Start Fund Involvement in ‘Under the Radar’ Crises: An External Analysis

The Start Fund is a multi-donor pooled rapid response fund that initiates disbursement of humanitarian finance within 72 hours. It is collectively owned and managed by the Start Network members, a group of 42 national and international aid agencies from five continents. The fund was officially launched on 1st April 2014 and has an annual disbursement of approximately £11 million (GBP). It is designed to fill gaps in the humanitarian funding architecture in three main areas: underfunded small to medium scale crises; forecasts of impending crises; and spikes in chronic humanitarian crises. This product is produced for the Start Fund, part of the Start Network. Evidence and learning for the Start Fund is provided by World Vision UK.

This report, one of a series of externally commissioned ‘learning reviews’, aims to support the Start Fund’s definition of ‘under the radar’ crises and the application of the term in Start Fund processes. Following an analysis of a range of relevant tools designed to rank or simply catalogue emergencies,it was revealed that the term, ‘under the radar’ is not an industry standard, nor does it have a standard definition or application. In and of itself, therefore, it is insufficiently precise to add any real value in technical discussions. Each tool or index which defines a variant of 'under the radar’ emergencies uses a definition or methodology which is fit for its respective purpose. For the Start Fund, specifying the explicit purpose for which the term is going to be applied is a critical consideration.

You can view all Start Fund Alerts on our interactive map and learn more about the Crisis Anticipation Window by clicking here.