FY 2025 PRM Request for Concept Notes for Iraq and Syria Region | DFOP0017038

Opportunity Information: Apply for DFOP0017038

The FY 2025 PRM Request for Concept Notes for the Iraq and Syria Region (Funding Opportunity Number DFOP0017038) is a U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) funding opportunity that asks organizations to submit short concept notes for humanitarian programs serving refugees and other populations of concern across Iraq, Lebanon, Turkiye, and Syria. The opportunity is issued as a discretionary cooperative agreement, which generally means PRM expects a higher level of collaboration and ongoing involvement in program oversight than a standard grant. The notice also includes a Syria-specific situational update dated December 10, 2024, emphasizing that conditions remain fluid and that it is too early to predict how evolving circumstances may affect refugee return decisions. PRM underscores that any returns to Syria must be voluntary, safe, and dignified, and notes that if circumstances require changes to the funding notice, an updated announcement will be issued; until then, the opportunity proceeds as published.

PRM is seeking concept notes that address urgent and ongoing humanitarian needs among vulnerable groups, including refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and vulnerable host-community members. The programmatic scope is broad but focused on core humanitarian sectors, specifically highlighting protection, education, health, and livelihoods. In addition to direct service delivery, PRM is signaling a strong preference for approaches that strengthen local organizational capacity, support social cohesion, and ensure assistance is delivered in ways that are safe, accessible, accountable, and participatory. In practical terms, applicants should be prepared to show how affected communities will help shape activities, how feedback and complaints will be handled, how services will be accessible to people facing barriers (including people with disabilities and other at-risk groups), and how the program will avoid harm while improving safety and protection outcomes.

Eligibility is open to U.S.-based nonprofit organizations with IRS 501(c)(3) status, overseas-based nonprofit organizations that can provide proof of registration, and international organizations, with an explicit exception for UN agencies. International multilateral organizations such as United Nations agencies should not apply through Grants.gov under this notice. Instead, multilateral entities seeking support for relevant activities are instructed to contact the PRM Program Officer listed in the announcement by the closing date. Applicants may submit as a single organization or as part of a consortium, but consortium applications must include at least three organizations, which suggests PRM is open to coordinated, multi-partner approaches that combine complementary strengths or geographic coverage.

The process begins with the submission of a concept note through Grants.gov, with a deadline of January 9, 2025. PRM will use concept notes as an initial screening step; organizations with the most competitive concepts will then be invited to submit full proposals for a competitive review. For those ultimately selected, PRM indicates that awards should be expected within about five months after the full proposal submission deadline (not the concept note deadline). The listed award ceiling is $4,000,000 per award, which provides a sense of the maximum project size PRM is willing to consider under this call. The posting lists “Expected Awards: 0,” which often reflects that the agency is not committing in advance to a specific number of awards at the concept note stage, rather than indicating no awards will be made.

Overall, this opportunity is best understood as a regional PRM humanitarian funding pipeline for FY 2025 that prioritizes protection-centered, community-informed programming for displaced and conflict-affected populations in Iraq, Lebanon, Turkiye, and Syria. The notice places special emphasis on responsible engagement given uncertainty in Syria and reinforces that any refugee return-related dynamics must be approached with a strict voluntary, safe, and dignified standard, while keeping the door open for PRM to revise the notice if conditions shift materially.

• The Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration in the other sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY 2025 PRM Request for Concept Notes for Iraq and Syria Region" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 19.519.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-11-27.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2025-01-09. (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 $4,000,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for DFOP0017038

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