The Congressional Office for International Leadership (COIL) Announces 2023 Grant Guidelines

August 23, 2022

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, COIL begins soliciting proposals for its 2023 Open World exchange program from U.S. based organizations with established foreign visitor programs or a demonstrated ability to host foreign visitors. Organizations submitting proposals design 8-day professional development programs for emerging political, civic, and community leaders from the Eurasian region. All professional programs link Open World delegates to national, regional, and local levels of governance in an effort to support the legislative diplomacy efforts of Congress.

As a legislative branch agency, the Congressional Office for International Leadership directly supports Congress by bringing influential young Eurasian leaders to congressional districts across the United States. Today, Open World has nearly 29,000 alumni and a network of more than 9,000 host families in nearly 2,100 communities throughout the United States.

The solicitation features 188 programs designed for delegates from the following Open World program countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

Key themes for 2023 includes legislative development for Members of Parliament and staff, rule of law for judicial professionals, accountable governance for civic leaders, and programs responsive to the crisis in Ukraine. Sub themes for civic programs include: journalism, countering false information, anti-corruption, environmentalism, urban development, entrepreneurism, combatting domestic violence, treatment for PTSD, combating infectious diseases/outbreak response, cybersecurity, inclusivity, national parks management, librarians, and youth leadership and community development.

The application deadline for all country programming in this solicitation is October 11, 2022.

To view the 2023 Grant Guidelines, please click here: https://www.openworld.gov/grants/apply-grant.

For questions, please contact openworld@coil.gov(link sends e-mail)(link sends e-mail).