FY 2009 Funding Opportunity Announcement for NGO Programs assisting Iraqi Refugee Populations

Funding Opportunity Announcement

Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration

March 18, 2009

Announcement issuance date: Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Proposal submission deadline: Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 12:00 p.m. (EDT).
Proposals submitted after this deadline will not be considered.

ADVISORY: Grants.gov is expected to experience higher than normal volume of activity in the near future. PRM strongly recommends submitting your proposal early to avoid submission delays.

Program Start Dates: Between July 1, 2009 and September 27, 2009.

Duration of Activity: No more than 12 months.
Applicants with multi-year programs must continue to re-compete for PRM funding each year. Furthermore, in funding a project one year, PRM makes no representations that it will continue to fund the project in successive years and encourages applicants to seek a wide array of donors to ensure long-term funding possibilities.

Current Funding Priorities for: Iraqi refugees
PRM is hereby soliciting proposals for humanitarian projects benefiting Iraqi refugees in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and other countries with a sizable Iraqi refugee population. PRM will consider proposals from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with proven track records in implementing refugee assistance programs. Higher consideration will be given to organizations that have well-established operations in the country (or countries) of program activity. NGOs submitting proposals should pay close attention to the guidelines and policy priorities identified in this announcement and the FY 2009 General PRM NGO Guidelines.

International Organizations (IOs) that are engaged in programs relevant to the assistance addressed by this PRM funding announcement should ensure that these programs are made known to PRM on or before the closing date of this funding announcement so that PRM can evaluate all IO and NGO programs for funding consideration.

Programs proposed in response to this solicitation must serve at least a minimum of 50 percent Iraqi beneficiaries and must indicate the level of planned Iraqi beneficiaries in each proposed program activity. While a majority of beneficiaries of proposed programs will be Iraqi refugees, programs are encouraged to include a minority of vulnerable host-country populations. In Jordan, NGOs will be required to report data on beneficiaries to UNHCR’s Beneficiary Information System (BIS) on at least a monthly basis, starting one month after the cooperative agreement start date.

NGOs submitting proposals in response to this funding announcement must be registered to operate in each country of the proposed activities or conclusively demonstrate that they will be able to initiate operations by the start date of their proposed program. PRM will consider proposals for activities in a single country as well as regional programs.

PRM’s FY 2009 priority sectors for NGO programs assisting Iraqi refugees are:

• Health care, including comprehensive reproductive health services and clinical management of treatment for survivors of sexual or family violence.
• Psychosocial programs and/or mental health programs providing therapy for depression and anxiety.
• Humanitarian assistance and protection, including non-food and other emergency assistance to extremely vulnerable individuals.
• Education, including informal, remedial and non-formal education programs.
• Vocational training or livelihoods programs linked to current and/or future job opportunities inside Iraq.
• Skills building or maintenance programs, including strengthening professional or paraprofessional skill sets, and promoting linkages to associations and institutions inside Iraq.
• Family and community focused programs to combat and respond to gender-based violence and exploitation, and labor exploitation.
• Case management programs aimed at addressing the interrelated assistance and protection needs of vulnerable beneficiaries through providing services and referral networks.

1.Programs are encouraged to prioritize the needs of women and girls and the most vulnerable groups among the Iraqi refugee population (e.g., female-headed households, disabled or isolated refugees, survivors of gender-based violence etc.).

2. Programs are encouraged to be designed with an eye to preparing for eventual voluntary returns. Possible examples include, but are not limited to, education programs that facilitate re-entry into the Iraqi school system, livelihood programs that develop skills in demand in areas of return, and psycho-social programs which support families coping with transition.

3. NGOs are encouraged to explore ways to help Iraqi refugees make better informed decisions about return and support them when they do choose to return. This could include cross-border elements within broader programs and/or standalone cross-border programs.

4. In proposals for follow-on activities for PRM-funded projects, NGOs should assess the continuing effectiveness of the humanitarian assistance they currently provide, highlighting best practices developed and any programmatic adjustments that should be made in follow-on activities. (This assessment should be submitted as an attachment to the NGO proposal template.)

5. PRM will accept proposals from NGOs working within the above mentioned sectors. Priority will be given to proposals from organizations that can demonstrate:

• A working relationship with UNHCR and 2008/2009 UNHCR funding and/or support for the proposed activities and/or overall country program;
• A proven track record in providing proposed assistance (both in the sector and specified location) to Iraqi refugees or other refugee populations in the country or countries of program activity;
• Evidence of coordination with IOs and other NGOs working in the same area or sector as well as – if applicable – local authorities;
• Appropriate targeting of beneficiaries in coordination with UNHCR and other relevant organizations.

Funding Limits: In the past, PRM has funded NGO programs assisting Iraqis that ranged from $300,000 to almost $5 million. Project proposals larger than $5 million with solid and compelling justifications will be considered in connection with this funding announcement. As stated in the FY 2009 General PRM NGO Guidelines, PRM looks favorably on cost-sharing efforts and seeks to support projects with a diverse donor base and/or resources from the submitting organization.

Program Start Dates: Between July 1, 2009 and September 27, 2009. Proposals for follow-on activities for NGO programs that PRM currently funds must start the day after the current cooperative agreement ends.

