Incentivised collaboration
Competition has no place when it comes to saving lives. Collective and informed expert considerations lead to better outcomes. Better coordination across actors leads to more efficient and effective assistance.
The mechanisms and initiatives of Start Network aim to remove the edge of competitiveness and, instead, encourage collaborative planning, decision-making, learning and action.
Underpinning the work of the DEPP programme was networking; key to our efforts in building hubs. The Start Fund remains an effective forum to improve our members coordination and collaboration through collective decision-making.
WHAT WE KNOW
93% of stakeholders stated that the Start Fund had impacted on more coordination in humanitarian action.*
Since 2017, a third of Start Fund projects are implemented collaboratively with at least one local actor.
Fostered long term collaborations: In Lebanon, Start Network members Relief International, Action Against Hunger and Solidarités International with their partners Médecins du Monde and Premiere Urgènce Internationale, worked together in consortium for the first time to deliver a Start Fund COVID-19 project that helped preposition isolation centres. Their collaboration has been so successful, that they will be continuing their consortium for a new, longer-term project funded by the American Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance.
Supported local leadership and change: In 2020, the leadership teams of the five Start Network hubs developed a position paper together addressing the lessons that can be learned from COVID-19 on how humanitarians can work differently.
WHAT OTHERS SAY ABOUT START NETWORK
Built bridges with communities by supporting local NGOs
Our trusted partner Start Fund Bangladesh delivers its mandate with speed and innovation and helps build bridges between Dhaka and the communities through the empowerment of local NGOs. — Henry Glorieux (Office of the UN Resident Coordinator, Bangladesh)
Open relationships that others want to emulate
Le plus grand impact des MERF a été d’établir la communication et l’échange entre des organisations qui n’étaient pas vraiment liées auparavant. Cela nous a permis de créer des réseaux ici en Tunisie et de créer une relation vraiment ouverte entre les organisations et une belle dynamique. Nous aimerions le reproduire sous une autre forme à l’avenir. — Elisa Claessens, Terre d’Asile Tunisie, Tunisia.
Read more about the learning journey of the Migration Emergency Response Fund.
Catalysed joint working
The pulling together of humanitarian actors in Malawi for various Start Network alerts has been a remarkable catalyst towards provision of quality, timely and sustainable humanitarian support to those in need. — Andrew Kavala (MANEPO, Malawi)
Read more about Andrew Kavala’s learning journey with the Start Network.
Demonstrated the power of coordination
Prior to the DEPP Programme every organisation had been doing their own thing, but we learnt through DEPP the value of creating consortiums and talking together with government and other NGOs, and that coordination is critical. — Patrick Katelo Issako (PACIDA, Kenya)
Promoted joint decision making
Cocomacia y Christian Aid trabajaron muy de cerca, compartiendo información y tomando decisiones juntos después de consultar con las comunidades sobre sus necesidades. No se impuso nada. — Jorge Andrés Giraldo López (COCOMACIA, Colombia)
Supported local leadership and change
No hay fronteras para unir experiencias y actuar juntos. Covid 19 represento la oportunidad para compartir trabajos y compromisos para salvar vidas en momentos difíciles de manera innovadora y sostenible. — Hugo Icu (ASECSA, Guatemala)
Footnotes
*From a sample of 60 members and 26 non-members interviewed in 2020 who had interacted with the Start Fund and felt able to answer this question.
