IMPLEMENTATION OF WFP ACTIVITIES UNDER THE PROPOSED SYRIA COUNTRY STRATEGIC PLAN 2027 - 2030

Call description

The World Food Programme (WFP) seeks cooperating partners to deliver assistance in prioritized locations in Syria through cash-based transfers, in-kind assistance and individual-level capacity strengthening. Described activities cover integrated emergency food assistance and preventive nutrition for crisis-affected and severely food-insecure people, nutrition-sensitive social protection for eligible vulnerable households, and contingent school-based assistance for vulnerable school-aged children. Institutional capacity strengthening, service delivery, and resilience and livelihoods activities are subject to separate processes. The opening list also includes Activity 2, management of moderate acute malnutrition; its status under this opportunity requires clarification.

The partnership engagement period is 1 March 2027 to 28 February 2029, extendable for one year subject to programme needs, funding and partner performance. This is distinct from the wider Country Strategic Plan period. The portal lists no indicative budget amount in the supplied extract. The call requests the technical proposal and required internal documents initially; a budget proposal is requested later only from shortlisted applicants. Activity 5 has no confirmed resource allocation at the time of the call, and any subsequent activation and budget depend on WFP decisions and resource availability.

Priorities and eligibility

The call seeks cooperating partners authorized to carry out their activities in Syria. Applicants must have a complete and current UN Partner Portal profile, full access and an active field presence in the areas applied for, and demonstrated coordination on the ground. Authorization must be evidenced by a registration certificate or approval to work valid to the end of 2027, with the ability to renew for 2028 and 2029. The supplied passages do not establish a more specific eligible lead-applicant category.

Applicants must have no risk-related flags raised by WFP or other United Nations agencies on the UN Partner Portal. A previous WFP agreement terminated for fraud-related issues is an exclusion unless an organizational governance and capacity improvement plan was successfully completed with evidence. Neither the applicant nor its affiliates or subcontractors may appear on the consolidated United Nations sanctions list; applicants must list active subcontractors that may be used and provide an assurance of completed vetting.

The portal lists selection criteria covering sector expertise, experience with the United Nations, local experience and presence, proposal quality and clarity, resource contribution, cost effectiveness, and organisational structure and relevant coordination experience. False information in submitted documents leads to disqualification. The extracts do not establish an applicant's assessment result.

WFP’s potential coverage extends across all 14 governorates, subject to activity-specific prioritization. The current priorities are indicative and may change. Activity 1 prioritizes Rural Damascus, Hama, Idleb, Aleppo, Al-Hasakeh, Ar-Raqqa and Deir-ez-Zor; Activity 4 prioritizes Aleppo, Tartous, Deir Ezzor and Rural Damascus. Activity 5 locations are not yet determined and depend on resources.

The portal identifies Hims as a location, while the call allows potential coverage across all governorates and gives different current priority governorates for the listed activities. Does the portal location limit this particular opportunity, or does the broader call geography govern? Confirm the applicable geographic scope with WFP; the portal entry alone does not establish that Hims is currently prioritized for an activity.

The call’s opening activity list includes Activity 2, management of moderate acute malnutrition, and later guidance asks applicants to cost fixed and mobile modalities for it. The supplied activity descriptions proceed from Activity 1 to Activity 4 and Activity 5, while the portal identifies Activity 1 as delivering the crisis-response outcome. Is Activity 2 open under this opportunity and, if so, what are its complete requirements and locations? Obtain WFP clarification before treating it as an available application choice.

Funding and application requirements

Applications must be in English and submitted through the relevant UN Partner Portal partnership opportunity. All required documents must be signed by the organisation's management and uploaded as a single compressed file using the submit concept note tab. No alternative submission channel is established in the supplied passages.

The initial package includes a complete narrative proposal in the shared template; the completed activity-specific geographic annex; the organisation's anti-fraud and anti-corruption policy; its protection from sexual exploitation and abuse policy; internal financial manuals and policies, including procurement; and its most recent external audit report.

The application deadline is 21st of November 2026. Questions during submission must be sent through the relevant opportunity's requests for additional information and clarifications tab no later than 12th of November 2026.

How should applicants reconcile the initial-stage instruction that a budget proposal is requested only from shortlisted applicants with the template's request for a project budget and the call's instruction to cost both in-kind and cash-based modalities for Activity 1 and Activity 4? Seek clarification on what costing information, if any, must appear in the initial narrative and which budget form is required later.

Recommendations

The geographic annex distinguishes locations of interest from current presence, while eligibility requires full access and active field presence in areas applied for. Interest in an additional location therefore should not be presented as proof of current eligibility to implement there. Distinguish operational sub-districts from locations of interest or presence where implementation is not currently possible, and substantiate access and coordination for areas proposed.

Operational feasibility is consequential: centres must be safe and accessible, and warehouse capacity and secondary transport are partner responsibilities. The call separately requires centres or delivery points within 10 kilometres of each targeted sub-district and centres within 10 to 15 kilometres of the people served; these are different reference points, not interchangeable distance tests. Explain how proposed sites satisfy both conditions and how warehousing, transport and staffing can adapt if caseloads change.

The proposal must connect protection and gender risks to programme design and meaningful participation, while operational plans need accessible feedback and referral arrangements. The call also requires completion or initiation of the UN Implementing Partner protection from sexual exploitation and abuse assessment on the portal. Show how community consultation informs safe sites, information channels and feedback arrangements, and document the required assessment and staff policy.

School-based programming is a readiness assessment rather than a confirmed caseload or funded geographic assignment. Applicants interested in this activity should demonstrate relevant delivery, coordination, safeguarding and feedback capacity, but should not assume that activation or a budget is assured. Distinguish the proposed readiness capacity from activities that have current indicative geographic priorities.

Activity 1 is not a standalone nutrition intervention: preventive nutrition is layered onto household food assistance. Applicants must demonstrate and cost both in-kind and cash-based modalities; actual use depends on the market and operational context. Design the integrated household package and demonstrate capacity for both modalities rather than proposing only a separate nutrition service.

For Activity 4, partner engagement is confined to direct assistance and accompanying individual-level capacity strengthening; WFP delivers institutional capacity strengthening of government bodies directly. Household selection requires at least one nutritional and one socio-economic criterion, assessed sequentially. Describe how the proposed team would work within evolving Ministry arrangements and agreed referral pathways, rather than presenting government institutional strengthening as a partner-delivered component.