Middle East Regional Cooperation (MERC) Program
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Palestinian farmer walking through an olive orchard
near Nazareth, Israel.
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USAID’s Middle East Regional Cooperation (MERC) Program is a competitive research grants program that supports scientific collaboration between Arab and Israeli researchers. MERC accepts joint Arab-Israeli research proposals on any research topic that the applicants can justify as likely to produce a lasting development result. The program funds a wide variety of scientific research, but most projects focus on subjects such as agriculture, water resources, health and the environment.
To ensure scientific merit, MERC proposals undergo a rigorous external peer-review process. Development potential is also assessed internally by USAID technical officers. The MERC review process ensures that research and outreach activities involve scientists, students and communities. MERC supports 30-40 research grants and their corresponding outreach and development activities, awarding approximately six to ten new project grants each year. Each MERC project must also include specific plans to implement its research results to produce
developmental impact. All MERC research projects must include substantive Arab-Israeli cooperation. Currently MERC has active grants involving Israel, Jordan, Egypt, West Bank/Gaza, Morocco, Tunisia and Lebanon.
To learn more about the MERC Program, its projects and how to apply for a MERC grant, use the navigation links in the gray box at the upper right hand corner or follow the links within the text.
Examples of MERC Success Stories
Since 1981, the MERC Program has supported Arab and Israeli researchers working together toward development and peace in the Middle East and North Africa region. Several of MERC’s recent projects are highlighted below, with more examples on the success story page. Research resulting in developmental impact includes projects in water, health, agriculture and environment.
Highlighted Projects
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Harvested tomatoes in Morocco |
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Uniting to Combat Agricultural Disease in Tomato Plants
Scientists from six Arab countries and Israel have worked together for several years to combat tomato viruses responsible for poor crop yields. Tomatoes are a valuable global and regional crop easily grown by poor farmers. This MERC-funded research focused on the biology behind the one of the most costly horticulture diseases in the world, tomato yellow leaf curl virus. Through their work the MERC scientists have identified resistances to this virus and developed tomato lines and hybrids resistant to this viral infection. The team then successfully developed and implemented a tomato breeding program using genetic information to identify tomato plants with resistance to harmful pathogens. The project also used conventional and marker-assisted breeding of resistant tomatoes with local tomato lines to yield local consumer-preferred characteristics in size, taste and shape, which vary widely among the countries in the region. more
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Apis mellifera syriaca |
Protecting Bees, Agriculture and the Environment
Responding to the local and worldwide bee population decrease and corresponding biodiversity crisis, a project funded by MERC established genetic testing laboratories to track bee viruses in the Middle East. This Jordanian-Israeli team of researchers set up monitoring stations to analyze colonies for viral infections that may contribute to Colony Collapse Disorder, a phenomenon that causes worker bees in colonies to die in large numbers. The researchers have established a central lab in Jordan and are beginning molecular analysis on bee viruses. Several apiaries that had never been tested are now included in the work so the researchers may correlate between viral spread and low bee populations. more
Click here to see more success stories |
