Cooperative agreement to a USA institution of higher education for international collaborative projects to minimize the environmental effects of construction. Applicants are advised that required registrations may take up to several weeks to complete. The purpose of the program is to foster cooperation with institutions of higher education in Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES) announces an open competition for American organizations interested in submitting applications for a capacity building, knowledge sharing and research collaboration between U.S. academic institutions of higher learning and similar institutions in one or more of the countries listed above.  

The goal of the program is to help train a new generation of Association of South-East Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) urban planners, architects, and engineers in the latest techniques, materials and architectural designs to improve the air quality inside and outside of buildings, reduce the full lifecycle carbon footprint of the building and construction sector, and improve building siting and resilience to better adapt to climate impacts. U.S. State Department funding will support an institutional collaboration linking universities in the United States with counterparts in the ASEAN region to work together to advance green building and sustainable urban planning practices in ASEAN member states.  

This cooperative agreement will support travel to paired institutions, or other related activities such as participation in international conferences, by the U.S. awardee(s) for the purposes of sharing knowledge and building regional capacity. Activities could include workshops, in-person seminars, webinars, joint projects, and/or academic courses of study with one or more academic institutions in one or more of the partner countries. It may also support the pairing of principal investigators and researchers at awardee institution(s) working in the field of green building design, climate adaptation or resilience measures, sustainable and circular materials management and new green building product development. American participant travel may include green building conferences in the ASEAN region where the purpose is to participate in panel discussions or otherwise present or share knowledge to advance green building and circular design principles, and to highlight new technologies, improved efficiency and health standards, and the use of nature-based systems for cooling, water management and air quality control.

Likewise, ASEAN participants may be funded to attend U.S. green building conferences where there are opportunities for applied learning and exposure to a range of innovative technical solutions. As part of this collaboration, activities must include the development of new curricula/um for integrated architecture, engineering and urban planning courses or programs, and participation in a joint project devised by the paired U.S. and ASEAN institution(s), all of which is intended to prolong the institutional linkage beyond the life of the U.S. State Department funding. The project should also include a final capstone event and/or publication, Applicants should propose partner institutions and submit a plan for delivery of these work products.

For more information about expected outcomes, see Page 2 of the RFP document in Supporting Documents, below.