[Federal Register: April 10, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 68)]
[Notices]               
[Page 16428-16429]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr10ap09-107]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Office of the Secretary

 
Combating Exploitive Child Labor Through Education

AGENCY: Bureau of International Labor Affairs, Department of Labor.

ACTION: Notice of intent to solicit cooperative agreement applications.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL), Bureau of International 
Labor Affairs (ILAB), intends to obligate approximately USD 20 million 
to support cooperative agreement awards to organizations to address 
exploitive child labor internationally. ILAB intends to award, through 
a competitive and merit-based process, cooperative agreements to 
organizations to develop projects to combat exploitive child labor 
through education in the following four countries: Guatemala, 
Indonesia, Nepal, and Rwanda. ILAB intends to fund projects that focus 
on withdrawing and preventing children who are engaged in, or at risk 
of engaging in, exploitive child labor through the provision of direct 
educational services, such as formal and non-formal education and 
vocational training programs. The projects should propose innovative 
ways to provide these educational services to target populations and 
address the gaps and challenges to basic education found in the 
countries mentioned above, including by working with governments of 
host countries to eliminate school fees that create a barrier to 
education. ILAB intends to solicit cooperative agreement applications 
from qualified organizations (i.e., any commercial, international, 
educational, or non-profit organization, including any faith-based, 
community-based, or public international organizations(s), capable of 
successfully developing and implementing child labor projects) to 
implement these projects. Please refer to http://www.dol.gov/ilab/
grants/grants-past.htm for examples of previous

[[Page 16429]]

notices of availability of funds and solicitations for cooperative 
agreement applications (SGAs).
    Key Dates: The forthcoming solicitation(s) for cooperative 
agreement applications will be published on http://www.grants.gov and 
USDOL/ILAB's Web site. A brief synopsis of the SGA(s), which will 
include Web site links to the full text solicitation(s), will be 
published in the Federal Register. The SGA(s) will remain open for at 
least 60 days from the date of publication. All cooperative agreement 
awards will be made on or before September 30, 2009.
    Submission Information: Applications in response to the forthcoming 
solicitation(s) may be submitted electronically via http://
www.grants.gov or hard copy by mail. Hard copy applications must be 
delivered to: U.S. Department of Labor, Procurement Services Center, 
200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Room S-4307, Washington, DC 20210, 
Attention: Lisa Harvey. Any application sent by other delivery methods, 
including e-mail, telegram, or facsimile (FAX) will not be accepted.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Lisa Harvey. E-mail address: 
harvey.lisa@dol.gov. All inquiries should make reference to the USDOL 
Combating Child Labor through Education--Solicitations for Cooperative 
Agreement Applications.Information on specific target groups, sectors, 
geographic regions, and funding levels for the potential projects in 
the countries listed above will be addressed in one or more 
solicitations for cooperative agreement applications to be published 
prior to September 30, 2009. Potential applicants should not submit 
inquiries to USDOL for further information on these award opportunities 
until after USDOL's publication of the solicitation(s). For a list of 
frequently asked questions on ILAB's Solicitations for Cooperative 
Agreement Applications (based on last year's solicitation, SGA 08-01), 
please visit http://www.dol.gov/ilab/grants/sg08-01-faq.htm.
    Bidders' Meeting: USDOL intends to hold a bidders' meeting on May 
28, 2009 in Washington, DC at the Department of Labor from 1:30 p.m. to 
3:30 p.m. The purpose of this meeting is to provide potential 
applicants with the opportunity to ask questions concerning this 
Solicitation for Cooperative Agreement Applications process. To 
register for the meeting, please call or e-mail Ms. Doris Senko (Phone: 
202-693-4843; E-mail: senko.doris@dol.gov) by May 21, 2009. Please 
provide Ms. Senko with attendees' contact information, including name, 
organization, address, phone number, and e-mail address.
    Background Information: Since 1995, the U.S. Congress has 
appropriated over USD 720 million to ILAB for efforts to combat 
exploitive child labor internationally. This funding has been used to 
support technical cooperation projects to combat exploitive child 
labor, including the worst forms, in more than 80 countries around the 
world. Technical cooperation projects funded by USDOL range from 
targeted action programs in specific sectors of work to more 
comprehensive programs that support national efforts to eliminate the 
worst forms of child labor, as defined by International Labor 
Organization (ILO) Convention 182. Projects funded by USDOL to combat 
exploitive child labor internationally seek to:
    1. Withdraw and prevent children from involvement in exploitive 
child labor through the provision of direct educational and training 
services;
    2. Strengthen policies on child labor and education, the capacity 
of national institutions to combat child labor, and formal and 
transitional education systems that encourage working children and 
those at risk of working to attend school;
    3. Raise awareness of the importance of education for all children 
and mobilize a wide array of actors to improve and expand education 
infrastructures;
    4. Support research and the collection of reliable data on child 
labor; and
    5. Ensure the long-term sustainability of these efforts.
    Since 2001, USDOL-funded projects have withdrawn or prevented over 
1 million children from exploitive child labor.

    Signed at Washington, DC, this 6th day of April 2009.
Lisa Harvey,
Grant Officer.
 [FR Doc. E9-8151 Filed 4-9-09; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4510-28-P