In a warehouse in northeast Nigeria, a nonprofit\u2019s stocks of food to treat malnourished children and pregnant women are running low. <\/p>\n
The organization, Action Against Hunger (ACF), is running a project to combat malnutrition that had been relying on funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to procure much-needed therapeutic food sachets. But the project was intermittently suspended, leaving ACF unable to procure enough of the nutrient-rich food during the peak season of malnutrition. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s one of the many urgent, lifesaving aid projects left in limbo and in need of additional resources following the Trump administration\u2019s dismantling of USAID. <\/p>\n
But now, a group of former USAID staff has come together to connect big donors with cost-effective projects like this, which desperately need cash to carry out operations already in the pipeline. <\/p>\n
The primary goal is \u201cto save as many lives as possible,\u201d said Robert Rosenbaum, a former USAID portfolio manager and one of the people spearheading the initiative, which they are calling Project Resource Optimization (PRO). \u201cAt this point, there really are people who are dying as a result of these (budget) decisions and this halting of the work.\u201d <\/p>\n
Rosenbaum said that thinking about cuts to American programs tackling things like malnutrition, extreme poverty and disease prevention was keeping him up at night after he lost his job earlier this year. <\/p>\n
So, he and other laid-off USAID workers decided to do something. They began vetting projects being carried out by USAID partner organizations, which had abruptly lost their funding earlier this year. <\/p>\n
They gradually built a spreadsheet \u2013 dubbed the Urgent & Vetted Projects list \u2013 and started matchmaking, setting up meetings between the most critical and cost-effective programs and donors who wanted to help, but didn\u2019t know where to start. <\/p>\n
The spreadsheet was first inspired by reach-outs from a few small family foundations seeking expert guidance on where to best put their dollars, amid the initial uncertainty surrounding US government aid cuts. But it quickly grew into something bigger. <\/p>\n
It became clear to Rosenbaum that there was an opportunity to \u201cexpand the overall pool of private philanthropy\u201d and bring in donations from people who might not have considered giving to international aid projects until this year. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere have been a handful of folks who have come out of the woodwork and literally written us an email that\u2019s like, \u2018I set aside $100,000, $200,000, a million dollars\u2026 And this is exactly how I want to think about giving\u2026 So, help us figure out how to do this,\u2019\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Earlier this week, the PRO team also launched a tool for smaller donors to contribute online, crowdfunding for some of the most critical aid projects. <\/p>\n
Now, anyone can give a one-time or monthly contribution to the team\u2019s \u201cRapid Response Fund\u201d to support vetted projects in Sudan, Haiti, Nigeria and more. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor most of the humanitarian projects that we\u2019ve talked to\u2026 sometime this summer, if the funding doesn\u2019t come through, the lights will go off and it will be very hard to stand back up,\u201d Rosenbaum said. <\/p>\n
\u201cPart of what we\u2019re offering for funders is that the fixed cost of standing these projects up has already been taken on by the US government. The staff has already been hired, they\u2019re trained, they\u2019re in place. The commodities, in many cases, have been procured and are sitting in a warehouse,\u201d Rosenbaum said. \u201cThere\u2019s all these efficiencies. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut the flip side is that the cost of shutting them down is extraordinarily high,\u201d he added, noting that typically it takes years for local organizations to build trust with authorities, leaders and communities. <\/p>\n
In Mali, an organization called the Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA) was at risk of shutting down a project that delivers medical care to children under five, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers, as well as providing mobile health clinics to internally displaced people. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe were forced to suspend activities and reduce activities at different points,\u201d said Carlota Ruiz, the organization\u2019s head of grant management, adding that more than half ALIMA\u2019s operating budget in Mali had come from USAID. \u201cOne of our main concerns in terms of navigating suspensions or project closures was the risk to our credibility and our relationships with the Ministry of Health and the communities that we work with.\u201d <\/p>\n
Weeks ago, the organization was facing the prospect of shutting down vital services, but now a new grant will allow ALIMA to provide 70,000 medical consultations to people in need and treat more than 5,000 children with severe acute malnutrition. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in Nigeria, ACF says it is close to securing funding to keep one of its malnutrition projects going, after coordinating with the PRO team. <\/p>\n
The funding will go towards procuring more ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF). The timing was \u201cextremely critical,\u201d according to an ACF staff member on the ground. <\/p>\n
But the funding will only go towards that one project. ACF also supports programs in northern Nigeria that provide food assistance, clean water and sanitation, and support hundreds of health clinics. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be very meaningful, and it will be really very useful to ensure continuity of activity and save the lives of thousands of children,\u201d the ACF worker said of the grant about to be finalized. \u201cBut this project cannot address all the other aspects of our work.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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