U.S. Embassy in Libya announces Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) 2021 Competition

Last updated on October 28th, 2020 at 12:03 pm

The U.S. Embassy in Libya announced on its official website the call for project proposals ranging from $10,000 to $500,000 for the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) 2021 Competition. U.S. ambassadors in eligible countries may submit proposals for projects to preserve cultural heritage in the host country. A statement explains that competitive global fund was established to help countries preserve cultural heritage and to demonstrate U.S. respect for other cultures. The projects selected to receive funding under this program will advance U.S. diplomatic goals and demonstrate the depth of U.S. respect for the cultural heritage of Libya.

This year’s selection process will have two phases.  An initial Concept Papers and associated budget submitted to TripoliPAO@state.gov due November 15 will be evaluated by post and the U.S. Department of State’s Educational Cultural Affairs Bureau.  Applicants with the top proposals will be invited to submit additional proposal details and participate in a Second Round of the Selection Process in January 2021.   The deadline for submitting a Concept Paper and supporting budget (link) for Round 1 to the Embassy is before or on Sunday, November 15, 2020.  Completed Concept Papers for Round 1 must be submitted in English electronically to TripoliPAS@state.gov with 2021 AFCP Competition in the subject line. 

The Embassy indicated that the strongest applications will receive notification and proceed to Round 2 when full proposals will be due to Recruiterbox (Details forthcoming). Applications for Round 1 (project abstract and budget) and later full Project Proposals for those invited to participate in Round 2 of the selection process will need to be in English. Full implementation of the AFCP 2021 program is pending the availability of FY 2021 funds and a final approved grant resulting from the grants competition.

The Cultural Heritage Center in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) is pleased to announce the start of the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) 2021 Grants Program.  The Center is implementing several important changes to the program during this cycle, combining the small and large grant programs into a single program. Pending availability of funds, awards will range from $10,000 to $500,000. To ease the administrative burden on embassies and potential grantees, the Center is dividing the application process into two rounds and reducing the amount of information required up front.  In the first streamlined round embassies will collect project ideas from applicants in the form of concept notes, due to embassies November 15, 2020.  In Round 2, the Center will invite embassies with promising ideas to submit full project applications, due March 22, 2021.

The Center has expertise in cultural preservation and is available to work with embassies and their prospective implementing partners to help them refine project concepts for resubmission in future cycles of the AFCP grants program or to help them transform promising ideas into effective project designs in preparation for a Round 2 submission.  The Center’s team of cultural heritage preservation experts can provide direct, hands-on guidance and support or organize design workshops for embassy implementing partners, including new or small organizations with limited experience. 

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The U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) seeks projects recommended by a review panel that will advance U.S. foreign policy objectives and demonstrate American leadership in the preservation and protection of cultural heritage around the world. The AFCP Grants Program supports the preservation of archaeological sites, historic buildings and monuments, museum collections, and forms of traditional cultural expression, such as indigenous languages and crafts.  Appropriate project activities may include: anastylosis (reassembling a site from its original parts); conservation (addressing damage or deterioration to an object or site); consolidation (connecting or reconnecting elements of an object or site); documentation (recording in analog or digital format the condition and salient features of an object, site, or tradition); inventory (listing of objects, sites, or traditions by location, feature, age, or other unifying characteristic or state); Preventive Conservation (addressing conditions that threaten or damage a site, object, collection, or tradition); Restoration (replacing missing elements to recreate the original appearance of an object or site, usually appropriate only with fine arts, decorative arts, and historic buildings); and Stabilization (reducing the physical disturbance of an object or site).