Slots: 1. Multiple applications from an organization are not allowed.
Deadlines
Internal Deadline: Contact RII.
LOI: N/A
External Deadline: October 6, 2023
Award Information
Award Type: Cooperative Agreement
Estimated Number of Awards: 1
Anticipated Award Amount: $2,000,000
Who May Serve as PI: Applicants selected for award, including PIOs, must abide by DOL’s requirements in the term and conditions of the award, in alignment with U.S. appropriation laws and applicable U.S.
regulations.
Applicants do not need previous experience managing federal awards, but they must speak
persuasively about their ability to leverage other previous experience and bring it to scale in
support of a large federal investment
Link to Award: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=348804
Process for Limited Submissions
PIs must submit their application as a Limited Submission through the Research Initiatives and Infrastructure (RII) Application Portal: https://rii.usc.edu/oor-portal/. Use the template provided here: RII Limited Submission Applicant Template
Materials to submit include:
- (1) Two-Page Proposal Summary (1” margins; single-spaced; standard font type, e.g. Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, or Georgia typeface; font size: 11 pt). Page limit includes references and illustrations. Pages that exceed the 2-page limit will be excluded from review. You must use the template linked above.
- (2) CV – (5 pages maximum)
Note: The portal requires information about the PIs in addition to department and contact information, including the 10-digit USC ID#, Gender, and Ethnicity. Please have this material prepared before beginning this application.
Purpose
ILAB leads the U.S. Government’s (USG) efforts to improve working conditions and fight labor
exploitation around the world. ILAB’s mission is to strengthen global labor standards, enforce
labor commitments among trading partners, promote racial and gender equity, and combat
international child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking. ILAB’s Office of Child Labor,
Forced Labor and Human Trafficking (OCFT) works to eliminate child labor, forced labor and
human trafficking through international research, policy engagement, and technical cooperation.
See ILAB’s webpage for additional information: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab.
This FOA solicits applications to implement 1 project(s) with the objective to fund Phase I of a
global technical assistance project, piloted in the Indonesian palm oil sector, to reduce and
remediate forced labor in supply chains where forced labor is prevalent.
The multi-phase project will develop and pilot actionable resources to create global worker-driven social compliance systems putting workers and their organizations at the center of
effective solutions to ensure the real, independently verifiable protection of labor rights in global
supply chains. A worker-driven social compliance system is an approach to ensuring fair and
ethical labor practices within supply chains and workplaces. Unlike traditional compliance
systems that rely on audits and inspections conducted by third-party organizations or brands,
worker-driven social compliance systems prioritize the active involvement and empowerment of
workers. In a worker-driven social compliance system, the workers play a central role in
identifying and addressing labor rights violations, health and safety issues, and other concerns
within their workplaces.
Once developed, these actionable resources are intended to be adaptable to any sector in any
country and designed to consider a variety of potential private sector audiences, including
multinational corporations, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and smallholder
farmers. The resources must include, but may not be limited to, guidance to improve private
sector stakeholders’ understanding of forced labor indicators and international core labor
standards. These resources must cover responsible recruitment practices, guidance on
strengthening monitoring of working conditions through worker engagement, and how to
establish effective grievance mechanisms to improve workers’ access to remedies. Furthermore,
the resources should guide companies on providing evidence to demonstrate remediation of
forced labor.
Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.