US Department of Labor announces competitive solicitation for $4 million in grants to combat child labor in Jordan

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of International Labor Affairs today announced a $4 million competitive grant solicitation listed at http://www.grants.gov seeking applications from qualified organizations for innovative strategies to combat the worst forms of child labor in Jordan.

Applicants will be assessed on the design of strategies that meet the criteria in the scope of work, which includes the following five goals for combating child labor:

• Reduce exploitative child labor through provision of direct educational services and address the root causes of child labor.
• Strengthen policies on child labor, education and sustainable livelihood, as well as the capacity of national institutions to combat child labor.
• Increase public awareness of exploitative and hazardous child labor, its root causes and the importance of education for all children.
• Support research, evaluation and reliable data collection on child labor, its root causes and effective strategies.
• Promote the long-term sustainability of efforts to address issues involving child labor.

The solicitation requires applicants to propose strategies that focus on sectors and geographic areas with the highest prevalence of child exploitation. It further calls for securing linkages with government and social partners, and drawing on best practices to build cost-effective models for reducing child labor in rural and urban areas that can be scaled up and applied to vulnerable populations throughout the country.

Applications must be submitted by 5 p.m. EST on Nov. 24, 2010, as a hard copy to the Labor Department or electronically at http://www.grants.gov. Questions about the solicitation should be sent to Georgiette Nkpa, U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Procurement Services, by e-mail to nkpa.georgiette@dol.gov by Oct. 20.

All cooperative agreement awards will be made by Dec. 31. A copy of the Solicitation for Grant Applications 10-10 is available online at http://www.dol.gov/ILAB/grants/main.htm or at http://www.grants.gov.