Overseas Refugee Assistance Programs for East Asia

The Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration funds humanitarian assistance and protection programs for refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons, stateless persons, and vulnerable migrants across Australia, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam under Assistance Listing 19.511, with the most recent grant award disbursed on May 2, 2026.

The program has awarded 263 grants totaling $510.5 million in federal dollars obligated since 2006, with activity remaining steady at 19–22 awards annually through 2024 before slowing to 2 awards in 2025 and 4 awards in 2026 year-to-date. The funding covers concrete humanitarian and protection activities: emergency response to natural disasters (cyclones and typhoons), food and fuel assistance, water and sanitation infrastructure, healthcare and mental health services, child protection, gender-based violence prevention and response, legal assistance, education and skills training, citizenship and birth registration, housing, and community empowerment and resilience-building initiatives. Recent awards have responded to Tropical Cyclone Maila and Super Typhoon Sinlaku in Papua New Guinea and the Philippines, and to flooding in Mozambique and Vietnam.

Cooperative Agreements dominate the portfolio at 77 percent of awards, with Project Grants comprising 23 percent. The Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration is the sole funder across all 263 awards. Award sizes vary widely: large cooperative agreements for multi-sector responses typically range from $5 million to $20 million (such as International Rescue Committee agreements for food assistance and healthcare to displaced Burmese populations at $20.9 million and $19.1 million), while smaller project grants for quick-impact interventions often fall in the $25 thousand to $250 thousand range, including Julia Taft Fund awards capped at $25 thousand for time-bound projects.

The most recent grant opportunities closed in 2024. A Notice of Funding Opportunity for NGO Programs Supporting Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Thailand, Malaysia, Nepal, and India (DFOP0010747) solicited Cooperative Agreement proposals with a due date of April 25, 2024. No open solicitations are currently posted. Applicants must be nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status, other nonprofits without 501(c)(3) status, or international organizations; target beneficiaries must be at least 50 percent refugees, asylum seekers, IDPs, or stateless persons. The Bureau requires recipients to align proposals with SPHERE standards and to address U.S. policy priorities, security advancement, and local capacity-building. Funding generally covers 12-month periods with shorter terms authorized where appropriate. Recipients must obtain independent audits in accordance with U.S. Government Auditing Standards, with reports due 30 days after issuance or nine months after the audit period ends.