1.This Act may be cited as
the Global Service Fellowship Program
Act of 2009
.
2.Congress makes the following
findings:
(1)Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton has said that a critical component of our efforts to
bolster national and global security is to find common ground and common
purpose with other peoples
and to invest in social development.
(2)Polling data from
Terror Free Tomorrow indicates that nearly 60 percent of the people of
Indonesia and 75 percent of the people of Pakistan held more favorable views of
the United States following humanitarian assistance after their tsunami and
earthquake tragedies, respectively, and these changes in perception of the
United States were sustained beyond the initial period of aid and
service.
(3)International
volunteering opportunities are effective means of addressing critical human
needs, building bridges across cultures, and promoting mutual
understanding.
(4)Current volunteer
programs, such as the Peace Corps, remain an important part of Federal efforts
to promote volunteer service and provide related programming.
(5)Financial
limitations are a common obstacle to volunteering overseas, and awarding
financial fellowships would reduce barriers for many individuals otherwise
unable to afford travel overseas.
(6)Allowing
flexibility in the duration of volunteering opportunities would reduce another
barrier to volunteering.
(7)A global service
fellowship program would provide funding and programmatic flexibility for
volunteers of all backgrounds, ages, and geographical locations.
(8)Eligible
organizations willing to participate in the fellowship program as sponsoring
organizations would be in a better position to recruit volunteers for their
programs overseas.
(9)The United States
Agency for International Development has taken important steps towards
encouraging this kind of a program through the creation of Volunteers for
Prosperity, which promotes international volunteer service by skilled
professionals from the United States but has never been formally
authorized.
3.Volunteers for
prosperity
(a)Consistent
with Executive Order 13317 (68 Fed. Reg. 56515), the Administrator of the
United States Agency for International Development shall establish the Office
of Volunteers for Prosperity.
(b)The
Office of Volunteers for Prosperity shall pursue the objectives described in
section 4(d)(2), including by—
(1)implementing the
Global Service Fellowship Program established under section 4;
(2)promoting other
short and long-term international volunteering opportunities;
(3)promoting the
efforts of Global Service Fellows as part of the public diplomacy efforts of
the United States Government;
(4)helping eligible
United States sponsoring organizations, as described in section 4(e)(3)(A), to
recruit and effectively manage skilled United States professionals for
volunteer assignments overseas; and
(5)providing
recognition for volunteers from the United States who serve internationally,
and the organizations sponsoring them.
4.Global Service
Fellowship Program
(a)The
Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development shall
establish and administer a program to be known as the Global Service Fellowship
Program (in this section referred to as the Program
).
(b)The
purpose of the Program is to fund fellowships to promote international
volunteering opportunities as a means of building bridges across cultures,
addressing critical human needs, and promoting mutual understanding.
(c)Grants
awarded under the Program shall be used to fund fellowships as follows:
(1)Fellowships
lasting 90 days or less in duration may be funded at levels of up to
$2,500.
(2)Fellowships
lasting between 91 days and 180 days may be funded at levels up to
$5,000.
(3)Fellowships
lasting between 181 days and one year may be funded at levels up to
$7,500.
(d)Coordination
with sponsoring organizations
(1)Fellows shall undertake their volunteer opportunity in
coordination with an eligible volunteer sponsoring organization. Such
organizations shall be registered with the Administrator and shall collaborate
with host country organizations in developing, as appropriate, fellowships that
appropriately address local needs, maximize the transfer of skills, and build
local capacity.
(2)Prioritization
of projectsDecisions to award fellowships shall be prioritized
according to humanitarian and development goals of the United States
Government, including the following:
(A)Eradication
of extreme poverty in conjunction with the United Nations Millennium
Development Goals.
(B)Achievement
of universal primary education.
(C)Promotion of
gender equality and the empowerment of women and families.
(D)Reducing
child mortality and improving maternal health.
(E)Providing
medical and dental health care and prevention.
(F)Providing
assistance for the elderly, orphans, people with disabilities, and
refugees.
(G)Promoting
environmental sustainability.
(H)Providing
economic and social opportunities for young people in countries with
significant youth populations, including promoting youth service by building
related volunteer-sector capacity in host countries.
(I)Combating
HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other infectious diseases.
(J)Helping to
build or provide decent housing.
(K)Providing
disaster and humanitarian response, preparedness, and reconstruction.
(L)Promoting
cross-cultural exchange, language education, conflict resolution, and
peace.
(M)Developing
global partnerships for development in the areas of economic growth,
microenterprise, asset development, and agricultural and rural
development.
(N)Advancing
access to information technology and strengthening civil society.
(e)
(1)Submission
and review of applicationsApplicants shall submit applications
for fellowships under the Program to the Administrator of the United States
Agency for International Development.
(2)The
Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development shall
determine the eligibility of candidates and, in coordination with sponsoring
organizations, award and administer fellowships under the Program.
