Examining Protection and Gender in Cash and Voucher Transfers – Summary

In any humanitarian intervention – including those using cash and vouchers – assistance agencies need to identify the most appropriate, effective, and efficient way of helping crisis-affected households meet their needs. In doing so, they need to consider the protection and gender issues surrounding any intervention strategy.

Over the years, many aspects of cash and voucher transfers have been analysed and studied, however, there has not been a substantive amount of study specifically devoted to protection and gender implications – both positive and negative – of such programming. In response, in October and November 2011, WFP conducted a literature review of previous studies of cash and voucher transfers to investigate whether cash and voucher transfers were working towards improving protection of, or at minimum doing no further harm to, beneficiaries, as well as what impacts they could have on gender and community dynamics. In addition, WFP headquarters sent a short questionnaire to their field offices to gather their observations on the impacts of cash and voucher transfers on protection and gender within their own programming.

The full report is available here