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They describe themselves as the "salvage squad". After losing their jobs when overseas aid was slashed earlier this year, a group of committed workers opted to establish their own emergency initiative.

Choosing not to "wallow in misery", an ex-staffer, along with like-minded ex-colleagues, initiated actions to rescue some of the vital initiatives that were at risk after the funding decreases.

Now, almost 80 initiatives have been rescued by a facilitation effort operated by the leader and fellow past agency employees, which has found them in excess of $110 million in new funding. The collective behind the Project Resource Optimization initiative estimates it will benefit millions of people, covering many young kids.

After the office shutdown, funds were halted, numerous staff lost their jobs, and international programmes either stopped abruptly or were struggling toward what the economist describes as "termination points".

Rosenbaum and some of his colleagues were reached out to by a charitable entity that "wanted to figure out how they could maximize the impact of their constrained funds".

They developed a selection from the cancelled projects, pinpointing those "offering the most life-saving aid per dollar" and where a alternative supporter could realistically get involved and continue the work.

They soon realised the demand was more extensive than that original foundation and began to contact additional possible supporters.

"We dubbed ourselves the lifeboat crew at the outset," states Rosenbaum. "The ship has been failing, and there are insufficient lifeboats for each programme to be saved, and so we're striving to literally rescue as many young children as we can, place as many onto these support channels as attainable, via the programmes that are providing support."

The initiative, now working as part of a international policy center, has secured funding for 79 projects on its roster in more than 30 countries. A few have had initial backing reinstated. Several others were unable to be rescued in time.

Financial support has been provided by a mix of non-profit entities and wealthy individuals. The majority wish to remain anonymous.

"The supporters stem from very different backgrounds and opinions, but the shared sentiment that we've heard from them is, 'People are appalled by what's going on. I sincerely wish to find a method to step in,'" explains Rosenbaum.

"I think that there was an 'lightbulb moment' for the entire team as we began operating on this, that this created an chance to pivot from the inactivity and despair, wallowing in the distress of everything that was happening around us, to having a meaningful task to fully engage with."

A specific initiative that has found funding through the effort is activities by the the medical alliance to deliver care such as treatment for severe acute malnutrition, maternity services and vital childhood vaccines in the West African nation.

It is essential to maintain these operations, says the leader, not only because reinitiating work if they ceased would be prohibitively pricey but also because of how much reliance would be forfeited in the war-torn regions if the group left.

"They told us […] 'there is fear that if we depart, we may lose our place.'"

Initiatives with extended objectives, such as strengthening health systems, or in other fields such as schooling, have remained outside Pro's work. It also does not aim to save the projects indefinitely but to "buy time for the entities and, truthfully, the wider community, to figure out a permanent resolution".

Now that they have obtained funding for each programme on its original roster, Pro says it will now prioritize reaching further populations with "tested, efficient solutions".