U.S. Department of State: Innovation Fund Competition for Higher Education Partnerships between the U.S. and Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador

The 100,000 Strong in the Americas Innovation Fund is the public-private sector collaboration between the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Embassies, Partners of the Americas, National Association of Foreign Student Advisers (NAFSA), corporations, and foundations working together to support new higher education partnerships between the United States and the rest of the Western Hemisphere. This Innovation Fund grant competition aims to create partnerships between higher education institutions (HEIs) in the United States with HEIs in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras to propose student academic exchange and training programs in the thematic areas of Environmental Studies and Sustainability, with special emphasis on addressing solutions to environmental issues and challenges in the eligible countries. Eligible fields of study include (see solicitation for further details for each field):

• Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH), including water treatment, water management, and water pollution prevention
• Natural Resource Management, including deforestation and forestry management, and agriculture and the environment
• Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience
• STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, including engineering for environmental sustainability, alternative and renewable energy, and waste management – reuse and recycling
• Entrepreneurship, including ecotourism and social entrepreneurship
• Political Science, including environmental law, public policy, rule of law/governance, and civil society/community engagement

Innovation Fund grant proposals should highlight how HEI teams will work together to provide new short-term academic exchange and training programs to students who are traditionally underrepresented in international exchange programs, including first-generation, minorities, women in STEM fields, and students from low-income and/or rural institutions/communities.

Grant proposals should also describe how HEI teams will involve/include potential partnerships with local organizations (e.g: NGOs, community groups, businesses, etc.) in the U.S. and/or in the eligible Central American communities where students and faculty would carry out proposed Innovation Fund program activities.

Amount: Eight grants of $25,000 will be awarded.

Eligibility: All higher education institutions in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and the U.S.—that promote academic exchange and training for students in the broader themes of the Environmental Studies and Sustainability, with special emphasis on addressing solutions to environmental issues and challenges in the eligible countries—are eligible to compete. The current competition seeks to receive proposals from a diversity of HEIs, such as four-year and shorter-term degree-issuing higher education institutions, universities (public and private), colleges, community colleges, technical schools, and other post-secondary institutions with credit-bearing programs. The intention is to select diverse HEI teams and to secure representation from a broad diversity of institutional profiles and ensure the greatest possibility of replication across HEIs for sustainability of proposed Innovation Fund programming in the United States and in Central America.

Proposals must include a partnership between at least one HEI in the U.S. and one HEI in Guatemala, Honduras, or El Salvador.

Link: http://www.100kstrongamericas.org/grants/

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