YSEALI Regional Workshop on Embracing Diversity and Inclusion | SMY 300 FY21 YSEALI DIVERSITY

Opportunity Information: Apply for SMY 300 FY21 YSEALI DIVERSITY

The YSEALI Regional Workshop on Embracing Diversity and Inclusion is a U.S. Department of State (U.S. Mission to Malaysia) grant opportunity designed to strengthen practical diversity and inclusion work across ASEAN countries and Timor-Leste. The core idea is to build local capacity so participants can advocate for, design, and actually carry out organizational diversity and inclusion practices, described in the notice as D&I (DampI). Rather than treating inclusion as a set of abstract values, the workshop is meant to translate best practices into day-to-day operations so that policies and commitments move beyond paperwork and start influencing real decisions, workplace culture, and community norms.

The program’s focus is on using diversity and inclusion practices to increase acceptance and tolerance in communities while reducing unconscious bias, stigma, and discrimination. It explicitly points to common areas where exclusion shows up in the region, including discrimination tied to gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, disability and ability status, age, origin, and appearance. The opportunity reflects a recognition that diversity is often undervalued and that bias can shape hiring and selection processes. Even where companies or institutions have developed frameworks, implementation often stalls before it reaches managers, frontline teams, and functional units. This workshop is intended to close that gap by helping participants learn what effective implementation looks like and how to sustain it inside real organizations.

The workshop is structured as a regional convening that brings together a mix of practitioners and stakeholders, including NGOs, civil society groups, government actors, and subject-matter experts. Sessions are expected to explore on-the-ground challenges, compare approaches, and develop concrete action plans. A key output is also regional collaboration: participants should leave with networks and opportunities to coordinate across borders, share tools, and support one another in advancing D&I practices in different political, cultural, and workplace environments. The initiative is framed as complementary to broader good-governance efforts in the Indo-Pacific that emphasize respect for individual rights, suggesting the workshop is also meant to reinforce norms and systems that protect equal treatment and participation.

Malaysia is the host location, highlighted as a setting with significant cultural diversity and a strong presence of international industries, including American businesses. That context is meant to provide a practical environment for discussing inclusion across multicultural workplaces and communities, and for connecting D&I concepts to economic participation, productivity, leadership development, and expanded opportunity. The stated longer-term logic is that stronger inclusion can contribute to steadier growth, wider participation in institutions and labor markets, and more robust leadership pipelines by reducing barriers that keep people from contributing fully.

Administratively, this is a discretionary funding opportunity offered through a cooperative agreement, which typically means the funder expects an active partnership and substantial involvement in shaping or supporting implementation. The funding activity category is community development and regional development, and the CFDA number listed is 19.040. Eligible applicants include public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, and nonprofit organizations (including both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3) entities, as long as they are not institutions of higher education in the latter categories). The opportunity was created on May 19, 2021, with an original closing date of July 7, 2021. The award ceiling is $250,000, and the notice anticipates up to 10 awards, indicating the program was designed to support multiple implementers or complementary projects under the workshop umbrella.

• The Department of State, U.S. Mission to Malaysia in the community development, regional development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "YSEALI Regional Workshop on Embracing Diversity and Inclusion" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 19.040.
• This funding opportunity was created on May 19, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 07, 2021. (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 $250,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 10 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

Apply for SMY 300 FY21 YSEALI DIVERSITY

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