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The group describe themselves as the "lifeboat crew". Following losing their jobs when international support underwent reductions recently, a group of committed workers opted to create their own rescue package.

Choosing not to "dwell on sadness", Rob Rosenbaum, along with similarly motivated past team members, started efforts to preserve some of the vital programmes that were threatened with termination after the reductions.

At present, close to 80 programmes have been rescued by a facilitation effort managed by Rosenbaum and additional ex- agency employees, which has secured them in excess of $110 million in recent backing. The team behind the resource optimization project effort calculates it will benefit millions of people, encompassing many children under five.

After the agency closure, financial flows stopped, a large workforce was let go, and projects worldwide either ended suddenly or were left limping toward what Rosenbaum terms "termination points".

He and some of his colleagues were contacted by a charitable entity that "aimed to figure out how they could optimize the utilization of their limited resources".

They created a menu from the cancelled projects, pinpointing those "delivering the most vital support per dollar" and where a alternative supporter could practically intervene and continue the work.

They soon realised the demand was wider than that initial organization and commenced to contact other potential donors.

"We called ourselves the emergency squad at the beginning," states the leader. "The vessel has been collapsing, and there are too few rescue vessels for all initiatives to board, and so we're trying to truly rescue as many babies as we can, get as many on to these rescue options as attainable, via the programmes that are delivering aid."

Pro, now working as part of a global development thinktank, has garnered backing for 79 projects on its roster in more than 30 nations. A few have had original funding restored. Nine were unable to be rescued in time.

Financial support has come from a combination of philanthropic foundations and wealthy individuals. Most wish to remain anonymous.

"They originate from diverse motivations and viewpoints, but the unifying theme that we've encountered from them is, 'I feel horrified by what's happening. I truly desire to discover an approach to step in,'" notes the economist.

"I think that there was an 'eureka moment' for the entire team as we started working on this, that this opened up an opportunity to shift from the ice-cream on the couch, remaining in the misery of everything that was occurring around us, to having something productive to deeply commit to."

An example programme that has found support through the initiative is work by the the medical alliance to deliver care such as nutritional rehabilitation, maternal health care and essential immunizations for kids in the West African nation.

It is crucial to continue these initiatives, states the leader, not only because reinitiating work if they ceased would be extremely costly but also because of how much trust would be eroded in the war-torn regions if the group withdrew.

"The organization told us […] 'we're very worried that if we withdraw, we may never be invited back.'"

Programmes with longer-term goals, such as strengthening health systems, or in additional areas such as education, have not been part of Pro's work. It also does not seek to preserve programmes forever but to "create a window for the groups and, honestly, the broader ecosystem, to devise a longer-term solution".

Having found backing for every initiative on its original roster, Pro states it will now concentrate on helping more people with "established, economical measures".