Media Artist + Activist Residency Grants

The United States Department of State's Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs (WHA) has announced a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for its Caribbean United for Women's Economic Empowerment (CUWEE) project. This grant program is fundamentally aligned with the mission of addressing systemic barriers and socio-cultural attitudes that challenge gender equity and equality within the Caribbean economy. The funding is sourced from the FY 2023 Gender Equity and Equality Action (GEEA) Economic Support Funds (ESF), signaling the Department of State's strategic priority on advancing economic security through gender equality initiatives in the region. The project is anticipated to be executed through a cooperative agreement and will be administered by the WHA's Office of Policy Planning and Coordination (PPC). The primary target beneficiaries of the CUWEE project are women and adolescent girls aged 16 and older in the Caribbean. The overarching impact goals are to build their economic resilience and skills capacity. By achieving this, the project aims to enable these beneficiaries to successfully enter the labor force and obtain economic security, thereby contributing to broader regional stability and growth. The initiative's theory of change appears to center on strengthening the ecosystem of local support to create sustainable economic opportunities for women. The strategic priorities and focuses of the project are multi-faceted, with a strong emphasis on empowering local civil society support actors. A central requirement is that proposals demonstrate how the grantee will strengthen local Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) engaged in advancing women’s economic security. The project is expected to first focus on identifying problematic country-specific and/or regional systemic barriers and socio-cultural attitudes, and then partner with local CSOs to directly address these identified obstacles. The CUWEE project details two key mechanisms for implementation. First, it intends to support a competition designed to promote local CSOs to develop and implement pioneering solutions tailored to overcome specific local systemic barriers to economic security for women in their respective country or region. Second, the project mandates the provision of a training curriculum that builds the capacity of, and strengthens, the regional Caribbean network of local CSOs dedicated to women’s economic security. WHA intends to issue one award, subject to funding availability, not to exceed $1,973,359, for a project period of up to three years, with a target start date of October 2024. The expected outcomes are the provision of greater economic gender equity and equality across the Caribbean region through the development of local capacity and innovative, localized solutions.