CNN
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Warehouses in northeastern Nigeria have low food stocks from nonprofits to treat malnourished children and pregnant women.
The organization, Action Against Hunger (ACF), is running a project to combat malnutrition that relied on funding from the United States Organization for International Development (USAID), and procures much-needed medical food bags. However, the project was interrupted intermittently, and ACF was unable to source sufficient nutrient-rich foods during the peak malnutrition season.
This is one of many emergency life-saving projects left in Limbo and require additional resources following the Trump administration’s dismantling of USAID.
But now, a group of former USAID staff members have come together to connect large donors with such cost-effective projects.
The main goal is to “save as many lives as possible,” said Robert Rosenbaum, a former USAID portfolio manager and one of the people who spearheaded the initiative called Project Resource Optimization (Pro). “At this point, there are really people dying as a result of these (budget) decisions and this suspension of work.”
Rosenbaum is thinking about cutting down American programs that address malnutrition, extreme poverty and disease prevention, like what keeps him up after losing his job earlier this year.
So he and the other laid-off USAID workers decide to do something. They have begun reviewing projects being implemented by the USAID Partner Organization.
They gradually built a spreadsheet – called the Emergency and Review Project List – set up a meeting between donors who wanted the most important and cost-effective program and support but didn’t know where to start.
The spreadsheet was first inspired by reach outs from the foundations of several small families seeking expert guidance on where to put their dollars amid the initial uncertainty surrounding US government aid cuts. But it quickly grew into something big.
It has been revealed that Rosenbaum has the opportunity to “expand the overall pool of private philanthropy” and bring donations from people who may not be considering giving to international aid projects until this year.
“There’s someone who came out of woodworking and literally wrote an email to us that I should have saved $100,000, $200,000, $1 million.
Earlier this week, the Pro team launched a tool for smaller donors to contribute online, crowdfunding for some of the most important aid projects.
Now anyone can make one-time or monthly contributions to the team’s “Speed Response Fund” to support vetted projects in Sudan, Haiti, Nigeria and more.
“For most of the humanitarian projects we’ve talked about… if the funds don’t flow this summer, the lights will go out and it’ll be very difficult for you to get up,” Rosenbaum said.
“What we provide funders is that the fixed costs that are undertaken for these projects have already been taken over by the US government. The staff are already employed, trained, they are installed. In many cases, products are sitting in the warehouse,” Rosenbaum said. “There is all of these efficiency.
“But the flip side is that the cost of shutting them down is very high,” he added. He said it usually takes years for local organizations to build trust with authorities, leaders and communities.
In Mali, an organization called the Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA) was at risk of shutting down a project providing medical care to fewer than five children, breastfeeding mothers, and providing mobile health clinics to those who were internally displaced.
“We were forced to suspend activities and reduce activities at various points,” said Carlota Ruiz, head of Grant Management, adding that more than half of Arima’s operating budget in Mali came from USAID. “One of the main concerns about navigating suspension or project closures was the risks to our reliability and our relationship with the Ministry of Health and our relationship with the community we work with.”
A few weeks ago, the organization faced the prospect of shutting down critical services, but now the new grant allows Alima to provide 70,000 medical consultations to those in need and treat more than 5,000 children with severe acute malnutrition.
“We reached out to us by saying they were interested in funding the project in Mali and that the analysis they did was largely based on this decision,” Lewis told CNN. “It was a great relief and a breath of fresh air for all of us.”
Meanwhile, in Nigeria, the ACF says it’s close to securing funds to maintain one of its malnutrition projects after coordination with a professional team.
The funds will be directed to raising more readily available therapeutic foods (RUTFs). Timing was “very important,” according to ACF staff on the ground.
“June, July and August, including part of September, are Nigeria’s highest months in terms of malnutrition and food insecurity,” a staff member who asked not to name it told CNN. “Therefore, having these supplies in a situation where (other) fundraising mechanisms is stagnant makes a huge difference in terms of continuity in lifesaving activities.”
But funding is only for that one project. ACF also supports programs in northern Nigeria, providing food aid, clean water and sanitation, and supporting hundreds of clinics.
“It makes a lot of sense and it’s very useful to ensure continuity in activity and save the lives of thousands of children,” ACF workers said of the grant being finalized. “But this project cannot address every other aspect of our work.”
