We interviewed Start Network's CEO Christina Bennett to discuss the network's transformative achievements and innovative approaches in humanitarian action over the last decade.
1. If you had to pick one, what has Start Network's greatest success been over the last 10 years - and why this one in particular?
One of Start Network’s greatest successes in the last 10 years has been the increasing shift toward anticipatory action in our membership and in the sector.
In our recent membership survey, 86% of Start Network members (now close to 100 local, national and international civil society organisations operating across six continents) reported a greater focus on anticipatory action because of Start Network. This shift is also reflected in our programmes. In 2021, we launched Start Ready – an innovative financing mechanism that supports NGOs to understand climate risks, develops risk models to forecast crises, and provides pre-positioned funding at scale for predictable crises – with a focus on locally-led action. In the last three years our members have also increasingly used our Start Fund as an anticipation tool, increasing the share of anticipation alerts from 4% to 25%.
Externally, we have seen some of our own evidence and advocacy work reflected in the policy and funding decisions of key decision makers and power holders, including the UK and German governments, in disaster legislation in places like the Philippines, and as part of global initiatives such as the C7 and G7 policy statements and the UN Secretary-General’s Early Warnings for All Initiative.
2. How else is Start Network innovating in the early warning/early action space?
Insurance can play a valuable role in protecting the most vulnerable people from climate shocks; supporting at-risk communities to build resilience to climate impacts; and promoting agency through the security afforded by insurance.
Start Network has partnered with African Risk Capacity (ARC) Limited and the ARC Replica programme. ARC is a specialised agency of the African Union which helps African Union member states manage risks through insurance. The ARC Replica programme allows non-governmental organisations like Start Network to work side-by-side with governments to manage predictable disaster risks using insurance.
Between 2019 and 2024, we purchased 10 insurance policies in Madagascar, Senegal, Somalia and Zimbabwe, protecting 2 million people. To date, these policies have triggered three times in Senegal (drought), Zimbabwe (drought) and Somalia (drought), paying out USD 23 million to Start Network local, national and international members to jump-start preparedness activities before the drought set in.
Impact evaluations have demonstrated that such insurance helped avert hunger and malnutrition, prevented the loss of livelihoods and livestock, and kept children in school during dry seasons.
In addition to our Start Funds, Start Ready financing mechanisms and insurance products, we also provide small grants to support learning and development within our membership. This includes the Anticipation Tool Grant which enables members to access up to £40,000 for developing analytical tools to support anticipation of crises; and the Analysis for Action Grant, which enables members to identify crisis risks, raise funds in advance of crises and take action before a crisis hits.
These smaller learning grants have helped build understanding of risks and have led to sustainable funding outside of Start Network. For example, in Colombia, an Analysis for Action Grant of £10,000 paved the way for successful Start Fund allocations for drought driven by El Niño (totalling £440,000), and raised awareness around urgent water system issues. As a result, the Colombian government allocated further resources to address these water issues, and Start Network members secured donor contracts totalling nearly USD 10 million to address close to 200 water system deficiencies in numerous communities.
3. How has being a REAP Partner helped you scale up your work?
Being a REAP Partner has allowed Start Network to connect with a diversity of experts and organisations working on early action and to be part of a larger, coordinated movement for change. Engaging in REAP has also helped us disseminate and share our own evidence, insights and messages with new audiences and to keep up to date with recent initiatives and research. REAP has also played a leading role in driving global and high-level early action initiatives. For example, we felt privileged to be a part of the Getting Ahead of Disasters Charter, launched at COP28 in Dubai.
4. What do you see as the next 1-2 priorities to tackle so that we can take early action to scale?
First, we have to become better at generating the right evidence. At Start Network we have conducted research to unpack the potential of anticipatory action which shows that current levels of pre-arranged financing are far too low given our ability to predict and forecast hazards. In 2022, our research found that around half of acute humanitarian funding to respond to crises are predictable with the potential to act earlier, yet only 1-2% of all humanitarian funding is currently being allocated ahead of identified crisis risks.
Generating such evidence is critical to mobilising a shift in mindset and, ultimately a transformation in practice and resource allocation. Evidence generation can also pave the way to understanding the need and role anticipatory action plays in addressing climate hazards in particular alongside traditional humanitarian responses, development initiatives and disaster risk reduction. Evidence is key is to maximising our efficiency and complementarity as an aid sector.
Second, it is crucial that investments made to anticipatory action are complemented and connected to wider risk management efforts. This means that greater coordination is needed between organisations and experts working across early warning, early action, response and recovery. Local and national actors – who have invaluable knowledge, understanding, and expertise about the context, risks, and communities – are vital across all of these efforts. The Getting Ahead of Disasters Charter enshrines these needs across its five principles and is a positive, collective step forward.