Building a Regional Community of Practice Against Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing (IUUF)

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The U.S. Embassy in Madagascar and Comoros announces a full and open competition for organizations to submit applications to carry out a cooperative agreement with the Embassy’s Public Diplomacy (PD) section to support the Embassy’s focus on Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing (IUUF) by increasing public and stakeholder pressure on policy makers to reform policy to better combat IUUF. By working in close collaboration with the U.S. Embassy, the grant implementer will be able to leverage existing U.S. Department of State resources such as IVLP On Demand and U.S. Speaker programs to complement and support the activities directly funded under this grant. PROJECT GOALS AND OBJECTIVES: Organizations are invited to submit a proposal that addresses each of the following items: Goals : In this program, the U.S. Embassy seeks to achieve three ambitious goals with the support of the selected organization: Increase public awareness in Madagascar, Comoros, and throughout the Western Indian Ocean region of the impact of IUUF on local livelihoods, food, security, economies, and environments. Enhance understanding of the U.S. Government’s policy position on IUUF and encourage the development of shared values and policy perspectives on this issue. Influence policy reform to combat IUUF in the target nations. Audience: To achieve these goals, the Embassy, working with the selected organization, will employ sustained programming and engagement to build the capacity of two key groups of force-multipliers to raise public awareness of IUUF and to influence policy to combat IUUF: Subject-Matter-Experts (SME) and journalists. Objectives : The project will achieve these goals by: Establishing an Enduring Community of Practice: Establishing an enduring, self-sustaining community of practice including researchers, civil society leaders, the private sector, and policy makers with the shared knowledge, interest, and motivation to act jointly to increase public awareness of IUUF and influence policy reform to combat IUUF. Raising Public Awareness: Conducting public programming, social media, and media engagements to increase public awareness of the need to combat IUUF. Building the Capacity of Journalists: Building the capacity of journalists to increase the quality and quantity of reporting on the issue. ADMINISTRATIVE Proposals should include management of travel and lodging logistics in each aspect of the program for participants, speakers (where not provided by U.S. Embassy), and grantee staff. Proposals must show how grant funds will be used to cover the cost of the venue, domestic and international transportation, visas, travel insurance, COVID-19 related expenses, lodging, and meals and/or per diem for eligible participants. All travel funded under the cooperative agreement should be economy class and must comply with Fly America requirements. Proposals should envision media coverage as well as the invitation of journalists to cover (and if appropriate to present at) activities within the project. Proposals must include a plan for widely publicizing the symposium and any recommendations resulting from it, both within the United States, Madagascar, Comoros, and the region via traditional media and digital media. Proposals should include a description of the applicant’s experience with IUUF-related topics and symposium organization as well as experience in and/or ties with organizations in the field in Madagascar and/or Comoros and the Indian Ocean or other international expertise.

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