Start Fund Bangladesh

02/09/2026

🎬 Call for film entries!

Are you a Start Network or looking for a creative way to share your stories of ?

We’re launching our first ever Start Network Film Festival, and looking for films that showcase and locally led action.

Shortlisted films will be screened during the Start Network Assembly this November. We look forward to hearing your stories, celebrating the work behind them, and sharing the realities of locally led humanitarian action with our global network.

🎥 Got a story to tell? Submit your film here: https://bit.ly/4ydlexI

⏰ Deadline: 1 October 2026

Hub Guatemala, Start Fund Bangladesh, Start Fund Nepal

01/09/2026

At the heart of our work are people leading change in their own communities.

The stories that stayed with us from 2025:

💸 Local and national organisations in developing a home-grown pooled fund to finance faster crisis response
🫱🏽‍🫲🏽 Health workers and communities working together in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to respond to Ebola outbreak
🌱 Farmers in receiving drought-resilient seeds early, avoiding losses as drought conditions worsened
⚠️ Community in designing its own early warning system with automated warnings in the local Q’eqchi’ language
✒️ Members in the helping shape national legislation that enables earlier action before disasters

Explore how we drove impact in 2025: https://bit.ly/3Uf3mnu

Eco-Social Development Organization (ESDO), Start Fund Bangladesh, The Alliance for International Medical Action - ALIMA, Lutheran Development Service, ORAP Zimbabwe, AquaZim, STEWARDWOMEN, Hope Restoration SOUTH SUDAN (HRSS), Asecsa Nacional, Hub Guatemala

31/08/2026

The FOREWARN Bangladesh Expert and Youth Gathering 2026, held on 29 August 2026 in Dhaka, brought together around 40 multidisciplinary experts, young researchers, students and professionals to strengthen collaboration around Anticipatory Action, forecasting, risk analysis and early warning.
The gathering was highly engaging and created a valuable space for experts and young people to exchange ideas, identify emerging challenges, and explore how their skills can contribute to solving current and future disaster-related problems in Bangladesh.

Key areas of discussion included:
🔹 Reviewing and improving cyclone and flood impact-based forecasting models for further refinement, automation and practical application.
🔹 Exploring AI-driven Cyclone Impact-Based Guideline Generation through the Hackathon piloting initiative to support more evidence-based Anticipatory Action and replicable to other hazards.
🔹 Exploring new forecasting opportunities, including the development of forecasting systems for flash floods in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and Haor areas.
🔹 Developing innovative heatwave forecasting and risk models, which could strengthen early warning and Anticipatory Action.

Together, participants explored potential joint initiatives, opportunities for mentorship, knowledge exchange and sustained engagement between the FOREWARN Expert Group and Youth Chapter. The gathering reaffirmed a simple but powerful idea: When experience meets innovation, forecasting can move closer to action, we can build stronger, smarter and more anticipatory disaster management systems for Bangladesh.

Start Network

27/08/2026

Our thoughts and prayers are with the communities affected by the devastating floods in Nepal.

Start Network is mobilising in response to the flash flood in Nepal. Our thoughts are with the communities affected by yesterday's terrible events. More updates to come.

22/08/2026

𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐍𝐨𝐰: Project Orientation on Enhanced Cyclone Readiness (EVCR)
A Project orientation session on “Empowering Vulnerable Communities for Enhanced Cyclone Readiness (EVCR)” is currently underway in PRAAN Secretariat, Noakhali.

The session brings together team members to strengthen knowledge, coordination, and preparedness for supporting vulnerable communities in cyclone-prone areas. Through this initiative, we aim to enhance community resilience, improve disaster preparedness, and promote effective response mechanisms.

📅 22 August 2026 | Noakhali

𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 Nazrul Smriti Sangstha (NSS) and PRAAN - Participatory Research & Action Network
𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 Start Fund Bangladesh

Together, building stronger and more resilient communities.

20/08/2026

🌿 Strengthening Leadership for a Stronger Sundarban Coalition

From 16–18 August 2026, members of the Sundarban Coalition, and the Secretariat staff came together in Khulna for a three-day Leadership Development Training organised by Start Bangladesh.

The highly participatory training created a space for participants to reflect, learn, and grow together.

Through group activities, self-assessments, case studies, and interactive discussions, participants explored different leadership styles and qualities, effective communication, team building, collaborative decision-making, negotiation, and leadership within a coalition and network context.

The training also highlighted an important aspect of coalition building: strong leadership is not only about leading individually, but also about building trust, encouraging inclusive participation, sharing ownership, and making collective decisions.

As the Sundarban Coalition continues its journey towards its independence and sustainability, strengthening the leadership capacity of its members and Secretariat remains an important step towards building a stronger, more cohesive, and locally led coalition.

19/08/2026

Humanitarian action is bigger than humanitarian organisations.

For us, it is the community volunteer who steps forward when their neighbours need help.
It is the local responder who listens, sees what is changing and raises the first alert.
It is the organisation that gathers information, carries out a needs assessment and shares what it is seeing.
It is the expert who helps us anticipate what may come next.
It is the government actor coordinating on the ground.
It is the donor who believes in acting early and makes resources available.
It is the network that shares knowledge beyond its own members.

And it is every person who shows solidarity, amplifies a call for support or chooses to stand with communities affected by crisis.

During the July floods and landslides in Bangladesh, 1.28 million people across seven districts were affected, with around 436,000 requiring humanitarian assistance.
From community volunteers and local responders raising early alerts, to members gathering needs and sharing information, FOREWARN experts providing forecasts, government actors coordinating on the ground, and humanitarian networks sharing knowledge, the response was collective from the beginning.

Funders had pre-positioned resources in the Start Fund Bangladesh pooled fund, ready for rapid disbursement where it was needed most. Through the Fund, GBP 799,890.60 was mobilised to support more than 55,000 people across six affected districts with cash assistance, hygiene and dignity support, community awareness and early recovery.

This World Humanitarian Day, we recognise everyone who contributed to such collective efforts, communities, volunteers, responders, experts, networks, government partners, funders and supporters.

Many people. Many contributions. One collective response.

Because behind every humanitarian is a collective.

Thank you for being part of it. 🌍

Start Network UK in Bangladesh Sida - Styrelsen för Internationellt Utvecklingssamarbete Embassy of Sweden in Dhaka Royal Norwegian Embassy in Dhaka Jersey Overseas Aid Conrad N. Hilton Foundation

19/08/2026

At Start Bangladesh Hub we believe that communities closest to crises must be at the heart of humanitarian action. We are grateful for Sweden’s continued commitment to locally led response and for the partnership and solidarity that help strengthen our collective efforts. ✊

17/08/2026

10/08/2026

🌳SFB Alert B075 project🌳

☘️Ensuring Transparent & Accountability of Beneficiaries Selection, Card Distribution and Emergency Assistance and list display at public place in Thanchi & Lama, Bandarban. It's one kind of Humanity emergency response .🍀

Start Fund Bangladesh
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