Embedded early action
Too often, humanitarian aid is delivered more slowly than it should be; often relying on the catalyst of media-coverage or political agenda before it’s carried out.
Early action is imperative and so, in 2016, the Start Fund launched crisis anticipation in Bonn, pledging to partner with the best forecasters and risk analysts globally, to support our members in engaging with early action.
Start Network has since developed and tested early action across nine hazards in 27 countries; funding interventions as small as £50,000 and as large as £7.8m.
Through risk models, expert anticipation and trigger-based decision making, we’ve proven time and again that we can be proactive as well as reactive; acting early and saving lives.
WHAT WE KNOW
Since the anticipation window of the Start Fund opened in 2016, 31 anticipation alerts have been funded and close to 500 Start Network members have been trained in anticipation and early action.
64% of Start Network members have acted on the basis of a forecast for the first time since crisis anticipation launched in 2016–2019 (Read more about the Crisis Anticipation external evaluation 2019/2020).
76% of stakeholders stated that the crisis anticipation/early action work had significantly impacted on the timeliness of humanitarian action.*
88% of members agreed that participating in FOREWARN had helped them advocate for early action in their organisations (Crisis Anticipation external evaluation 2019/2020).
CASE STUDY: Early action protecting livelihoods in Mongolia
In May 2019, Start Network collaborated with Save the Children and World Vision in Mongolia to learn about the impacts of their project in anticipation of harsh winter. We learned that livestock herders in Mongolia experienced on average fewer animal losses and were more likely to survive winter with no livestock losses when they received early support from Start Network.
WHAT OTHERS SAY ABOUT START NETWORK
Pioneered early action
Start Network pioneered early action in the NGO world, helping shape the policy agenda on the importance of acting early — Institutional donor (Start Network 2020 Stakeholder Survey)
Led shift from crisis response to crisis anticipation
It was very important that Start Network was the first actor to create an anticipation window — it was a really good message to the donors and humanitarian organisations in general. ‘Look — this is a mechanism that will allow early action’. That helped all of us to have a robust message. — FOREWARN member (Crisis Anticipation external evaluation, 2019/2020)
Analytical investment in early action
I think the greatest impact the Start Network’s crisis anticipation work is having is just actually making things happen. The conversations around the World Humanitarian Summit were about making the humanitarian system more anticipatory so that it could better prepare for crises rather than just respond to them. I think the analytical investment that Start Network has had in doing that is really important. — IGO respondent (Start Network 2020 Stakeholder Survey)
Enabled more informed, confident decision making
Start Network members engaged with FOREWARN, have better confidence using risk information and analysis to design early action, as shown when a FOREWARN risk analysis led to a successful alert for anticipation of Dengue fever in Dhaka in April 2020. — Ashraful Haque (FOREWARN Coordinator hosted by the International Centre for Climate Change and Development, Bangladesh)
Read more about the learning journeys of Start Network into early action:
The Domino Effect: Acting in Advance of Crisis
Four Years of Successful Anticipatory Action
Merging Modelling and Early Action: Perspectives from an academic
Footnotes
*From a sample of 46 interviewed in 2020 who had interacted with the Crisis Anticipation Window and felt able to answer this question.
