United States Department of State (DOS)

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Applicants are only allowed to submit one proposal per organization. If more than one proposal is submitted from an organization, all proposals from that institution will be considered ineligible for funding. Organizations may form a consortium and submit a combined proposal; however, one organization should be designated as the lead applicant and other organization(s) listed as sub-recipient partner(s).

Overview
The Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) of the U.S. Department of State announce an open competition for organizations to submit applications to carry out a project to develop a software-based weighted, random case-allocation system to prevent selective prosecution of transnational organized crime and money laundering cases. Political interference in the prosecution service remains a barrier to fighting transnational organized crime and achieving other U.S. objectives in Serbia. As requested by the High Prosecutorial Council, the body responsible for oversight of the prosecution service, this grant will reduce political manipulation of prosecutions and improve outcomes in extradition cases and cases involving high-level corruption and transnational criminal organization (TCO) leaders whose activities harm U.S. national security interests through random allocation of cases.

 

No Applicants // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1

Limiting Language
Applicants are only allowed to submit one proposal per organization. If more than one proposal is submitted from an organization, all proposals from that institution will be considered ineligible for funding.

Executive Summary
The Bureau of Emerging Threats (ET) leads the Department of State in anticipating and responding to national security challenges arising from adversary use of new technologies across cyberspace, outer space, critical infrastructure and undersea domains, quantum technologies, and artificial intelligence (AI). ET focuses on protecting U.S. national security in these areas of strategic and technological competition using diplomatic tools and interagency capabilities as part of coordinated foreign policy responses.

Within ET, the Office of Critical Infrastructure Security (ET/CI) is responsible for addressing novel threats and disruptions to critical infrastructure that threaten lives, economic stability, and national power. ET/CI addresses threat vectors targeting major critical infrastructure sectors, including energy systems, communications networks, transportation and logistics, financial systems, healthcare, and water, and works to coordinate “upgrade and secure” efforts with allies and partners, counter attacks against data centers, and protect against cloud security vulnerabilities.

In the Western Hemisphere, adversaries have exploited weak cyber defenses in government networks and critical infrastructure to gain intelligence advantages, potential coercive leverage over sovereign decision-making, and latent access pathways that may extend to U.S. interests. Argentina, under the Milei administration, has signaled that it seeks close alignment with the United States on strategic and economic issues, including a deliberate transition away from untrusted foreign digital infrastructure suppliers in favor of trusted, market-oriented partners.

Persistent and sophisticated cyber threats—including advanced persistent threats (APTs), targeted ransomware, and espionage campaigns—continue to target Argentine ministries and critical infrastructure. Without a mature national-level Security Operations Center (SOC) with clear authorities, mission, charter, and well-trained staff, a country’s ability to detect, analyze, and respond to such threats in a coordinated manner remains limited.

No Applicants // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1

Limiting Language
Applicants are only allowed to submit one proposal per organization.  If more than one proposal is submitted from an organization, all proposals from that institution will be considered ineligible for funding under this funding opportunity.

Executive Summary
The U.S. Mission to Australia’s Public Diplomacy Section (PDS) announces an open competition to implement projects that advance U.S. economic, commercial, and security interests in Australia.  This Annual Program Statement (APS) outlines strategic goals, expected outcomes, target audiences, eligibility criteria, and application guidelines for cooperative agreements ranging from $25,000 to $100,000, with a project duration of up to 24 months.  Project proposals must address at least one of the following goals: 

• Promote flag football in Australia; 
• Combat antisemitism through Holocaust education; 
• Strengthen Pacific Islands partnership by highlighting shared cultural values among the peoples of the United States, Australia, and the Pacific Islands focusing on arts, cultural heritage preservation, education, and training. 

In addition to aligning with one of the strategic goals, applicants should clearly explain how they advance American leadership and excellence and how the projects deliver measurable results.  All programs must include a clear connection to or inclusion of American expert(s), organization(s), or institution(s) or cultural elements in a specific field that will promote increased understanding of United States policy and perspectives. 

Please read the entire APS package before submitting an application.  Applications must be submitted by September 20, 2026, for projects beginning as early as October 1, 2026.  For more information, contact PASGrantsAustralia@state.gov.  Applications that do not meet the eligibility criteria and do not contain all of the required information will not be considered.

