The Start Fund continues to be alerted to climate-related disasters and flooding is a particularly common hazard, with 12 flood-related alerts raised in 2020 so far. One of these alerts was raised by humanitarian agencies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo when the Mulongwe River flooded after heavy rainfall.
Across the world, we have seen a consistent rise of disease outbreaks in the past decade and Start Fund has been instrumental in responding to many of them, including Cholera, Dengue fever, Ebola, and Lassa fever. Using project data from 12 activated Start Fund alerts and post-project learning exchanges from 2018 and 2019, we’ve developed four disease-specific learning papers and seven key lessons for COVID-19.
At Start Network we always aim to learn from experience. So, we have endeavoured to analyse the data and information from past Start Fund responses in order to present a set of lessons for COVID-19 projects.
Six years ago today, Christian Aid made the first alert to a new aid financing mechanism. The Start Fund’s first alert to food insecurity in South Sudan went on to disburse just over £300,000 to Action Against Hunger, Christian Aid, Plan International and Tearfund within three days of the alert. Originally conceived as an antidote to the limitations of the large pooled funds and traditional emergency appeals, in 2020 the Start Fund has come of age, a recognised pillar within humanitarian financial architecture and a force for transformation in its own right.
En début de ce mois de Mars 2020, une pluie torrentielle accompagnée d’un vent violent s’est abattue sur la zone de sante de Kalima en territoire de Pangi, Province du Maniema en République Démocratique du Congo causant plusieurs dégâts matériels et humains.
Earlier this month, torrential rain accompanied by violent wind fell on Kalima in Maniema Province, Democratic Republic of Congo, causing both material and human damage.
The Start Fund has an established practice of providing management response to its external, independent evaluations. Developed through a participatory process, the management response helps to ensure that the evaluations are used, contributing to the Start Funds’ effectiveness, learning, and accountability. Start Fund constituted an Evaluation Management Response Drafting Committee, comprising of: Three representatives from the Start Fund Strategic Committee: John Birchenough from Catholic international development charity, CAFOD; Jonathan Brooker from Solidarites International UK; and Saba Mahmood from Islamic Relief Worldwide and Start Funds, Head of Funds, Lucile Brethes Start Fund Manager, Lucretia Puentes Start Funds MEAL Manager, Chaitali Chattopadhyay The drafting committee members carried out a wide-range consultation with the broader Start Fund committee members, Start Network Leadership Team and the Board members to develop a comprehensive management response to the evaluation. The document can be accessed here. The progress against the management response will be presented to the Start Fund Strategic Committee on a regular basis to ensure compliance and accountability towards the committed actions.
This external evaluation was commissioned to ‘assess the preparedness of Start Fund to scale-up its operations and suggest future growth rate scenarios’. The overarching purpose of the evaluation is stated as two-fold: Assess the preparedness of the Start Fund to scale up its operation; Inform the Start Fund of the appropriate scale-up considerations (including the size and growth rate scenarios).
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.
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.
