The ‘Evaluation of the Start Fund’s Preparedness to Scale-up’, is Humanitarian Outcomes’ third learning project as a Start Fund partner and easily the most challenging one. The evaluation coincided with a period of quite fundamental and fast-moving change for the Start Fund, including a recent shift in the status of the organisation to a newly independent charity.
Local and national-level organisations, working in partnership with Start Network members, are key to the planning and implementation of Start Fund projects. Through collaboration with these local partners, Start Network members gain the access and community knowledge that are needed for effective interventions. The Start Network’s ongoing 2020 Local Partner Survey has also revealed some key benefits of involvement in Start Fund projects for these local organisations. Three key areas that have emerged from interviews with Start Fund local partners worldwide are: increased capacity, improved credibility, and heightened visibility.
Originally published by Open Democracy. National and local organisations ask INGOs to support them, not compete with them.
Andrew Kavala is the Country Director for MANEPO overseeing a staff of 32. He is also doing a PhD in Strategic Management, chairs a Start Fund members coordination group, is a member of the Membership Committee and is the Start Fund Regional Advisor.
The Start Fund’s value lies in its use as a tool by and for its members, with member agency representatives having the ability to define and adjust the Start Fund remit to the realistic needs and flexibilities of humanitarian crises.
On International Women’s Day, we take time to reflect on the achievements of women and girls as well as understanding the strides that must be made for further gender equity around the world. At Start Network, we are beginning a gender review of the Start Fund’s projects and processes to see what more can be done to reach women and girls during humanitarian emergencies.
In 2016, the Start Network launched the Start Fund Anticipation Window in Bonn. We set out to link Start Network members with forecasts of impending crises and to facilitate country-level collaborative risk analysis, to release funds before a disaster strikes. Twenty-five Start Network members have since led innovative anticipatory projects, in twenty-four crisis-prone countries.
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.
This year’s harsh winter cold fronts created a potential humanitarian crisis in Mexico, especially in light of the country’s weak infrastructure and high rates of poverty. Start Network member, CADENA, submitted an alert to Start Fund in early November in anticipation of this crisis.
