[MUSIC PLAYING]
SPEAKER: Welcome to the Department of State's Office
to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons Fiscal
Year 2017 Annual Grants Process Tutorial:Stage One -
Request for Statements of Interest.
This is a step by step tutorial to the TIP Office's Programming
Cycle and Grants Process.
Through this exercise, we hope to make
the process more accessible and easier to understand
for organizations worldwide.
Before we discuss funding opportunities, our grants
process, and our programming priorities,
we're going to take a brief look at the scope of the problem
and how the TIP Office works to address human trafficking.
Human trafficking is a crime involving the exploitation
of someone for the purposes of compelled labor
or a commercial sex act through the use of force, fraud,
or coercion.
When a person younger than 18 is induced
to perform a commercial sex act, it is a crime
regardless of whether there is any force, fraud, or coercion.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking
in Persons Report, or TIP Report,
examines what countries are doing
on three fronts-- prosecution, protection, and prevention.
The report assesses 188 countries and territories,
including the United States.
The Department of State places each country
onto one of four tiers based on the extent
of their government's effort to comply
with the minimum standards for elimination of trafficking,
as required by the Trafficking Victims Protection
Act of 2000-- Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 2 Watch List, and Tier 3.
The TIP Report is the world's most comprehensive resource
of governmental anti-human trafficking efforts
and reflects the U.S. government's commitment
to global leadership on this key human rights and law
enforcement issue.
It represents an updated, global look
at the nature and scope of trafficking in persons
and the broad range of government actions
to confront and eliminate it.
The TIP Office consists of four sections--
the Reports and Political Affairs
team engages with foreign governments
on human trafficking.
And it also prepares and, ultimately,
writes the annual TIP Report.
The recommendations in this report
inform the TIP Office's diplomatic engagement
and drive its programming objectives
for the following year.
The Public Engagement team works with Congress,
federal agencies, multilateral organizations, the media, NGOs,
corporations, academia, and civil society
to raise awareness about modern slavery
and to build partnerships to help strengthen
our efforts to fight it.
The Resource Management and Planning team
works closely with the entire office
to provide management support to the other teams
and senior leadership, including strategic planning, grants
management, performance management, evaluation
and oversight, and budget formulation.
The International Programs team manages
the Office's foreign assistance process
and anti-trafficking projects, which we'll
examine a bit in this video.
TIP Office programming supports our global engagement
on the fight against human trafficking
and builds partnerships with civil society
and international organizations to combat modern slavery.
The way we do this is through the 3P paradigm--
prosecuting traffickers, protecting trafficking victims,
and preventing trafficking in persons.
A fourth P, partnership, is also a critical element
in the majority of our programs.
Along with funding NGOs that offer services
to trafficking victims, much of our anti-trafficking assistance
is designed to help partner governments build
their own capacity to fight human trafficking.
Last fiscal year, the TIP Office received
approximately $32 million for international programming.
Some of these funds are directed by Congress
to be used for specific purposes,
while others can be used to fund projects
in priority countries and regions identified by the TIP
Office.
As of 2016, the TIP Office manages more than $70 million
in foreign assistance to support more than 100
anti-trafficking projects worldwide.
These projects that are awarded in every region of the world.
And the amount of funding within each region
changes annually as new opportunities and priorities
emerge.
The TIP Office has five main programming activities.
The annual competition for grants
is the primary means through which the Office allocates
foreign assistance funds.
Grants and cooperative agreements
awarded through this funding mechanism
may be bilateral, regional, or global.
In addition to the annual competition for grants,
funding is also available for short-term training
and technical assistance.
These awards are intended to address specific knowledge gaps
in host country stakeholders as identified by U.S. embassies
and are not competitively solicited.
There are also the emergency victim assistance
and research and innovation funds
which, as the names suggest, provide immediate assistance
to vulnerable populations in emergency situations
and collect data on trafficking trends.
Finally, the first Child Protection Compact Partnership
began in 2015.
This new program aims to reduce child trafficking
through a structured multi-year plan developed jointly
by the United States and a partner government.
Awards are issued to non-governmental and public
international organizations.
It amounts up to $5 million to implement activities associated
with a national strategy.
Now that you know more about the scope of human trafficking
and how the TIP Office works, let's
move on to the annual competition for grants process.
This is the primary means by which
our office provides funding.
But first, let's go over definitions.
A solicitation is an invitation to organizations
to submit bids for a specific purpose or mission.
A statement of interest describes
an organization's serious intention
of doing something under specified conditions
and at a specified time.
The first stage of the annual competitive grants process
begins with our interagency strategy roundtables,
which occurred in early September of this year.
During this time, the TIP Office works closely
with our Department of State and interagency colleagues
to determine regional strategies for future programming.
But how does the TIP Office formulate its objectives?
All programmatic decisions are guided
by the recommendations in the most recent TIP Report
as well as by input provided by U.S. embassies
around the world and other U.S. government agencies.
