Building Diaspora Resilience and Sustaining Traditional Identities through Promotion of Hokkien Language

The U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur and U.S. Embassy in Singapore announce the Notice of Funding Opportunity ( NOFO ) for Building Diaspora Resilience and Sustaining Traditional Identities through Promotion of Hokkien Language, an open competition for organizations to submit application to reinforce diaspora identities, promote linguistic diversity, and build community resilience to outside influence. The agreement awarded will use U.S. Fiscal Year 2022 Public Diplomacy Funds or Foreign Assistance Act.

Eligibility is limited to U.S. non-profit/nongovernmental organizations, foreign non-profit organizations, educational institutions, and commercial entities.

One to five Cooperative Agreements for a minimum of $ 25,000 U.S. Dollars (USD) and maximum of $ 500,000 USD, with a total amount of $ 500,000 U.S. Dollars (USD) in available funds appropriated under subsection 7043(c)(2) of the FY22 annual appropriations act Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act (Div. K, P.L. 116-260 (FY 2022 SFOAA), will be awarded. Work will support local content producers to create Hokkien-language content and hold events with the global Hokkien diaspora; facilitate a joint project with Taiwan-based influencers highlighting shared culinary, cultural, and religious traditions; and fund the development of a keyboard API for writing Hokkien-specific characters on smartphones. The initial period of performance will be for 12 months. Funding authority rests under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended.

This project will work with diaspora organizations interested in the promotion of Hokkien and its associated heritage. In addition to civil society organizations specifically interested in linguistic preservation, Malaysia and Singapore have longstanding and influential community associations based on historical community affiliations such as Hokkien, Cantonese, and Hakka which are interested in cultural preservation. In partnership with these organizations, this project will assist local content producers to create Hokkien-language content and hold events with the global Hokkien diaspora; facilitate a joint project with Taiwan-based influencers highlighting shared culinary, cultural, and religious traditions; and fund the development and promotion of a keyboard API for writing Hokkien-specific characters on smartphones. As the non-Mandarin Chinese language with the largest number of native speakers in Southeast Asia, the promotion of Hokkien provides a unique opportunity for engagement with Chinese diaspora communities and will showcase U.S. support for cultural diversity and unique local heritage.

Priority regions: Malaysia and Singapore

Target audience: Hokkien Diaspora