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These individuals refer to themselves as the "salvage squad". After being let go when foreign assistance was slashed in the past months, a group of devoted professionals decided to create their own support program.

Choosing not to "dwell on sadness", a former economist, along with equally dedicated former agency staff, began efforts to rescue some of the crucial programmes that were at risk after the cuts.

Now, nearly eighty initiatives have been preserved by a connector platform run by the economist and fellow past team members, which has obtained them over $110m in recent backing. The group behind the resource optimization project program estimates it will assist millions of people, covering many young kids.

Following the agency closure, financial flows stopped, thousands of employees were laid off, and projects worldwide either came to a shuddering halt or were left limping toward what the leader describes as "termination points".

He and a few co-workers were reached out to by a philanthropic organization that "sought to understand how they could make the best use of their limited resources".

They created a menu from the cancelled projects, selecting those "providing the most life-saving aid per dollar" and where a fresh backer could realistically get involved and maintain operations.

They soon recognized the need was broader than that initial foundation and began to reach out to further funding sources.

"We called ourselves the lifeboat crew at the start," states Rosenbaum. "The vessel has been failing, and there are insufficient emergency options for each programme to be saved, and so we're striving to literally protect as many babies as we can, get as many on to these support channels as attainable, via the initiatives that are offering assistance."

Pro, now working as part of a research organization, has obtained financial support for numerous programmes on its list in over thirty countries. Three have had initial backing restored. Several others were not able to be saved in time.

Funding has originated from a blend of philanthropic foundations and private benefactors. The majority wish to remain unidentified.

"The supporters come from very different reasons and perspectives, but the shared sentiment that we've heard from them is, 'People are shocked by what's happening. I sincerely wish to figure out a way to help,'" notes the economist.

"In my view that there was an 'aha moment' for everyone involved as we commenced efforts on this, that this created an opportunity to pivot from the passive sadness, remaining in the gloom of everything that was occurring around us, to having a meaningful task to deeply commit to."

A specific initiative that has found backing through the initiative is work by the Alliance for International Medical Action to provide services such as nutritional rehabilitation, maternal health care and essential immunizations for kids in Mali.

It is essential to continue these initiatives, explains the economist, not only because restarting operations if they stopped would be extremely costly but also because of how much trust would be lost in the zones of instability if the group withdrew.

"They shared […] 'there is fear that if we withdraw, we may lose our place.'"

Programmes with extended objectives, such as bolstering healthcare networks, or in other fields such as schooling, have been excluded from the initiative's scope. It also does not seek to preserve programmes forever but to "create a window for the organizations and, frankly, the larger network, to devise a permanent resolution".

After securing funding for each programme on its first selection, the team says it will now prioritize reaching more people with "proven, cost-effective interventions".