Deadline: 15 August 2019

Partners of the Americas (Partners), the U.S. Department of State (DOS), NAFSA: Association of International Educators, in partnership with Cementos Progreso has announced a new 2019 Innovation Fund grant competition designed to increase partnerships between higher education institutions (HEIs) in the United States with HEIs in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras.

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, NAFSA, corporations, and foundations working together to support new higher education partnerships between the United States and the rest of the Western Hemisphere.

Eligible Academic Fields of Study

Grant proposals should focus on themes of Environmental Studies and Sustainability with special emphasis on addressing solutions to environmental issues and challenges in the United States, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. Eligible academic areas include, but are not limited to:

• Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH)
  • Water Treatment
  • Water Management
  • Water Pollution Prevention
• Natural Resource Management
  • Deforestation and Forestry Management
  • Agriculture and the Environment
• Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience
• STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)
  • Engineering for Environmental Sustainability
  • Alternative and Renewable Energy
  • Waste Management: Reuse & Recycling
• Entrepreneurship
  • Ecotourism
  • Social Entrepreneurship
• Political Science
  • Environmental Law
  • Public Policy
  • Rule of Law/Governance
  • Civil Society/Community Engagement

Funding Information

The intent of this 2019 Innovation Fund Competition is to award up to eight (8) Innovation Fund grants of $25,000 to selected proposals, pending final evaluation.

Expected Results

• Higher education institutions that are successful in implementing Innovation Fund grants will:
  • Create/strengthen partnerships between HEIs in the U.S. and Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, which would not have taken place without the Innovation Fund grant;
  • Promote and implement new student exchange and/or training opportunities for students in the U.S. and Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador;
  • Promote project-based learning for students to work in teams toward the “Action Projects”;
  • Increase student and faculty mobility between the U.S. Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador;
  • Engage and collaborate with the Innovation Fund and other stakeholders to share lessons learned from the proposed grant program.

Eligibility Criteria

• Higher education institutions (HEIs) located in the United States, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador are eligible to apply for this new Innovation Fund Competition. This grant competition seeks to receive proposals from a diversity of HEIs, such as four-year and shorter-term degreeissuing 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.

How to Apply

Applications must be submitted online via given website.

For more information, please visit http://www.100kstrongamericas.org/grants/