NOFO: Build Misinformation Resiliency by Empowering Youth (Sri Lanka)

These clubs will provide young Sri Lankans with the opportunity to learn top-notch speaking and discerning skills thereby developing misinformation resiliency skills through classroom exercises, hands-on workshops, and competitions. The aim is to offer a structured yet flexible format for members to learn to identify, analyze, and discern false information using evidence-based methods, fostering critical thinking and informed citizenship.

Project Objectives

• The Public Diplomacy Section of the U.S. Embassy (PDS) seeks proposals that:
  • Collaborate with universities, schools in underprivileged areas, and/or educational organizations in Sri Lanka to strengthen the resilience of youth towards disinformation, fake news, conspiracy theories, and propaganda through training and engagement to develop research and debunking skills.
  • Identify experienced trainers, based across Sri Lanka, who understand how to structure formal debate and debunk clubs and fact-checking procedures to coach administrators and youth in debating and debunking. Implement a train-the-trainer program to equip club administrators with the necessary skills to independently manage and sustain debunking clubs.
  • Teach youth through a core methodology for exposing falsehoods to include fact checking, identify false elements in problematic narratives, and create and share counternarratives.
  • Prioritize achieving gender, ethnic, and geographic balance when developing membership criteria and recruiting both youth and trainers.
  • Increase participants’ understanding of U.S. policy goals related to climate change, entrepreneurship, diversity and inclusion, security and resilience, democracy, good governance, and human rights, including the importance of a free and open media environment.
  • Raise public awareness of fact-checking and the benefits of debate and debunk clubs in fostering critical thinking.

Project Goals

• The goal of this funding opportunity is to create awareness and empower more than 500 Sri Lankan youth by equipping them with skills to critically analyze information, learn debunking strategies, promote media literacy and resilience against misinformation and foster a community dedicated to truth and transparency while strengthening people-to-people ties between the United States and Sri Lanka through information and expertise exchange.

Funding Information

• Total available funding: $75,000
• Award Ceiling: $75,000
• Award Floor: $40,000
• Length of performance period: 18 months
• Number of awards anticipated: 1 award

Project Audience 

• The program will collectively engage at least 500 similarly aged youth ages 18-25 from across Sri Lanka, including from outside of urban centers, who are looking to enhance their critical thinking, fact-checking, and leadership skills, while ensuring gender, ethnic and geographic balance. Special emphasis should be on training those who may lack access to quality educational resources and opportunities for personal development and students involved in extracurricular activities who are interested in joining clubs that promote critical thinking, analysis, and public speaking.

Expected Outcomes 

• Youth will strengthen their leadership, critical thinking, and persuasive speaking skills as surveyed by administrators through monitoring and evaluation from establishment of club till end of program, with relevant key performance indicators (KPI’s) developed for evaluation.
• 90% of the attendees of debunking workshops will attest to improved media literacy, fact-checking and critical analysis, as evidenced by pre- and post-training assessments
• 80% of participants will identify concrete steps to access fact-checking resources, as evidenced by pre- and post-training assessments.
• 80% of participants will strengthen their understanding of the importance of fostering a culture of fact-checking and evidence-based narratives, as evidenced by pre- and post survey.
• 80% of participating debate club participants trained will be aware of how to effectively debunk misinformation, through the use of case studies, debate clubs, and tournaments, as evidenced by pre- and post-training assessments.
• 75% of attendees of debunk sessions will have increased awareness of how to fact[1]check current socio-political issues relevant to Sri Lanka, monitored by tracking the topics discussed, achieving this throughout the 12-month period.
• Develop a sustainability plan that includes securing ongoing support and institutional backing, ensuring that at least 75% of debunk clubs remain active and self-sustaining two years after the program.

Eligibility Criteria

• The following organizations are eligible to apply:
  • Not-for-profit organizations
  • Civil society/non-governmental organizations
  • Think tanks
  • Public and private educational institutions
• For-profit entities, even those that may fall into the categories listed above, are not eligible to apply for this NOFO.
• Organizations may sub-contract with other entities, but only one, non-profit, non-governmental entity can be the prime recipient of the award. When sub-contracting with other entities, the responsibilities of each entity must be clearly defined in the proposal.
• Applicants must be registered in Sri Lanka. International organizations, Sri Lankan government entities and individuals are not eligible to apply.
• Applicants are only allowed to submit one proposal per organization.
• If more than one proposal is submitted from an organization, all proposals from that institution will be considered ineligible for funding.

Ineligible

• This opportunity will not support:
  • Projects relating to partisan political activity;
  • Charitable or development activities;
  • Construction projects;
  • Projects that support specific religious activities;
  • Fund-raising campaigns;
  • Lobbying for specific legislation or programs
  • Scientific research or surveys;
  • Commercial projects;
  • Projects intended primarily for the growth or institutional development of the organization;
  • Projects that duplicate existing projects; or
  • Illegal activities.

For more information, visit Grants.gov.