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The group refer to themselves as the "salvage squad". After their sudden termination when overseas aid was slashed in the past months, a collective of committed workers decided to establish their own rescue package.

Choosing not to "dwell on sadness", Rob Rosenbaum, along with similarly motivated former agency staff, started efforts to save some of the vital initiatives that faced closure after the reductions.

Now, close to 80 projects have been rescued by a matchmaking service run by Rosenbaum and other former team members, which has obtained them over $110m in fresh financial support. The collective behind the Project Resource Optimization program projects it will assist 40 million people, encompassing many infants and toddlers.

After the termination of operations, funds were halted, thousands of employees were laid off, and projects worldwide either came to a shuddering halt or were barely continuing toward what the leader describes as "termination points".

The former staffer and some of his colleagues were reached out to by a foundation that "wanted to figure out how they could make the best use of their constrained funds".

They built a selection from the ended initiatives, selecting those "offering the most vital support per dollar" and where a alternative supporter could practically get involved and continue the work.

They quickly realised the requirement was more extensive than that original foundation and began to approach other potential donors.

"We referred to ourselves as the lifeboat crew at the outset," says Rosenbaum. "The organization has been collapsing, and there are too few lifeboats for all initiatives to board, and so we're trying to actually protect as many infants as we can, get as many on to these lifeboats as feasible, via the programmes that are offering assistance."

Pro, now working as part of a research organization, has secured funding for 79 projects on its selection in in excess of 30 regions. Several have had prior support restored. Nine were could not be preserved in time.

Financial support has come from a combination of philanthropic foundations and affluent donors. The majority wish to remain unidentified.

"The supporters come from varied motivations and viewpoints, but the shared sentiment that we've received from them is, 'I feel appalled by what's happening. I sincerely wish to figure out a way to intervene,'" explains the economist.

"In my view that there was an 'aha moment' for all of us as we started working on this, that this created an chance to transition from the inactivity and despair, wallowing in the distress of everything that was unfolding around us, to having a meaningful task to deeply commit to."

A specific initiative that has secured backing through the initiative is operations by the the medical alliance to provide services such as nutritional rehabilitation, maternity services and vital childhood vaccines in the country.

It is crucial to keep such programmes going, states the economist, not only because restarting operations if they stopped would be prohibitively pricey but also because of how much confidence would be lost in the zones of instability if the organization pulled out.

"The organization told us […] 'we are concerned that if we walk away, we may lose our place.'"

Initiatives with future-focused aims, such as improving medical infrastructure, or in other fields such as schooling, have been excluded from the project's focus. It also does not aim to maintain initiatives permanently but to "create a window for the groups and, honestly, the wider community, to determine a sustainable answer".

After securing backing for all projects on its first selection, Pro says it will now concentrate on reaching additional individuals with "proven, cost-effective interventions".