Cash within GBV case management for women and adolescent girls in Colombia

In 2021–2022, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Colombia piloted the integration of cash assistance as a tool within gender-based violence (GBV) prevention and response programming in five departments in Colombia (La Guajira, Norte de Santander, Arauca, Chocó and Nariño). Unrestricted cash transfers valued at US$77 were provided for either one or three months to women enrolled in GBV case management. UNFPA and the Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH) conducted a mixed methods evaluation of the cash assistance pilot with a focus on protection outcomes. The evaluation analyzed the impacts of the pilot on 200 women receiving cash assistance in three departments (La Guajira, Norte de Santander, and Arauca), where UNFPA cash recipients were predominantly Venezuelan (77%), and most of the Venezuelan cash recipients had arrived in Colombia within the past five years (65%). The mixed-methods evaluation was intended to complement ongoing program monitoring and expand learning beyond current indicators to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the impacts of cash in responding to and preventing GBV-related needs and risks in the Colombian context.

The evaluation showed that there were greater positive impacts in some areas at endline for recurrent transfer recipients than for single transfer recipients, suggesting that longer-term assistance, when feasible, is beneficial.