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The European Union (EU) has announced €2 million in funding for Start Network, a global network of over 90 humanitarian organisations, to support its innovative Start Ready program. Currently operating in eight countries in Asia and Africa, Start Ready focuses on establishing rapid and relevant risk financing mechanisms based on crisis preparedness plans and pre-determined triggers developed with, and by, local communities and is expected to protect over 600,000 people

Start Ready contributes to a more locally led and anticipatory humanitarian system by building Disaster Risk Financing systems through networks of members at the national level, ensuring these systems are governed and owned by national stakeholders, and encourages direct funding to flow to members. It is contributing to the shift in the way that humanitarian action is approached and delivered by offering a powerful alternative for collaborating, financing and operating. 

At the recent COP28 summit, the UK government allocated a substantial £100 million to tackle climate change, focusing on supporting at-risk communities - of which £6 million will be dedicated to protecting Senegal, Somalia, Madagascar and Zimbabwe from extreme drought and/or cyclone events through the ARC Replica mechanism.

In the first Start Ready risk pool, Start Network provided protection to 590,019 people in 8 countries, from 10 climate risks. Over the course of 12 months, Start Ready was activated 8 times.

The Howden Group Foundation has pledged £400,000 to Start Network in line with its commitment to support scalable and sustainable solutions that build the resilience of disproportionately affected communities to climate change around the world.

This report summarises the structuring of funding for the second Start Ready risk pool, outlining how the financing mechanism is allocating and prepositioning funding for the various risks. It provides an overview of the governance and decision-making process of the pool, the level of coverage and protection offered, and what is new in this risk pool.

In the second risk pool, £4.5m has been stretched to £7.3m to protect communities against droughts, floods, cyclones and heatwaves in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Somalia, Pakistan, Philippines, Bangladesh, Madagascar and Senegal. Sarah Klassen, Start Ready Programme Manager, provides reflections on the decision-making process to structure funding for the second risk pool and why this year is an important one for Start Ready. 

Tropical Cyclone (TC) Freddy made landfall on Tuesday evening, 21 February in the coastal town of Mananjary in Madagascar.

This report outlines how Start Ready funds were structured across the portfolio of risks in its first pool which runs from May 2022 to April 2023.

We are excited to present the last instalment in the suite of e-courses for Start Ready and its Disaster Risk Financing system.