Addressing Vulnerability? Cash Transfer Programming and Protection Outcomes for Out-of-Camp Syrian Refugees

This report explores key issues concerning vulnerability, targeting, and protection in cash transfer programming (CTP) by analyzing a Danish Refuge Council (DRC) project in southern Turkey.

It is based on an ongoing “action research” collaboration between DRC and the Feinstein International Center (FIC) at Tufts University, in which an academic research team is embedded with a humanitarian agency and works closely with the agency staff to develop their methods and analysis.

The goal of this collaboration is to better understand factors that impede the use of CTP in emergency contexts and/or hamper CTP’s effectiveness in addressing protection concerns. The report also briefly reviews how vulnerability is defined and operationalized, particularly in the Syrian refugee context, and then analyses the methodology and approach used by DRC for the CTP program, and provides recommendations for improved practice.