Annual Report 2019 - English

The first annual report for the independent Start Network charity looks at how our solutions are tackling problems in the global aid system. Reporting on what the network achieved in 2019, the report covers three areas; localisation, new financing and collective innovation, as well as how we became independent and our key enabling functions. View the digital report in English.

Some highlights include:

We defied slow and reactive funding. In February we received the 300th alert to our global rapid response Start Fund. In August we announced a $10 million pay-out for the drought insurance we purchased through ARC Replica in Senegal and began working with our members to plan for drought mitigation activities there.
We channelled funding directly to local organisations. Start Fund Bangladesh channelled 55% of its funds to local NGOs during the year. In August, we completed the design of our new tiered due diligence process, and by year-end had pledges from three current donors for direct funding to our smaller, local members.
We co-created community-based innovations with close to 100 local teams through our DEPP Innovations Labs. Many have secured additional funding, partnerships or clients.
We diversified our donorship, through a new grant to the Start Fund from our first private funder, the IKEA Foundation.
We took a giant leap toward realising our localisation ambitions by launching five new civil society hubs in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guatemala, India, the Pacific and Pakistan.
On 1 May 2019, we became an independent charity: a membership of humanitarian aid organisations that is mission-led and results-driven; one that measures success by the strength of its network and its ability to deliver positive change for those vulnerable to and affected by crisis.
We also look ahead to what we aim to achieve in 2020, a year that also marks Start Network’s tenth anniversary.