With funding from Start Network, Caritas India supported 500 vulnerable households in Odisha, India during the global pandemic and in the aftermath of Cyclone Amphan. Start Network conducted an independent monitoring evaluation of Caritas India’s response, collecting data in the form of 120 short-form interviews and five in-depth interviews with targeted households.
As the pandemic and its economic impact started to bite, A Single Drop for Safe Water (ASDSW) in the Philippines reflected on how humanitarian assistance should change in the face of this extended crisis. Working with social enterprises like Ashoka, Xchange, Firetree Trust, and Limitless Lab, we developed a programme that looked at and improved the systems in place for emergency response, and worked to strengthen these systems to better serve impacted communities.
2020 was an eventful year, it was also Start Network's 10 year anniversary. Here we look back at 10 things Start Network did in its 10th year.
Melina joined the Start Network in 2016. Before this she had been working with the International Rescue Committee in Mali as their grants manager, and this is where she had her first experience with the Start Network through two initiatives. The first was a Start Fund Alert (Alert 36) in response to internal displacement and the second was Start Response Ebola Preparedness Programme. Both these introduced Melina to very different ways of working with rapid and collaborative decision-making processes and implementation in just 45 days. Soon after, she joined the Start Network as a Start Fund Programme Officer establishing the Start Fund Regional Advisor roles as well as leading on a growing number of alerts, before moving to the Migration Emergency Response Fund (MERF) in 2018 first as the Regional Coordinator based out of Tunis and then as the Programme Manager. She joined MERF as it started its second phase and here reflects on some of the learnings along the way.
Start Fund Bangladesh, since its inception in 2017, has been advocating to change the deep-rooted partnership practices that hinder localisation commitments, one of which is the equal sharing of ICR. Although changes were not reflected initially, in 2019 a few Start Fund Bangladesh INGO members started negotiating with their head offices and became successful in ensuring a share of ICR went to their local partners.
The events we have experienced in 2020 may catalyse the types of changes that the world has been demanding for many years. From localisation and decolonisation to action on the global climate emergency, to maximising technology and advocating for accountability. We asked our local and national members and our Hubs what predictions and calls to action they have for the sector for 2021.
In August 2020, Bright Star Development Society Balochistan (BSDSB) was awarded £30,000 to respond to COVID-19 in Pakistan. In addition to reaching 500 vulnerable families with food and hygiene packages, they also invested in a behaviour messaging campaign that involved displaying banners and distributing posters, leaflets, and stickers amongst the communities and in key public locations.
The official launch of Anticipation Hub took place at the Asia-Pacific Dialogue Platform (Asia DP)for Forecast-based Financing (FbF) from 17-19 November 2020. While the event was held online due to COVID-19, the discussions were nevertheless lively and participation was at an all-time high. More than 50 sessions were held on different topics and "Speed Dating" gave the participants the chance to interact on a one-to-one basis.
Last week I attended the 33rd Annual meeting of ALNAP (Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action). The subject of this years’ meeting was “Facing the Unknown: Managing Uncertainty in Humanitarian Action” and the virtual events were split across two days with options for two different time zones.
Cat Sneath is Head of People and Culture at the Start Network. She made this mid-career move from the programme position of Head of Funds to an organisational one at the end of last year. Here she talks about her role, the work she is doing and what kindness means to her on World Kindness Day.