No Applicants // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1

Limiting Language
Applicants are only allowed to submit one proposal per organization. If more than one proposal is submitted from an organization, only the first time-stamped proposal from that institution will be reviewed for technical eligibility.

Executive Summary
The U.S. Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) seeks to make available on-demand, emergency support for individuals and organizations that face imminent threat due to their work to promote and defend fundamental freedoms, including the freedoms of speech, peaceful assembly, and association articulated in the United States’ founding documents. The program will provide assistance to defenders who are facing threat of attack, arbitrary arrest, detention, prosecution, or are otherwise at imminent risk of harm, through a program that provides short-term emergency funding to enable them to continue their work pressing for democratic government and reform and respect for human rights.

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Limiting Language 
Primary applicants may submit one application in response to this NOFO.

Executive Summary
Priority Region: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) 

The U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) announces an open competition for organizations to document the DPRK’s human rights abuses and counter regime influence operations globally. The program will challenge the DPRK's information monopoly by safely documenting real-time information on human rights conditions and other on-the-ground realities throughout the DPRK. 

The DPRK maintains one of the world's most repressive information environments, creating a dual threat that this program is designed to address. First, the regime exercises total control overdomestic media and has criminalized access to outside information, deliberately masking severe human rights abuses from both its citizens and the international community. Second, the regime conducts sophisticated external influence operations that distort international events, vilify the United States and its allies, and manipulate global perceptions—particularly targeting youth audiences—by falsely attributing the country's internal suffering to U.S. policies and sanctions rather than regime governance. 

By documenting vital information from inside the DPRK, the program will inform U.S. policymakers and drive international advocacy campaigns. Furthermore, it will leverage defector voices across modern digital platforms to inform global audiences—particularly youth demographics targeted by foreign propaganda—about the reality of the DPRK regime, reinforcing U.S. leadership in defending democratic principles and human rights. This program directly advances the 2025 National Security Strategy (NSS) to protect America from destructive propaganda and influence operations, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region. It further supports DRL's commitment under the Department of State's FY 2026–2030 Agency Strategic Plan (ASP) to promote freedom of expression and access to information and ideas in highly restrictive settings.

No Applicants // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1

Limiting Language
Applicants are only allowed to submit one proposal per organization. If more than one proposal is submitted from an organization, all proposals from that institution will be considered ineligible for funding. Applicants may be included as a subgrantee on other proposals.

Executive Summary
This proposal will support cooperation between the State Department and an implementing partner that will bring together stakeholders from governments, academia, civil society, industry, and faith-based organizations to engage in academic research, events, and other activities that: advance a human-centered approach to emerging technology which respects the inherent dignity and unalienable natural rights of all individuals, develop intellectual understandings of the dignity of the human person and unalienable rights, and counter authoritarian influences that undermine fundamental freedoms. While advancing a pro-innovation, industry-led, multistakeholder approach to the development of technology, including AI, the program will foster cooperation between the implementing partners and other stakeholders to ensure technology promotes human flourishing and the common good. The program will also identify and counter malign authoritarian influences that threaten fundamental freedoms, including freedom of religion or belief, and human dignity, with a particular focus on how authoritarian institutions attempt to influence or hamper faith-based institutions. Program implementers may include academic institutions, civil society groups, industry, and religious organizations working in close collaboration to produce research, promote best practices, conduct public education campaigns, engage in advocacy, and otherwise promote technology development grounded in natural law, human dignity, and the common good.

No Applicants // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1

Limiting Language
Applicants are only allowed to submit one proposal per organization. If more than one proposal is submitted from an organization, all proposals from that institution will be considered ineligible for funding. Applicants may be included as a subgrantee on other proposals.

Executive Summary
This program will document and analyze democratic backsliding in Europe as it relates to mass migration, with a particular emphasis on research regarding the human rights and social impacts of the mass migration crisis in Europe.

No Applicants // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1

Limiting Language
Applicants are only allowed to submit one proposal per organization. If more than one proposal is submitted from an organization, all proposals from that institution will be considered ineligible for funding.

