Our Programs
Young Pacific Leaders Small Grants Program (YPL)
Connecting leaders across the Pacific to address global challenges
Small Grants Program
The YPL Small Grants Program is a competition for eligible YPL alumni to apply for seed grant funding to implement innovative projects in the Pacific region related to the four core pillars of the YPL Program: Education, Environment and Resource Management, Civic Leadership, Economic and Social Development. Once selected for the program, alumni will learn about grant management and carry out small grant projects that focus on addressing issues or opportunities in their communities, countries, or the region.
Small Grants Program Webinars
Cultural Vistas will host three mentorship webinars to assist interested applicants in completing their application. These webinars will help applicants articulate their project ideas, assigned team roles, and organizational structure, provide guidance on budget creation and management, and offer additional support as needed prior to the application deadline. The recorded webinars can be found here after the live version occurs.
How To Apply
To submit a proposal, the team must meet the following requirements:
- At least one team member must be a confirmed YPL Alumni. Previous YPL Small Grant Program core team members (Project Leaders, Project Treasurers, and Project Secretaries) are ineligible to re-apply.
- All core team members must be between the ages of 20-35 and possess citizenship from a YPL member country.
- U.S. Citizens must demonstrate that their project is regionally focused outside of the United States, or be part of a cross-country team.
- Project must address one (or more) of the following themes:
- Education
- Environment and Resource Management
- Civic Leadership
- Economic and Social Development
- Each team has a Project Leader, Treasurer, and Secretary. These members will be deemed the “Core Team Members”. Not only will this make the proposal stronger but will also designate specific tasks within the project proposal and if selected, the project management.
- Each team must have at least three core members (a Project Leader, a Treasurer, and a Secretary). There is no maximum number, however, teams should only submit resumes for the three core team members. If a team has more than three team members, they may submit an additional document listing them.
Projects will be evaluated by Cultural Vistas staff in conjunction with the U.S. Department of State. Each year, 15 projects will be chosen for this program. Determinations of grant funding will be made in July.
If selected, teams will receive 60% of project funds after the program Kickoff Workshop. After submitting the required monthly reports and mid-term report, they will then receive 35% of project funds. Finally, teams will receive the last 5% of project funds after the team submits the required final report with project results and the Project Leader attends the Debriefing Seminar.
Conferences and Regional Workshops
The YPL Initiative has held regional conferences in American Samoa (2013), Independent State of Samoa (2014), Auckland (2015), Honolulu (2016 & 2018), Suva (2019), and Port Moresby (2020; Rescheduled to 2021). The YPL conferences include information sessions, skills workshops, cultural activities, and site visits to improve participants’ knowledge and abilities to address regional issues related to YPL’s four programmatic pillars: Education; Environment and Resource Management; Civic Leadership; and Economic and Social Development.
Frequently Asked Questions
Budgeting is one of the hardest and most critical parts of a proposal. Teams must list all appropriate and applicable projected expenses while remaining cost-conscious and feasible. The most successful projects are realistic in their costs. Budgets can be submitted in either USD or local currency, this must be indicated on the budget form. This budget template will be the main budget template for the small grant projects, please refer to our template below to include as the budget template in the project proposal submission.
Prior to the start of the project implementation phase, all three core-members from each team (Project Leader, Treasurer, and Secretary) will be required to attend a virtual Kickoff Workshop via Zoom to learn valuable skills, improve their project plans, and meet fellow grant recipients.
In the final month of the YPL Small Grant program, all three core team members will be required to attend the Debriefing Seminar to deliver a presentation on the team’s project outcomes, successes and challenges, and opportunities for the project’s sustainability or replicability.
Cultural Vistas will be the point of contact for the entire process and serve as a mentor as teams implement their projects. Cultural Vistas will work with teams to address and further assist them in navigating challenges with administration, budgeting, planning etc. Cultural Vistas will also act as the “Grantor” for the program and will monitor the selected projects’ outcomes and participation in the program.
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