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The new Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC), Martin Griffiths, has officially started his role as the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, the most senior humanitarian role at the United Nations. He will be leading the policies and strategic decisions of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) which will have an impact across the humanitarian sector and the way the sector responds to crises.

This year, our local and national members took part in the Civil Society 7 Summit hosted by the UK government and Bond. Our local and national members engaged in conversations and roundtables, discussing and making recommendations on seven priorities.

As part of Start Network’s 10-year anniversary, we wanted to celebrate those who have made or are making a considerable impact within their community, country, region, organisation or wider system – individuals, teams or organisations that are driving positive change within the humanitarian sector. In order to tell each of their stories, we teamed up with A Good Day in Africa to produce a series of podcasts, which will be released bi-weekly from 4 November.

I am delighted to present to you A Decade of Positive Disruption, a celebration of ten years of Start Network achievements and impacts on its 10-year anniversary.

Start Network's 2020 Assembly, the first one to be held online, begins today. The four-day event includes the network's 10-year anniversary celebrations.

Here Saeed Ullah Khan shares some of his reflections on the achievements and challenges of Start Network’s Disasters and Emergencies Preparedness Programme (DEPP) in Pakistan, his observations on its continuing legacy and his suggestions on how these efforts could be further improved.

More than 30 Start Network members have supported a letter to the UK Prime Minister, raising our concern over the decision to merge the Department for International Development and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office because of its potentially devastating consequences for humanitarian aid.

Concern Worldwide was one of the founding members of the Start Network when it was first conceived under the Consortium of British Humanitarian Agencies 10 years ago. Here Bob Ruxton, Director of Programme Support at Concern, shares with us some thoughts on being a member of the Start Network and highlights the importance of working collectively in challenging the system and the potential of the hubs as the source of future energy for the Start Network.

The Transforming Surge Capacity project was one of the Start Network DEPP projects. We asked Pamela Combinido, a local consultant tasked with evaluating the programme in the Philippines, about her involvement in the project and its major achievements.