Gender Equality and Gender-Based Violence Risk Mitigation in Cash and Voucher Assistance: Vanuatu Case study

The case study was created with the inputs of Oxfam Vanuatu and UNFPA Vanuatu. It demonstrates the meaningful connection of cash and voucher assistance and gender at a response level.

Vanuatu is one of the world’s most remote locations and particularly vulnerable to cyclones and other natural hazards. More than 70% of the population is dependent on subsistence agriculture. The risks of gender-based violence (GBV) are severe with up to 60% of women reporting intimate partner physical and/or sexual violence. Meanwhile, acceptability of this violence is widespread among both men and women and in the community leadership. Although up to 80% of all women work to earn money, their access to bank accounts, savings and assets remain limited. Oxfam and their humanitarian partners working in Vanuatu are therefore seeing great potential to capture women’s economic empowerment through the integration of gender equality and GBV into Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA).