U.S. Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, BOLD Academic Fellowships Program

Overview

The United States Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), through the Office of Public Diplomacy Section (PDS), is pleased to announce a Notice of Funding Opportunity to design and implement the BOLD (Balkanski Omladinski Lideri, Balkan Young Leaders) Academic Fellowships Program.  

Mandatory components: 

1. The Academic Fellowship Program for Balkan Student Leaders on Economic Development (“the fellowship program”) should be organized for at least 10 undergraduate students, aged 18-25, from communities in BiH to reflect the country’s diversity and administrative divisions. 
2. The fellowship program should be approximately five weeks in duration, including an academic residency at an academic institution and a significant component of experiential learning in the community or in another location.  Ideally, the fellowship program should incorporate a homestay experience as part of the program. 
3. The academic program in the U.S. should include group discussions, experiential learning activities, and exercises that focus on the theme and include aspects of leadership, teambuilding, collective problem-solving skills, effective communication, appreciation of diversity, and management skills.  Therefore, participants should gain both theoretical knowledge and practical skills.   
4. The experiential learning component should include substantive and participatory activities in a community that pertains directly to the theme of the fellowship program and bolster the skills and experience for students to implement their follow-on projects. Particular focus should be given to the integration of not-for-profit organizations and businesses in the community and their impact.   
5. The fellowship program should ensure a balance of speakers and perspectives throughout the program schedule, representing diverse U.S. political viewpoints, as well as other aspects of diversity. The fellowship program should foster PDS’s mission to promote mutual understanding between citizens of other countries and citizens of the United States.  Thus, the program should include robust opportunities for participants to meet Americans from a variety of backgrounds, to interact with their U.S. peers, and to speak to appropriate student and civic groups about their experiences and life in their home countries.   
6. The fellowship program should include requirements for continued follow-on engagement and project implementation that build on the five-week engagement once participants return home.   
7. In addition to developing participants’ leadership skills, the fellowship program should provide participants with an in-depth examination of the theme outlined below.   

Fellowship Program Themes:  
Entrepreneurship, Youth Employment, and Economic Development. It should provide participants with an overview of entrepreneurial approaches by introducing challenges and successes of U.S. entrepreneurial models, including social enterprises, business leadership, and women’s economic empowerment.  An understanding of the U.S. entrepreneurial ecosystem should be accompanied by a strong focus on how to apply lessons learned in the BiH context. Topics may include, but are not limited to, organizational development and management, the basics of starting and running a small business, market research and risk analysis, innovation, strategic business planning, and corporate social responsibility. In addition to the community-based experiential learning component, academic sessions should be complemented with hands-on sessions or workshops designed to build skills in the topics mentioned above.  The fellowship program should require participants to develop their entrepreneurial ideas in the form of a business plan and a pitch, and a concrete action plan to implement toward starting a business, building upon the BOLD network to disseminate their plans and actions.

One organization may submit only one proposal to this NOFO.   

Applicants must demonstrate an ability to work in all parts of BiH, whether independently or in cooperation with a partner organization.

Length of Performance Period: 16 months 
Total Available Funding: $140,000 
Number of Awards Anticipated: 1 
Anticipated Award Date: August 2024 
Funding Instrument Type: Cooperative Agreement