FY 2023 BridgeUSA Africa Polytechnic Collaboration Initiative - Federal Grants

The Office of Private Sector Exchange (BridgeUSA) of ECA will announce an open competition for the administration of the FY2023 BridgeUSA Africa Polytechnic Collaboration Initiative. U.S. public and private non-profit organizations meeting the provisions described in Internal Revenue Code section 26 USC 501(c)(3) including organizations that represent consortia or other combinations of accredited U.S. community colleges/universities may submit only one proposal to cooperate with BridgeUSA under this competition to provide approximately 20 scholarships to scholars and professionals evenly distributed across participating countries from East Africa (AF) for the FY2023 BridgeUSA Africa Polytechnic Collaboration Initiative.

The scholarship will cover BridgeUSA program fees, healthcare benefits coverage, visa fees, SEVIS fees, and airfare. The program should be implemented in a 36-month time frame. The BridgeUSA Africa Polytechnic Collaboration Initiative scholarships would further ECA’s goal of promoting mutual understanding and lasting partnerships between emerging leaders from foreign countries and the United States as well as provide opportunities for BridgeUSA exchange visitors to collaborate with U.S. counterparts and share ideas, approaches, and strategies to develop solutions to pressing local and global challenges and address foreign malign influence in higher education space in the region.

This pilot will initially focus on East Africa including the islands along the east coast of Africa: Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

Proposals should address the combination of at least five countries from the list above and the proposed eligible J-1 categories described under Section C.2.1 Eligible Countries and J-1 Categories. ECA program office will finalize participating countries with the regional bureau.