U.S. Speaker Program

Overview

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) announces an open competition to support the Office of U.S. Speaker Program. Through this cooperative agreement, ECA plans to support approximately 700 programs annually engaging all regions of the world. 

The Office of the U.S. Speaker Program has built lasting and sustained relations with U.S. citizen experts and foreign interlocutors that serve the American people. To accomplish this goal, the U.S. Speaker Program recruits dynamic American experts for in-person and/or virtual exchanges. Through the Program, diverse American professionals establish and sustain linkages with foreign audiences and institutions, which directly contribute to economic and educational opportunities in the United States and around the world. The U.S. Speaker Program works with U.S. embassies and consulates to produce impactful traveling programs ranging from three days to three weeks in length and virtual programs, which can take place on a single specified date and time and may be part of a continuing series. Programmatic formats include lectures, workshops, seminars, and training series.

The U.S. Speaker Program goals are to: 

• Support U.S. foreign policy goals by enabling U.S. citizen experts in a variety of fields to interact with key professional foreign audiences worldwide, in person and via virtual platforms 
• Identify and recruit the most appropriate U.S. experts to undertake public diplomacy programs in response to Department of State strategic initiatives and requests from U.S. missions abroad 3 
• To engage in conversations that enable foreign audiences to learn more about U.S. society, culture and institutions, thereby supporting development and growth of political, economic and social institutions abroad 
• Establish sustained relationships and linkages between U.S. Speakers and foreign audiences and institutions to share knowledge and skills, increase American global competitiveness, and encourage strong civil society institutions 
• Expand participation of diverse U.S. institutions, specifically Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and Americans in professional exchange programs 
• Provide timely, comprehensive, and high-quality logistics services to ensure that U.S. Speaker Programs are implemented in an effective and appropriate manner 
• Use social media and content amplification to promote the U.S. Speaker Program as an established professional exchange opportunity for American experts to share knowledge and skills

• Only one proposal will be considered by ECA from each applicant organization.
• All U.S. speakers are U.S. citizens. 
• For this program: The award recipient must have an office and staff in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area that are dedicated to working on this award.

• It is ECA’s intent to award a cooperative agreement of one base year plus two non-competitive continuations (NCCs).
• Approximate Number of Awards: 1
• Anticipated Award Date: September 1, 2023
• Anticipated project completion date to September 1, 2026
• ECA’s grant guidelines require that organizations with less than four years of experience in conducting international exchanges be limited to $130,000 in ECA funding. ECA anticipates making one cooperative agreement, in an amount totaling $11,427,000 (FY 2023 base year $3,809,000) to support all costs required to implement this exchange program. Therefore, organizations with less than four years of experience in conducting international exchanges are ineligible to apply under this competition.