Climate Action Partnership for Education (CAPE) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) | DDI OAA EDUC 2023

Opportunity Information: Apply for DDI OAA EDUC 2023

The Climate Action Partnership for Education (CAPE) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) is a USAID funding opportunity designed to spark collaborative, research-driven solutions at the intersection of climate action and education, with a clear emphasis on girls' education. Rather than funding traditional, stand-alone education programs, CAPE is structured to attract novel ideas and partnerships that can be co-created and co-designed with USAID and other stakeholders. The central goal is to develop and prove innovative, cost-effective approaches that can be piloted, tested, improved, and ultimately scaled, so that education systems and programs do more than just adapt to climate pressures: they actively contribute to climate action while protecting and advancing girls' ability to access and complete education.

At its core, the opportunity is looking for proposals that do two things. First, it wants credible approaches that show how international education policy and programming can directly, intentionally, and effectively advance climate action. That signals an interest in education initiatives that help drive mitigation, adaptation, resilience, or broader climate-positive outcomes through what is taught, how schools operate, and how education systems engage communities. Second, it seeks solutions that reduce climate-related barriers that disproportionately interrupt girls' education, which can include climate shocks and stresses such as extreme heat, flooding, drought, storms, water scarcity, displacement, increased household labor burdens, food insecurity, health impacts, and safety risks that often fall more heavily on girls and can push them out of school.

CAPE is issued as a Broad Agency Announcement, which usually indicates a preference for innovative, research and development-oriented concepts rather than conventional service delivery. The announcement explicitly emphasizes collaboration models such as co-investment and partnership with a wide range of actors, suggesting USAID is interested in leveraging additional resources, specialized expertise, and locally grounded implementation capacity. This could include partnerships that combine education ministries and local institutions with private sector technology providers, foundations, community-based enterprises, investors, and academic or research organizations to develop solutions that are both evidence-based and feasible at scale.

The award mechanism is a cooperative agreement, meaning USAID expects substantial involvement during the life of the award. In practice, that typically points to an implementation relationship where USAID may help shape technical direction, learning priorities, or scaling pathways, rather than simply providing funds and stepping back. The activity category is listed as Science and Technology and other Research and Development, reinforcing that CAPE is aimed at generating tested approaches and practical evidence that can inform broader education and climate strategies.

Eligibility is described as unrestricted, open to a broad set of public and private entities. Specifically mentioned are organizations, companies, foundations, community-based enterprises, academic and research institutions, partner country government agencies, and investors. The broad eligibility and the emphasis on co-creation indicate USAID is intentionally casting a wide net to bring in ideas from both traditional education implementers and nontraditional partners who can contribute technical innovation, financing models, product development, or scalable delivery mechanisms.

From a funding standpoint, the opportunity lists an award ceiling of $5,000,000 and expects to make one award. That combination suggests USAID is looking for a flagship partnership or platform effort, not a portfolio of many small grants. Proposals would likely need to present a strong theory of change, a credible plan for research, development, piloting and testing, and a realistic pathway to scale that demonstrates cost-effectiveness and measurable impact on both climate outcomes and girls' education outcomes. Because the announcement highlights piloting, testing, and scaling, applicants would typically be expected to include learning and evaluation components that generate usable evidence for decision-makers, such as ministries of education, local communities, and donors.

Key opportunity identifiers include the Funding Opportunity Title, Climate Action Partnership for Education (CAPE) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), and the Funding Opportunity Number, DDI OAA EDUC 2023. The issuing agency is the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), with a Creation Date of March 16, 2023. The original closing date listed is April 28, 2023. The CFDA number provided is 98.001, which is commonly associated with USAID foreign assistance programs.

Overall, CAPE can be understood as an R&D-oriented, partnership-driven funding opportunity intended to produce practical, scalable solutions that (1) use education as a lever for climate action and (2) protect girls' education from climate-related disruptions. The solicitation is structured to bring together cross-sector partners to design and validate approaches that can be expanded beyond a pilot setting and inform broader international education policy and programming.

• The Agency for International Development in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Climate Action Partnership for Education (CAPE) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 98.001.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 16, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Apr 28, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $5,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for DDI OAA EDUC 2023

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: