In June 2021, Bright Star Development Society Balochistan (BSDSB), were funded to assist in mitigating an anticipated heatwave in Sibi (Pakistan). Bright Star provided behavioural messaging in addition to ‘cooling facilities’ that provided cold water and a place to rest.
The humanitarian sector aims to be locally led and therefore, it is important that the humanitarian sector listens to organisations acting at the local scale, so we can learn from their experiences and adapt to meet their needs. Over recent years, Start Network has engaged local and national non-governmental organisations through interviews and surveys to determine ways in which humanitarian structures can do better to support them. Gathering perceptions from non-governmental organisations has led to some pertinent findings related to exclusionary practices that some organisations acting at the local scale experience and led to some key recommendations that humanitarian actors can begin to implement in order to build equitable partnerships. While more in-depth research on these systemic issues continues to be conducted by Start Network and other organisations, we hope that this overview can assist international actors to begin positively disrupting the traditional systems that create barriers to equity within crisis response.
In June 2021, Bright Star Development Society Balochistan (also known as BSDSB or Bright Star) were funded to assist in mitigating against the anticipated heatwave in Sibi (Pakistan). In this locally-led anticipatory action response Bright Star provided behaviour messaging in addition to "cooling facilities" with cold water and a place to rest. This paper summarises some of the evidence and learning from an evaluation of this response.
Start Network has launched Intro to Disaster Risk Financing, a new online course for our members and their local partners. This course will build your understanding of Start Ready's proactive Disaster Risk Financing (DRF) approach.
This study aims to map the flow of funding for disaster risk management (DRM) in the Philippines in recent years, particularly from 2018 to 2020 (and part of 2021). For a country that is highly vulnerable to multiple, compounding hazards, tracking the sources of annual financing to deal with disaster risks, both ex ante and ex post, is necessary to help us understand better the scope of actionable DRM strategies by both government and non-government actors, especially in light of anticipatory humanitarian action. The exercise is also valuable in identifying financing gaps geographically and hazards-wise, as well as in exploring the impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on DRM funding.
Start Network members in the Philippines have identified severe winds and flooding caused by tropical cyclones as the most impactful hazards that have hit the country. This study identifies the geographic and socio-economic extent of impacts of these hazards, the vulnerability factors and cross-sectoral issues related to tropical cyclones, and the existing community-based coping mechanisms that the humanitarian sector can leverage on.
The monthly risk briefing reports on new, emerging or deteriorating situations; therefore, ongoing events that are considered to be unchanged are not featured and risks that are beyond the scope and scale of the Start Fund are also not featured.
The geopolitical scope of the Ukraine crisis means it will most likely have far-reaching consequences beyond the country’s borders. Start Network's approach to the Ukraine crisis is based on learning from other larger-scale crises that the Start Fund has responded to in the past.
As a global network of civil society organisations, Start Network stands in solidarity with the people of Ukraine. We will deploy our resources, reach, and collective voice to assist and protect Ukrainian people and communities.
Local and national NGOs in coastal Bangladesh have come together to form the Sundarban Coalition.
