The Young Leaders Program (YLP) is a four-year initiative, funded by USAID and implemented by Counterpart International. The GOAL of the Young Leaders Program is to support active, civically-engaged and socially conscious youth in Tajikistan and to provide them with the tools and experience to take ownership of their future and contribute to the development of their country.

This goal is supported by two OBJECTIVES: (1) to increase youth involvement in promoting positive change in their communities; and (2) to improve the quality of youth services provided through government, donors and civil society organizations (CSOs). These objectives are supported by the creation and ongoing development of a youth civic education and program framework. The framework includes both materials (training manuals, project concepts, youth CSO directories) and methodologies (monitoring and evaluation of youth projects, youth grant making best practices, involving youth in local governance) that draw upon good practices from Tajikistan and other countries. The program is working with a number of governmental and non-governmental stakeholders in designing and continuing to improve this framework.

To support these objectives, YLP is soliciting requests for proposals from willing organizations seeking to participate in the program’s Technical Assistance (TA) grants initiative. This initiative is targeting local CSOs with requisite technical experience in youth development and organizational development to work directly with our program partners and target youth to strengthen and enhance existing program activities, as well as to design and deliver new programming in our target regions.

Through the issuance of Technical Assistance (TA) Grants, YLP ensures that other CSOs, particularly with a background in youth engagement, have the opportunity to share their knowledge and capacities to further strengthen existing YLP interventions, as well as formulate new interventions where there are gaps in existing programming. YLP will issue approximately three (3) TA grants, valued up to $6,000 each.

TA grants should be planned and implemented in all 3 YLP target regions – Zarafshan and Rasht valleys and Badakhshan. Proposed grant activities should include at least one of the following core YLP program activities

-          informal civic education;

-          youth leadership;

-          event organization;

-          new media or information technologies;

-          capacity building;

-          network creation;

-          other relevant technical areas.

Proposals must be submitted in both Tajik/Russian and English, and must demonstrate the organization’s capacities and relevant program experience. In addition, applicants must provide following information:

·         Name of Organization and Acronym (if applicable)

• Legal Address
• Telephone number(s)
• E-mail address
• Website address (if any)
• Organizational Representative (Name, Position)
• Dates of Founding and Registration (Please attach a Copy of the Registration Certificate)
• Copy of the Organization’s Charter
• Proposal (maximum 6 pages total), inclusive of the following elements:

-          The organization’s mission

-          Experience in youth and civic education programming

-          Full description of proposed activities

-          Relevant institutional capacity of organization (e.g.: human and material resources)

-          Detailed budget

The initial grants period will be from date of award through April, 30, 2013

Grant Selection Process Overview:

1.      Proposals will be initially reviewed by YLP to identify organizations that have: 1) Met the minimum submission requirements above, and: 2) Have relevant youth and civic education program implementation experience.

2.      Applications will be evaluated by a Selection Committee comprised of both internal and external reviewers to be scored based on the selection criteria outlined in the section below. Based on the Selection Committee’s recommendations, TA grants will be awarded to three organizations on or about January 1, 2013.

The Deadline for submission of proposals is December 3, 2012, 5 p.m.  Late submissions will not be considered.

Proposals must be submitted in one HARD COPY (of both Tajik/Russian and English), signed and sealed by the legal representative of the organization by the stated deadline.

 Download Application 

Applications and accompanying documentation will not be returned. Only short-listed organizations will be notified.

Please send submissions to:               Counterpart International – Tajikistan

                                               33/1 Husein-zoda Street, Apartment #14

                                               Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Postal code: 73 40 25

For questions, please contact YLP Program Director, Farrukh Tyuryaev at (+992) 98 888 7212 or Grants Manager, Nasiba Nurova at (+992) 988885282 or (+992) 37 221 19 98.