Young Pacific Leaders Annual Conference | PDS NEWZEALAND 2024 03

Opportunity Information: Apply for PDS NEWZEALAND 2024 03

The Young Pacific Leaders Annual Conference grant opportunity is an open, competitive funding announcement from the U.S. Embassy New Zealand Public Diplomacy Section (PDS), part of the U.S. Department of State. Through this award, the Department of State is seeking one organization to design and deliver a Young Pacific Leaders (YPL) Conference to be held sometime between May and July 2025, contingent on funds being available. The conference is intended to strengthen the leadership pipeline across the Pacific by giving emerging leaders practical skills, deeper issue knowledge, and stronger cross-island professional networks that can translate into real collaboration after the event.

A key preference in the announcement is for the conference to take place in French Polynesia, timed to align with the United Nations Ocean Conference hosted by France in June 2025. However, the location is not fixed; the conference may be hosted elsewhere in the Pacific region if logistics, cost, or feasibility make another site more practical. The opportunity builds on a long-running State Department initiative: the YPL Conference has been convened annually since 2013 and has previously been hosted in places such as American Samoa, Samoa, New Zealand, Hawaii, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, and Guam. Across those years, the consistent purpose has been to build leadership capacity and strengthen ties among rising leaders drawn from a wide range of Pacific communities.

Programmatically, the 2025 conference is expected to convene diverse participants between the ages of 25 and 40 and focus on the four pillars of the Young Pacific Leaders program: civic engagement; environment and resource management; education; and economic and social development. The design should not be purely lecture-based. The announcement explicitly encourages experiential learning and capacity building, meaning hands-on workshops, scenario work, peer problem-solving, and other practical formats that help participants leave with tools they can apply in their organizations and communities. Another central expectation is that the conference will intentionally foster network-building and peer collaboration, enabling participants to form durable relationships and work together on challenges that affect the Pacific region.

The funder also encourages applicants to include pre-conference and post-conference programming to reinforce learning and extend the conference impact beyond the in-person event. This could include preparatory virtual sessions, structured cohort activities, mentorship, collaborative project development, follow-on trainings, alumni check-ins, or other mechanisms that help participants retain skills, stay connected, and continue joint work after the conference concludes. Overall, the Department of State is signaling that it values a cohesive program arc rather than a one-off convening.

From an administrative standpoint, this is a discretionary award using a cooperative agreement, which typically implies a higher level of collaboration and ongoing involvement from the U.S. government compared to a standard grant. The funding activity category is listed as community development under CFDA 19.040. The opportunity anticipates a single award with an award ceiling of USD 350,000. Eligible applicants include public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status, and nonprofits without 501(c)(3) status (in both nonprofit categories, other than institutions of higher education). The funding opportunity number is PDS NEWZEALAND 2024 03, the issuing agency is the U.S. Mission to New Zealand, and the original application closing date is July 31, 2024.

• The U.S. Mission to New Zealand in the community development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Young Pacific Leaders Annual Conference" 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 2024-06-13.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-07-31. (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 $350,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

Apply for PDS NEWZEALAND 2024 03

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