IRAN DEMOCRACY SMALL GRANTS PROGRAM

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAKU 000956 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/24/2017 TAGS: KDEM KPAO PHUM PREL IR AJ SUBJECT: IRAN DEMOCRACY SMALL GRANTS PROGRAM REF: STATE 89345 Classified By: CDA Donald Lu for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Embassy Baku welcomes the Iran Democracy Small Grants Program and looks forward to participating in the pilot phase of the program (reftel). Working in close coordination with the Embassy's Public Diplomacy and Political/Economic sections, Embassy Iran Watcher will be responsible for conducting targeted outreach efforts to Iranian diaspora organizations in an effort to identify possible small grant opportunities. After Embassy review and concurrence, small grant proposals will be forwarded to NEA for consideration. ¶2. (C) Embassy Iran Watcher continues to approach Iran-related organizations in order to meet the September 1 application deadline. For the initial phase of this program, the Embassy plans to focus its recruiting efforts on a variety of human rights and student organizations. ¶3. (C) In order to support this program, Iran Watcher is taking advantage of grant-related educational opportunities to include digital video conference training and FSI Distance Learning courses (PY 220). Iran Watcher will participate in additional training and consultation offerings, to include PY 222 in FY2008. ¶4. (U) Embassy Iran Democracy Small Grants Program point of contact is Iran Watcher Dave Haugen (HaugenDP@state.gov). DERSE