[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 53 (Monday, March 20, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14004-14005]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-3968]


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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 obligate up to approximately U.S. $15 
million to support cooperative agreement awards to organizations to 
develop and implement formal, non-formal, and vocational education 
projects as a means to combat exploitive child labor in the following 
three countries: (1) Egypt, (2) Peru, and (3) Tanzania. 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 projects) to implement projects that focus on innovative ways 
to provide educational services to children engaged, or at risk of 
engaging, in exploitive labor. The projects should address the 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 for the potential projects in the countries listed above 
will be addressed in a solicitation(s) for cooperative agreement 
applications to be published prior to September 30, 2006. Potential 
applicants should not submit inquiries to USDOL for further information 
on these award opportunities until after USDOL's 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 intends to hold a bidders' meeting on April 21, 2006 to 
answer questions potential applicants may have on Child Labor Education 
Initiative Solicitations for Cooperative Agreement process. Please see 
below for more information on the bidders' meeting.

DATES: Key Dates: A specific solicitation(s) 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, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Submission Address: Applications, in response to 
solicitations published in the Federal Register, 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.
    Bidders' Meeting: A bidders' meeting will be held in Washington, DC 
at the Department of Labor on Friday, April 21, 2006 from 9:30 a.m. to 
11:30 a.m. The purpose of this meeting is to provide potential 
applicants with the opportunity to ask questions concerning the Child 
Labor Education Initiative Solicitation for Cooperative Agreement 
process. To register for the meeting, please call or e-mail Ms. Alexa 
Gunter (Phone: 202-693-4843; e-mail: [email protected]) by April 7, 
2006. Please provide Ms. Gunter with contact information including 
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 also supported the efforts of other organizations 
involved in efforts to combat child labor internationally through the 
promotion of educational opportunities for children-in-need. In total, 
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 FY 2006, USDOL's appropriations included funds earmarked for 
ILO-IPEC and additional funding for bilateral assistance to improve 
access to basic education internationally in areas with a high rate of 
abusive and exploitive child labor. All FY 2006 funds will be obligated 
on or before September 30, 2006.
    USDOL's Child Labor Education Initiative seeks to nurture 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 depends, in part, on improving access to, 
quality of, and relevance of educational and training opportunities for 
children under 18 years of age. Without improving such opportunities, 
children withdrawn from exploitive forms of labor may not have viable 
alternatives to child labor and may be more likely to return to such 
work or resort to other hazardous means of subsistence.

[[Page 14005]]

    In addition to increasing access to education and eliminating 
exploitive child labor through direct withdrawal and prevention 
services to children, 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 at Washington, DC, this 13th day of March, 2006.
Eric Vogt,
Grant Officer.
[FR Doc. E6-3968 Filed 3-17-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-28-P