Opportunity Information: Apply for NEAAC22MERC1001
The Middle East Regional Cooperation (MERC) program is a U.S. government assistance grant opportunity designed to strengthen direct Arab-Israeli scientific collaboration while advancing technology-led development and practical capacity building across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The program focuses on peer-reviewed, collaborative research that tackles development-relevant scientific and technological problems with clear regional importance. A central expectation is that the work delivers tangible benefits for developing countries in the region and for low-income or otherwise underserved populations, rather than producing outcomes that primarily advantage wealthier groups or external stakeholders.
A defining requirement of MERC is strong, direct Arab-Israeli cooperation. Proposals are only accepted when they are developed jointly by Arab and Israeli investigators, and every application must include at least one institutional partner based in Israel and at least one institutional partner in an eligible Arab country or territory that can receive U.S. foreign assistance. Projects that include three or more regional partners are explicitly allowed and encouraged, which signals a preference for broader regional networks where that improves impact, technical strength, and adoption of results. The lead applicant can be any party within the collaboration, and partners may come from universities, private-sector firms, non-governmental organizations, or government entities, as long as the core Arab-Israeli partnership is real and integral to the project.
Within this Notice of Funding Opportunity, MERC is seeking proposals under three main funding categories. Applied research grants support multi-year, joint Arab-Israeli research projects aimed at development outcomes. Continuation grants provide additional funding to extend projects that are existing MERC awards or that have recently ended, enabling teams to build on results, complete work plans, or deepen implementation and uptake. Travel and workshop grants support the kinds of convenings and mobility that make sustained collaboration possible, such as technical workshops, coordination meetings, and researcher exchanges across borders.
Eligibility for Arab partners is subject to U.S. federal law and country-specific restrictions, but the notice identifies a broad set of potential partner locations across the region: Algeria, Bahrain, Kuwait, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and the West Bank and Gaza. The program also includes special conditions when Israel collaborates with relatively affluent Arab countries such as Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. In those cases, the project must include a developing country from the region as either a formal partner and/or a clear beneficiary of the research outputs, to ensure the work still produces development impact. These affluent-country partners are expected to follow budget-related limitations (including cost-sharing for salaries and cost of living), preserve the intended spirit of Arab-Israeli cooperation rather than relying mainly on foreign expatriate personnel, and ensure that the project outcomes target low-income populations and less-resourced countries in the region. The notice also clarifies that satellite or portal campuses of foreign institutions (for example, U.S. or Indian universities operating local campuses) do not count as eligible Arab partners.
MERC generally deemphasizes the participation of non-regional entities. Involvement of U.S. partners or institutions from outside MENA (such as Europe) is not considered a core feature of the program and is typically discouraged. That said, limited non-regional participation may be considered in exceptional situations where it fills an essential technical need that is not available within the region. Applicants who want to include a non-MENA partner must be ready to make a strong, detailed justification and should plan for the possibility that MERC will decline to fund that participation. The program also discourages using any non-regional partner to lead or administer the overall project, reinforcing that MERC is meant to be regionally grounded and driven by Arab and Israeli institutions.
From the opportunity details provided, MERC is offered as a discretionary grant (Funding Opportunity Number NEAAC22MERC1001; CFDA 19.600) administered under Assistance Coordination. The listed award ceiling is up to $1,000,000, with an original closing date of 2022-12-15 and a creation date of 2022-08-29. Overall, the program is structured to fund rigorous, jointly designed science and technology work that advances development priorities, strengthens cross-border professional ties, and produces benefits that are clearly relevant to less-advantaged communities in the MENA region.Apply for NEAAC22MERC1001
- The Assistance Coordination in the other sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Middle East Regional Cooperation (MERC)" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 19.600.
- This funding opportunity was created on 2022-08-29.
- Applicants must submit their applications by 2022-12-15. (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 $1,000,000.00 in funding.
- Eligible applicants include: Others.
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