Program objectives are also based
on priority countries ranked Tier 2, Tier 2 Watch
List, and Tier 3.
Now there are exceptions.
And these are often determined by a host government's
political willingness to respond to the issue
of human trafficking.
As a general rule, we don't typically fund
high income countries, as determined
by the World Bank Atlas.
The scope of human trafficking varies widely around the world
and programming objectives must address the specific challenges
in each of the identified priority region or countries.
Not all objectives apply to each location.
And this is taken into consideration
when drafting the strategies mentioned earlier.
Once the program objectives for each region and country
are determined, we then post the annual solicitation requesting
statements of interest.
This year the annual solicitation
will be posted on October 7, 2016.
The TIP Office posts its call for proposals
on GrantSolutions.gov, Grants.gov
and announces it on the TIP Office's website.
The solicitation outlines the Office's specific programming
priorities for the year.
It also provides detailed instructions
on how to submit statements of interest that
meet all the solicitation's technical requirements,
including the necessary documentation.
It's important to note that statements of interest
must be submitted through GrantSolutions.gov
or Grants.gov.
The TIP Office cannot, and will not,
accept statements of interest submitted via email, mail, fax,
or any other means.
The solicitation will be posted for 30 days
and all applicants must submit their statements of interest
before the deadline on Monday, November 7th,
at 11:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time.
If you encounter any technical issues,
the help desk is available.
The annual competition for grants process
is fair, transparent, and open to all organizations
and institutions of higher education.
Any U.S. or foreign based non-governmental organization,
public international organization,
college or university, or for-profit organization
can apply for a grant from our office.
Once all statements of interest are received,
each statement of interest goes through a two stage review.
The first stage is the technical review, a brief, but thorough,
check to ensure all basic requirements as detailed
on the websites have been met.
The technical requirements are listed in the solicitation.
The TIP Office typically ask questions
such as is the statement of interest written in English?
Does the applicant request an amount in U.S. dollars?
Does the statement of interest address at least one
programming priority as identified in the solicitation?
After the technical review, each statement of interest
is reviewed by the TIP Office and other department
colleagues, including regional bureau officials
and U.S. embassy staff.
During this rigorous assessment, the office
looks for a brief description of the organization's capacity
and partner or partners, including
previous and current work in the country or region, if any,
as well as prior and current work
to combat human trafficking.
A description of how the project meets at least one
of the TIP Office's programming objectives
as described in the funding announcement is also required.
Keep in mind, statements of interest
received for projects in countries or regions
not identified in this solicitation,
or that do not address at least one project objective,
will be rejected automatically and will not
be considered for funding.
In addition, statements of interest
that address more than one priority country or region
in a single statement of interest will be rejected.
A single statement of interest may address multiple project
objectives, but cannot address more than one priority country
or region.
Your organization may submit separate statements of interest
for any number of priority countries or regions.
Your project description also needs to identify all intended
beneficiaries, include thoughtful and clearly linked
goals and objectives, as well as the project's intended duration
and sustainability plan.
Goals and objectives mentioned in the website instructions
are important to include, along with performance indicators
including outputs and outcomes.
All these should demonstrate how your program would
measure project objectives.
Finally, be sure to include a brief overview
of current and prospective funding
for related projects in your statement of interest's
intended priority country or region.
If cost sharing is proposed, include the cost share amount
in U.S. dollars and explain the source of the proposed cost
share.
No other budget figures are requested or required
at this stage.
Once again, all funding requests must be in U.S. dollars.
There are a few additional points
that can make your statement of interest
stand out among the rest.
Your statement of interest should
be easy to read and understand.
It should clearly link proposed activities
to programming priorities and desired outputs and outcomes,
while also demonstrating an understanding
of the difference between an output and an outcome.
Organizations must also demonstrate
strong partnerships, whether by proposing
to work with sub-grantees, partnering
with other organizations in the area,
or building local or national government buy-in.
In addition, be sure to set realistic project targets
and create a plan for monitoring and evaluating the project.
Be creative and innovative when designing activities
and ensure your statement of interest discusses
how activities will not duplicate existing efforts.
Hundreds of organizations apply for funding from the TIP
Office, so make sure your proposals
stand out with experience and passion to combat trafficking.
Consider and explain your organization's
comparative advantage over other organizations working
in the country or region.
Be careful not to make simple mistakes that will disqualify
your statement of interest.
For example, submitting your statement of interest late,
or submitting an incomplete statement of interest,
such as a statement that is missing required
forms 424 and 424B, or not submitting your statement
of interest in English.
And just quickly, here are screen shots
of the SF 424 and SF 424B, so you know what they look like.
Remember, these two forms must be
submitted to GrantSolutions.gov or Grants.gov
along with your three page statement of interest.
Please do not forget to include them.
Thank you for taking the time to learn
more about the TIP Office's Fiscal Year
2017 Annual Grants Process Tutorial: Stage One - Request
for Statements of Interest.
We hope it was informative.
And we look forward to receiving your innovative
anti-trafficking program ideas.