Start Network Hubs

What is a Hub?

The Start Network has proven its ability to provide faster, collective and more efficient ways to help people in need. We now want to take this way of working to scale, while shifting more power and resources to those closest to humanitarian crises.

To achieve this, Start Network needs to change its model and evolve from the largely centralised entity it is today, to a dispersed, international network of Start Network “hubs”. This new model was determined as part of a global co-design process in 2017.

Hubs will be collectives of local, national and international organisations operating in the same country or region.

These hubs which will control their own resources and define their own responses to crises affecting their communities, united by a shared purpose and common standards, and supported by a global Start Network Platform. 

Read more about our vision for the future of Start Network or watch the video in English, Spanish, French.

Hub membership

How to get involved

The Start Network is opening up the option of hub-based membership to organisations based in countries where international humanitarian aid work is undertaken (as defined by the DAC list of countries eligible for Official Development Assistance or ODA).

This process began earlier in 2018 with a global call for Expressions of Interest (EOI), which enabled the Start Network team to map organisational and geographical interest in the hubs model.

With an overwhelming 329 responses, the Start Network is now guiding interested organisations to move further on their journey as collectives, organising themselves in a transformative way. Please see the locations organisations have suggested to create Start Network hubs.

This process is supported by a Hubs Advisory Group, which was set up to guide these hub collectives forward. Read notes from the group’s meetings here.