Middle East Regional Cooperation (MERC) Program
The Funding Process
MERC projects are selected on their technical merit, development potential, relevance to the region and Arab-Israeli cooperation. Experts at USAID and active outside researchers review the proposed work.
 Arab and Israeli researchers first submit four to six page pre-proposals to describe the proposed work. The pre-proposal includes the technical workplan, the relevance to the region, project structure, plans for cooperation and the budget. Download pre-proposal application guidelines.
 Pre-proposals are judged by technical experts within USAID. They will score the pre-proposal on Arab-Israeli cooperation, relevance to regional development, technical merit and innovation as well as its management, reasonable expenses and research capacity strengthening. The MERC Committee consisting of USAID technical staff and State Department personnel vote whether or not to invite the investigators to move to the next step; submitting a full proposal.
 Full proposals contain detailed information about the experimental plan, investigators and outreach of the project. Usually 15-20 pre-proposals are invited to submit full proposals.
 To accurately assess the technical content and experimental plan of the proposals, USAID calls peer-review panels of scientists and engineers active in the fields of research proposed. Between three and five outside reviewers read the proposals and then meet to discuss their assessments of the proposal with their colleagues. They then vote to recommend if the proposal should be funded or not. The reviewers also suggest changes to the proposal to help improve the work if necessary.
 After the proposals have been graded, the MERC Committee discusses the technical assessment along with the other aspects of MERC’s requirements. The proposals are scored according to the selection criteria, and the MERC Committee decides which proposals move on to grant negotiation. The teams submitting these successful full proposals are notified as to the changes required by the peer-review panel or MERC Committee. Once changes have been made, the negotiation must move through an authorized grants and contracts official before the final award is made.
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