Strengthening Political Entities and Civil Society (SPECS)

The summary for the Strengthening Political Entities and Civil Society (SPECS) grant is detailed below. This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed as the Grant Announcement Contact. If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the Agency for International Development, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

Strengthening Political Entities and Civil Society (SPECS): I.Overview USAID/Afghanistan plans to release a Request for Applications for a new program to address critical needs in elections and political processes. The program will start in 2013 and end in 2016 in order to contribute to credible, transparent, and inclusive elections in 2014 and 2015. The program will involve the strengthening of political entities - including parties, independent candidates, and coalitions - to develop and articulate platforms, perform outreach within their communities, and compete in elections. The project will enhance the ability of political entities to attract and empower women and youth both as voters and as party leaders. The program will also work with local domestic monitoring organizations to train and deploy observers to monitor the elections. The full RFA will be expected to go out in the next month. II.Programs Description: The proposed program will build on USG efforts to strengthen competitive, inclusive and credible electoral and political processes. In the pre-election period, this program will provide the foundation for credible and transparent elections in 2014 and 2015 by supporting political participation and strengthening political stakeholders' abilities to organize, attract supporters, and institutionalize planning for future election events. In the elections period, the project will, domestic election and polling agent monitoring program. Proposed project components may include the following: A.Strengthening Political Entities and Civil Society (SPECS) I.Reinforce the principles of political participation and accountability 1.Strengthen the capacity of political entities 2.Promote civil society's enhanced participation in political processes 3.Increase democratic participation of Afghan citizens, particularly youth and women 4.Support the development of political party platforms 5.Provide training on constituency outreach 6.Support capacity development programs for registered political parties 7.Provide campaign training to independent candidates 8.Support the increased participation of women candidates through education internal and external education programs II.Domestic Election Monitoring 1.Support the training of domestic monitors 2.Support the development and implementation of plans to monitoring election activities 3.Provide organizational and administrative management training for domestic monitoring organizations The program will be implemented in accordance with USAID's Political Party Assistance Policy, which can be found at http://transition.usaid.gov/policy/ads/200/200maz.pdf. III. Timelines (estimated) A.Political Entities and Domestic Observation 1.Request for Applications: Early January, 2013 2.Applications received: Early February, 2013 3.Award signed: May 30, 2013 IV.Gender, Youth and Marginalized Groups A key goal of the program will be to increase the ability of women, youth, and other historically marginalized groups to play a role in deciding their country's future. Applications will be expected to demonstrate concrete activities for increasing these groups abilities to participate in the political process. As with all USAID programs output reports will, to the greatest extent possible be disaggregated by sex.