Documentation of Hateful Rhetoric Targeting Minority Populations in South Africa

The U.S. Department of State, through the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, is offering the Documentation of Hateful Rhetoric Targeting Minority Populations in South Africa funding opportunity under opportunity number DFOP0019546 and Assistance Listing Number 19.345. The program is funded with Democracy Fund FY25 resources and will be awarded as a cooperative agreement, with substantial Department of State involvement. One award of $986,500 is anticipated, and total available funding is $986,500, subject to availability of funds. The anticipated project start date is September 30, 2026, and proposed projects should be completed within 15 to 18 months. The program seeks to protect minority communities in South Africa by strengthening credible, evidence-based research concerning hateful rhetoric and violence against minorities and by supporting equal access to justice and law enforcement resources. The first objective is to advance systematic research and data collection documenting hateful rhetoric and violent acts affecting minority communities in accordance with international standards. Related outcomes include improved stakeholder capacity to document, verify, and analyze incidents; safer survivor participation through trauma-informed practices and psychosocial support referral pathways; and secure, responsible, and ethical data management. The second objective is to increase the accessibility and availability of credible and systematically collected data, including comprehensive datasets and reports concerning hateful rhetoric and violent acts against minority communities. Activities should include capacity building for practitioners in survivor-centered and conflict-sensitive documentation, survivor-centered documentation activities, and development of psychosocial support referral pathways. At least 20 percent of the budget must be allocated to development of psychosocial support referral pathways for survivors of violent acts. Applicants must budget for a Non-adversarial Communication training led by an appropriate expert and for a Psychosocial Support Specialist consultant. Key Personnel must include a Conflict Sensitivity Advisor with at least 15 years of experience. The implementing partner should also participate in relevant activities and events led by the South African Human Rights Commission. The recipient must use a Do No Harm approach, maintain informed consent and tailored communication with survivors and families, periodically review risk and contingency planning, and submit specified workplans to DRL for approval. Award funds may not support UNRWA, partisan political activities or electioneering, interference in South African electoral processes, specified demeaning or violence-inciting content, social media-related costs, lobbying the U.S. government, alcoholic beverages, or other prohibited activities identified in the notice. Eligible applicants include U.S.-based nonprofit organizations and NGOs with or without 501(c)(3) status, private, public, or state institutions of higher education, for-profit organizations or businesses, foreign-based nonprofit organizations and NGOs, and Public International Organizations. For-profit and commercial recipients may not earn profit from Department of State assistance awards. Cost sharing, matching, or cost participation is not required and does not improve an application's competitive ranking. Organizations generally must have a Unique Entity Identifier and active SAM.gov registration, subject to the stated exemption process. Only one proposal may be submitted per organization; if an organization submits more than one proposal, all proposals from that institution will be considered ineligible. Applications must be submitted electronically through Grants.gov or MyGrants no later than September 3, 2026, at 11:59 PM ET. Required forms are SF-424 for organizations or SF-424-I for individuals as applicable to the form instructions, SF-424A, and SF-424B. The application requires a proposal of no more than 10 pages addressing the proposal summary, applicant background, problem statement, goals and objectives, activities, methods and design, schedule and timeline, key personnel, project partners, Do No Harm approach, monitoring and evaluation, and sustainability. Applicants must also submit a Budget Justification Narrative, a line-item budget, one-page CVs or resumes for proposed key personnel, partner letters of support, and the latest NICRA when applicable. Application documents must be in English, budgets must be in U.S. dollars, pages must be numbered, and specified formatting requirements apply. Applicants are instructed to save a screenshot of the submission checklist showing all submitted documents. Applications will be evaluated for quality and feasibility of the program idea, organizational capacity and previous grant record, program planning and ability to achieve objectives, budget quality and reasonableness, monitoring and evaluation, and sustainability. A DRL review committee evaluates technically eligible applications and may impose conditions or recommendations that must be addressed before further award consideration. Risk review includes financial stability, management systems, performance history, audits, implementation ability, experience with human rights documentation, ability to engage diverse South African civil society organizations, and capacity to manage DRL funds. If applications receive equivalent scores, the lower indirect cost rate is used as a tie-breaking preference. Questions concerning the grant application process may be sent to DRL-PRU-Solicitation@state.gov. The application deadline is September 3, 2026, at 11:59 PM ET. No separate letter of intent, concept paper, pre-proposal, notice of intent, or other pre-application gating deadline is stated. The anticipated project start date is September 30, 2026. Unsuccessful applicants are expected to be notified by September 30 by email. The notice does not state that this opportunity recurs annually, biennially, quarterly, or on another regular schedule, so no recurrence or next-cycle date can be established. Successful recipients will have quarterly financial and progress reporting requirements through MyGrants, with the Federal Financial Report submitted through the Payment Management System and a copy uploaded to MyGrants.

Develop a detailed and feasible program with a reasonable implementation timeline; demonstrate expertise, federal fund management capacity, and subaward management experience if applicable; clearly connect activities to measurable objectives and anticipated results; provide a detailed, reasonable, and realistic budget; include output and outcome indicators and milestones; demonstrate sustainability; show prior experience leading human rights documentation in line with international standards; demonstrate ability to engage meaningfully with civil society organizations representing the diversity of South African society; ensure proposed activities comply with applicable Executive Orders and all stated funding restrictions.