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A new era of humanitarian action

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Start Fund: Tropical storm response, Somalia, 2018

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New podcast launches to celebrate Start Network’s Change Makers

03Nov20

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Start Network's Annual Report for 2019

02Sep20

News Article

Eight national and local members funded for COVID-19 response

04Aug20

News Article

Start Fund COVID-19 Launches New Call for Alerts with £2.6m

17Nov20

About us

A new era of humanitarian action

Start Network is made up of more than 50 aid agencies across five continents, ranging from large international organisations to national NGOs. Together, our aim is to transform humanitarian action through innovation, fast funding, early action, and localisation.
We're tackling what we believe are the biggest systemic problems that the sector faces - problems including slow and reactive funding, centralised decision-making, and an aversion to change, means that people affected by crises around the world, do not receive the best help fast enough, and needless suffering results.
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Localisation

We believe that a more balanced international aid system, which shifts power to those closest to the front-line, will generate more effective and appropriate responses for people affected by crises.

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New froms of financing

New forms of financing

Our pooled funds enable fast and early action to tackle the kind of crises that are often overlooked by other funding mechanisms. Our risk financing pilots are introducing new ways of working that can save even more lives.

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Collective innovation

New ways of working are needed to tackle the challenges we face. By innovating collectively we can share expertise, insights and perspectives to shape a more effective humanitarian system.

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An international network

Today the Start Network extends to over 40 members and their 7000 partner organisations, employing more than a quarter of a million people across 200 countries and territories.
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Latest news

Blog Post

Managing uncertainty… opportunities to do things differently

Last week I attended the 33rd Annual meeting of ALNAP (Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action). The subject of this years’ meeting was “Facing the Unknown: Managing Uncertainty in Humanitarian Action” and the virtual events were split across two days with options for two different time zones.

23Nov20

News Article

Start Fund COVID-19 Launches New Call for Alerts with £2.6m

A new call for alerts has now been launched with approximately £2.6 million from the German Federal Foreign Office (GFFO). The goal for this call for alerts is to support members to act rapidly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in their country; to address neglected/underfunded aspects of the broader COVID-19 crisis with a focus on neglected communities/geographies; and mitigation through community-based responses.

17Nov20

Blog Post

Putting people and culture at the core of the Start Networks organisational agenda

Cat Sneath is Head of People and Culture at the Start Network. She made this mid-career move from the programme position of Head of Funds to an organisational one at the end of last year. Here she talks about her role, the work she is doing and what kindness means to her on World Kindness Day.

13Nov20

News Article

New podcast launches to celebrate Start Network’s Change Makers

As part of Start Network’s 10-year anniversary, we wanted to celebrate those who have made or are making a considerable impact within their community, country, region, organisation or wider system – individuals, teams or organisations that are driving positive change within the humanitarian sector. In order to tell each of their stories, we teamed up with A Good Day in Africa to produce a series of podcasts, which will be released bi-weekly from 4 November.

03Nov20

Latest resources

Resource

MONTHLY RISK BULLETIN ISSUED: NOVEMBER 2020

The monthly risk briefing reports on new, emerging or deteriorating situations; therefore, ongoing events that are considered to be unchanged are not featured and risks that are beyond the scope and scale of the Start Fund are also not featured. It is collated by the Start Network Anticipation and Risk Financing team using information from academia and research institutes, government departments, ACAPS, global risk indexes, risk information provided by Start Members and their partners, and the media. Key risks are shared and collated each month with FOREWARN input.

19Nov20

Resource

LEARN about Start Fund Bangladesh

Start Network’s first virtual Assembly meeting took take place from Monday 12 to Thursday 15 October 2020, alongside our 10-year anniversary celebrations. Watch the recording of the session on Start Fund Bangladesh and access all the learning materials below.

03Nov20

Resource

LEARN about Start Network Leadership and Strategy

Start Network’s first virtual Assembly meeting took take place from Monday 12 to Thursday 15 October 2020, alongside our 10-year anniversary celebrations. Watch the recording of the session with the Start Network Leadership and access the strategy document below.

03Nov20

Resource

LEARN about Start Network members and what they think about the network

Start Network’s first virtual Assembly meeting took take place from Monday 12 to Thursday 15 October 2020, alongside our 10-year anniversary celebrations. Watch the recording of the session on the Members Survey and access all the learning materials below.

03Nov20

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Start Network members