(3)The
Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development shall
develop and publish criteria for fellowships in accordance with the following
guidelines:
(A)Applicants for Global Service Fellowships must be
registered with qualified sponsoring organizations such as—
(i)nongovernmental
organizations based in the United States that sponsor international volunteer
service;
(ii)faith-based
organizations engaged in the delivery of nonsectarian services;
(iii)universities
and colleges operating international service learning and volunteer service
programs; and
(iv)nongovernmental
organizations based in the United States that collaborate with local or
national host government agencies or nongovernmental organizations in promoting
volunteer capacity and national and community service activities consistent
with the prioritized humanitarian and development goals set forth in subsection
(d)(2).
(B)Applicants
shall be selected for Global Service Fellowships as follows:
(i)Applicants
shall have clearly defined and structured goals for their proposed fellowships,
including a plan for assessing and monitoring progress toward such goals with
sponsoring organizations and a basis for follow-up and review by the
Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development.
(ii)Priority
should be given to—
(I)applicants
from households with an income that is less than 200 percent of the poverty
level established pursuant to current census figures;
(II)applicants
who have demonstrated prior community service experience;
(III)applicants
with skills and experience suited to the specific needs of host
organizations;
(IV)applicants
who demonstrate a clear plan to communicate their volunteer experiences to
their community upon their return; and
(V)applicants
whose physical residence would ensure a diverse geographical distribution of
awardees from across the United States.
(f)
(1)The Administrator of the United States Agency for
International Development shall notify Members of Congress of the decision to
award a fellowship to their constituents at least 2 business days prior to
notification to the awardee and shall provide intended travel dates and project
summaries of the fellows. Members of Congress may then elect to notify the
constituent of the award.
(2)Not
later than 90 days after returning from service abroad under the Program,
fellows shall submit such reports as the Administrator of the United States
Agency for International Development may require, including post-fellowship
reports prepared for their home communities, to the Administrator of the United
States Agency for International Development and their congressional
representatives.
(g)
(1)Funds awarded under this section may be used by the
sponsoring organization to cover the following costs associated with Global
Service Fellowships:
(A)Airfare,
accommodations, and transportation within the host country.
(B)Fees assessed
by sponsoring organizations to defray international service program costs and
administrative costs.
(C)Subsistence
allowance in accordance with local market conditions.
(D)Program
materials and tools used for service-related purposes.
(E)Language and
cultural training and other costs associated with pre-service project
orientation.
(2)Funds awarded under this section may not be used for
tuition costs.
(h)Nondiscrimination
requirements
(1)The selection of applicants under subsection (e)
shall be without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, age,
political affiliation, sexual orientation, or disability.
(2)
(A)A sponsoring organization shall not discriminate against
a Global Service Fellowship Program participant or applicant, a beneficiary of
any project in which a Global Service Fellow participates, or, except as
provided in subparagraph (B), an employee of the organization who is paid with
assistance provided under the Program on the basis of race, religion, color,
national origin, sex, age, political affiliation, sexual orientation, or
disability.
(B)Limited
exception for employees of sponsoring organizations employed at time of
awarding of fundsThe prohibition under subparagraph (A) on
discrimination on the basis of religion shall not apply to the employment, with
assistance provided under this Program, of any employee who was employed with
the sponsoring organization on the date that the funds were awarded.
5.
(a)Evaluation
of Global Service Fellowship ProgramThe Administrator of the
United States Agency for International Development shall establish and
implement an evaluation process for determining the effectiveness of the Global
Service Fellowship Program.
(b)Not
later than March 31, 2011, the Administrator of the United States Agency for
International Development shall submit to the Committee on Foreign Relations of
the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives
a report on the Global Service Fellowships Program established under section 4.
The report shall describe—
(1)the identity
and location of sponsoring organizations;
(2)for each
humanitarian or development goal identified by sponsoring organizations, the
number of volunteer opportunities and the number of related Global Service
Fellowships that have been funded;
(3)the number of
volunteers recruited or engaged with Global Service Fellows and their
sponsoring organizations or local host organizations;
(4)the locations
of volunteer services;
(5)the
effectiveness of such services based upon findings of the evaluation process;
and
(6)the total
numbers of applications for Global Service Fellowships that have been received
and accepted to the Program.
6.The Administrator of the United States
Agency for International Development shall prescribe regulations to carry out
the provisions of this Act.
7.Authorization of
appropriations
(a)There
is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of State $15,000,000 for each
of fiscal years 2010 through 2012 for the Office of Volunteers for Prosperity
and the Global Service Fellowship Program.
(b)Of the amounts appropriated pursuant to subsection
(a)—
(1)not less than 90
percent of expended amounts shall be used to fund Global Service Fellowships;
and
(2)not more than 10
percent of expended amounts may be used for administrative expenses of the
Office of Volunteers for Prosperity and the Global Service Fellowship
Program.
(c)In
order to provide an offset for amounts appropriated pursuant to subsection (a),
the Internal Revenue Service shall deposit in the Treasury as miscellaneous
receipts all of the fees it receives for services.