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Although drought can be predicted months in advance, humanitarian assistance is often delayed – because it takes time to raise funds after the crisis has happened.

Coordination is one of the areas where the design of the Start Network’s ARC Replica pay-out in Senegal has been most ambitious.

The Start Network’s $10.6m ARC Replica pay-out in Senegal is being used to support the food security and livelihoods of more than 27,000 households across seven regions of Senegal. 

During the heatwave season, temperatures in Pakistan regularly soar above 40 degrees celsius and past heatwaves in the country have been fatal. In order to provide a faster, more localised and proactive response, Start Network developed a predictive model with pre-agreed triggers, which would release pre-positioned funding when the trigger was met.

Through ARC Replica, Start Network has sought to introduce this new financing approach to the NGO community, while protecting communities at risk of drought in Senegal.

Like many villages in the heart of Senegal’s semi-arid Diourbel region, Yassi Gueye features a covering of sand, towering baobab trees and staggering heat. It has not rained since October, and everything on the desert-like earth has dried up.

As extreme weather patterns are becoming every-day news, a mounting body of evidence paints an increasingly dire picture of the present and future impacts of climate change. As a result, governments, NGOs, businesses and citizens are increasingly relying on data to foresee the loss and damage climate change can cause.

In an official ceremony in Darkar, Senegal today the Start Network was issued with a symbolic cheque of 10M USD in the largest every early humanitarian action pay out.

Des polices d'assurance innovantes contre les risques climatiques souscrites par des agences humanitaires devraient permettre de venir en aide à 1,3 million de personnes en Afrique de l'Ouest. Parmi les pays bénéficiaires figurent le Sénégal, le Mali, la Mauritanie, le Burkina Faso et la Gambie.

The first of a 3 part blog series reflecting on the experiences of the DEPP Labs themselves. In this piece, Scarlett Sturridge explores some of the personal traits and skills required to make a successful innovator.