Accelerating Social Entrepreneurship in Ethiopia (ASE) 2021 NOFO

Background
The U.S. Department of State, through its American Spaces Ethiopia (ASE) program, is offering grants to support the growth of the social entrepreneurship movement in Ethiopia. The priority regions for this grant are Addis Ababa, Bahir Dar, Dire Dawa, and Jimma. The goal is to invest in creating future social entrepreneurs and furthering their capacity and capabilities.

Grant Details
The grant aims to support organizations with concrete, feasible, and measurable approaches that can contribute to the growth of the social entrepreneurship movement in Ethiopia. This includes developing a targeted accelerator program for underserved populations, conducting a competition to identify impactful business ideas and provide seed money grants if needed, establishing a network of social entrepreneurs, implementing sustainable mentorship programs, and conducting impact analysis or program monitoring and evaluation.
All proposal activities must take place in the priority regions and in any of the U.S. Embassy public engagement venues called American Spaces Ethiopia (ASE). Interested organizations must demonstrate their capacity to receive and manage grant funding, plan and facilitate training and events, successfully engage with entrepreneurs, and include non-discriminatory programming strategies. Additionally, proposals must include a contingency plan for lingering COVID-19 health restrictions.

Eligibility Requirements
Eligible applicants include not-for-profit organizations, including think tanks and civil society/non-governmental organizations; public and private educational institutions; and public international organizations based in Ethiopia. Individuals and for-profit or commercial entities are not eligible to apply. Cost sharing or matching is welcomed but not essential.
Applicants are only allowed to submit one proposal per organization.

Period of Performance
The length of the performance period is 12 months with one to two anticipated awards ranging from a minimum of $10,000 to a maximum of $40,000.
The anticipated program start date is October 2021.

Grant Value
The total amount available for this grant opportunity is $40,000.

Place of Performance
All proposal activities must take place in the priority regions of Addis Ababa, Bahir Dar, Dire Dawa, and Jimma as well as in any of the U.S. Embassy public engagement venues called American Spaces Ethiopia (ASE).