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These individuals call themselves as the "salvage squad". After being let go when international support underwent reductions earlier this year, a collective of devoted staff chose to launch their own emergency initiative.

Declining to "dwell on sadness", Rob Rosenbaum, along with equally dedicated ex-colleagues, initiated efforts to preserve some of the vital projects that were threatened with termination after the reductions.

Currently, almost 80 programmes have been rescued by a facilitation effort operated by the economist and additional ex- team members, which has obtained them over $110m in recent backing. The collective behind the Pro initiative projects it will benefit millions of people, covering many children under five.

After the agency closure, financial flows stopped, a large workforce was let go, and projects worldwide either stopped abruptly or were barely continuing toward what the economist calls "final deadlines".

He and some of his colleagues were approached by a foundation that "sought to determine how they could optimize the utilization of their limited resources".

They built a selection from the terminated programmes, identifying those "providing the most life-saving aid per dollar" and where a fresh backer could realistically step in and keep things going.

They soon realised the demand was wider than that original entity and commenced to approach other potential donors.

"We called ourselves the rescue team at the start," states the economist. "The ship has been sinking, and there are too few rescue vessels for every project to get on, and so we're attempting to actually save as many infants as we can, get as many on to these support channels as attainable, via the projects that are offering assistance."

The initiative, now working as part of a research organization, has obtained financial support for numerous programmes on its selection in in excess of 30 countries. Several have had original funding reinstated. A number were could not be preserved in time.

Funding has been provided by a mix of charitable organizations and wealthy individuals. Many wish to remain unnamed.

"They originate from diverse reasons and perspectives, but the common thread that we've received from them is, 'I feel shocked by what's going on. I really want to discover an approach to intervene,'" notes Rosenbaum.

"I think that there was an 'aha moment' for all of us as we started working on this, that this opened up an opportunity to shift from the ice-cream on the couch, wallowing in the distress of everything that was unfolding around us, to having a meaningful task to deeply commit to."

One project that has found support through Pro is work by the Alima to offer support such as care for malnourished children, maternal health care and crucial pediatric vaccinations in the West African nation.

It is essential to maintain these operations, states the leader, not only because restarting operations 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.

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

Projects with longer-term goals, such as improving medical infrastructure, or in additional areas such as learning, have not been part of the project's focus. It also does not seek to preserve programmes forever but to "provide a buffer for the entities and, frankly, the larger network, to devise a sustainable answer".

Now that they have obtained support for every initiative on its initial list, the initiative announces it will now prioritize reaching further populations with "established, economical measures".