Grants / Department of State / Bureau of International Narcotics-Law Enforcement

SFOP0007951: Combat Wildlife Trafficking in Bangladesh

Closed Closed June 1, 2021 Opportunity SFOP0007951 ☆ Save

This grant is closed. A newer notice from the same program is open now: Balanced Prosecution of Transnational Organized Crime Cases (OFOP0003790). Status: Closes November 9, 2026 (2 days left). It is in our archive of Bureau of International Narcotics-Law Enforcement notices from 2021.

• Award ceiling$750,000
• Award floor$500,000
• Expected awards1
• Cost sharingNot required
• Funding typeGrant

Key dates

Who can apply

This opportunity was open to the applicants described in the notice.

• Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)

U.S.-based non-profit/non-governmental organizations (NGOs) Foreign-based non-profits/non-governmental organizations (NGOs)

Is this a realistic fit?

• Past Trans-National Crime awards averaged $1.3 million; this notice allows up to $750,000 per award.
• Most of the program's money (62% over five years) went to nonprofits.
• No cost sharing or match is required.

What the grant funds

Wildlife trafficking is a lucrative form of transnational organized crime (TOC) that has decimated populations of species, such as elephants, rhinos, pangolins, and more. Wildlife trafficking fuels corruption; threatens the rule of law, peace, and security; spreads disease; and destabilizes communities that depend on wildlife for biodiversity and eco-tourism revenues. Criminal organizations are profiting from this illicit trade, relying on their ability to exploit porous borders and weak institutions, and leveraging multilevel illicit networks of criminal intermediaries and government officials to move illegal wildlife from source to demand countries. INL aims to combat wildlife trafficking (CWT) through effective programming at the national, regional, and international levels. For this funding opportunity, INL intends to focus on Bangladesh. Bangladesh not only maintains significant wild populations of high-value wildlife (e.g., big cats, bears, pangolins, and more), but also sits at the crossroads between source countries in South Asia and the demand countries of China and Southeast Asia. While a significant quantity of illegal wildlife products transit Bangladesh’s land borders, Dhaka’s international airport is also a major transit point, along with seaports and key waterways across the country. To further compound the situation, Bangladesh’s justice sector maintains low institutional capacity, lack of detection equipment, and insufficient data exchange among law enforcement agencies. Therefore, this program will aim to tackle each of these three challenges. The ultimate goal of this program is to increase Bangladesh’s desire and ability to CWT and disrupt the criminal organizations that perpetrate this heinous crime. 1. Priority Countries Bangladesh 2. Project Goals The goal of this program is to improve Bangladesh’s will and capacity to investigate, arrest, prosecute, convict, and sentence to the fullest extent of the law the perpetrators of wildlife crime. To achieve this goal, INL seeks to fund programs that will provide: 1. Investigation, surveillance, and monitoring equipment to law enforcement, customs, border, and port authorities; 2. Training on the use of this equipment and how it can further investigations; and 3. Capacity building training to strengthen the interdiction and investigative capabilities of law enforcement agencies.

Category: Law, Justice and Legal Services.

Applying now

This notice no longer takes applications. Apply under the newer notice, OFOP0003790, which is open now.

The notice on Grants.gov keeps its full text and attachments, which is useful for planning a resubmission.