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Notice of Funding Opportunity: Advancing Palestinian Women’s Entrepreneurship Program

A. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The Public Diplomacy Section (PD) of the U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs (U.S.OPA) announces an open competition for a grant through this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). The Advancing Palestinian Women’s Entrepreneurship Program is designed to partner with Not-for-profit non-governmental organizations to implement activities which advance the applicant’s goals and the U.S. OPA-PD mission: to advance a comprehensive, lasting, negotiated peace between Israelis and Palestinians and the development of a prosperous, stable, and transparent Palestinian society, economy and system of governance through substantive engagement with American people, institutions, ideas and ideals in order to improve American-Palestinian relations and create greater opportunities for mutually beneficial partnership and cooperation.

U.S. OPA-PD’s Advancing Palestinian Women’s Entrepreneurship Program supports the design and implementation of activities to develop and promote women’s entrepreneurship and their

microenterprise activities. Building on U.S. OPA-PD’s annual Women’s Micro-Enterprise Bazaar, which has contributed to the growth of Palestinian women-run businesses over the past 8 years, we are now seeking projects that will encourage and promote innovative business ideas, mentorship, and entrepreneurship among Palestinian women, connect Palestinian women entrepreneurs to experts in the United States, and develop the potential for mutually beneficial exchange between American businesses and Palestinian women from Gaza, Jerusalem, and the West Bank. The project should include an Entrepreneurs Exposition/Bazaar.

Priority Region: Jerusalem, West Bank, and Gaza.

Program Objectives:

All proposed projects must aim to advance the U.S. OPA-PD mission goals stated above, contain a substantive American element, and achieve all the following specific objectives:

1. Execute a Women Entrepreneurs Expo (Bazaar) in Jerusalem and lead-up and follow-on activities for Palestinian women entrepreneurs to:

a. enhance participants’ entrepreneurial skills

b. improve the quality and diversify the range of products and services offered by the participants.

c. empower these entrepreneurs to expand their businesses to new markets; and promote shared economic prosperity between Palestinians and Americans.

2. Establish connections for Palestinian women entrepreneurs with American experts to advance Palestinian modernization of sales platforms (virtual and in person) and improve the quality of products and services, bringing about growth and transformation.

3. Help scale participants’ businesses to the next level through group and individual coaching to Palestinian women entrepreneurs by local Palestinian businesswomen and community members as well as mentors, peers, or experts in the United States to

Participants and Audiences:

Palestinian women entrepreneurs, artists, designers, including but not limited to participants in previous Annual U.S.-supported Palestinian Women’s Micro-Enterprise Bazar. New and emerging entrepreneurs aiming to launch and grow their business.

B. FEDERAL AWARD INFORMATION

Length of performance period: 6-8 months

Number of awards anticipated: 1 award

Award amounts: award may range to a maximum of $60,000.00

Total available funding: $60,000

Type of Funding: FY22 Smith Mundt Public Diplomacy Funds

Anticipated program start date: September 2022

This notice is subject to availability of funding.

Funding Instrument Type: Cooperative agreement. The U.S.OPA-PD will be integrally involved with the execution of the project through regular input and meetings. The exact nature of the substantive involvement will be discussed with the chosen organization and will be agreed on in the final grant language before signing.

Program Performance Period: Proposed programs should be completed in 8 months or less. At least the last 3 months of the period of performance — after the end of the substantive project activity — should be dedicated to short- and medium-term measurement and evaluation of project success to measure indicators and determine if leading goals and objectives have been met.

C. ELIGILIBITY INFORMATION

1. Eligible Applicants

The following types of applicants are eligible to apply:

  . Palestinian, American, and International Not-for-profit organizations, including think tanks and civil society/non-governmental organizations

2. Cost Sharing or Matching

Cost sharing is not required but will be considered in the merit review by using cost-sharing to break ties among applications with equivalent scores after evaluation against all other factors.

3. Other Eligibility Requirements

In order to be eligible to receive an award, all organizations must have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number issued via www.SAM.gov as well as a valid registration on www.SAM.gov. Please see Section D.3 for more information. Individuals are not required to have a UEI or be registered in SAM.gov.

Organizations wishing to submit proposals to the Public Affairs Section should review the following documents and forms: