ASPIRE:
Advancing Sustainable Partnerships to Improve Resilience & Empowerment
In 2024 The Netherlands Refugee Foundation launched the 5 year ASPIRE program in Iraq, Lebanon and Türkiye. ASPIRE is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is part of the overarching grant framework Migration and Displacement 2023-2028.
Reach, support and strengthen
Our program aims to reach, support, and strengthen organizations working to protect and improve services for refugees, displaced persons and host communities. Through equitable, multi-annual partnerships focused on capacity strengthening and direct funding, we aim to advance the leadership of local and national organizations. Our goal is to reach organizations that are often excluded from international funding streams or overlooked by donors.
You are in the lead
ASPIRE prioritizes working with community-based, refugee-led, women-led, and small NGOs or initiatives. We will step back from a leading role, and instead play a facilitating and supporting one; centering the priorities and needs expressed by our partners.
Our common focus
- Protection of refugees and internally displaced persons by in-country partners;
- Access to improved services, facilities, and information systems for displaced persons and host communities.
Frequently Asked Questions
ASIPRE is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is part of the overarching grant framework “Migration and Displacement 2023-2028″. More information, including the original call, can be found here.
The first six months will form the inception phase where partner and contextual mapping and assessments will take place. ASPIRE will work with two cohorts of participating organizations, each of which will be involved for a period of three years. The inception period is also the period in which the selection of in-country partners for the first cohort will take place.
The selection of the first cohort is followed by a process in which the selected partners will jointly develop their capacity strengthening and sharing plans based on their priorities. This will be done through holding consultation sessions on donor mapping and other sector training priorities.
Partners will participate in workshops to develop joint risk sharing plans, accountability mechanisms and feedback loops, and development of evaluation papers, in addition to facilitating networking platforms and events fostering connections between the strategic stakeholders.
The direct funding of the selected partners will start six months later. This model will last for three years and will be replicated for two cohorts of in-country partners. The two-cohort approach will enable in-country partners and SV to continuously integrate learning throughout the entire program life cycle.
To be eligible for ASPIRE, organizations must have:
- a relevant track record of working with refugees, IDPs, and/or host communities of at least one year.
- active presence and be operational in Iraq (Kurdistan Region of Iraq and/or Ninawa governorate) or Lebanon or Türkiye (SET provinces – Adana, Ayıdaman Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis, Malatya, Mardin, Mersin, Şanlıurfa and Osmaniye) for no less than one year, with available human resource.
- expertise in one or both project-level objectives i.e. protection and/or access to improved services, facilities and information systems.
- the ability to be operational in the targeted location within maximum 4-6 months.
- project management expertise, both financially and operationally, and can provide supporting documentation, such as project reports, evaluations, and audit reports in English, Kurdish, Arabic or Turkish for example.
- a strong commitment to protection from sexual exploitation and abuse, and prevention of fraud and corruption.
More information?
Contact us
- Ester van den Berg
ASPIRE Program manager
+ 31 70 346 89 46
aspire@vluchteling.nl - Stichting Vluchteling
Laan van NOI 131-M
2593 BM Den Haag
