Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Our summer has been challenging as we confront issues both at home and abroad. COVID-19 continues to stress not just aid and development agencies, but entire nations seeking to respond to and balance medical needs with economic imperatives. As always, CFOI finds inspiration and hope in USAID's faith and community partners fighting the spread of the pandemic and its averse social and economic consequences.

Below are updates on a few USAID faith-based partners addressing COVID-19, as well as resources and funding opportunities for organizations seeking to engage the Agency. For more stories on the intersection of religion and development, check out Devex's new Faith and Development series.

We hope the information is both helpful as you persevere in your daily responsibilities in an increasingly challenging environment, as well as encouraging, by providing reminders of the many good people, organizations, and communities working toward the same objective around the globe.

Best Regards,

Kirsten Evans
Director
USAID Center for Faith and Opportunity Initiatives
USAID Highlights
USAID has allocated $1 million to Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to support Haiti's COVID-19 response. The funding will go towards the Haitian Government’s COVID-19 Response Plan and CRS's partnership with local partner Caritas Haiti, who is working to reduce COVID-19 transmission in the cities of Port-au-Prince, Cap Haitian, Gonaives, and Les Cayes. Read more.
USAID partner Samaritan's Purse swiftly responded to the COVID-19 outbreak in Cremona, Italy in March 2020, when the city was Europe's epicenter of the virus. Read this blog to learn about their emergency hospital where they treated hundreds of patients.
USAID partner Equal Exchange supports small farmers to succeed in international markets. Through its Small Farmer Fund, Equal Exchange allocates a portion of sales from over 7,000 participating congregations to diverse faith-based relief, development and human rights organizations. Check out page nine in their 2019 annual report to see the contributions made to FBOs.
Dr. Yoav Mintz is a surgeon at Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center in Jerusalem, Israel. With the support of USAID, his team has developed an open-source ventilator to save COVID-19 patients. Watch this video to learn more about the faith-based hospital's research and development.
USAID and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom ( USCIRF ) are hosting an event  about the recent Executive Order on Advancing international Religious freedom. USAID Acting Administrator John Barsa will participate as a panelist.

Date : Wednesday, August 5th
Time : 10:30 to 11:30 AM ET
On July 16th in Philadelphia, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo addressed policy makers and the public at an event introducing the Report of the Commission on Unalienable Rights. The Commission, established by Secretary Pompeo in July of 2019, is a non-partisan group of renowned academics, philosophers, and activists tasked with studying the human rights grounded in our nation’s founding principles, the principles of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and their implications for American foreign policy.

"America draws strength and goodness from her founding ideals and our foreign policy must be grounded by those ideals," Pompeo said (video at right). "We can’t do good — at home or abroad — if we don’t precisely know what we believe and why we believe it."

Led by Harvard Professor Mary Ann Glendon and incorporating input from a wide spectrum of legal scholars, the Commission began its report by noting:  "As the Commission’s work on this Report was nearing its completion, social convulsions shook the United States, testifying to the nation’s unfinished work in overcoming the evil effects of its long history of racial injustice. The many questions roiling the nation about police brutality, civic unrest, and America’s commitment to human rights at home make all the more urgent a point we had already stressed in the Introduction and elsewhere in this Report: The credibility of U.S. advocacy for human rights abroad depends on the nation’s vigilance in assuring that all its own citizens enjoy fundamental human rights."

USAID's New Partnerships Initiative (NPI) is designed to broaden and diversify our partner base by lowering the barriers to working with the agency. Learn about NPI's latest news and funding opportunities below.
NPI Video on USAID's Acronym Soup
This new video helps demystify USAID's many acronyms for organizations seeking to navigate the application process .

Announcement of New NPI Award to Support Community Health Care
In June, USAID announced a new NPI award to the Americares Foundation , which will work with Christian Connections for International Health in Tanzania and Liberia to leverage the expertise of local organizations. Read more.
NPI Funding Opportunities
Women's Global Development and Prosperity

The Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Fund Addendum has been published under the NPI Conflict Prevention and Recovery Program (CPRP) Annual Program Statement. The Addendum is designed to increase women's economic empowerment in conflict prevention and recovery activities relating to issues such as women trafficking. Recovery activities include workforce and vocational training, job placement, workplace safety, and access to capital and financial tools.
Youth Excel Addendum

As described in YouthPower 2 Annual Program Statement (YP2 APS) , USAID has a long-standing history of investing in youth development through initiatives in multiple sectors, including education, agriculture, environment, economic growth, and democracy, human rights and governance. Yet there is still a need for increased effort to incorporate youth as valuable partners in development activities.

Previous USAID youth programming has supported small scale youth-led learning and implementation grants in low- and middle-income countries that have provided on-the-ground insights into Positive Youth Development programming. However, the local youth organizations involved in the research had limited capacity—specifically, knowledge and skill gaps in conducting research, analyzing data, and applying findings to programs. 

The Youth Excel Addendum is a request for Concept Notes in response to this Addendum published under the YP2 APS .
Higher Education for Leadership, Innovation, and Exchange (HELIX) Annual Program Statement

Today’s youth are largely inspired by the chance to drive meaningful change, peace and prosperity, and eager to use their skills to better their communities. To harness the potential of the more than 1.5 billion youth worldwide, USAID has released the Higher Education for Leadership, Innovation, and Exchange (HELIX) Annual Program Statement.

This will support the Agency’s higher education programming across sectors by promoting solutions, including:
  • scholarships, exchanges, and fellowships for individuals
  • institutional capacity building and partnerships (i.e., policy reform)
Call for Partnership Concept Papers for Religious and Ethnic Freedom and Inclusion in the Middle East and North Africa
USAID's Middle East Bureau is seeking concept papers that respond to the needs of religious and ethnic minorities in the region. This solicitation intends to support grassroots, local initiatives that will have sustainable impact. We invite those with creative solutions to submit their ideas. Learn more here.
Check grants.gov and beta.sam.gov for additional USAID opportunities.
COVID-19 Resources
USAID's Updated COVID-19 FAQS for Implementing Partners
USAID has updated its COVID-19 frequently asked questions   for partners. Changes are highlighted in yellow.
Questions? cfoi@usaid.gov