Background

The humanitarian aid sector struggles with major systemic issues including slow and reactive funding, centralized decision-making, and a resistance to change. These challenges often prevent affected communities from receiving timely and effective support, causing unnecessary suffering. The Start Network promotes shifting power toward local actors who are closest to crises, believing that this will lead to more effective and appropriate humanitarian responses.

In Ukraine, a 2023 report by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) revealed that less than 1% of humanitarian funding reached local and national NGOs directly. In response, the National Network of Local Philanthropy Development (NNLPD), with support from Start Network and funding from the DEC, established the Ukraine Local Pooled Fund (UPF), a locally led humanitarian financing mechanism. The fund aims to model a more flexible, locally driven approach to humanitarian response that shifts power and resources closer to crisis-affected communities.

Triangle’s Assignment

Triangle was commissioned to conduct an independent review of the Ukraine Local Pooled Fund’s inception phase. The objective was to assess the fund’s alignment with localization principles and evaluate its overall design and early implementation. Triangle’s assignment included:

• Evaluating the fund’s governance structure, decision-making processes, risk-sharing mechanisms, and due diligence requirements
• Reviewing the fund in comparison with other global pooled funding models
• Conducting document reviews, key informant interviews, and stakeholder surveys using a mixed-methods approach
• Assessing the fund’s ability to facilitate access for local and national actors and promote local leadership
• Evaluating operational transparency, adaptability, and early outcomes

Research Approach & Methodology

Triangle conducted a mixed-methods evaluation that emphasized local ownership and accountability:

• Comparative Model Review: Benchmarked the Ukraine Local Pooled Fund against similar pooled funding mechanisms globally to assess innovation, effectiveness, and localization alignment
• Document and Process Analysis: Reviewed key governance and operational documents to understand fund design, decision-making pathways, and due diligence frameworks
• Stakeholder Engagement: Conducted interviews and surveys with fund managers, local NGOs, and international partners to gather qualitative insights into the fund’s early-stage performance
• Access and Equity Assessment: Evaluated how the fund facilitated local actors’ access to resources, promoted leadership, and shared risk equitably across the humanitarian system
• Learning-Oriented Evaluation: Produced actionable findings to support ongoing improvement and the scale-up of locally led humanitarian financing models

The report that follows is a shorter, public version of the internal report that was presented to Start Network and stakeholders in April 2025. View the public report here.