Every year on the 20th of June, World Refugee Day is used to recognise and commemorate the strength, courage and perseverance of refugees. It is important to recognise the difficulties that refugees face, and work towards a world where all refugees…
News and blogs
In May this year, members in Pakistan raised a Start Fund alert for a heatwave, the alert was activated. Members had collectively analysed weather forecasts and had raised the alert before temperatures reached deadly levels. Start Network's Sarah…
The Start Fund, which provides rapid humanitarian aid for overlooked crises, is marking the second anniversary of the World Humanitarian Summit by sharing the impact of its 4th year, through its new annual report released today.
An outbreak of Ebola virus disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has spread into the major north-western city of Mbandaka, only 50km from the border with Republic of the Congo, raising fears of a wider epidemic.
The Start Fund was activated and within 7 days £200,000 was allocated to five Start Network members who implemented mitigation projects on the ground. The projects included early warning systems analysis, food and seed distribution and drought…
As the first phase of the MERF was ending we commissioned an independent research report to help answer these questions, build a more robust evidence base and feed into any modifications for the next phase of the MERF. The research ‘The Migration…
When a fire ripped through Ellias Mollah, a ‘slum’ in Dhaka, the Start Fund Bangladesh provided help when there was no other support, meaning the people in Ellias Mollah who lost their homes, could quickly access cash to rebuild, and did not have to…
On 26 December 2013, two-year-old Emile fell ill in a remote village in rural Guinea. His illness was characterised by a high fever, diarrhoea and vomiting, and he died just two days later. His pregnant mother Sia, three-year-old sister Philomène,…
The Start Network is aiming to create national and regional hubs, which will be collectives of organisations in individual countries or regions. These hubs will function like local versions of the current international Start Network. When fully set…
‘He just collapsed and died on the road as he was coming here’- The District Health Officer who oversees the cholera treatment facility in Lilongwe, Malawi, talks about the latest cholera death- a Chief from a neighbouring village. ‘Cholera is a big…
‘Rapid onset’ crises relate to the majority of Start Fund alerts and interventions. But this is not the whole story. In its pursuit of helping the world’s most crisis affected populations, the Start Fund has also changed lives for the better in…
Humanitarian funding needs to improve: we must move away from reactive funding models to proactive ones if we want to prevent human suffering.