Notice of Funding Opportunity - FY 2021 Book Translation Program Call for Proposals | STATE BISHKEK PAS 21 0004

Opportunity Information: Apply for STATE BISHKEK PAS 21 0004

The FY 2021 Book Translation Program (BTP) Call for Proposals is a competitive grant opportunity from the Public Affairs Section (PAS) of the U.S. Embassy to the Kyrgyz Republic. It is designed to support Kyrgyzstan-based organizations in publishing books by American authors and/or books that reflect U.S. values, translated into Kyrgyz or produced as a joint Kyrgyz-English edition. The overall idea is to expand access to U.S. literature while showing respect for Kyrgyz culture by making high-quality, relevant titles available in the Kyrgyz language and getting them into the hands of young readers and emerging professionals across the country.

Funding is intended to cover the practical end-to-end costs of bringing a translated book to market and ensuring it reaches its intended audience. This includes copyright acquisition when needed, professional translation, printing, and distribution. The program also expects grantees to run follow-on activities that help the book have a real public impact beyond publication, such as workshops and master classes, contests, development of related websites or online materials, and other programming tied to the book rollout. A key requirement is scale: each selected title must be printed and distributed with a minimum print run of 3,000 copies, with distribution handled through the grantee along with the U.S. Embassy and partners, targeting educational institutions, public libraries, and American Spaces throughout the Kyrgyz Republic.

The Embassy anticipates making about two awards, with an average of roughly $25,000 per title and an award ceiling of $28,000. The funding instrument is a cooperative agreement, which typically means the funder may remain actively engaged during implementation compared with a standard grant. Applications are reviewed through a panel process and funded on a competitive basis, so proposals are expected to clearly align with PAS goals, priorities, and the specified target audience. The opportunity explicitly notes that, due to high demand, PAS will not accept letters of intent, concept papers, or meeting requests before an application is submitted, meaning applicants should be prepared to put forward a complete, fully developed proposal from the start.

Projects must center on at least one of four priority themes. The first is STEAM, covering any combination of science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. The second is environmental conservation, focused on building awareness of environmental protection and practical ways to achieve it. The third is business empowerment and social entrepreneurship, emphasizing economic independence, sustainable development, and improvement of the business climate, ideally with benefits for marginalized, underrepresented, or vulnerable groups. The fourth is civic engagement and rural-to-urban migration, with an emphasis on civic participation and the challenges connected to migration and the marginalization of rural communities. Proposals may be based on either fiction or nonfiction, as long as the chosen title and the planned activities strongly connect to one or more of these themes.

The priority audience is Kyrgyz-language-speaking youth and young professionals, broadly defined as ages 10 to 25. Applicants are expected not only to select an appropriate title, but also to present a credible plan for production quality, printing, and distribution logistics at the required volume, along with a thoughtful set of follow-up events or engagement activities that reinforce the book’s themes and reach the intended age group effectively.

Eligibility is limited to organizations based in the Kyrgyz Republic. The eligible applicant types highlighted include not-for-profit organizations and civil society or non-governmental organizations, and the program also mentions publishing houses and academic institutions in its description of who may submit proposals. The opportunity is issued by the U.S. Mission to Kyrgyzstan under Funding Opportunity Number STATE BISHKEK PAS 21 0004 (CFDA 19.900). The original application deadline listed is June 25, 2021, with the opportunity created on April 28, 2021.

• The U.S. Mission to Kyrgyzstan in the other sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Notice of Funding Opportunity - FY 2021 Book Translation Program Call for Proposals" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 19.900.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2021-04-28.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-06-25. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $28,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for STATE BISHKEK PAS 21 0004

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