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The Start Fund is a multi-donor pooled funding mechanism that consists of a network of international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and provides small-scale funding (up to £300k per organisation over a 45 day window) to frontline NGOs. It seeks to complement the existing humanitarian financing system by focusing on initial rapid response to low-profile, underfunded emergencies. The first phase of the Start Fund, April to December 2014, represents a design and build period where the Fund is open for allocations to crisis alerts, whilst simultaneously the infrastructure and Fund management processes are being tested and refined. 

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.  

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 review is one in a series of learning products developed by the Start Fund Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) team with the intention of providing actionable recommendations to improve decision making at the project, crisis and system level . Evidence and learning for the Start Fund is provided by World Vision UK.

The Start Fund opened its Crisis Anticipation Window in November 2016. In this report we set out the changes we have made so far, identify what we’ve learned during its first year and explain the plan to normalise and embed anticipation across the Start Network.

This review is one in a series of learning products developed by the Start Fund Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning team with the intention of providing actionable recommendations to improve decision making at the project, crisis and system level.

The study uses the Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (CHS) as a lens to review the extent to which Start funded projects are accountable to disaster-affected populations, and the influence this may have on the quality and relevance of these projects.

In order to establish a baseline on the state of localisation in the Start Fund and humanitarian sector in Bangladesh more generally, the Start Fund Bangladesh commissioned this external review.

Localisation is a foundational and non-negotiable principle within the Start Network. This report presents a ‘baseline assessment’ of where the Start Fund and three DEPP projects currently sits with the‘localisation agenda’.

Our third year was one of exciting progress and significant learning, with 74 alerts – nearly as many as our first two years combined – funding 94 projects in 29 countries, reaching nearly 2 million people affected by crisis. Find out more about the work of the Start Fund, including our performance, how we are meeting our commitments to the Grand Bargain, our Anticipation Window, and why we hold localisation at the heart of our work.

On 26 June, 2015, military clashes between the Colombian government and rebel forces displaced 434 of the 600 Embera Eyabida indigenous people living in Urrao, the capital of Urrao Minicipality, located in Antioquia department, Colombia.