Executive Summary
This program will help responsible businesses counter unfair competition from production models relying on forced labor, worker exploitation, and other violations or abuses of internationally recognized labor rights. The program will also promote worker upskilling by working with leading foreign companies in critical industries to develop and strengthen private- sector workforce development practices and programs that support resilient, rights-respecting supply chains. 

Through a phased, evidence-based approach, the program will first conduct research and engage foreign companies and other relevant stakeholders to identify workforce-related barriers to investment and expansion, assess promising workforce development practices, identify effective private-sector upskilling models in critical industries, and develop recommendations for targeted interventions. Informed by these findings, the program will then provide subawards to qualified implementing partners to address identified gaps through activities such as strengthening partnerships between foreign companies and U.S. workforce stakeholders, adapting and piloting employer-led workforce development approaches, developing and implementing worker upskilling initiatives for companies operating in critical industries, facilitating technical exchanges and peer learning, providing practical guidance and technical assistance, and strengthening worker voice and engagement. 

Through these efforts, this program will seek to reduce workforce-related barriers to responsible foreign investment, expand opportunities for American workers, promote workforce upskilling and responsible production practices among companies in critical industries, and advance investment and production models grounded in innovation, productivity, workforce skills, and respect for internationally recognized labor rights.

No Applicants // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1

Limiting Language
Applicants are only allowed to submit one proposal per organization. If more than one proposal is submitted from an organization, all proposals from that institution will be considered ineligible for funding. Applicants may be included as a subgrantee on other proposals.

Executive Summary

Priority Region: WHA - Target countries include Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico (applicants should select one or more of the target countries based on organizational capacity and expertise)

Transnational organized criminal groups and narcoterrorists perpetrate human rights abuses against civilian communities across Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico, creating a humanitarian crisis with direct consequences for U.S. national security. The United States has designated multiple criminal organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs), recognizing their involvement in kidnappings, extortion, murder, human trafficking, and sexual violence. Secretary of State Marco Rubio identified transnational criminal organizations, which often are fueled by narcotrafficking, as the region's most urgent security threat. These abuses destabilize the region and generate billions in illicit revenue that funds further corruption and violence. 

Judicial systems already facing severe capacity constraints are vulnerable to corruption, enabling impunity for organized crime abuses. Across Latin America, drug cartels have assassinated multiple municipal leaders, prosecutors, judges, and port personnel. Criminal organizations systematically target justice officials to maintain impunity, undermining the rule of law. This impunity perpetuates cycles of violence, as criminal organizations operate without fear of prosecution, creating an environment where human rights abuses continue unchecked. 

To respond to these issues, DRL seeks proposals for 1-2 programs that aim to strengthen accountability for human rights abuses committed by organized crime groups in Latin America. Resulting programs will improve how civic organizations document violations and collect evidence of human rights abuses for use in accountability mechanisms, expand community access to protection and legal support services, analyze how abuses drive mass and illegal migration, and advance judicial security, transparency, and reform through strategic advocacy. Through these efforts, the program will reduce impunity for organized crime- related human rights abuses and increase protection for affected communities and human rights defenders, thereby increasing security in the Western Hemisphere.

No Applicants // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1

Limiting Language
Applicants are only allowed to submit one proposal per organization. If more than one proposal is submitted from an organization, all proposals from that institution will be considered ineligible for funding.

Executive Summary
While South Africa is considered one of Africa’s most developed countries, it continues to experience significant levels of violence and crime, including crimes affecting Afrikaner and other minority communities across the country. These minority populations face ongoing threats to their safety and security within a broader context of elevated crime rates. Minority communities experience distinct vulnerabilities that warrant focused attention and documentation, including lack of policing resources, discriminatory government policies, and violent rhetoric. 

This proposed program will seek to document hateful rhetoric and violent acts against minority communities, assess access to justice and law enforcement protection, as well as research widespread violence affecting both minorities and the broader population in South Africa. The implementing partner will conduct conflict sensitive research and data collection to create a 3 comprehensive record of violence affecting Afrikaner and other South African minority populations in line with international standards and develop recommendations for how to improve the law enforcement situation to ensure equal protection.