Increasing Accountability in Tunisia and Empowering the Judicial Financial Pole | NEAAC ACMEPI 17 009

Opportunity Information: Apply for NEAAC ACMEPI 17 009

The grant opportunity titled "Increasing Accountability in Tunisia and Empowering the Judicial Financial Pole" is a discretionary U.S. government funding program administered by the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Office of Assistance Coordination (NEA/AC). Its central purpose is to strengthen the Tunisian government’s accountability and improve how responsive it is to citizens who are concerned about corruption, with a specific focus on supporting Tunisia’s specialized anti-corruption judicial capacity. The program is framed around helping Tunisia more effectively and transparently investigate and prosecute financial corruption, which in turn is intended to reinforce public trust and demonstrate credible follow-through when corruption allegations arise.

At the core of the effort is assistance to the Financial Judiciary Pole (FJP), a Tunisian judicial body established under the authority of the Higher Judicial Council. The FJP’s mandate is to handle financial corruption cases, and the grant is designed to help it build both the institutional framework and the practical technical capacity needed to carry out that mission. In plain terms, the funding is aimed at helping the FJP become more capable as an organization (how it is structured, how it operates, how it manages cases, and how it ensures integrity and transparency) and more capable in day-to-day work (skills, tools, procedures, and specialized know-how needed for complex corruption investigations and prosecutions). The emphasis on transparent investigation and prosecution signals that the program is not just about increasing case volume, but also about strengthening credibility, consistent processes, and public-facing legitimacy.

The notice also makes a key boundary clear: proposed activities must not overlap with existing reform efforts within the Tunisian judiciary. That condition matters because it pushes applicants to design programs that fill genuine gaps rather than duplicating work that other donors, agencies, or ongoing Tunisian initiatives are already funding. For applicants, this typically means doing careful coordination and demonstrating that the proposed support is complementary, targeted, and clearly differentiated from parallel judicial reform programs already underway in Tunisia.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity is offered as a grant under a law, justice, and legal services assistance category (with an additional "other" classification) and is associated with CFDA number 19.500. The funding opportunity number is NEAAC ACMEPI 17 009. The award ceiling listed is $2,000,000, indicating the maximum amount available per award under the notice. The posting dates show a creation date of June 30, 2017, with an original closing date of July 31, 2017, which establishes the timeframe during which applications were expected to be submitted.

Eligibility is broad and includes several types of U.S.-based and potentially international implementers that commonly carry out rule-of-law and governance programming. Eligible applicants include public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status, nonprofits without 501(c)(3) status (as long as they are not institutions of higher education), small businesses, and an "others" category that can cover additional qualifying entities depending on the funder’s definitions. The notice also references Public International Organizations, suggesting that certain intergovernmental or internationally recognized public organizations may also be relevant actors in this space, depending on how the eligibility rules are interpreted and applied in the full NOFO.

Overall, the grant is best understood as a targeted anti-corruption and judicial capacity-building initiative centered on one specialized Tunisian institution, the Financial Judiciary Pole. The intended outcome is a stronger, more effective, and more transparent system for handling financial corruption cases, contributing to greater government accountability and a more credible response to citizen concerns about corruption. The non-overlap requirement underscores that the funder wants strategic, additive programming that strengthens what is missing rather than repeating existing judicial reform projects.

• The Assistance Coordination in the law, justice and legal services, other sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Increasing Accountability in Tunisia and Empowering the Judicial Financial Pole" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 19.500.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-06-30.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2017-07-31. (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 $2,000,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for NEAAC ACMEPI 17 009

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