U.S. Embassy Praia Ambassador?s Special Self-Help (SSH) Program

The U.S. Embassy Praia Ambassador’s Special Self-Help (SSH) Program is a grass-roots grant assistance program that allows U.S. Ambassadors to support local requests for small community-based development projects. The purpose of the Special Self-Help Program is to support communities through modest grants that will positively impact local communities. The SSH philosophy is to help communities help themselves. • Projects submitted for SSH must align with one or more U.S. Embassy priorities, including economic diversification, women start-ups and women entrepreneurs, social inclusion and creation of opportunities, and drought response/resiliency. • Local involvement of the organization or group must be at least 10% in cash or in kind of the total project costs. • The project should be feasible and based on the socio-economic context of the local community. • All applicants must be registered Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs). • Organizations must be able to demonstrate that they have adequate internal controls and financial systems in place.