This research piece attempts to navigate the discussion and explore Start Network members’, donors’ and staff perceptions and experiences of the Start Network’s dedicated Migration Emergency Response Fund (MERF), with a view to making practical recommendations in support of Start Network’s institutional engagement with mixed migration going forward.
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.
In-depth webinars on the innovator journey to sustainability, and a breakdown of eight business model strategies relevant for humanitarian innovators.
In-depth webinars on the innovator journey to sustainability, and a breakdown of eight business model strategies relevant for humanitarian innovators.
<p>The DEPP Innovation Labs programme developed <strong>safeguarding tools </strong>relevant for innovation labs, where the organisation is not "doing" a programme but rather facilitating design processes. This field-level safeguarding toolkit translates safeguarding policies into practice for people running programs on the ground. </p>
This paper looks at issues of ethics in humanitarian iunnovation in relation to the Mahali Lab in Amman, Jordan. This reflection piece by Kristin Bergtora Sandvik is the third in a three-part series that explore ethics questions faced by community-centred innovation labs. It is based on her experience as an ethics advisor to DEPP Innovation Labs, a two-year programme that manages labs in four disaster-prone countries.
This paper looks at translating innovation ‘culture’ into local culture, and innovation ethics into ‘everyday’ practice. This reflection piece by Kristin Bergtora Sandvik is the second in a three-part series that explore ethics questions faced by community-centred innovation labs. It is based on her experience as an ethics advisor to DEPP Innovation Labs, a two-year programme that manages labs in four disaster-prone countries (Bangladesh, Jordan, Kenya and Philippines).
The paper introduces issues of ethics in humanitarian innovation. It is part of a three part series by Kristin Bergtora Sandvik that explore ethics questions faced by community-centred innovation labs.
In 2016, a €50,000 grant to Start Network from the government of Estonia, which is leading the world in its drive to adopt the new technology, enabled us to pilot blockchain for humanitarian financing. So, in 2017 Start Network formed a partnership with a start-up social enterprise Disberse to push forward our plan to test blockchain in the delivery of humanitarian finance. Using the Disberse platform, we set out to test blockchain in a series of small disbursements. The pilot involved the creation of digital wallets on the blockchain that donors could use the transfer funding to NGOs, the NGO could then use its digital wallet to transfer the funding onto country teams. Through the pilot, we aimed to prove that blockchain could potentially be used to speed up the distribution of aid funding and trace exactly how it is spent. In this 'Blockchain Pilot II: summary of lessons' piece the Start Network, Disberse, Trócaire Ireland, Trócaire Rwanda and Caritas Rwanda review the lessons learnt during the implementation of the pilot analyse whether blockchain helped to make the delivery of humanitarian aid more effective, transparent and accountable
Start Network has been looking into digital capacity, and blockchain solutions as part of its potential to solve structural problems within the humanitarian sector. Currently the system is overly centralised, funding is often slow and reactive, and the capacity to change is limited due to risk averse operating models. Start Network is embracing new ways of working that are locally driven, proactive and innovative. More recently the Network recently completed a series of pilots with Fintech startup Disberse and looked at using a blockchain based platform to make aid flows fully traceable, non-corruptible, fast and cost-effective. Read more about the learning from the first pilot, that was driven by Start Network member Dorcas.
