2024 Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (AEIF 2024)

AEIF provides alumni with funding to expand on skills gained during their exchange experience to design and implement innovative solutions to global challenges facing their community. Since its inception in 2011, AEIF has funded nearly 500 alumni-led projects around the world through a competitive global competition.

U.S. Embassy Doha will accept projects proposed and managed by teams of at least two (2) alumni that support the following objectives:

· Bringing alumni together from different exchange programs to build and expand alumni networks and to increase regional and global alumni collaboration.

· Encouraging the local population to act against Climate Change, including crafting creative solutions to environmental challenges, green energy, and climate change adaptation.

· Supporting entrepreneurship, innovation, and STEM fields to expand economic empowerment of Women, Youth, and Underserved Populations.

· Encouraging youth to participate in civic life through social entrepreneurship, volunteerism, and community engagement.

· Encouraging students to choose the United States for their educational needs and for English language learning.

Please follow all instructions detailed here and in the Full Announcement for this Notice of Funding Opportunity.  Proposals that do not address these objectives will be deemed ineligible.

All project activities must take place outside of the United States and its territories.

Priority audiences for this program include:

·  Alumni of U.S. Exchange programs and alumni of U.S. universities

·  Women entrepreneurs

·  Student leaders and emerging young leaders

·  Decision makers and opinion leaders

·  Media outlets, Journalists, and influencers

·  Professors, teachers, trainers, and experts

Please note that proposals addressing audiences not listed above are still eligible.

Please refer to the detailed Notice of Funding Opportunity for a list of activities and costs, that the AEIF 2024 does not support, and the selection committee will deem applications involving any of these activities and costs ineligible.

FEDERAL AWARD INFORMATION

Length of performance period: 3 to 12 months

Number of awards anticipated: Maximum of two awards.

Award amounts: Awards may range from a minimum of $5,000 to a maximum of $35,000, though PAS encourages applicants to create proposals that are well below the maximum threshold of $35,000.

Total available funding: $70,000 (Subject to availability of funds)

Type of Funding: Fiscal Year 2024 Fulbright-Hays Act

Anticipated programs start date: August 01, 2024

This notice is subject to availability of funding.

ELIGILIBITY INFORMATION

· Applicants must be Qatari citizen or Third Country Nationals who are based in Qatar.

·  Applicants must be alumni of a U.S. government-funded or sponsored exchange program (https://j1visa.state.gov/).

·  Projects teams must include teams of at least two (2) alumni.

·  Alumni who are U.S. citizens may not submit proposals, but U.S. citizen alumni may participate as team members in a project.

·  Alumni teams may be comprised of alumni from different exchange programs and different countries.

·  Exchange alumni can partner with not-for-profit or non-governmental organizations, think tanks, and academic institutions to implement project activities. The grant can be issued to the individual alumni or the partner organization.

Other Eligibility Requirements

·  If the grant will be processed with an individual, that individual is not required to have a DUNS number or be registered in SAM.gov.

·  However, should the grant be processed with an organization that is a partner in the project, that organization must have a unique entity identifier (Data Universal Numbering System/DUNS number from Dun & Bradstreet), as well as a valid registration on www.SAM.gov.

·  Applicants are only allowed to submit one proposal.

APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

Applications and budgets must be submitted using the official AEIF 2024 proposal and budget forms. Please follow all instructions below carefully. Proposals that do not meet the requirements of this announcement or fail to comply with the stated requirements will be ineligible. Please ensure that:

·  The proposal clearly addresses the objectives of the Full Announcement for this NOFO.

·  The proposal addresses all questions in the official AEIF 2024 proposal form.

·  All documents are completed in English.

·  The budget is in U.S. dollars and is submitted using the designated AEIF budget form.

·  All pages are numbered.

The following documents are required:

1.    SF-424 (Application for Federal Assistance – organizations) or SF-424-I (Application for Federal Assistance --individuals) 

2.    SF-424A (Budget Information for Non-Construction programs)

3.    SF-424B (Assurances for Non-Construction programs) (note: the SF-424B is only required for individuals and for organizations not registered in SAM.gov)

4.    AEIF 2024 Application Template

5.    AEIF 2024 Budget Template (with budget narrative justification)

Mandatory Application forms are available for download in the Related Documents section, along with the Full Announcement.

Exchange alumni interested in participating in AEIF 2024 should submit complete proposals to Dohagrants@state.gov with the above listed mandatory documents.

REVIEW AND SELECTION PROCESS

The criteria listed below and detailed in the Full Notice of Funding Opportunity will be used to evaluate all applications:

·  Relevance to Application Theme

·  Purpose and Summary, Description, and Implementation Plan

·  Degree of Alumni Involvement

·  Participation and Support from Local Partners

·  Evaluation and Impact of the Project 

·  Communication, Media, and Outreach Plan

·  Budget and Budget Narrative

If you have any questions about the grant application process, please email our team at DohaGrants@state.gov.

Mandatory Application forms are available for download in the Related Documents section, along with the Full Announcement.

Mandatory Application forms are also available at: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/forms/forms-repository.html