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Cash and voucher assistance is ‘life-saving’: We urgently need to make the case

Only “life-saving” aid is covered by USAID’s latest waiver on the funding freeze. We must keep arguing the clear case that CVA falls firmly into this category.

2 February 2025 — By Cate Turton

CVA is life-saving – when crisis hits it can reach people quickly allowing them to buy food, basic essentials and to access health care all whilst protecting their right to make their own choices and to dignity. What’s more CVA enables us to save more lives with fewer resources – it can be distributed cheaply and quickly, enabling people to directly access the specific life-saving essentials they need.   

A waiver was issued on the 28th of January, reportedly liberating “life-saving aid” programmes from the U.S. funding freeze on aid. However, we are concerned that CVA may not be covered by this. Indeed, in this ICVA survey respondents reported that their cash assistance programming has been suspended.

USAID is the largest humanitarian donor, as well as the largest donor of CVA. If CVA is not included in the waiver – it will both directly impact the millions of people in crisis relying on cash and unravel a decade of hard fought progress to increase the use of CVA.

We know that this is a time of great uncertainty and anxiety for colleagues personally and professionally and we send our heart-felt solidarity.  

For those of you involved in putting together a waiver request we call on you all to urgently make the case that CVA is life-saving and falls firmly into this category.   

Read on for more information on why this is so important and evidence that will help you make the case.  

Cash is lifesaving, here’s why  

1. Immediate Access to Essentials

In crises, CVA can be quickly deployed, avoiding logistical delays that come with distributing physical aid. 

For obvious reasons it’s quicker to transfer money to people, than to distribute food or physical goods. In emergencies enabling people to access life-saving essentials quickly is paramount.   

A unique attribute of cash over other forms of aid is that it can be distributed digitally. This means we can reach people in inaccessible crisis-affected contexts such as Sudan, Gaza or Goma.

We also know that the money people receive is spent on life-saving essentials. 

The most cited spending category for Sudanese refugees fleeing to Egypt was food (cited by 82 per cent of respondents), health-related items / services was 25% and infant items and needs including milk formula, diapers, etc. (5 per cent). 

In the 2023 Türkiye earthquakes, survivors spent cash on their essential needs, such as healthcare (reported by 51% of recipients) and food (31%).    

In Ukraine, Post Distribution Monitoring showed that the most common expenses covered with the cash assistance were health-related (62% of respondents), food (60%) and paying for utilities, including heating expenditures (54%).  

Infographic explaining that people in crisis can use cash to access essentials such as food, clothes, shelter, medicine and blankets.

2. Efficiency 

Not only does cash save lives – it does so much more  efficiently than other forms of aid i.e. less money to save more lives. This is critical when resources are constrained.  

According to this paper, a study in Ethiopia and Somalia found that cash transfers were between 25 and 30 per cent more cost-efficient and 250 per cent better targeted than in-kind assistance.It also found that cash transfers provided savings of up to US $7 per transfer as opposed to in-kind distributions. 

 This paper, reviewed 123 studies and found that “unconditional cash transfer programmes have a lower cost per beneficiary than vouchers which, in turn, have a lower cost per beneficiary than in-kind food distribution”. 

 This study found that cash efficiencies allowed 18% more people to be reached in comparison to in-kind food aid. 

3. Tailored fulfilment of people’s critical needs

People can buy food, water, and hygiene items according to their needs, helping to prevent malnutrition, dehydration, and disease.

With CVA aid is tailored to people’s needs, so people can buy blankets for an elderly relative, or medicines for a sick daughter – a family that needs food won’t end up with a bucket or mosquito net when they don’t need one. 

The beauty of CVA is that it gives decision making to the recipients themselves. Instead of humanitarians trying to meet the impossible (and expensive) challenge of providing tailored aid to millions of families – (all of whom will have different needs) – these efforts are met simply and precisely by the people who know best – the families themselves. 

 

Other benefits 

Choice and dignity – We know cash is an excellent way to do this, and remains the preferred means of assistance for most people in crisis.   In the words of Ground Truth Solutions, “aid that doesn’t listen fails”. Although the nuance is currently reduced to ‘what is or is not life-saving’ we still need to hold on to these higher values and principles. 

Infographic highlighting the three main reason people prefer cash - control, flexibility, speed.

The multiplier effect – The benefits of CVA ‘spillover’ to the wider community and economy. People spend their cash or vouchers with local traders, who then in turn spend money on employees or with other local businesses or farmers, contributing to economic recovery in critical contexts.  This study found that every unrestricted dollar of direct cash assistance creates $2 of value in local economies. 

Links to longer term solutions – Cash and voucher assistance offers linkages to more sustainable forms of assistance, such as social protection and financial inclusion. 

Top-line evidence summaries 

 Cash and voucher assistance has many other benefits as outlined on CALP’s Cash 101.  

This synthesis by Give Directly also offers a strong summary of the evidence and research supporting cash transfers. 

 To dig deeper check out CALP’s library and GiveDirectly’s Cash Evidence Explorer. 

Get in touch 

Your insights and feedback are critical to help us make sense of what is happening and inform our thinking on where as CALP we can support.

We hope the above will help you to advocate for the continued funding of specific cash and voucher assistance programmes. However we are also  acutely conscious that the landscape is uncertain and evolving. 

Please share your experience with applying to 29 January waiver to CVA and take this survey. This will help us understand the issues and potential challenges CVA may be facing.