26K75IL000026
Cooperative Agreement
Overview
Grant Description
The Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS)
Strengthening labor governance and responsible supply chains in Indonesia’s nickel industry
Purpose: This project will protect American workers and businesses by ensuring U.S. access to fair, reliable, and forced-labor-free supplies of nickel, a mineral critical to U.S. defense, infrastructure, and energy security.
Indonesia, the world’s largest nickel producer, has supply chains plagued by forced labor and opaque ownership structures dominated by Chinese companies that distort markets and undercut U.S. businesses that play by the rules.
This project will have nationwide impact in Indonesia, with focused activities in key industrial hubs, including the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (Central Sulawesi), Weda Bay (North Maluku), and the Southeast Sulawesi nickel corridor.
Target populations include miners, migrant workers, refinery employees (including Chinese workers brought into industrial parks), and their unions, alongside Indonesian government enforcement bodies and civil society watchdogs.
The project requests $4 million over four years.
Activities to be performed: The project will strengthen Indonesia’s legal and policy frameworks (Focus Area 1) and improve systems for monitoring, identification, enforcement, and remediation (Focus Area 2) through the following activities:
- Document incidents of forced labor and connect them to company owners, intermediaries, and global buyers through enforcement-ready dossiers and evidentiary packages submitted to U.S., Indonesian, and international enforcement bodies.
- Map ownership networks and enabler systems across the nickel industry, archiving findings in a secure database and producing risk reports for downstream companies.
- Conduct policy and legal gap analyses against U.S. import requirements and international labor standards and host stakeholder workshops to generate reform recommendations.
- Train workers, unions, government investigative bodies, and civil society organizations to identify, report, and litigate forced labor cases, while establishing a worker-union-led monitoring network.
- Publish a comprehensive investigative supply chain report and deliver tailored briefings to U.S. and international standard-setting organizations.
Expected outcomes: Outcomes include a robust evidence base linking forced labor incidents to specific corporate actors; stronger labor monitoring systems sustained by unions, CSOs, and local enforcement agencies; clear pathways for litigation and remediation that connect evidence to action for affected workers; and policy recommendations and pressure that drive Indonesian authorities to close labor governance gaps.
Ultimately, the project will reduce forced labor in Indonesia’s nickel industry and ensure that U.S. firms are not undercut by abusive practices.
Intended beneficiaries: Primary beneficiaries are Indonesian miners, refinery workers, and migrant workers who face the highest risks of forced labor.
Institutional beneficiaries include unions, labor inspectorates, legal advocates, and civil society organizations.
Downstream, U.S. businesses and workers will benefit directly from a more level playing field, free from the market distortions caused by forced labor.
Subrecipient activities: C4ADS will serve as the prime awardee, leading efforts on ownership and supply chain mapping, risk analysis, and engagement with U.S. stakeholders.
China Labor Watch will act as a subrecipient, focusing on worker engagement, monitoring, and training in Indonesia.
Together, this partnership links ground-level evidence with corporate actors and investors, ensuring accountability and delivering tangible benefits for both workers and U.S. businesses.
Strengthening labor governance and responsible supply chains in Indonesia’s nickel industry
Purpose: This project will protect American workers and businesses by ensuring U.S. access to fair, reliable, and forced-labor-free supplies of nickel, a mineral critical to U.S. defense, infrastructure, and energy security.
Indonesia, the world’s largest nickel producer, has supply chains plagued by forced labor and opaque ownership structures dominated by Chinese companies that distort markets and undercut U.S. businesses that play by the rules.
This project will have nationwide impact in Indonesia, with focused activities in key industrial hubs, including the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (Central Sulawesi), Weda Bay (North Maluku), and the Southeast Sulawesi nickel corridor.
Target populations include miners, migrant workers, refinery employees (including Chinese workers brought into industrial parks), and their unions, alongside Indonesian government enforcement bodies and civil society watchdogs.
