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These individuals describe themselves as the "emergency rescue team". After losing their jobs when foreign assistance underwent reductions recently, a team of dedicated staff decided to launch their own rescue package.

Declining to "wallow in misery", an ex-staffer, along with similarly motivated past team members, began endeavors to preserve some of the crucial programmes that were at risk after the reductions.

Now, close to 80 programmes have been preserved by a matchmaking service operated by the leader and additional ex- aid staff, which has found them in excess of $110 million in recent backing. The team behind the resource optimization project effort estimates it will benefit 40 million people, including many children under five.

After the agency closure, funds were halted, a large workforce was let go, and global initiatives either came to a shuddering halt or were struggling toward what the leader describes as "final deadlines".

The former staffer and some of his colleagues were contacted by a charitable entity that "aimed to determine how they could maximize the impact of their limited resources".

They created a selection from the terminated programmes, identifying those "providing the most vital support per dollar" and where a alternative supporter could realistically step in and continue the work.

They rapidly recognized the demand was more extensive than that initial organization and began to approach additional possible supporters.

"We dubbed ourselves the rescue team at the start," explains Rosenbaum. "The ship has been collapsing, and there are insufficient lifeboats for each programme to be saved, and so we're attempting to truly save as many babies as we can, secure spots for these support channels as possible, via the projects that are delivering aid."

The project, now functioning as part of a global development thinktank, has garnered backing for seventy-nine initiatives on its roster in more than 30 countries. Three have had prior support returned. Several others were could not be preserved in time.

Funding has been provided by a mix of charitable organizations and private benefactors. Most choose to be unidentified.

"These donors originate from very different motivations and viewpoints, but the unifying theme that we've heard from them is, 'I am appalled by what's happening. I sincerely wish to find a method to help,'" says the leader.

"I believe that there was an 'lightbulb moment' for all of us as we began operating on this, that this provided an possibility to pivot from the passive sadness, dwelling on the distress of everything that was happening around us, to having a constructive endeavor to fully engage with."

An example programme that has obtained funding through the initiative is operations by the Alima to deliver care including care for malnourished children, maternal health care and essential immunizations for kids in the West African nation.

It is vital to maintain these operations, explains the leader, not only because restarting operations if they stopped would be extremely costly but also because of how much trust would be lost in the war-torn regions if the alliance left.

"The organization shared […] 'there is fear that if we withdraw, we may never be invited back.'"

Projects with longer-term goals, such as bolstering healthcare networks, or in different sectors such as education, have remained outside Pro's work. It also does not aim to maintain initiatives permanently but to "buy time for the organizations and, frankly, the wider community, to figure out a sustainable answer".

Now that they have obtained support for every initiative on its first selection, the team announces it will now focus on reaching more people with "tested, efficient solutions".