In 2015, the Start Network members began three collaborative responses to large-scale crises: the Central African Republic Refugees in Cameroon Response (Cameroon); the Ebola Preparedness Programme (Guinea Bissau, Mali, Senegal and Ivory Coast); and the European Refugee Response (Greece, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Slovenia and Serbia).
DfID funded the Start Network in 2015 in response to the migration crisis in Europe, which was on a scale unseen since the end of the Second World War. £16 million was allocated to the Start Network for a European Refugee Crisis Collaborative Response and, after a project selection process, 17 Start Network member and non-member agencies were selected, operating in five countries along migration routes from Turkey to Germany or other European destination countries.
The agencies implemented a variety of assistance and protection activities: Food Security and Livelihoods (FSL), Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH), camp management, protection, shelter, distribution of non-food items (NFIs) and winterization items, increasing access to health facilities, increasing access to information and contributing to improved coordination among partners and local authorities.