'We called ourselves the lifeboat crew': The way terminated humanitarian workers launched a emergency initiative 'aiming to rescue as many babies as we can'.

They refer to themselves as the "salvage squad". After their sudden termination when foreign assistance was slashed in the past months, a team of dedicated staff opted to launch their own support program.

Choosing not to "dwell on sadness", an ex-staffer, along with equally dedicated former agency staff, initiated actions to save some of the vital programmes that were threatened with termination after the reductions.

Now, close to 80 programmes have been preserved by a facilitation effort run by the economist and other former team members, which has found them more than $110 million in recent backing. The team behind the resource optimization project effort projects it will help forty million people, including many infants and toddlers.

After the termination of operations, spending was frozen, thousands of employees were laid off, and projects worldwide either came to a shuddering halt or were left limping toward what Rosenbaum terms "drop-dead dates".

Rosenbaum and some of his colleagues were reached out to by a charitable entity that "sought to understand how they could maximize the impact of their finite budgets".

They developed a list from the cancelled projects, pinpointing those "offering the most critical assistance per dollar" and where a new funder could practically get involved and keep things going.

They soon understood the requirement was broader than that first entity and commenced to contact additional possible supporters.

"We dubbed ourselves the emergency squad at the outset," says Rosenbaum. "The vessel has been collapsing, and there are insufficient emergency options for each programme to board, and so we're trying to truly rescue as many babies as we can, get as many on to these lifeboats as possible, via the programmes that are delivering aid."

The initiative, now operating as part of a research organization, has garnered backing for 79 projects on its list in in excess of 30 regions. Several have had initial backing reinstated. Nine were unable to be rescued in time.

Backing has originated from a blend of non-profit entities and private benefactors. Most prefer to stay unnamed.

"They originate from very different motivations and viewpoints, but the common thread that we've encountered from them is, 'I am horrified by what's happening. I truly desire to discover an approach to step in,'" explains Rosenbaum.

"I believe that there was an 'lightbulb moment' for all of us as we started working on this, that this created an possibility to shift from the inactivity and despair, wallowing in the misery of everything that was occurring around us, to having something productive to fully engage with."

A specific initiative that has secured funding through Pro is work by the Alliance for International Medical Action to deliver care encompassing treatment for severe acute malnutrition, maternal health care and crucial pediatric vaccinations in Mali.

It is vital to continue these initiatives, states Rosenbaum, not only because reinitiating work if they stopped would be hugely expensive but also because of how much confidence would be forfeited in the war-torn regions if the organization left.

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

Programmes with future-focused aims, such as strengthening health systems, or in additional areas such as learning, have been excluded from the project's focus. It also does not aim to maintain initiatives permanently but to "create a window for the organizations and, truthfully, the wider community, to determine a permanent resolution".

Having found funding for each programme on its first selection, the initiative states it will now focus on reaching further populations with "tested, efficient solutions".