[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 148 (Wednesday, August 3, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44696-44697]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-15285]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Office of the Secretary


Combating Exploitive Child Labor through Education in Zambia

AGENCY: Bureau of International Labor Affairs, Department of Labor.
    Announcement Type: New. Notice of Intent to Fund Sole Source Award.
    Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: Not 
applicable.

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL), Bureau of International 
Labor Affairs (ILAB), intends to award U.S. $750,000 through a sole 
source cooperative agreement to Jesus Cares Ministries (JCM), a local, 
Zambian, faith-based organization. This funding will be used to support 
a three-year second phase of the JCM project ``Combating Child Labor 
Through Education''.
    Funding for this award is based on the FY 2005 appropriation to 
USDOL for improving ``access to basic education in international areas 
with a high rate of abusive and exploitative child labor'' through the 
Child Labor Education Initiative grant program. Since 1995, USDOL has 
awarded grants to international and non-governmental organizations 
working to eliminate the worst forms of child labor through the 
provision of basic education.
    ILAB is authorized to award and administer this program by the 
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005, Pub. L. 108-447, 118 Stat. 2809 
(2004). The cooperative agreement awarded under this initiative will be 
managed by ILAB's International Child Labor Program (ICLP) to assure 
achievement of the stated goals.
    ILAB finds JCM is uniquely qualified by virtue of its institutional 
and individual knowledge of conditions in Zambia, its familiarity with 
local officials and support groups, and its readily available personnel 
and facilities, to provide the kinds of services needed to best reach 
the intended target group in Zambia--children working in the worst 
forms of child labor and those at-risk of entering such work, including 
children working in stone crushing, in exploitive agricultural work, 
and those who live and work on streets in urban areas. The range of 
services provided by JCM includes counseling, provision of transitional 
and vocational education, and placement of children in formal schools. 
JCM also has been instrumental in protecting children affected by HIV/
AIDS from entering harmful labor conditions in Zambia, where the HIV/
AIDS pandemic has left hundreds of thousands of children vulnerable to 
such exploitation.
    USDOL's experience working with JCM dates back to 2002, when JCM 
submitted a proposal to USDOL in response to a solicitation for grant 
applications under USDOL's Child

[[Page 44697]]

Labor Education Initiative (EI). As a result of that competitive 
procurement process, USDOL entered into a cooperative agreement with 
JCM to implement an EI project in Zambia. JCM has been innovative in 
using a community school approach to reach the over 2,000 children that 
it targeted in Phase 1 of the project. JCM was also successful in 
meeting all of the other goals it set for the first phase of the 
project. Moreover, this approach has encouraged local ownership and 
buy-in of the project. JCM has also secured additional funding from the 
Zambian government and from international organizations to complement 
its activities under their USDOL grant. JCM is staffed entirely by host 
country nationals and operates in several urban parts of the country, 
as well as in Zambia's Eastern Province.
    Given the extensive stakeholder relationships that JCM has nurtured 
in Zambia, their innovative community school approach, and efficient 
management structure, USDOL finds JCM to be uniquely qualified for this 
sole source award. The awarding of further USDOL support for JCM will 
allow it to reach many more vulnerable children and further expand its 
role as a leading local organization working to eliminate the worst 
forms of child labor in Zambia.
    For additional information on this award, please contact Kevin 
Willcutts at (202) 693-4843.

Intergovernmental Review

    This funding opportunity is not subject to Executive Order 12372, 
``Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs.''

    Signed in Washington, DC, this 26th day of July, 2005.
Lisa Harvey,
Grant Officer.
[FR Doc. 05-15285 Filed 8-2-05; 8:45 am]
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