Through the support of the Start Fund COVID-19, Solidarités International and Première Urgence Internationale and their local partners Fundación Entre Dos Tierras and Red Humanitaria, are joining forces to meet the critical food and hygiene needs of this vulnerable population.
Using local membership strength of a pooled funding mechanism to extend humanitarian support during a pandemic.
Increasingly restrictive border policies have created the most dangerous route in the world. The coronavirus pandemic has made it even worse. The Central Mediterranean Route runs from sub-saharan Africa through the deserts of Niger, to conflict-ridden Libya and across the Mediterranean Sea to Italy. It’s been named the most perilous migration route in the world by the Institute of Migration as people are forced into destitution by smugglers and risk dying while crossing the desert or drowning in the sea.
Even before the outbreak of COVID-19, older Venezuelan migrants, returnees and those in need of protection in La Guajira, Colombia were struggling to access basic necessities such as food, healthcare and WASH facilities. Since the pandemic hit, their living conditions have worsened as they can no longer live off informal trade or access social canteens due to lockdown restrictions.
Every June, humanitarian agencies gather together at the UN headquarters in New York to discuss and agree on how to best tackle the most recent and pressing humanitarian concerns—it’s called the ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council) Humanitarian Affairs Segment (HAS). Start Network joined UN member states and organisations, IFRC and the Risk-informed Early Action Partnership (REAP) for a side event, which discussed an ‘Anticipatory Approach to Humanitarian Crisis and COVID-19’.
Last month I received a letter from a group of emerging leaders within the Start Network, who are working together to build ‘hubs’, groups of civil society organisations that will form the backbone of the Start Network once they evolve and grow.
Shonnasgacha is a small village of Keshobpur Upazila of Jashore district where 210 families live in a 1.5 sq. km area. While the country was waking up to the COVID-19 threat in the early stages of the lockdown, the locals of Shonnasgacha village took measures to protect themselves.
As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds, Cameroon has been afflicted with one of the highest numbers of confirmed cases in sub-Saharan African. The Start Network’s Migration Emergency Response Fund (MERF) funded one of the first projects in the country to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and work to complement existing responses.
Following high levels of interest from members, Start Network reopened the Start Fund COVID-19 for a second call for alerts on 11 May. Based on learning from the first call for alerts, as well as a country prioritisation exercise, this call was limited to seven identified countries: Afghanistan, Burundi, Central African Republic, DRC, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. Of these, the Start Fund committee allocated funding to: Burundi, Central African Republic, Somalia and Yemen.
The COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity to prioritise locally led responses and reverse existing inequities within the humanitarian sector. The Alliance for Empowering Partnership (A4EP) shares 10 recommendations from frontline responders to ensure that we live up to the Grand Bargain.
