Live Crisis Alerts

A new era of humanitarian action

video

Start Fund: Tropical storm response, Somalia, 2018

Featured news

News Article

Start Network statement in response to reports of sexual abuse in DRC during Ebola crisis

30Sep20

Publication

Monthly Risk Bulletin Issued: September 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.

15Sep20

Blog Post

Alert CV19 062: Older people at risk in Bosnia and Herzegovina

11Sep20

Annual Report / Evaluation

Informe Anual de 2019 - Espanol

El primer informe anual de la organización benéfica independiente Start Network examina cómo nuestras soluciones están abordando los problemas del sistema de ayuda mundial. Informando sobre lo que la red logró en 2019, el informe contiene tres áreas: localización, nueva financiación e innovación colectiva, así como la forma en que nos hicimos independientes y nuestras principales funciones.

02Sep20

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.
Read more

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.

Read more

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.

Read more

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.

Read more

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.
Read more

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

Accountability, Feedback & Complaints Mechanisms in Humanitarian Responses to Migration

This guidance, developed by humanitarian consultant Clea Kahn, aims to give humanitarian actors a guidance for developing their accountability mechanisms in the context of mixed migration, with a focus on complaints and feedback mechanisms. Excellent guidance already exists on how to implement feedback and complaint mechanisms in humanitarian contexts, and this is not intended to replace or duplicate those. It should be read as a supplement, to provide additional reflection for humanitarian actors working in migration contexts.

27Jul20

Resource

Monthly Risk Briefing: July 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.

14Jul20

Resource

Start Fund COVID-19 Update – 2nd edition

This document shares updates from Start Fund COVID-19 Projects being implemented by members from all across the Start Network. This second edition includes short case studies from COVID-19 response projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Burkina Faso, Thailand and South Sudan.

02Jul20

Resource

Start Fund COVID-19 Update - 1st Edition

This document shares updates from Start Fund COVID-19 projects. This first edition includes short case studies from COVID-19 response projects in Timor Leste, Haiti, Lebanon, Peru, and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

29Jun20

Pages

The Network

Start Network members