🔗 Share this article

These individuals call themselves as the "salvage squad". Following their sudden termination when international support was slashed earlier this year, a collective of dedicated staff opted to launch their own support program.

Choosing not to "dwell on sadness", an ex-staffer, along with like-minded former agency staff, began actions to rescue some of the essential initiatives that were threatened with termination after the cuts.

Currently, almost 80 programmes have been rescued by a facilitation effort managed by the economist and additional ex- aid staff, which has secured them in excess of $110 million in recent backing. The collective behind the Pro initiative projects it will benefit millions of people, including many infants and toddlers.

Following the agency closure, spending was frozen, a large workforce was let go, and global initiatives either ended suddenly or were barely continuing toward what the leader calls "final deadlines".

He and some of his colleagues were approached by a charitable entity that "sought to determine how they could optimize the utilization of their constrained funds".

They built a menu from the cancelled projects, pinpointing those "delivering the most life-saving aid per dollar" and where a new funder could realistically intervene and continue the work.

They quickly recognized the need was more extensive than that initial organization and began to reach out to additional possible supporters.

"We called ourselves the emergency squad at the start," states Rosenbaum. "The ship has been sinking, and there aren't enough rescue vessels for all initiatives to be saved, and so we're attempting to literally save as many infants as we can, get as many on to these support channels as feasible, via the projects that are delivering aid."

Pro, now functioning as part of a international policy center, has secured funding for seventy-nine initiatives on its list in in excess of 30 nations. A few have had original funding restored. A number were could not be preserved in time.

Backing has been provided by a combination of non-profit entities and private benefactors. The majority choose to be anonymous.

"They come from diverse backgrounds and opinions, but the common thread that we've heard from them is, 'I am shocked by what's unfolding. I really want to find a method to intervene,'" notes the leader.

"In my view that there was an 'lightbulb moment' for all of us as we began operating on this, that this created an opportunity to shift from the passive sadness, wallowing in the distress of everything that was happening around us, to having a constructive endeavor to deeply commit to."

A specific initiative that has found support through the initiative is activities by the Alliance for International Medical Action to deliver care such as nutritional rehabilitation, prenatal and postnatal support and vital childhood vaccines in the West African nation.

It is essential to continue these initiatives, explains the economist, not only because resuming activities if they ceased would be prohibitively pricey but also because of how much trust would be eroded in the war-torn regions if the alliance left.

"They informed us […] 'there is fear that if we withdraw, we may be unable to return.'"

Programmes with future-focused aims, such as strengthening health systems, or in additional areas such as learning, have remained outside Pro's work. It also does not aim to preserve programmes forever but to "create a window for the groups and, frankly, the larger network, to determine a permanent resolution".

After securing support for all projects on its original roster, the team says it will now focus on helping more people with "tested, efficient solutions".