U.S. Embassy in Singapore

All U.S. Government exchange program alumni are invited to submit their proposals and compete for an award of up to US$35,000 to make their community project idea a reality and implement their program within their community!

Read on for more details.

GENERAL PROJECT PROPOSAL SUBMISSION DETAILS

Proposals generally should be in the range of US$5,000 to US$35,000

Alumni applicants must submit their proposals and budgets to: SingaporePASCultural@state.gov 

To submit proposals, all alumni applicants must use the official AEIF proposal (in MS Word) and budget (in MS Excel) forms by Wednesday, March 1, 2023. Download documents here. 

When submitting, please follow the following naming convention or the title of the required documents:  

• Proposal Document:  AEIF2023_SGP_Your Project Title.docx
• Budget Spreadsheet: AEIF 2023_SGP_Your Project Title.xlxs

Include a short project summary (four to five sentences: 200 words max.) describing the scope of the project and the estimated budget request.

(Optional)
Additional support materials like workshop agendas, curricula, or previous pilot projects connected to your project submission.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

• Each alumni team must use the official AEIF proposal (in MS Word) and budget (in MS Excel) forms to submit its respective project application
• Each project proposal must include the involvement of at least two alumni from any U.S. government-sponsored exchange programs (for instance, Fulbright, IVLP, YSEALI, SUSI, CSP, GES, etc.) or an identified team lead from an alumni association
• Applications from Alumni Associations will need to specify a team lead
• Proposals may request from $5,000 up to $35,000
• Items valued at $200.00 or more must be itemized.  Related costs should NOT be lumped together (i.e., lodging, meals, and per diem should be separate line items)

Submitted proposal must include a clear explanation of how the project advances the U.S.-Singapore relationship by:

• Enhancing shared safety and security through a strengthened U.S. and Singaporean partnership
• Promoting economic growth, prosperity, innovation, and entrepreneurship
• Promoting mutual understanding and people-to-people ties between Americans and Singaporeans
• All project activities must take place outside of the United States and its territories
• U.S. citizen alumni may participate as team members in a project, however, there must be foreign alumni included in the project. U.S. citizen alumni cannot be team leads on projects
• Projects may include alumni from different exchange programs and different countries
• All proposals must identify the alumni involved in the project (alumni’ names, which exchange program(s) attended, and when – MM/YYYY)
  • For instance:  John DOE, Fulbright Foreign Student Program, April 2021 to March 2022 or Jane Doe, YSEALI WLA Workshop, June 2022

Cost Share: 

• Examples include in-kind support (services, labor, supplies/equipment, or volunteers), a business contributing food, an organization offering a venue at a discount or free of charge, an NGO sponsoring an activity, an expert donating time to facilitate a seminar, etc. 
• We encourage all proposals to include some form of cost sharing

A note on Reasonable Costs: 

• Project management costs should not be more than 30% of the total requested budget amount
• Project management costs include fees for speakers, trainers, and consultants
• We strongly encourage alumni to rent versus purchase, if it is more cost-efficient
• Lodging costs should be for program activities during the project and not for long-term rent for project team members
• Travel costs need to take into account the most economic means of travel

ALLOWABLE ACTIVITIES AND COSTS

AEIF 2023 can support the following budget items:

• Intra-regional or in-country transportation
• Rental of venues for project activities
• PPE and sanitizing equipment
• Meals/refreshments integral to the project (i.e. working lunch for a meeting)
• Reasonable costs to support virtual programming (i.e. subscription to Zoom, WebEx, camera/microphones for virtual meetings, mailing services, etc.)
• Trainer or speaker honoraria expenses (i.e. maximum $200/day fee, travel, lodging, per diem)
• Reasonable equipment and materials
• Communications and publicity materials, such as manuals or project advertisements

UNALLOWABLE ACTIVITIES AND COSTS

AEIF 2023 will NOT support the following budget items:

