CALP Network Looking Ahead: Plans for 2022/23

Guided by our strategy, ‘Increasing Impact through Collective Action’, over the last year, we have worked in increasingly networked ways, from developing more inclusive steering groups to guide research processes, to launching and supporting more member-led forums, to mobilising 95 signatories for the Call for Action letter on cash coordination. Feedback from practitioners surveyed by CALP confirms the value placed on the evidence, learning and thought leadership generated by CALP – and they wish to see more.  

In the coming year we will: 

• Build on developments that are already in progress, work to amplify impact, and be responsive to new and emerging issues and opportunities, strengthening membership engagement and enhancing communities of practice across a range of themes.  
• Strengthen the engagement of local actors, both NGOs and government, in CALP’s work as we strive to meaningfully shift power, voice and perspective from international to local. With the renaming of the ‘CVA and Localisation Group’ (formerly under the Grand Bargain) to ‘Cash and Locally Led Response’, thinking is starting to shift, and we will continue to support and advocate for the policy and operational changes that need to follow.  
• Continue to strengthen linkages between national, regional and global actors to elevate experiences and ensure stronger feedback loops between policy and practice. 
• Strengthen our engagement with financial service providers, which make up a critical but often neglected voice within CVA debates. In keeping with this, we will recruit a new technical adviser with a focus on digital payments and data responsibility to ensure that discussions and actions in this area receive increased attention.  
• Continue to bridge the divide between humanitarian and development actors, by strengthening linkages with social protection, exploring questions of financial inclusion, ensuring connectedness in market-based programming discussions and more. 
• Further increase our focus on climate change, with its relevance for CVA preparedness and anticipatory action. This is driving new partnerships, with collaboration and learning led by the CALP-facilitated ‘CVA, Climate Change and Environment Community of Practice’. Alongside this, we will work internally to minimise our carbon footprint – in keeping with our principles as outlined in our strategy. 
• Continue debates and discussions to strengthen understanding and action on issues related to gender and inclusion, data interoperability, learning from COVID-19, and other issues as they emerge. 
• Seek to ensure greater diversity and inclusion both in the CVA issues we tackle and in the ways we work. We recognise that effective communication is a critical part of this – supporting engagement, mobilising collective action and increasing the uptake and application of learning. To this end, we will further enhance our communications further, adapting and targeting work to maximise engagement. While we won’t manage to be multilingual all the time, an ever-increasing number of resources and forums will be in CALP’s four languages: Arabic, English, French and Spanish.  
• Continue to invest in the development of new courses, the renewal of existing training resources, exploring new formats and ensuring a dispersed cohort of qualified trainers are available to deliver training – striving to meet the strong demand that exists for CALP training. 
• We will re-establish CALP in the Asia-Pacific region, with plans to recruit a Regional Representative and Administrative Assistant initially. This team will connect and support CVA stakeholders across this vast and diverse region, with support from the wider team.  

The annual plans are presented in line with the five focus areas in the strategy. As usual, the plans will be responsive to evolving needs and priorities, while risks will be managed on a continuous basis, to ensure we deliver and adapt as needed to maximise our collective impact. 

For the full benefits of CVA to be realised, we need to ensure that it does not simply substitute for in-kind aid but that we capitalise on the opportunity to make aid more people-centred and to drive positive change in the humanitarian system.  

We look forward to working with you to make these ambitious plans a reality.