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They refer to themselves as the "emergency rescue team". Following their sudden termination when overseas aid was slashed earlier this year, a group of committed staff decided to create their own emergency initiative.

Choosing not to "dwell on sadness", Rob Rosenbaum, along with like-minded former agency staff, initiated actions to rescue some of the essential programmes that were threatened with termination after the funding decreases.

At present, nearly eighty projects have been saved by a matchmaking service managed by Rosenbaum and other former agency employees, which has secured them more than $110 million in new funding. The team behind the Pro effort projects it will assist forty million people, encompassing many children under five.

Following the termination of operations, funds were halted, a large workforce was let go, and international programmes either came to a shuddering halt or were struggling toward what Rosenbaum calls "final deadlines".

Rosenbaum and some of his colleagues were contacted by a charitable entity that "wanted to determine how they could make the best use of their limited resources".

They created a menu from the ended initiatives, pinpointing those "delivering the most vital support per dollar" and where a alternative supporter could realistically get involved and keep things going.

They quickly understood the requirement was more extensive than that initial entity and started to contact further funding sources.

"We referred to ourselves as the rescue team at the start," explains the economist. "The ship has been sinking, and there are too few rescue vessels for each programme to be saved, and so we're trying to actually protect as many infants as we can, get as many on to these rescue options as attainable, via the initiatives that are delivering aid."

Pro, now working as part of a global development thinktank, has obtained financial support for 79 projects on its roster in over thirty countries. A few have had original funding returned. Several others were could not be preserved in time.

Financial support has come from a mix of non-profit entities and private benefactors. Most choose to be unnamed.

"They originate from very different motivations and viewpoints, but the common thread that we've heard from them is, 'I feel horrified by what's unfolding. I truly desire to find a method to help,'" explains the leader.

"I believe that there was an 'eureka moment' for everyone involved as we started working on this, that this opened up an possibility to shift from the inactivity and despair, remaining in the distress of everything that was happening around us, to having something productive to deeply commit to."

One project that has found support through the initiative is operations by the Alliance for International Medical Action to provide services such as nutritional rehabilitation, prenatal and postnatal support and essential immunizations for kids in the country.

It is vital to keep such programmes going, says the economist, not only because reinitiating work if they ceased would be hugely expensive but also because of how much confidence would be forfeited in the conflict-ravaged areas if the organization left.

"Alima told us […] 'we are concerned that if we depart, we may be unable to return.'"

Programmes with longer-term goals, such as strengthening health systems, or in other fields such as education, have not been part of the initiative's scope. It also is not trying to maintain initiatives permanently but to "provide a buffer for the organizations and, frankly, the wider community, to devise a sustainable answer".

After securing support for each programme on its initial list, the initiative says it will now prioritize helping further populations with "proven, cost-effective interventions".