The project requests $4 million over four years.
Activities to be performed: The project will strengthen Indonesia’s legal and policy frameworks (Focus Area 1) and improve systems for monitoring, identification, enforcement, and remediation (Focus Area 2) through the following activities:
- Document incidents of forced labor and connect them to company owners, intermediaries, and global buyers through enforcement-ready dossiers and evidentiary packages submitted to U.S., Indonesian, and international enforcement bodies.
- Map ownership networks and enabler systems across the nickel industry, archiving findings in a secure database and producing risk reports for downstream companies.
- Conduct policy and legal gap analyses against U.S. import requirements and international labor standards and host stakeholder workshops to generate reform recommendations.
- Train workers, unions, government investigative bodies, and civil society organizations to identify, report, and litigate forced labor cases, while establishing a worker-union-led monitoring network.
- Publish a comprehensive investigative supply chain report and deliver tailored briefings to U.S. and international standard-setting organizations.
Expected outcomes: Outcomes include a robust evidence base linking forced labor incidents to specific corporate actors; stronger labor monitoring systems sustained by unions, CSOs, and local enforcement agencies; clear pathways for litigation and remediation that connect evidence to action for affected workers; and policy recommendations and pressure that drive Indonesian authorities to close labor governance gaps.
Ultimately, the project will reduce forced labor in Indonesia’s nickel industry and ensure that U.S. firms are not undercut by abusive practices.
Intended beneficiaries: Primary beneficiaries are Indonesian miners, refinery workers, and migrant workers who face the highest risks of forced labor.
Institutional beneficiaries include unions, labor inspectorates, legal advocates, and civil society organizations.
Downstream, U.S. businesses and workers will benefit directly from a more level playing field, free from the market distortions caused by forced labor.
Subrecipient activities: C4ADS will serve as the prime awardee, leading efforts on ownership and supply chain mapping, risk analysis, and engagement with U.S. stakeholders.
China Labor Watch will act as a subrecipient, focusing on worker engagement, monitoring, and training in Indonesia.
Together, this partnership links ground-level evidence with corporate actors and investors, ensuring accountability and delivering tangible benefits for both workers and U.S. businesses.
Funding Goals
OUTCOME(S) PROJECT OUTCOMES WILL BE DEVELOPED POST AWARD THROUGH ILAB S STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT AND STRATEGY VALIDATION
Grant Program (CFDA)
Awarding Agency
Funding Agency
Place of Performance
Indonesia
Geographic Scope
Foreign
Related Opportunity
Center For Advanced Defense Studies, (The) was awarded
Cooperative Agreement 26K75IL000026
worth $3,000,000
from the Bureau of International Labor Affairs in December 2026 with work to be completed primarily in Indonesia.
The grant
has a duration of 4 years 6 months and
was awarded through assistance program 17.401 International Labor Programs.
The Cooperative Agreement was awarded through grant opportunity Securing Fair and Reliable Critical Mineral Supply Chains.
Status
(Ongoing)
Last Modified 2/23/26
Period of Performance
12/31/25
Start Date
6/30/30
End Date
Funding Split
$3.0M
Federal Obligation
$0.0
Non-Federal Obligation
$3.0M
Total Obligated
Activity Timeline
Transaction History
Modifications to 26K75IL000026
Additional Detail
Award ID FAIN
26K75IL000026
SAI Number
1605:1605:IL:26K75IL000026:1:2
Award ID URI
SAIEXEMPT
Awardee Classifications
Nonprofit With 501(c)(3) IRS Status (Other Than An Institution Of Higher Education)
Awarding Office
1630GM DOL (ETA) GRANTS MANAGEMENT
Funding Office
160901 DOL- BUR INTERNATIONAL LABOR AFFAIR
Awardee UEI
F3D2BE9EGJU3
Awardee CAGE
4MT61
Performance District
Not Applicable
Modified: 2/23/26