Early Lessons Learnt from Cash Transfer Interventions in Post Matthew Haiti

This technical report has twofold purposes, firstly to describe the main international evidence on cash transfer programing pertinent for the Haitian post Matthew emergency context; and secondly, to document the main lessons that can be learnt from the UNDP post Matthew cash transfer intervention.

The lessons learnt presented in this document from the UNDP post Matthew cash transfer program were drawn from quantitative and qualitative assessments. In particular, quantitative techniques were used to critically review the design characteristics of the program. For this, the report uses the 2012 ECVMAS and the CNSA food basket prices monthly tracking. Qualitative techniques, on the other hand, were used to critically assess the processes of the program. In this regard, the evidence drew from semi-structured interviews with different stakeholders such as beneficiaries, local authorities and infield personnel was used to shed light on the early lessons that the operation of the program can provide.

Worth remarking, this report is not meant to be an impact evaluation of the program, but rather an overview of the operative lessons learnt from the first six months of its implementation. It does not analyze the lessons learnt from other cash programing interventions that took place during these six months, as for instance unconditional cash transfers with nutritional purposes.