants from within Duke should contact fundopps@duke.edu as early as possible.
Closing Date: May 02, 2024
Eligibility for this NOFO is not restricted. All U.S. and non-U.S. public, private, for-profit, and non-profit organizations, as well as higher education institutions, and non-governmental organizations are eligible to submit an application.
USAID intends to award one Leader with Associates Cooperative Agreement pursuant to this notice of funding opportunity. Subject to funding availability and at the discretion of the Agency, USAID/DRG intends to provide $42,500,000 for the Leader Award over a five (5) year period. An additional $15,000,000 for buy-ins to the Leader Award and $35,000,000 for Associate Awards is available for funding from other USAID Operating Units.