U.S. Mission to South Africa Public Diplomacy Section Call for Proposals to Advance Women in Business, Mitigate Climate Change, Improve Media Literacy, Celebrate Black History Month, Counter Gender-Based Violence, and Expand University Partnerships | PAS ZAF FY21 05

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAS ZAF FY21 05

This funding opportunity is a competitive call from the Public Diplomacy Section (PDS) at the U.S. Embassy in South Africa, under the U.S. Department of State, to support programs that deepen relationships between Americans and South Africans. The core requirement across all proposals is that activities must take place in South Africa, primarily serve South African participants, and clearly strengthen mutual understanding of U.S. values, perspectives, and policies. A strong, central American element is not optional: proposals need identifiable, meaningful U.S. content such as collaboration with U.S.-based experts or institutions, use of U.S.-developed curricula, or substantive engagement with U.S. culture, history, or society. This American connection must be distinct from routine contact with the U.S. Mission, American Corners, or exchange alumni networks, although working with existing Mission programs and U.S. government exchange alumni is welcomed as a supporting feature. The Embassy also signals geographic priorities, favoring initiatives that reach multiple provinces or intentionally work beyond the main metro areas of Pretoria, Johannesburg, Durban, and Cape Town.

The opportunity is structured around six program categories, and applicants must choose only one category for submission. The overall award ceiling is USD 100,000 per award, with an expectation of up to six awards total. The funding instrument is a grant (and for some university partnership projects, the Embassy indicates it may operate more like a cooperative agreement with significant Embassy involvement). Eligible applicants include U.S. nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status (excluding higher education institutions) and private institutions of higher education. The opportunity was posted April 28, 2021, with an original closing date of May 30, 2021, and it is listed under CFDA 19.040 and the Arts/Cultural Affairs activity area.

The first category, Advancing Women in the Workforce to Achieve Economic Growth, focuses on the gap between women’s educational attainment and their underrepresentation in senior business leadership in South Africa. PDS is looking for mentorship-driven and leadership acceleration programming aimed at established professionals, especially mid-level managers who could move into executive leadership, C-suite roles, and board positions over the next five to ten years. Competitive concepts include structured mentorship, leadership development, networking across sectors, and potentially an exchange or summit component. A distinctive feature of this category is its long-horizon accountability: proposals are expected to include monitoring and evaluation plans and a vision for reporting outcomes to PDS over a five-to-ten-year period, reflecting the goal of durable changes rather than one-off events. Projects should also be designed with the possibility of scaling up if additional funding becomes available.

The second category, Mitigating Climate Change, supports practical collaborations that reflect shared U.S. and South African interests in climate-related challenges. Applicants are expected to pick a specific theme (for example, youth engagement, entrepreneurship, or education) and define measurable results achievable within the award period, even if the work also sets the stage for longer-term impact. PDS explicitly encourages linkages between U.S. and South African institutions, including potential partnerships between agencies such as the U.S. National Park Service and South African National Parks, as well as collaborations between universities. Priority topic areas include sustainable waste management and recycling, clean water solutions in urban and peri-urban settings, countering wildlife trafficking, climate adaptation, urban greening, and healthy oceans. Strong proposals in this area clearly identify the target audience, the participants, and how outcomes will be measured.

The third category, Improving Media Literacy and Journalism Training, is aimed at boosting fact-checking capacity and responsible media consumption, with emphasis on high school and university ecosystems. Proposals must include at least three required components: sustained engagement with basic-education stakeholders to encourage inclusion of critical thinking and media literacy in public education; direct training for high school educators and/or students in fact-checking and responsible consumption; and workshops for journalism lecturers and students at universities that do not already teach disinformation or media literacy in their curricula. PDS indicates a preference for proposals that build concrete partnerships with the South African Department of Basic Education and/or municipalities and schools, with the goal of embedding media literacy into existing curricula or reinforcing related learning at the secondary level. The practical endpoint is behavior change: participants should be equipped and motivated to use fact-checking skills and available tools or platforms in real-world information environments.

The fourth category, Celebrating Black History Month and Promoting Social Justice, is tied to the U.S. Mission’s Black History Month programming in February 2022. The Embassy is seeking proposals that create space for candid, moderated conversations about the shared painful histories of the United States and South Africa, while making the programming relevant and resonant for South African audiences. Target audiences include university students and faculty, journalists, policymakers, and youth. A firm program requirement is that the project must include at least one February 2022 event that enables participation by senior U.S. Mission leadership. Priority themes include raising awareness of African-American literature, culture, and history, and educational outreach that draws explicit connections between African-American struggles for equality and South Africa’s liberation history. Arts-based approaches are encouraged, including performances or performance series delivered in person or virtually, especially when they spark dialogue and reflection. The Embassy also encourages outreach to outlying universities, TVET institutions, and rural community centers rather than limiting activities to major cities.

The fifth category, Countering Gender-Based Violence to Improve Security, seeks projects that address the policy, advocacy, and social-structural drivers of gender-based violence in South Africa while drawing on lessons learned from the United States. A key compliance expectation is alignment: any U.S.-funded actions should complement South Africa’s National Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Strategic Plan. Priority approaches include prevention-oriented youth engagement, ensuring young men are meaningfully included in solutions, and facilitating robust discussions with traditional, cultural, and religious leaders. The Embassy also highlights programming for young men and mentorship for boys that addresses toxic masculinity and builds healthy role models. Target groups include national and municipal policy influencers, youth, university communities, and journalists. Competitive proposals are expected to balance credible U.S. linkages with careful adaptation to South Africa’s on-the-ground realities and existing national strategy.

The sixth category, Expanding the University Partnership Initiative (UPI), supports strengthening existing and building new institutional links between U.S. and South African universities. The focus is on sustained collaboration rather than short visits, so proposals should explain how partnerships will continue after U.S. government funding ends. Priority activities include faculty and student exchanges, joint research, university administrative capacity building, and public-private partnerships. The Embassy is particularly interested in dual degree models that allow South Africans to complete studies largely in-country while helping address South Africa’s shortage of qualified academic staff, early-career training for academics, and joint research in areas such as agriculture, food security, health, and STEM. Administrative and community college skill-transfer programs are also emphasized, as are commercialization, technology transfer, and job creation through partnerships with industry. The intended audience is broad, spanning students, administrators, corporations, NGOs, and U.S. government-funded exchange alumni. Proposals linking South African technical universities with U.S. counterparts and those that connect academia with commerce are strongly encouraged, and applicants should design projects with scale-up potential if funds allow.

Across all six categories, PDS emphasizes practical planning under COVID-19 constraints. For proposals involving in-person international travel, the guidance is not to plan travel before January 2022 at the earliest, and to build flexibility into program design to adapt to changing restrictions. In general, the Embassy is looking for well-defined target audiences, credible implementation partners, measurable outcomes, and programs that use American expertise or content in a substantive way to build long-term people-to-people and institution-to-institution ties between the United States and South Africa.

• The Department of State, U.S. Mission to South Africa in the arts (see cultural affairs in cfda) sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "U.S. Mission to South Africa Public Diplomacy Section Call for Proposals to Advance Women in Business, Mitigate Climate Change, Improve Media Literacy, Celebrate Black History Month, Counter Gender-Based Violence, and Expand University Partnerships" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 19.040.
• This funding opportunity was created on Apr 28, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 30, 2021. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $100,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 6 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

Apply for PAS ZAF FY21 05

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