• Staff salaries, office space, and overhead/operational expenses
• Large items of durable equipment or construction programs
• Alcohol, excessive meals, refreshments not integral to the project, or entertainment
• Any airfare to/from the United States and its territories
• Activities that take place in the United States and its territories
• Individual scholarships
• Social travel/visits
• Gifts or prizes
• Duplication of existing programs
• Institutional development of an organization
• Venture capital, for-profit endeavors, or charging a fee for participation in project
• Support for specific religious activities
• Fund-raising campaigns
• Support or opposition of partisan political activity or lobbying for specific legislation
• Academic or scientific research
• Charitable or development activities
• Provision of direct social services to a population

Some examples of successful AEIF 2022 projects are listed below.  Visit https://alumni.state.gov/aeif/congrats-2021-aeif-competition-winners to read more about these projects:

• Example #1: Kenya:  Strengthening the Role of Women in Climate Change Advocacy will address climate change adaptation.  This project proposes working with 60 women group leaders in advocacy efforts to enhance uptake of clean domestic energy in rural Kenya while empowering themselves and their communities economically through the uptake and use of sustainable energy solutions such as briquettes.  The women group leaders will then do a cascade training for 600 women group members on clean energy for domestic use.

• Example #2: Algeria: The Algerian Media Literacy Collective will bring together 45 young online content creators from different regions in Algeria to learn about media literacy, countering mis/disinformation, combating hate speech, and creating online content.  The project team will facilitate mentorship opportunities for participants by high profile online content creators.  This project is expanding to multiple regions in the country and focusing on creating a collective/network of amateur content creators.  The project includes the creation of a website, where the collective shares activities, and provides online courses addressing media literacy.
• Example #3: Bangladesh: A for Access: English Learning, Global Network Building, and Empowerment for the LGBTQIA+ Community in Bangladesh will increase engagement with LGBTQIA+-led organizations and community members to encourage entrepreneurship by providing access to leadership training and advanced English language courses.  Participants will also be encouraged to cultivate connections with like-minded peers as they seek to create their own businesses to improve the quality of their livelihoods.
• Example #4: Albania: Youth Lead the Change will empower Albanian youth of the remote and underserved Northern region to engage in activities of self-development gaining entrepreneurial and job-readiness skills as well as learn how to initiate and create community-focused action projects.  A lack of self-development opportunities and social activities profoundly affects youth from this area causing youth depopulation in the region.  This project will address the challenge of youth-flight by providing youth with the necessary tools to shape and build sustainable communities and model youth activism throughout Albania.

• Example #5: Indonesia: Deradicalize our class! will bring together university experts, local teachers, and education administrators to develop curricula designed to assist high school students in identifying and preventing violent extremist ideas in their community, helping to address intolerance and radicalization among youth in Makassar, South Sulawesi, a region with a history of ethnic and religious tensions.

• Example #6: Chile: Looking Back and Looking Forward: 200 Years of Chile-U.S. Partnership celebrates the bicentennial of diplomatic relations between Chile and the United States in 2023.  Implemented by the two U.S. exchange alumni organizations in Chile, State Alumni Chile and Becarius for Impact, the project will culminate in public events in different regions throughout the country highlighting U.S. exchange alumni impact and the results of U.S-Chile bilateral relations collaborating on shared goals including climate change; social and economic inclusion; democracy and decentralization; and entrepreneurship and innovation.  A multimedia communications campaign in social and traditional media will showcase events and alumni and form a key component of the bicentennial celebration.

TIMELINE:

• Application period:  Now until March 1, 2023
• End-March 2023:  Embassy submits short-listed project proposal to ECA Alumni Office in Washington, D.C.
• April 2023:  Review of applications by ECA Alumni Office
• End-June/ early-July 2023:  Notification of proposal selection for funding 

For more details on AEIF 2023, visit:  https://alumni.state.gov/aeif

TAGS:

Please tag @InternationalExchangeAlumni (Facebook), @ExchangeAlumni (Twitter), @#ExchangeAlumni – Alumni Affairs – State Dept.