Applications for funding must be developed jointly by a NATO country Project Director (NPD) and a Partner country Project Director (PPD). To be deemed eligible for funding, proposals submitted to the SPS Programme must:

• contribute towards NATO’s Strategic Objectives and have a clear link to security;
• address at least one of the SPS Key Priorities;
• involve only individuals who are nationals of a NATO member country or a NATO Partner country;
• be led by an NPD who is resident and employed in a NATO member country, and a PPD who is resident and employed in a NATO Partner nation;
• be developed and implemented by co-directors affiliated with a government, academic, or other non-profit institutions. For-profit private companies are not eligible for SPS funding;
• include realistic plans and budgets;
• be developed and managed in alignment with rules and regulations outlined in relevant SPS handbooks.

Individual applicants should note that they may not hold more than one SPS grant at a time. Prospective co-directors should ensure that any other SPS activity directed by either of them is formally closed before applying.
Please refer to the SPS calls for proposals and related documents for more detailed information on eligibility.

Find below an overview of the countries eligible for participation in SPS activities. Only nationals of the countries listed below are eligible to submit, manage and participate in SPS-supported activities.

NATO countries: Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherlands, the Republic of North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Türkiye, United Kingdom, United States.

Eligible NATO Partners: Algeria, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Egypt, Georgia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, the Republic of Korea, Kuwait, Kyrgyz Republic, Malta, Mauritania, the Republic of Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, New Zealand, Pakistan, Qatar, Serbia, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan.

The Programme may publish calls in two formats:

• Open Calls encourage applications addressing any of the SPS Key Priorities.
• Special Calls invite applications addressing specific priorities and themes of particular relevance at the time of publication of the call.

Each SPS call welcomes applications in line with all of the SPS grant mechanisms, unless otherwise specified.

The SPS Programme launches up to three calls for proposals per year. When available, calls for proposals are published on the SPS website and advertised via the Programme’s newsletter and social media accounts.

Only complete applications submitted by the deadline specified in the call for proposals may be considered for support. Data pertaining to incomplete applications will be lost after the deadline.

As from November 2023, proposals must be submitted to the SPS Programme via the SPS grant platform.
Interested applicants must:

• Register an account on the SPS grant platform.
• Find the grant mechanism for which they want to apply.
• Click on “Start application” to access the application form.

All relevant documents required to submit a complete application are accessible via the application form on the SPS grant platform. They are also available for download from this page of the SPS website.

For queries prior to the submission of an application, potential applicants may contact SPS at sps.info@hq.nato.int. The Programme endeavours to support potential applicants in the submission of sound proposals fitting within the scope of the Programme’s activities.
NOTE:

• As each application undergoes a thorough review process, a decision on funding can take up to nine months following an application deadline. It is important to take this into consideration when proposing dates for an activity.
• For SPS Multi-Year Projects applications: If your project would require more than EUR 400,000, please first send to sps.info@hq.nato.int a one-page abstract of your proposal, with an estimated budget, in order to evaluate whether such a project would fit in the overall portfolio of SPS before a full application is developed.