Proposal Submission Requirements: See “How to Apply” section on Grants.gov for complete details on requirements, and note the following highlights below:

Proposal content, formatting and template: Please refer to the “Proposal Submission and Review Process” section in the FY 2009 General PRM NGO Guidelines. PRM strongly recommends that organizations applying for funding use the PRM recommended proposal and budget templates. To receive copies of the templates please send an email to PRMNGOCoordinator@state.gov with "PRM NGO Templates" in the subject line.

PLEASE TAKE SPECIAL NOTE OF THE FOLLOWING REQUIREMENTS OUTLINED IN THE GENERAL PRM NGO GUIDELINES:

• PRM’s CFDA number for Refugee Assistance Programs for Iraqi refugees is 19.519.
• Proposals must be submitted via Grants.gov. Organizations not registered with Grants.gov should sign up well in advance of the April 23, 2009 deadline, as it can take up to two weeks for a registration to be finalized (and sometimes longer for non-U.S. based NGOs to get the required registration numbers).
• Do not wait until the last minute to submit your application on Grants.gov. Applicants who have done so in the past and experienced technical difficulties were not able to meet the deadline. Please note: Grants.gov is expected to experience high than normal volume of activity in the near future. PRM strongly recommends submitting your proposal early to avoid submission delays. We recommend that organizations, particularly first-time applicants, submit applications via Grants.gov at least one week before the deadline to avoid last-minute technical difficulties that could result in your application not being considered.
• If you encounter technical difficulties with Grants.gov please contact the Grants.gov Help Desk at support@grants.gov or by calling 1-800-518-4726. Applicants who are unable to submit applications via Grants.gov due to Grants.gov technical difficulties and who have reported the problem(s) to the Grants.gov help desk and received a case number and had a service request opened to research the problem(s), should immediately contact Program Assistant Rebecca Schaeffer ( SchaefferRR@state.gov) to determine whether an alternative method of submission is appropriate. Please see the list of contacts and their responsibilities at the end of this announcement.
• Applications must be submitted under the authority of the Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) at the applicant organization. Having proposals submitted by agency headquarters helps to avoid possible technical problems.
• Budget must include a specific breakdown of funds being provided by UNHCR, other USG agencies, other donors, and your own organization (where applicable). PRM places great value on multi-lateral support for humanitarian programs. As noted above, PRM strongly suggests using the PRM recommended budget template. As noted above to receive copies of PRM's recommended templates please send an email with "PRM NGO Templates" in the subject line to PRMNGOCoordinator@state.gov.
• Organizations that received PRM funding in FY 2008 for activities that are being proposed for funding again in response to this funding announcement should include an up-to-date, cumulative progress report against indicators as outlined in the cooperative agreement. In the event an organization has recently submitted a program report, as required by the cooperative agreement, attaching a copy of and/or excerpting from such a report to create the required up-to-date progress report meets this requirement.
• Project should focus on impact indicators as much as possible. At a minimum, each objective should have one impact indicator.
• NGOs that have not received PRM funding prior to the U.S. Government fiscal year ending September 30, 2004 must be prepared to demonstrate that they meet the financial and accounting requirements of the U.S. Government by submitting copies of: 1) the most recent external financial audit; 2) non-profit tax status under IRS 501 (c)(3); 3) a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number; and 4) an Employer ID (EIN)/Federal Tax Identification number.
• This announcement is designed to accompany PRM’s General NGO Guidelines for Overseas Assistance, which contain additional administrative information and explain in detail PRM’s NGO funding strategy and priorities. Please use both the FY 2009 General PRM NGO Guidelines and this announcement to ensure that the proposed activities are in line with PRM’s priorities and that your proposal submission is in full compliance with PRM requirements. Proposal submissions that do not meet all of the requirements outlined in these guidelines will not be considered. As stated above, PRM recommends using the proposal and budget templates that are available on the Bureau’s website.
• Is stated in the FY 2009 General PRM NGO Guidelines, organizations receiving overseas assistance from the Bureau are required to acknowledge publicly the projects and activities funded with that assistance, and must include in their proposals a plan for recognizing, in all appropriate publications and printed descriptions and, at the project site, those projects and activities financed with PRM funding. If an organization believes that publicly acknowledging the receipt of USG funding for a particular PRM-funded project could potentially endanger the lives of the beneficiaries and the organization staff, invite suspicion about the organization's motives or alienate the organization from the population it is trying to help, it must provide a brief explanation in its proposal, for PRM's consideration, as to why it should be exempted from this requirement.

Proposal review process: PRM conducts formal competitive reviews of all submitted proposals by convening review panels. These panels evaluate submissions based on the above-referenced proposal evaluation criteria and PRM priorities in the context of available funding.

In order to provide NGOs with timely feedback, PRM will inform applicants of a panel’s decision to recommend or not recommend funding proposed activities, and may request revised proposals and/or budgets based on feedback from the panel. PRM will follow up with formal notifications to NGOs of final decisions taken by Bureau management.

PRM Points of Contact:

For technical questions related to this announcement, please contact the PRM staff listed below prior to proposal submission.

• Rebecca Schaeffer, Program Assistant, (schaefferRR@state.gov)
• George Frederick, Regional Refugee Coordinator for Assistance, (FrederickGM@state.gov). The Refugee Coordinator is based in Jordan and covers assistance activities in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and the region.