Inaugural Funding Round

For its first round of grants, GFEMS solicits concept notes from potential partners to address  opportunities in support of our overall Theory of Change, and expects to award up to $15 million across programs through this inaugural solicitation. Addressing the current opportunities (at the right) will support the broader strategy of GFEMS by:

  • Demonstrating effective approaches that can be scaled or replicated; 
  • Strengthening relationships with key stakeholders as a foundation for budgeted action plans; and
  • Illustrating new ways for the private sector to combat modern slavery. 

We recognize that most individual partner organizations will not have expertise in all three of our funding themes (rule of law, business engagement and sustaining freedom). For each of the opportunities listed below, we anticipate funding multiple interventions such that a series of complementary efforts is happening simultaneously across the three themes.

Partnerships + Co-creation

We will play an active role to facilitate collaboration between our partners, including during a period of co-creation between GFEMS and partners following the initial concept note solicitation. We are most interested in concept notes that demonstrate insightful analysis of problems and solutions – and partner ability to deliver on the ground – as opposed to fully-crafted project work plans.

Evaluation

Concept notes will be evaluated against criteria elaborated on in our Funding Principles, with a particular emphasis on their fit with our Theory of Change and how well they align with our prevalence-reduction ROI (PROI) approach. Other guidance can be found in the FAQ.

Current Opportunities – Closed

The deadline has passed for concept notes for these particular opportunities. For future reference, detailed application instructions are available here.

Migrant Labor

  • Reducing trafficking of overseas domestic workers from the Philippines by (1) supporting government labor migration reforms and (2) leveraging industry demand to generate alternative employment and migration opportunities

  • Collaborating with government and private sector to improve the protection of Vietnamese migrants in recruitment to key destination industries

Sex Trafficking

  • Creating new solutions to combat online-enabled sex trafficking in Maharashtra, India and replicating demonstrated successes in other geographies

  • Partnering with law enforcement, private sector and NGOs to target sex trafficking of Vietnamese women and girls to key regional destinations

Apparel and footwear

  • Building the business case for preventing and ending forced labor in the global apparel supply chain by quantifying prevalence and identifying win-win solutions for businesses and workers (multiple countries; applicants proposing work in Vietnam and India are especially encouraged)

Construction

  • Building the business case that eliminating forced labor in supply chains will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of operations, including through investment in worker skilling, safe migration, and ethical recruitment (multiple countries; applicants proposing work in India are especially encouraged)

US funding is possible for the following opportunities: migrant labor in the Philippines and Vietnam, sex trafficking in India and Vietnam, apparel and footwear in Vietnam, and construction in India and the Philippines. Detailed information about each current opportunity can be found in the PDF documents available for download below.