By: Matthew Stickland — Head of Communications and Digital at Start Network The increasing number and intensity of disasters requiring humanitarian assistance, combined with the financial conditions facing national governments, will result in a greater demand for philanthropic intervention that the traditional model will struggle to service. The climate crisis…

By Helen Guyatt “Despite its frequent appearance in humanitarian policy and programme documents, advocacy campaigns and donor requirements, dignity remains a word with positive connotations but little agreement as to what it exactly entails. Without clear agreement on what dignity means, it is difficult to know whether a particular response…

A response to the 2022 State of the Humanitarian System Report — The finding of “business-as-usual-but-little-improvement” in today’s State of the Humanitarian System (SOHS) is not good enough. The system needs transformation, not tinkering at the edges — and this will only happen if there is adequate investment in different and better ways of working. …

The response to the food crisis in Uganda and elsewhere in East Africa falls far short of the needs. The debate about when Uganda will achieve middle-income status was interrupted on 12 June 2022, when images of starving Ugandans flooded social media channels. In the sub-region of Karamoja in Northeastern…

By: Nelly Maonde, Regional Advisor at Start Network, East and Southern Africa NAIROBI, Kenya, 29 August 2022 -/African Media Agency(AMA)/- Acutely sensitive to global warming, the Horn of Africa is one of the most drought-prone regions in the world. Following four consecutive failed rainy seasons, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia are…

By Abi Jones “The biggest hurdle to a locally led humanitarian system is the lack understanding and context when we talk about localisation. International organisations believe that it will put them out of business while the local actors seem to think it will make them extremely wealthy.” …

Building on Start Network’s achievements on locally led action, collective innovation and new forms of financing, our 2021 Annual Report: Making Progress on Systems Change provided us the incredible opportunity once again to reflect on our quest towards actualising a new era of humanitarian action. We tested five keys to…

Coordination and effectiveness of humanitarian assistance should be strengthened to support civil society and local humanitarian actors because government system cannot cope alone with the magnitude of the climate crisis. Pacific Islands Association of Non-Governmental Organisation (PIANGO), Executive Director, Emeline Ilolahia echoed a strong call at the opening of the…

By Abi Jones Start Ready is a financing mechanism providing pre-positioned funding for predictable crises such as heatwaves, drought, and cyclones. Start Ready pools funding to cover different risks and hazards across a range of countries meaning that funding will be stretched further, thus protecting a larger number of people…