<
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/oct/03/we-called-ourselves-the-lifeboat-crew-how-fired-usaid-workers-launched-a-rescue-project-to-save-as-many-babies-as-we-can>
"They call themselves the “lifeboat crew”. After losing their jobs abruptly
when the Trump administration slashed US overseas aid earlier this year, a
group of dedicated workers decided to launch their own rescue package.
Refusing to “wallow in misery”, Rob Rosenbaum, a former USAID economist, and a
group of like-minded former agency staff began efforts to save some of the
vital programmes that faced closure after the cuts.
Now, almost 80 projects have been saved by a matchmaking service run by
Rosenbaum and other former USAID staff, that has found them $110m (£82m) of new
funding. The team behind the Project Resource Optimization(Pro) initiative
estimates it will benefit 40 million people, including many children under
five.
After USAID closed, spending was frozen, thousands of employees were laid off,
and projects worldwide either came to a shuddering halt or were left limping
towards what Rosenbaum terms “drop-dead dates”.
Rosenbaum and some of his colleagues were approached by a foundation that
“wanted to figure out how they could make the best use of their limited
resources”.
They created a menu from the list of cancelled projects, identifying those
“delivering the most life-saving aid per dollar” and where a new funder could
feasibly step in and keep things going.
They soon realised the demand was wider than that initial foundation and
started to approach other potential donors.
“We called ourselves the lifeboat crew at the beginning,” says Rosenbaum. “The
ship has been sinking, and there aren’t enough lifeboats for every project to
get on, and so we’re trying to literally save as many babies as we can, get as
many on to these lifeboats as possible, via the projects that are delivering
aid.”
Pro, now working as part of the Center for Global Development thinktank, has
secured funding for 79 projects on its list in more than 30 countries. Three
have had USAID funding restored. Nine were not able to be saved in time."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
