Improved community preparedness
Emergency responses are not always carried out reactively. Forecasting crises, and preparing aid pre-emptively is becoming increasingly common, and effective.
Start Network has better prepared humanitarian actors to deal with disasters through initiatives such as contingency planning and threshold-based insurances based on forecasting. That means funds can be released before a disaster, and the support of knowledgeable, local front-line workers requested in good time.
And that time is crucial. If countries have more time to coordinate, plan and work together, and have resources available to mobilise quickly, the impact of the crisis is reduced.
Analysis for Action grants have enabled members to analyse information and create a shared understanding of risk at the national level, while FOREWARN forums enable collaboration on forecasting both nationally and globally.
WHAT WE KNOW
50% of stakeholders stated that the crisis anticipation/early action work had significantly impacted on increasing prevention and mitigation activities of humanitarian action.*
The SAFER (Shared Aid Fund for Emergency Response) was developed as a result of the DEPP Programme in the Philippines and is a key local fundraising mechanism.
In July 2019, Start Network with support from KfW, took out an insurance policy worth US $2.6 million to protect 200,000 people against drought. In December 2019, we received a payout of US $10.6 million to deliver preventative assistance to Senegalese families predicted to be worst affected by the oncoming drought.
CASE STUDY: Disaster Risk Financing in Pakistan
During the heatwave season, temperatures in Pakistan regularly soar above 40 degrees Celsius and past heatwaves in the country have been fatal. In order to provide a faster, more localised and proactive response, Start Network developed a predictive model with pre-agreed thresholds, which would release pre-positioned funding when the threshold was met. Members in Pakistan then collectively identified which agencies and partners would be best placed to deliver early action and agreed a regional division to ensure that funding was distributed according to the population size and vulnerability of the four regions under consideration in the model.
Read about what happened when the threshold was met on 20 May.
WHAT OTHERS SAY ABOUT START NETWORK
Mitigated the risks of a potential crisis
With the system that Start Network is implementing through ARC Replica, we can estimate in advance the number of people who could be affected by a potential emergency. It is a solution for those governments which have the possibility of being able to act upstream and mitigate the risks of a potential crisis. This model is becoming more economical and more effective in terms of the impact on human lives. — Antoinette Chibi (World Vision, Senegal)
Laying the foundation for timely action
Under the overarching stewardship of Start Network’s Pakistan Hub, the Disaster Risk Financing (DRF) pilot has already passed the foundation work of establishing localised technical working groups, as well as a decentralised governance mechanism to ensure well planned and timely actions... Considering the pace of preparedness, it is anticipated that 2021 will prove to be a groundbreaking year in Pakistan categorised by faster, localised and proactive anticipatory response through DRF systems. — Aisha Jamshad (Welthungerhilfe, Pakistan)
Improved communities’ disaster preparedness
A major accomplishment and output of this [lahar risk anticipation] project is the development of a community-based tool that standardises understanding of lahar as a hazard, and provides a tool that serves as a guide to facilitate local government (municipal and barangays) in providing capacity to the communities affected by lahar, and in re-visiting their respective contingency plans. At the same time, this will not only benefit Albay province but other areas that may be affected by similar hazard. — Dr Cedric Daep (Executive Director, Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office/Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office, Philippines)
Initiated local funding mechanisms
SAFER, a local resource mobilisation mechanism, was developed on the back of the DEPP programme and remains a crucial source of funding and venue for partnership in responding to national and local emergencies in the Philippines. — Benedict Balderrama (SAFER, Philippines)
Informed communities’ decisions about their own disaster protection
The automatic weather stations [developed in DEPP] have helped communities to get timely weather information so that they can decide on how to implement their livelihood — when to plant, when to harvest. — Yitna Tekaligne (Christian Aid, Ethiopia)
Improved the quality of preparedness
The Start Network’s Disasters and Emergencies Preparedness Programme (DEPP) has worked to improve the quality of preparedness and the efficiency of humanitarian responses in countries most at risk of both natural and conflict-related emergencies. — Yusuf Hussein Ibrahim (Adeso, Somalia)
Informed communities’ decisions about their own disaster protection
Because of the GECARR [Good Enough Context Analysis for Rapid Response] findings, we scaled up our own internal funding. We were able to to this because we had a clearer understanding of what was going on. — Anonymous interviewee from Alert 175 (Anticipation of election violence in Kenya) which was the first alert activated following an ‘Analysis for Action’ grant.
Preparing in anticipation of a crisis saves lives
The greatest impact of Start Network is its outstanding preparedness in the humanitarian response. Being able to prepare in anticipation of a crisis saves lives and then allows us to go to the next stage of resilience building. — Jane Kigen (ActionAid, Kenya)
Footnotes
*From a sample of 43 interviewed in 2020 who had interacted with the Crisis Anticipation Window and felt able to answer this question.
