DRL: Advancing the Role of Women in the Labor Movement

Deadline Date: July 19, 2024

 Donor Name: Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL)

 Grant Size: $500,000 to $1 million

The U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) announces an open competition, funded through the Gender Equity and Equality Action Fund, for organizations interested in advancing the role of women in the global labor movement.

DRL is committed to advancing equity and support for underserved and underrepresented communities. In accordance with the Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Underserved Communities, programs should implement strategies for integration and inclusion of individuals/organizations/beneficiaries that can bring perspectives based on their religion, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, sex characteristics, national origin, age, genetic information, marital status, parental status, pregnancy, political affiliation, or veteran’s status. Programs should be demand-driven and locally led to the extent possible.

DRL requires all programs to be non-discriminatory and expects implementers to include strategies for non-discrimination of individuals/organizations/beneficiaries based on race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, gender expression, sex characteristics, sexual orientation, pregnancy, national origin, disability, age, genetic information, marital status, parental status, political affiliation, or veteran’s status.

Objectives

• Proposed projects must include activities that contribute to both of the following objectives:
  • Worker organizations include women in leadership positions and represent their interests, particularly in dialogue, negotiations, and collective bargaining agreements; and 
  • Women in worker organizations leverage their collective soft and hard skills and platforms to convene together to advance shared goals. 

Where appropriate, competitive proposals may include: 

• Opportunities for beneficiaries to apply their new knowledge and skills in practical efforts; 
• Solicitation of feedback and suggestions from beneficiaries when developing activities in order to strengthen the sustainability of programs and participant ownership of project outcomes; 
• Input from participants on sustainability plans and systematic review of the plans throughout the life of the project, with adjustments made as necessary; 
• Joint identification and definition of key concepts with relevant stakeholders and stakeholder input into project activities; 
• Systematic follow-up with beneficiaries at specific intervals after the completion of activities to track how beneficiaries are retaining new knowledge as well as applying their new skills.

Funding Information

• Total Funding Ceiling: $986,500
• Total Funding Floor: $986,500
• Anticipated Number of Awards: 1
• Period of Performance: 12-36 months 
• Anticipated Time to Award, Pending Availability of Funds: 4-6 months

Outcomes

• Proposed projects should also include activities that make incremental changes contributing to all of the following outcomes:
  • Research on the status and impact of women in labor movements, including but not limited to economic security and understanding effective approaches/interventions to enable women leaders, and gender equity and inclusion agendas, in unions/worker organizations to support effective awareness raising and advocacy for women’s participation and leadership opportunities in the world of work and within unions, as well as within policy; 
  • Women labor movement leaders apply their knowledge and skills related to leadership, advocacy, mentorship, negotiation, and collective bargaining to seek fulfillment for women workers’ rights; and 
  • Women labor movement leaders collaborate on issues important to women workers to amplify issues, advocate for reform, and enhance regulations, laws, and/or policies. 

Competitive projects should also: 

• Demonstrate substantial understanding of the issues, context, sensitivities, and key stakeholders around women involved in labor movements and women-led labor movements, including gender-sensitive collective bargaining. Display knowledge of existing programs that target or intersect with the issue of women in labor movements;
• Explain how the proposed project will learn from and/or build upon existing efforts to understand the status and advance the role of women labor movement leaders;
• Include sufficient staffing and accurately detail how the proposed project will be run distinctly from any related concurrent programming implemented by the applicant;
• Forge partnerships with, and/or sub-grants to, local civil society organizations, including worker organizations, with clearly defined roles and responsibilities for each, and include letters of commitment from proposed partners or groups;
• Describe any existing relationships or networks that will be drawn upon to facilitate the proposed work;
• Leverage a worker-centered research methodology where workers are essentially integrated in the design and implementation of research on issues that they experience directly, which reduces the gap between theory, policy, and programs that affect their lives, as recommended in the recently released ILAB Worker Voice report.

Eligibility Criteria

• DRL requests targeted proposals for a $986,500 project to assess the scale and impact of women labor movement leaders in: (1) Africa; (2) East Asia and the Pacific; and (3) Latin America and the Caribbean.
• DRL welcomes applications from U.S.-based and foreign-based non-profit organizations/nongovernmental organizations (NGO) and public international organizations; private, public, or state institutions of higher education; and for-profit organizations or businesses. DRL’s preference is to work with non-profit entities; however, there may be some occasions when a for-profit entity is best suited.
• Applications submitted by for-profit entities may be subject to additional review following the panel selection process. Additionally, the Department of State prohibits profit to for-profit or commercial organizations under its assistance awards.

For more information, visit Grants.gov.