West and Central Africa
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Targeting in Protracted Crises: Nigeria case study
Case Study
This country case study focuses on Nigeria and the specific challenge of conflict, violence, and insecurity. Using four waves of General Household Survey data covering the period 2010 to 2019, we analyse trends in poverty, food insecurity, shocks, and coping strategies among different population groups, differentiated according to where they reside in the country and the degree to which those...
CVA Feasibility Assessment: Upper East and Upper West Regions, Ghana
Case Study
The worsening security situation in Burkina Faso has led to the influx of over 15,000 asylum seekers into the Upper East and Upper West regions of Ghana. This has placed significant pressure on the already limited resources of the host communities, particularly in the area hosting the settlements of Tarikom and Zini. Plan International Ghana conducted a feasibility assessment of a Cash and...
How is CVA operationalized at Humanitarian Service Points (HSP)?
Guidelines and Tools
The Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement’s Humanitarian Service Points (HSPs) are designed to create a safe and welcoming space for migrants to receive services at key points on migration routes. As part of their toolkit on HSP, there is a module on cash and voucher assistance. The module contains the key things programme designers, staff, and volunteers should think about, including...
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Using Cash for Shelter: An Overview of CRS Programs
Report
Cash continues to gain prevalence as a modality for humanitarian agencies to help people meet multiple and diverse needs in the wake of a crisis. It provides people with the dignity of choice, and is often significantly more cost-efficient than the delivery of in-kind aid. In programs with a shelter...
Safe Cash Distribution in Liberia
Report
Delivering cash to crises affected populations is much more than about meeting their ‘physical needs’. It is also about seeing the human being in its fullness and ensuring that the assistance preserves their Safety, Dignity and Integrity. We ensure that cash delivery does not increase the risks faced...
Voices and Views of Beneficiaries on Unconditional Cash Transfers – Democratic Republic of Congo, Nepal and the Philippines
Report
Providing cash in humanitarian emergencies is expanding and the topic is well under discussion within the humanitarian sector with topics ranging from high-level consideration of cash as a tool to transform humanitarian aid, the significance of cash as a way to support beneficiary choice and dignity...
Markets in Crises: The Conflict in Mali
Case Study
Humanitarian agencies routinely conduct market analyses to inform decisions around transfer modality – cash, voucher or in-kind – with a strong emphasis on the availability and price of key commodities. However, in the last few years humanitarian organisations have expanded their scope to...
Productive Impacts of the Child Grant Programme in Zambia
Report
This short one page paper looks at the impacts of the Child Grant Programme in Zambia on asset ownership, agricultural activity, non-farm business activities, labour supply and local economies. The CGP is one of Zambia’s flagship social protection schemes. It targets ultra-poor districts not previously...
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Cash-Based Food Assistance Projects: A case study and discussion paper of findings in Niger
Report
Despite recent and expanding literature on cost effectiveness and value for money, there is little by way of guidance for the implementation of cost-effectiveness analysis in humanitarian and development programming. This report distills findings from the literature on ex post cost-effectiveness analysis,...
Impacts of the Child Grant Programme (CGP) on the Local Economy in Zambia
Report
In this research brief, local economy-wide impact evaluation (LEWIE) simulation methods are used to assess the likely impacts of cash transfers on the local economy. When the Child Grant Programme (CGP) gives money to beneficiary households, they spend it to buy goods and services. As this cash circulates...
Kit for Autonomous Cash transfer in Humanitarian Emergencies (KACHE)
Guidelines and Tools
The present document reports the development of the Kit for Autonomous Cash transfer in Humanitarian Emergencies (KACHE), built upon Red Rose ONE system© supported by the WFP’s Cooperating Partners’ Innovation Fund (CPIF). Firstly, it gives a brief description of the main features of the kit....
Liberia Ebola Response
Presentation
ICRCs EVD Cash response program had to be designed under a rare circumstance of insufficient baseline data on EVD impact on household level and limited opportunity to contact intended beneficiaries for a detailed assessment/ proper situational analysis.
Cheaper, Faster, Better? A case study of new technologies in cash transfers from the Democratic Republic of Congo
Report
Over the past decade, there has been a growing consensus in the humanitarian community that cash, as compared to in-kind aid, is the best form of assistance to provide during an emergency. For families that have been displaced by a crisis or natural disaster, cash offers aid recipients more flexibility...
Information and Communications Technology Response to the Liberia Ebola Crisis: Desk review and recommendations for private sector engagement
Report
An information and communication technology assessment recently conducted in Liberia by NetHope and USAID addresses the potential for digital payments in the response to Ebola. The documents looks into the digital payments landscape, describing the banking sector, use of mobile money and remittance firms....
Regional Learning Event: “Links between emergency cash transfer programming and social safety nets in the Sahel.”
Report
Cash transfers are nowadays widely used in response to the food and nutrition crises that affect the Sahel. Since the crisis of 2012, many stakeholders (including governments, United Nations agencies, international or local non-governmental organisations) have made use of them – at scale, in some cases.
The Impact of Cash and Food Transfers: Evidence from a randomized intervention in Niger
Case Study
There is little rigorous evidence on the comparative impacts of cash and food transfers on food security and food-related outcomes. This paper assesses the relative impacts of receiving cash versus food transfers using a randomized design. Drawing on data collected in eastern Niger, the paper finds that...
Mobile Cash Transfers for Urban Refugees in Niamey, Niger
Report
This study compared the effectiveness of cash transfers delivered through mobile phone and microfinance institutions to urban refugees in Niamey. The study found that the mobile phone delivery mechanism could be more cost-efficient than the MFI mechanism, after initial set up costs associated to...
CALP Case Study – Unconditional cash transfers to reduce food insecurity for displaced households and assist in the repatriation of people to their villages of origin – Regions of Zinder, Agadez and Maradi in Niger. A project of Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund Deutschland e.V. (ASB)
Case Study
This CALP Network case study outlines the project, looks at the impacts of the cash transfers as well as the challenges, solutions and lessons learned.
Planning for government adoption of a social protection programme in an insecure environment: the Child Grant Development Programme in northern Nigeria
Report
Cash transfer programming (CTP) is increasingly used in West Africa in response to food and nutritional crisis. Beyond emergency situations, cash transfer mechanisms are key mechanisms for national social protection strategies and policies. Despite the rapid development of social...
Payment Mechanisms and Anti-Poverty Programs: Evidence from a Mobile Money Cash Transfer Experiment in Niger
Report
Cash transfers have become an increasingly important component of social protection policies in both developed and developing countries. While such programs are often implemented electronically in developed countries, in many developing countries with weak financial infrastructure, such transfers are...
Preventing Acute Malnutrition Among Young Children in Crises: A prospective intervention study in Niger
Report
Governments and donor agencies need to know which preventative strategy is most effective, particularly among children under 2 years old who are most vulnerable to acute malnutrition. Here, the researchers compare the effectiveness of seven preventative strategies—including the distribution of...
Cash Transfers and Resilience: Strengthening Linkages Between Emergency Cash Transfers and National Social Transfer Programmes in the Sahel – Discussion Paper
Report
This discussion paper has been inspired by the exchanges that took place during the course of the learning event. It seeks to extend the discussion to include other actors working within the region, as well as in other regions confronted with the same questions. It proposes an initial approach to the...
Case Study: Preparing to Implement Relief Cash Transfer Programming at Scale
Case Study
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) worked with four pilot countries namely the Philippine Red Cross, the Vietnam Red Cross Society, the Senegalese Red Cross Society and the Chilean Red Cross, between May 2012 and December 2013 to support them with training and...