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They call themselves as the "lifeboat crew". After losing their jobs when international support underwent reductions earlier this year, a collective of committed staff opted to create their own support program.

Refusing to "wallow in misery", a former economist, along with equally dedicated ex-colleagues, initiated efforts to rescue some of the crucial projects that were threatened with termination after the cuts.

Now, nearly eighty programmes have been rescued by a matchmaking service operated by the leader and other former agency employees, which has secured them over $110m in new funding. The group behind the Pro initiative calculates it will assist 40 million people, encompassing many children under five.

Following the agency closure, financial flows stopped, thousands of employees were laid off, and global initiatives either came to a shuddering halt or were barely continuing toward what Rosenbaum terms "drop-dead dates".

The former staffer and several team members were contacted by a foundation that "sought to figure out how they could maximize the impact of their limited resources".

They developed a selection from the cancelled projects, pinpointing those "providing the most vital support per dollar" and where a fresh backer could realistically intervene and continue the work.

They quickly realised the requirement was broader than that initial foundation and began to approach other potential donors.

"We called ourselves the lifeboat crew at the outset," explains the leader. "The ship has been failing, and there are insufficient rescue vessels for every project to be saved, and so we're attempting to actually protect as many young children as we can, place as many onto these lifeboats as feasible, via the programmes that are delivering aid."

The project, now operating as part of a global development thinktank, has garnered backing for seventy-nine initiatives on its selection in in excess of 30 nations. A few have had prior support returned. A number were not able to be saved in time.

Financial support has come from a combination of philanthropic foundations and private benefactors. Many choose to be anonymous.

"The supporters stem from varied backgrounds and opinions, but the shared sentiment that we've heard from them is, 'I am shocked by what's going on. I truly desire to figure out a way to step in,'" notes the leader.

"I think that there was an 'aha moment' for all of us as we began operating on this, that this opened up an chance to shift from the passive sadness, wallowing in the gloom of everything that was occurring around us, to having a constructive endeavor to really sink our teeth into."

One project that has secured support through the effort is activities by the Alima to offer support encompassing care for malnourished children, maternal health care and essential immunizations for kids in Mali.

It is essential to continue these initiatives, explains the leader, not only because reinitiating work if they ended would be hugely expensive but also because of how much confidence would be lost in the zones of instability if the alliance pulled out.

"They informed us […] 'we are concerned that if we walk away, we may be unable to return.'"

Projects with longer-term goals, such as improving medical infrastructure, or in different sectors such as learning, have been excluded from the initiative's scope. It also does not seek to maintain initiatives permanently but to "buy time for the groups and, honestly, the larger network, to determine a permanent resolution".

Having found backing for all projects on its first selection, the initiative says it will now concentrate on assisting more people with "proven, cost-effective interventions".