Opportunity Information: Apply for FY2024VE003
The Collaborative Research Opportunities Program (CROP) in Agricultural STEM is a U.S. Department of State (U.S. Mission to Venezuela, Venezuela Affairs Unit or VAU) Public Diplomacy funding opportunity designed to strengthen research capacity inside Venezuelan universities while building durable partnerships with U.S. higher education institutions. The program is framed as a higher-education engagement initiative that uses agricultural STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math as applied to agriculture and related fields) as the common platform for collaboration. The central idea is that if Venezuelan universities improve their ability to conduct and manage research to international standards, and if they nurture a campus-wide culture that supports research, they will be better positioned to form comprehensive, long-term institutional partnerships with U.S. counterparts and contribute more directly to Venezuela's national development goals.
This opportunity anticipates funding a single award, with up to $200,000 total available, for a performance period of up to 18 months. The expected start date is August 1, 2024, and the award is issued as a cooperative agreement, meaning the VAU will likely remain actively involved in key elements of implementation (such as participant selection, coordination, and program direction) compared to a more hands-off grant. Funding is provided through Public Diplomacy (Smith-Mundt) funds under CFDA 19.040, and the notice is explicitly subject to the availability of funds.
Eligible applicants are U.S. public or private institutes of higher education with academic programs in agricultural STEM fields. Consortia applications are allowed, and the notice signals that proposals featuring a broad group of U.S. HEIs and strong, creative networking approaches will be prioritized. Applications were due February 29, 2024, and proposals were to be submitted by email to VAUPublicEngagement@fan.gov. The VAU indicates it will identify the target audience and beneficiaries, and recruitment and selection of participants will be conducted jointly by the grantee and the VAU, with flexibility to adjust participant numbers based on local conditions and budget.
Program activities are structured around three main deliverables. First, the grantee is expected to run online capacity-building sessions for approximately 25 Venezuelan university faculty and staff (academics and administrators) who are living and working in Venezuela. These trainings should focus on practical research methodologies, grant application development, and research compliance, with a strong emphasis on establishing research methods and administrative processes that align with international standards. The NOFO also encourages additional content areas such as market-based research, private-sector integration, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, defining the characteristics of a productive research environment, and strategies to build undergraduate student research capacity. Importantly, the curriculum should go beyond technical skills and address how to foster a sustainable "culture of research" at the institutional level, including leadership support and strategic vision, professional development as a priority, key policies and steps to implement research culture reforms, and case studies of successful university research development initiatives.
Second, the program must include structured professional networking activities connecting Venezuelan participants with multiple U.S. HEI counterparts to catalyze collaborations and seed institutional partnerships in agricultural STEM. This is not meant to be casual networking; the notice emphasizes intentional design that helps participants form real professional connections and identify shared research priorities that can lead to ongoing joint projects. Proposals that bring in multiple U.S. institutions and use innovative online networking strategies are explicitly favored, signaling that the VAU wants a network-building model rather than a single one-to-one partnership.
Third, the grant should support a U.S. study tour to multiple U.S. HEIs for up to ten Venezuelan academics and administrators selected from the larger group participating in the online sessions. The purpose of the study tour is to deepen engagement through direct institutional exposure and targeted meetings that help define research priority areas and advance concrete partnership opportunities. While Spanish language capacity is not required, proposals that include key staff who can operate bilingually in Spanish and English are prioritized, suggesting that language support is viewed as an advantage for program quality and participant engagement.
Overall, the CROP in Agricultural STEM is best understood as a capacity-building and partnership-formation program rather than a pure research grant. It is aimed at strengthening Venezuelan universities' ability to conduct, administer, and sustain high-quality research, while simultaneously creating pathways for U.S.-Venezuela university collaborations in agricultural STEM. The expected outputs are trained cohorts of Venezuelan faculty and administrators, practical tools and shared standards for research methods and compliance, expanded professional networks across institutions, and early-stage partnership concepts that can grow into longer-term joint research and academic initiatives.Apply for FY2024VE003
- The U.S. Mission to Venezuela in the other sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Collaborative Research Opportunities Program (CROP) in Agricultural STEM" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 19.040.
- This funding opportunity was created on 2023-12-13.
- Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-02-29. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
- Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $200,000.00 in funding.
- Eligible applicants include: Others.
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