Funded Transparency Training for Dominican Organizations

A. PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONThe U.S. Embassy Santo Domingo of the U.S. Department of State announces an opencompetition for organizations to submit applications to carry out a program to share U.S.

bestpractices in transparency mechanisms offered to civil society organizations. Please follow allinstructions below.Program Objectives:In 2019 the Dominican Republic was ranked 137/180 in the Corruption Perception Index. Thisindex ranks countries and territories based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be.At the same time, in the Global Corruption Barometer 66% of people in the Dominican Republicthought corruption increased in the previous 12 months.On August 16, 2020, a new administration took charge in the Dominican Republic. One of thefirst actions of the new president was to sign a letter of commitment on ethics and integrity, allministers signed the letter of commitment as well.

This new administration has a firm intentionof combating corruption and creating and/or using government transparency and accountabilitymechanisms/tools at the service of Dominicans to improve governance in the country.Considering that civil society organizations (CSO) have the potential to serve as watchdogs andgenerate community dialogue on issues to spur increased government accountability andencourage policies to combat corruption. Therefore, in support of the U.S. Embassy SantoDomingo mission objectives to strengthen democratic participation, this notice of fundingopportunity seeks to support a U.S. speaker program with an expert on issues of transparency,accountability, and open government who will engage with local government entities and civilsociety organizations to share U.S.

experiences and best practices in management andcompliance of FOIA requests, ethics and integrity of FOIA offices, and publication of audits andreports for the public.The goal of this project is to share U.S. best practices with Dominican government institutionsthat manage transparency tools or mechanisms in order to establish a better understanding of thegovernment’s role supporting CSO’s access to transparency and accountability mechanisms.Moreover, it will create a space for dialogue and exchange between the above mentionedgovernment institutions and civil society organizations.To measure the expected results of established understanding for this project, applicants shouldto factor in a survey to participants before and after the project.U.S. Embassy Santo Domingo will identify a U.S. expert that will work with the grantee toorganize a minimum off four days of engagements of the U.S.

expert with officials fromDominican government entities, such as, the General Directorate of Government Ethics andIntegrity (DIGEIG), the Department of Social Control of the Chamber of Accounts (localequivalent to OIG), government Procurement Office and other government institutions managingtransparency and accountability mechanisms. Therefore, applicants must present an intentionalagenda of engagements and a budget for the logistical aspects of this proposal, such as, room andaudio visual rental (if needed), transportation of the U.S. speaker, reaching out to the targetedaudience and confirming participation, etc.Applicants must present a budget and manage the travel expenses (local and international) ofthe U.S. expert for the duration of the project.

These include flights (under Fly America Act),hotel reservations, airport transportation, local transportation to local engagements, cover perdiem and honorarium based on the U.S. Department of State rates.Applicants must create a media engagement plan that incorporates traditional and social media incollaboration with the Communications Team of the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy.