MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION PACK Key information and how to apply
CONTENTS Who we are Page 3 What we stand for Page 3 Where we came from Page 4 A positive disruptor Page 4 What we have achieved so far Page 4 Our current priorities Page 5 Our governance structure Page 6 Why we are expanding our Membership Page 7 The benefits of Start Network Membership to national NGOs from the Global South Page 7 Membership criteria Page 8 Membership fees Page 8 How to apply Page 9 Sponsorship Page 9 How we decide Page 9 Where to go for more information Page 10 Further reading Page 10 www.startnetwork.org info@startnetwork.org @startnetwork 2
Who we are The Start Network is an international network of 25 leading international NGOs 1, working together to connect people in crisis to the best possible solutions. The Members collaborate in three main areas: Start Fund (the first multi-donor rapid response mechanism managed exclusively by NGOs); Start Engage (a radical programme that unlocks new approaches to crisis preparedness and response); and Start Labs (a collectively-owned incubator that develops and tests future humanitarian solutions). The Start Network promotes a way of working that enables international and local humanitarian actors to co-exist. Our vision is of a self-organising system where the agencies best placed to respond to a crisis are empowered to do so, responding to needs that are identified locally. The Network extends to over 7,000 partner agencies comprised of over a quarter million staff working in 200 countries and territories. What we stand for Start Network Members work together to shape a humanitarian sector that is: Diverse: We aim for a humanitarian ecosystem that contains organisations of different sizes, types, cultures and ways of working, in a state of continual experimentation and growth. Decentralised: We aim to shift decision making and leadership to the front line of an emergency so that affected people are empowered to improve their lives. Everyone has a contribution to make to reduce the risk of crises, whether it is at a global or local level, but we need to ensure that the local level of the system drives humanitarian response. Collaborative: Crises in the future will demand humanitarian response that involves many more people and organisations than today. Relationships across boundaries national, cultural, organisational will be key in rising to this challenge. We will make collaboration central to our action and not allow competition between our agencies to interfere with our common objectives. We believe the international humanitarian system will be more resilient and effective as a result of these changes 1 Action Against Hunger, ActionAid, CAFOD, Catholic Relief Services, CARE International, Christian Aid, Community World Service Asia, Concern Worldwide, GOAL, Handicap International, HelpAge International, International Medical Corps, International Rescue Committee, Islamic Relief, Mercy Corps, Muslim Aid, Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam, Plan, Relief International, Save the Children, Tearfund, War Child, Welthungerhilfe, World Vision. www.startnetwork.org info@startnetwork.org @startnetwork 3
Where we came from The Start Network was formed in 2010 under another name, consisting at the time of fifteen Members who explored new ways to strengthen the humanitarian sector with UK government funding. Upon completion in 2012 the pilot was independently evaluated and deemed to be a success. Over a two year transition funded by the Members and the Irish Government, the Network continued working together to explore opportunities for evolution, agreed a strategic vision, rebranded, and expanded in size. A more detailed narrative report up to this point can be found in the case study produced by the Partnership Brokers Association, entitled Dealing with Paradox, which can be found in the further reading section at the end of this pack. A positive disruptor The humanitarian community is facing a perfect storm. The demand for humanitarian action is increasing due to the consequences of globalisation and population growth, and becoming more expensive due to the economic development and increasing prevalence of humanitarian crises in middle income countries. Yet the ability of traditional humanitarian donors to meet these costs is increasingly limited, and humanitarian NGOs continue to operate according to a traditionally reactive business model. Funding contracts for humanitarian response promote upward accountability and are administratively demanding. There is little capacity to evolve. There is growing recognition that humanitarian assistance in the future will look very different, with the relationship between fund-givers and direct implementers becoming much closer, and with a wider range of actors contributing to the response effort. The Start Network Declaration of Intent recognises that the network is part of a movement to shift the centre of humanitarian gravity, so that decision making and leadership take place at the front line and affected people are empowered to improve their lives. NGOs and the wider voluntary associations that make up civil society implement at least 70% of the formal humanitarian assistance provided by the international system each year. The Start Network wants to harness the strength of this civil society pillar, to work with the rest of the sector and beyond to embrace the move toward disintermediation and new ways of working in the most effective ways. If the Start Network is successful in achieving its vision, the benefits will be felt by all. It will be a rallying force for positive change. In the interconnected network in which we operate, we are humble yet ambitious about our potential. What we have achieved so far The Start Fund was launched on April 1 st 2014 as the first NGO-managed pooled fund. With DFID, Irish Aid and the Dutch MFA as its signature donors, the Start Fund has already secured over 30 million to be allocated over three years to crisis affected people based on humanitarian need alone. The Start Fund uses national-level groups to select projects as a way to promote a more decentralised system. The Start Fund has exceeded all of its targets for speed, with projects being selected and funded within 45 hours of the initial crisis alert. We believe that predictable and timely funding will enable local organisations to plan and invest their resources more effectively. This will lead to more effective, locally-led crisis responses. Since its launch, over a third of the Start Fund disbursements have been to local NGOs. This fast and early funding has been able to provide for immediate needs while giving field teams time to bring other donors on board to ensure the sustainability of their interventions. www.startnetwork.org info@startnetwork.org @startnetwork 4
The Start Fund minimises transaction costs for our Members by focusing on light but rigorous decision making processes. While we are always trialling ways to reduce the bureaucracy of our decision making, rigour has been maintained; with 74% of alerts resulting in an activation of the Fund and 64% of proposals submitted being funded. As of November 2015 the Start Fund has reached over 3 million people, with responses to 46 crises through early and rapid responses, when immediate lifesaving relief is most crucial. Start Engage aims to enhance the right capabilities in the right places to connect vulnerable communities with the best possible solutions should disaster strike. We actively seek to identify, support and enhance society-wide approaches to better prepare for and respond to crises. A contribution of 26 million over three years has been made to support the Disaster and Emergencies Preparedness Programme. This is a ground breaking partnership between DFID, the Start Network, and CDAC-Network that will strengthen capacity and shift power in the system, thus improving the quality and speed of humanitarian response. There is also a 3 million MEL project that cuts across the portfolio, which is the sector's largest ever investment in learning about capacity building approaches. Start Labs, the Start Network s incubator for innovation, has been designed and is currently prototyping a suite of new financial mechanisms for humanitarian response, including a loan facility, drought insurance, and pandemic bonds. The purpose of Start Labs is to connect the right ideas with the right people, to provide better solutions for people in crisis through shared thought-leadership and rapid experimentation. Our current priorities The Start Network is currently a Consortium of the Members hosted and incubated by Save the Children UK. In the next few months the Start Network will spin-off as a separate legal entity, becoming a company and a charity registered in the UK and owned by the Members.. The Network is currently working to establish the Start Fund as a global public good. Within the next three years the ambition is to create a multi-donor pooled fund with at least 10 governmental donors that is disbursing at a rate of up to 100 million per year (currently there are 3 donors: the British, Irish and Dutch governments). In 2015 the Network was asked to manage three crisis-specific umbrella grants, of which 2 were bespoke legal agreements, and one used the pre-existing legal and financial structure of the Start Fund. We are building standardized procedures and agreements to enable more of these grants in the future. The aim for Start Engage is to establish an innovative and effective decentralised capacity strengthening programme, to engage with traditional and non-traditional humanitarian actors such as the private and tech sectors and to bring more collaboratively developed projects into the portfolio. Currently the portfolio consists of 15 projects. Start Labs complements the other work streams by providing incubation and support for innovation in the sector, and we are currently prototyping 5 new financial mechanisms for humanitarian response, including: a pandemic bond, 2 drought insurance schemes, a loan facility, and a blockchain pilot. We will continue to work with our partners and donors to develop and test these innovative solutions and to take them to scale. www.startnetwork.org info@startnetwork.org @startnetwork 5
Our governance structure ASSEMBLY (MEMBERSHIP) BOARD OF TRUSTEES START FUND COMMITTEE FINANCE AND AUDIT COMMITTEE START ENGAGE COMMITTEE NOMINATIONS COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE START TEAM The Assembly is made up of senior representatives from each of the Member agencies, typically the humanitarian directors or CEOs. The Assembly meet twice a year, in a mixture of formal business and informal discussion about shared developmental goals and new initiatives. The Assembly meeting is an important forum in determining how the Network operates, and is a sounding-board that will ultimately inform the decisions that the Board of Trustees makes. The Board of Trustees, when fully constituted, will have 12 Members: 4 independents (Chair, Treasurer, and two humanitarian specialists); and 8 Member representatives. The Board governs the Start Network, taking its steer from the Membership, and is responsible for implementing the agreed strategy, as well as all other governance matters, such as cost effectiveness and efficiency, brand protection, and oversight of the Start Team. It meets 6 times per year (4 virtual meetings and 2 face-to-face). There are five main Board sub-committees with delegated decision-making authorities. The Start Fund and Start Engage Committees are responsible for compliance, reporting, and operational oversight of their specific areas of work. The Start Fund Committee is also responsible for allocation decisions. The Finance and Audit Committee is responsible for due diligence and finance. The Nominations Committee is responsible for Board composition and re-election. And finally, the Membership Committee is responsible for overseeing the selection and on-boarding of new Members: reviewing the applications and interviewing the prospective Members to ensure all criteria are met, and then submitting a recommendation to the Board, for their approval. The Director has delegated authority and is fully accountable for the performance of the Start Team, whose job it is to ensure that the Start Network and its work streams run efficiently and effectively. This involves providing services and functions that enable the Network. The Team also act as brokers and oversee a suite of outsourced services, many of which are implemented by the Members themselves. www.startnetwork.org info@startnetwork.org @startnetwork 6
Why we are expanding our Membership The current Members recognise that the change that is demanded of the humanitarian sector will require a systemic effort that cannot be brought about by any single organisation, or the existing partners acting in isolation. The ambition is to move from a UK pilot to an international network. The Start Network intends on being a global public good, with a global Membership and a global impact. We took our first steps towards this with our 2015 intake of six new Members from three continents. We will increase the reach impact and value of the Start Network to people in humanitarian crises around the world by bringing into the Network national level NGOs from the Global South, who will not only be able to access resources, but will also contribute to the design and evolution of the Network. The benefits of Start Network Membership to national NGOs from the Global South We believe that all Members, regardless of their size, origins or areas of operation should be equal with equal rights and entitlements and say in decision-making. Membership in the Start Network will provide meaningful influence to Southern organisations over this new global mechanism. The Start Network offers considerable scale the ability to programme resources into 200 countries and territories which leverages new business models and resources that are not ordinarily available to single organisations. Start Engage projects offer opportunities for national organisations to build their capability, and to exchange and form partnerships with INGOs within an agreed framework of creating a more decentralised and locally-led system. The Start Network single global Membership structure will create the infrastructure for global collaboration between NGOs for improving humanitarian crisis response. In three years, this infrastructure will enable additional nodes in the Start Network to form. These nodes will be autonomous and locally owned, and have the capability to launch their own funding mechanisms. Donors around the world are seeking ways to fund local organisations, but are constrained in the number of contracts they can manage. So-called aggregating services will be increasingly needed. The Start Network is a civil-society owned aggregator that will help a broad and diverse ecosystem of NGOs to survive and flourish in a period of transformative change in the humanitarian system. www.startnetwork.org info@startnetwork.org @startnetwork 7
Membership criteria An application for Membership may only be approved by the Trustees and recommended to the Members if the applicant is (or is taking reasonable steps to become): 1. A registered charity (or equivalent organisation, such as a not for profit entity) in good standing with three years worth of clean accounts and no outstanding governance issues; 2. A signatory to (where applicable) and comply with (where relevant): a. the Red Cross Code of Conduct and the Humanitarian Charter which promotes inclusion and identifying those most vulnerable; b. the Core Humanitarian Standards; and c. IASC Code of Conduct on protection from sexual harassment in Humanitarian Crisis. 3. Can demonstrate, to the reasonable satisfaction of the Trustees, that it is: a. able to account for the performance of any programme implemented with funds provided by the Charity; b. committed to shared goals that go beyond the interests of the individual applicant; c. willing to pay the Membership fees of the Charity as may be agreed on an annual basis by the Members; d. in a position to make a discernible and unique contribution to the Charity; e. agrees to subscribe to the Charity s Foundational Principles. In addition, Member agencies must be able to send a representative to the two annual Start Network Assembly meetings, to ensure that strategy decisions reflect the view of the entire Membership. Additional pre-qualification criteria will be applied for access to the Start Fund, in line with donors due diligence considerations and legal requirements. Membership is for three years with an annual break clause. Membership fees The annual membership fees will have a fixed and variable component. The formula is as follows: 1,500 plus 0.01% of turnover, subject to an upper limit of 50,000 www.startnetwork.org info@startnetwork.org @startnetwork 8
How to apply The Start Network will make a call for new Member applications once per year, and will next open from 1 st December 2015. The CEO of the organisation should submit a written statement (no more than 1,000 words) in support of their application. The written statement should outline the contribution they will make, and underline their commitment to shared goals that go beyond organisational interests and the Start Network Declaration of Intent. The statement should be submitted by the CEO and the Chair of the organisation s Board. Applications should be sent to Cem Gurkan, Start Network Coordinator, at c.gurkan@savethechildren.org.uk The deadline for this call for applications is Wednesday 13 th January 2016. Sponsorship Membership applications will be evaluated on their own merits. Applications that are sponsored by an existing Member will be preferentially evaluated, because it will imply a partnership to support and mentor the new organisation into the culture and activities of the Start Network. The sponsoring organisation will take some responsibility for helping the new organisation to join and maximise the benefits from Membership. For example, an existing international NGO may offer to pay the Membership fees of an applicant Southern NGO, and it may help the applicant Southern NGO navigate the due diligence process required before any Member can receive funding from the Start Fund. If an applicant organisation is sponsored, its application should identify the name of the sponsoring organisation, and provide details on the type of sponsorship support that will be provided. How we decide A Membership Committee (comprising one representative from the Start Team, 2 representatives from the Board of Trustees, and 2 representatives from the Member agencies) will review the application and interview the prospective Member to ensure all criteria are met, and then submit a recommendation for Membership to the Board, for their approval. If accepted, the prospective Member will begin a due diligence process undertaken by an international accounting firm, Buzzacott LLP. Member agencies that successfully meet the due diligence criteria will be invited to join the Start Network. www.startnetwork.org info@startnetwork.org @startnetwork 9
Where you can go for more information If you would like to reach out to members of the Start Team, or have any questions that haven t been answered by this document, then your first point of contact should be Cem Gurkan c.gurkan@savethechildren.org.uk Further reading The Declaration of Intent is the vision statement that underpins our work The Start Fund Practical Guide a short guide to the way the Fund works, with a timeline of the activation process & FAQs The current Start Engage Portfolio Projects are summarised in one page proposals More information on the current Start Labs financial mechanism prototypes Start Network PBA Case Study 1: Dealing with Paradox Start Network PBA Case Study 2: Power & Politics Start Network s submission to the World Humanitarian Summit www.startnetwork.org info@startnetwork.org @startnetwork 10