[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 49 (Tuesday, March 15, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12736-12737]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-4990]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Office of the Secretary


Child Labor Education Initiative

AGENCY: Bureau of International Labor Affairs, U.S. Department of 
Labor.
    Announcement Type: Notice of intent to solicit cooperative 
agreement applications.
SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL), Bureau of International 
Labor Affairs (ILAB), intends to award approximately U.S. $17 million 
to organizations to develop and implement formal, non-formal, and 
vocational education programs as a means to combat exploitive child 
labor in the following countries: Mozambique, Angola, Sierra Leone, 
Liberia, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Guyana. ILAB intends to solicit 
cooperative agreement applications from qualified organizations (i.e., 
any commercial, international, educational, or non-profit organization 
capable of successfully developing and implementing education programs) 
to implement programs that promote school attendance and provide 
educational opportunities for working children or children at risk of 
starting to work. The programs should focus on innovative ways to 
provide educational services to children engaged, or at risk of 
engaging, in exploitive labor and should address the many gaps and 
challenges to basic education found in the countries mentioned above. 
Please refer to http://www.dol.gov/ILAB/grants/main.htm for examples of 
previous notices of availability of funds and solicitations for 
cooperative agreement applications.
    Information on the specific sectors, geographical regions, and 
funding levels on the potential projects in the countries listed above 
will be addressed in solicitations for cooperative agreement 
applications to be published prior to September 30, 2005. Thus, we 
request that inquiries to USDOL for such information be limited until 
publication of the solicitations. For a list of frequently asked 
questions on Child Labor Education Initiative Solicitations for 
Cooperative Agreement Applications, please visit http://www.dol.gov/ILAB/faq/faq36.htm.
    USDOL will hold a bidder's meeting on Tuesday, April 12, 2005 to 
answer any questions potential applicants may have on Child Labor 
Education Initiative Solicitations for Cooperative Agreement 
Applications. Please see below for more information on the bidder's 
meeting.

DATES: Specific solicitations for cooperative agreement applications 
will be published in the Federal Register and remain open for at least 
30 days from the date of publication. All cooperative agreement awards 
will be made on or before September 30, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Once solicitations are published in the Federal Register, 
applications must be delivered to: U.S. Department of Labor, 
Procurement Services Center, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Room N-5416, 
Attention: Lisa Harvey, Washington, DC 20210.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Lisa Harvey. E-mail address: 
[email protected]. All inquiries should make reference to the USDOL 
Child Labor Education Initiative--Solicitations for Cooperative 
Agreement Applications.
    Bidder's Meeting: A bidder's meeting will be held in Washington, 
DC, on Tuesday, April 12, 2005. The purpose of this meeting is to 
provide potential applicants the opportunity to ask questions 
concerning the Child Labor Education Initiative Solicitation for 
Cooperative Agreement process. Specific details on the time and 
location of the meeting will be sent to interested parties in early 
April 2005. To register for the meeting please call or e-mail Ms. Alexa 
Gunter (Phone: 202-693-4829; e-mail: [email protected]) by Thursday, 
March 31, 2005. Please provide Ms. Gunter with the name, organization, 
address, phone number, and e-mail address of the attendees.
    Background Information: Since 1995, USDOL has supported a worldwide 
technical assistance program implemented by the International Labor 
Organization's International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor 
(ILO-IPEC). ILAB has provided over U.S. $400 million to ILO-IPEC and 
other organizations for international technical assistance to combat 
abusive child labor around the world.
    In its FY 2005 appropriations, in addition to funds earmarked for 
ILO-IPEC, USDOL received U.S. $34 million to provide bilateral 
assistance to improve access to basic education in international areas 
with a high rate of abusive and exploitive child labor. All

[[Page 12737]]

such FY 2005 funds will be obligated on or before September 30, 2005.
    USDOL's Child Labor Education Initiative nurtures the development, 
health, safety, and enhanced future employability of children around 
the world by increasing access to basic education for children removed 
from child labor or at risk of entering it. Eliminating child labor 
will depend in part on improving access to, quality of, and relevance 
of education. Without improving educational access, quality, and 
relevance, children withdrawn from child labor may not have viable 
alternatives and may return to work or resort to other hazardous means 
of subsistence.
    In addition to increasing access to education and eliminating 
exploitive child labor, the Child Labor Education Initiative has the 
following four strategic goals:
    1. Raise awareness of the importance of education for all children 
and mobilize a wide array of actors to improve and expand education 
infrastructures;
    2. Strengthen formal and transitional education systems that 
encourage working children and those at risk of working to attend 
school;
    3. Strengthen national institutions and policies on education and 
child labor; and
    4. Ensure the long-term sustainability of these efforts.
    When working to increase access to quality basic education, USDOL 
strives to complement existing efforts to eradicate the worst forms of 
child labor, to build on the achievements of and lessons learned from 
these efforts, to expand impact and build synergies among actors, and 
to avoid duplication of resources and efforts.

    Signed in Washington, DC, this 9th day of March, 2005.
Lisa Harvey,
Grant Officer.
[FR Doc. 05-4990 Filed 3-14-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-28-P