Guidelines on Using Cash and Voucher Assistance for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Programming

CARE seeks to increase its use of CVA for one of its core areas of programming, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). This is in line with the recommendations of the Inter-Agency Working Group on Reproductive Health, which deems CVA a suitable option to ensure ongoing access to affordable and high-quality comprehensive sexual and reproductive health (SRH) care.

In 2020, CARE completed a multi-country review of projects using CVA for SRH.1 This review provided findings from four uses of CVA for SRHR outcomes in humanitarian contexts. It contributes considerably to a nascent knowledge base on the subject, especially focusing on process and design.

The case studies demonstrated that the use of CVA for SRHR outcomes is feasible in sudden onset and protracted crises, although various elements will contribute to the potential reach, speed, and impact of the interventions. For CARE, the review identified a few critical issues that need to be included in the design of interventions with CVA for SRHR outcomes to ensure that it adheres to global promising practices and meets CARE’s ambition for gender sensitivity in design and outcomes.

This guidance is also complemented by SOPs and models of FGDs during design and monitoring, questions for market assessment, KAP surveys, and PDM surveys to be adapted for individual contexts. These tools are available in a separate document.