<h6><strong>The Diplomat</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI) has launched a call to finance and execute Ibero-American cooperation projects that promote the digital transformation of the region.</strong></h4> The call, which will be open until March 14, is aimed at ministries and public entities at a subnational territorial level, subregional organizations, universities, public councils of science, technology or culture and non-profit foundations aligned with the objectives of the OEI and established in one of the 23 full member states of the organization: Andorra, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Spain, Guatemala, Equatorial Guinea, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela. Likewise, the seven observer member states of the OEI (Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Luxembourg, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe and East Timor) may participate as applicants, as well as the associated entities ratified by its General Assembly. The projects, which must last between eight and 18 months, will be developed and accompanied by technical and specialist staff of the OEI, and must be aimed at promoting digital transformation in the areas of work of the organization (Education and VET, Higher Education and Science, Culture, Education in Human Rights, Democracy and Equality, Training and Learning for Cooperation and Multilingualism). They may only be submitted in Spanish or Portuguese. This is the first time that the OEI has made a public call for funding cooperation actions in an institutional bid to meet the real needs of Ibero-American society in terms of cooperation for digital transformation, for which an initial fund of three million dollars (almost 2.9 million euros) has been made available, with which a total of 18 projects will be subsidized. Within the framework of this program, projects will be developed with three different types of subsidies - up to 100,000, 150,000 and 300,000 dollars, depending on the areas of action -, betting on the greatest geographical representation and prioritizing those projects that have a direct and real application in favor of the beneficiary population, in line with the organization's motto of "making cooperation happen." Applicants must co-finance at least 20 percent of the equivalent of the subsidy requested from the OEI, which may be made in kind through the contribution of goods or services that support the project.
