CAORC administers the J.M. Kaplan-funded Responsive Preservation Initiative (RPI), which provides critical funding to support urgent preservation, documentation, and site management efforts at cultural heritage sites around the Middle East, North Africa, and the Mediterranean. For this application cycle, CAORC encourages applications related to the preservation and documentation of cultural heritage sites in Yemen.

Expanding access to research resources for U.S. and West African scholars and libraries. CAORC, in collaboration with the West African Research Association (WARA) and West African Research Center (WARC) in Dakar, Senegal, launched an initiative with the Library of Congress in 2010 to expand the collection of scholarly resources for U.S. and West African universities and institutions by collecting, documenting, and digitizing published material and ephemera in thirteen countries.

Implemented by the CAORC member centers in Tunisia, the Centre d’Études Maghrébines à Tunis (CEMAT), and in Algeria, the Centre d’Études Maghrébines en Algérie (CEMA), with generous support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, this project highlights state-of-the art research by North African scholars.

Generously funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Outreach on Islam and Muslim Cultures Project promotes a broader and more nuanced understanding of the diversity of Muslim cultures. CAORC implements this project by making grants to a number of American overseas research centers to provide a series of lectures and symposia at college campuses, community organizations, and academic association meetings.