FY2024 U.S. Consulate General Osaka-Kobe: 2025 US-ROK-Japan Trilateral Global Leadership Youth Summit

Funding Opportunity Title: FY2024 U.S. Consulate General Osaka-Kobe: 2025 US-ROK-Japan Trilateral Global Leadership Youth Summit

Funding Opportunity Number: OSAKA-PAS-FY24-04

Deadline for Applications: August 24, 2024 (by 11:59 pm JST)

Assistance Listing Number: 19.040 Public Diplomacy Programs

Total Amount Available: $200,000

A. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The U.S. Consulate General Osaka-Kobe, in partnership with the U.S. Embassy Tokyo Public Affairs Section and the U.S. Embassy Seoul Public Diplomacy Section of the U.S. Department of State, announces an open competition for organizations to submit applications to carry out the 2025 Young Trilateral Leaders (YTL) network's United States-Republic of Korea-Japan Trilateral Global Leadership Youth Summit, to be held in the Summer of 2025 in the Kansai region of Japan (potential host cities include Osaka, Kobe, and Kyoto, among others).

In the face of growing security, trade, financial, and environmental instability in the Indo-Pacific region, the trilateral relationship between the United States, Japan, and the Republic of Korea has never been more important. This program will build upon the inaugural 2024 Trilateral Global Leadership Youth Summit held in Busan, Republic of Korea. This series of programs aims to build the expertise in strategic issues of youth from the United States and their peers from two of our closest allies and to provide them with a platform through which to regularly meet and engage on global issues.

Priority Region(s): Japan, Republic of Korea

Program Objectives:

The Summit will focus on developing the leadership skills and global outlook of a cohort of approximately 50 youth leaders. Participants should have demonstrated leadership abilities, a track record of engagement in their communities, and the capacity to collaborate with peers from other nations. We will also leverage the expertise of youth leaders from similar USG-sponsored youth leadership initiatives such as the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) and the Young Pacific Leaders (YPL) Program to ensure young people in East Asia understand broader regional issues and how youth have successfully worked together in other areas of the Indo-Pacific.

This Youth Summit is a key pillar of the Young Trilateral Leaders (YTL) network, a regional youth initiative that creates space for young leaders to make meaningful contributions to trilateral policy discussions. YTL fosters a tight-knit network of young leaders who understand the issues facing the trilateral partnership while working together to identify innovative solutions to future global challenges. Participants who complete the program can continue contributing to the network as YTL alumni.

The 2025 Kansai Summit will build upon the outputs of the 2024 Busan Summit. Additional trilateral youth activities may be sustained via small grants administered by U.S. Consulate General Osaka-Kobe and U.S. Embassies Tokyo and Seoul.

Participants and Audiences:

The recipient and the U.S. Consulate General Osaka-Kobe, in partnership with the U.S. Embassy Tokyo and the U.S. Embassy Seoul, will be jointly responsible for recruitment, vetting, and selection of program participants. The U.S. government retains final approval authority for all participants, who will apply via a standardized application form on a public website with program information and associated information and social media campaigns. Participants should be between the ages of 18 and 35 years old, have English proficiency, and be able to demonstrate a history of excellence in local and regional youth leadership activities. Applicants from regions and constituencies who are underrepresented in official programs are strongly encouraged to apply.

Program Structure:

Proposals should incorporate four primary elements

(1) Pre-program promotion and selection process: The recipient will design and implement a program promotion and online application process for prospective participants, including a dedicated program website. Proposals should include a plan to incorporate U.S. Consulate/U.S. Embassy promotional channels, U.S. Consulate/U.S. Embassy concurrence on the selection process, and U.S. Consulate/U.S. Embassy participation in applicant selection itself.

(2) Four-week period (minimum) of virtual engagement: The recipient will organize a series of preparatory virtual engagements with the participants to generate excitement for the summit, prepare summit objectives and structure, and allow participants to build rapport. These events should also include subject-matter experts (academic, civil society, government, etc.) from all three countries who can speak about the trilateral relationship, youth civic engagement, and other issues relevant to the theme of global youth leadership. These engagements should also lay out logistics and expectations for the in-person summit.

(3) Three-day (minimum) summit in the Kansai region of Japan: The recipient will organize a summit to include lectures, exercises, facilitated workshops, and training sessions that cover topics such as organizing, advocacy, civic engagement, and briefings on international issues (on topics such as climate change, regional security, trade, science and technology, and other relevant themes). The sessions should be led by expert trainers and subject-matter experts representing the United States, Japan, and the Republic of Korea. Participants may also lead sessions about youth initiatives in their own countries. The final output of this summit should be an actionable implementation plan leading to follow-on activities for program alumni and, potentially, future Summit participants. The recipient may also organize limited visits to relevant cultural and/or political sites and community service/social engagement activities to connect with the host community. The recipient will be responsible for arranging all logistics, including travel, transportation, food, and other items as necessary. Decisions on venues for the Summit will be determined with the U.S. Consulate/U.S. Embassy.

(4) Follow-on activities: Following the summit, the recipient will conduct mentorship activities and facilitate/monitor any potential follow-on projects.

*Please find attached the full notice