The Responsible Recruitment project | FOA ILAB 18 06

Opportunity Information: Apply for FOA ILAB 18 06

The Responsible Recruitment project (FOA ILAB 18 06) is a U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) discretionary funding opportunity that planned to make a single award, subject to funds being available. ILAB’s goal for this cooperative agreement is to reduce forced labor and human trafficking risks that occur specifically during the recruitment of workers within a defined sector and/or supply chain. The project is framed around the idea that recruitment is a major point of vulnerability for workers, especially where third-party labor recruiters operate across borders or within high-risk industries, and that improving how recruitment is governed and practiced can directly reduce exploitation.

The opportunity sought one organization to design and implement a project that produces four main outcomes. First, the project should generate an improved understanding of how forced labor and human trafficking show up in recruitment, meaning applicants would be expected to map and document recruitment pathways, identify where coercion or deception occurs, and clarify the roles and incentives of recruiters, employers, and other intermediaries. Second, the project should strengthen company-led approaches to preventing and addressing recruitment-related forced labor and trafficking. In practice, that implies working with participating companies to refine internal systems such as recruitment standards, due diligence processes, grievance mechanisms, monitoring, remediation protocols, and purchasing or contracting practices that may influence recruiter behavior. Third, the project should improve compliance by third-party recruiters with recruitment policies and procedures, which points to hands-on engagement with labor recruiters to align their operations with responsible recruitment requirements, increase adherence to contracts and ethical standards, and reduce harmful practices like charging workers illegal recruitment fees or using deceptive job terms. Fourth, the project should contribute to broader private sector action by increasing adoption and promotion of responsible recruitment policies and practices among other companies and industry actors, suggesting an expectation of outreach, replication, and influence beyond a single pilot site.

A key requirement is that applicants must propose to work directly with at least one company and that company’s labor recruiters, in at least one country, and within at least one sector and/or supply chain. The proposed countries and supply chains cannot be arbitrary; they must be chosen based on evidence that recruitment-related forced labor and/or human trafficking is a real concern in that context. ILAB further anchors eligibility of the proposed focus areas to U.S. Department of Labor reporting and evidence standards: the country and sector/supply chain should be covered in DOL’s Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, or in DOL’s List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor, or, if not covered in those reports, the applicant must bring substantive evidence indicating recruitment-related forced labor and/or trafficking. In other words, applicants needed to justify their chosen geography and industry with credible documentation of risk indicators.

Administratively, this was structured as a cooperative agreement (not a simple grant), which typically means ILAB expected a more active partnership role in project implementation, coordination, and oversight. The funding instrument falls under the Employment, Labor and Training activity category and is associated with CFDA 17.401. The award ceiling was $4,000,000, with one expected award, reflecting a single, relatively large project rather than multiple smaller grants.

The opportunity was posted June 20, 2018, with an original application deadline of August 17, 2018, and applications were required to be received by 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Eligibility was listed broadly as “Others,” with clarification to be found in the opportunity’s additional eligibility instructions, indicating ILAB intended to allow a range of potential implementers (often including NGOs, nonprofits, and other qualified organizations) so long as they met the specific requirements around partnerships, evidence of risk, and the ability to execute company- and recruiter-facing interventions.

• The Department of Labor, Bureau of International Labor Affairs in the employment, labor and training sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "The Responsible Recruitment project" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 17.401.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jun 20, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 17, 2018 Applications must be received no later than 40000 p.m. Eastern Time.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $4,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for FOA ILAB 18 06

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