Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance Referral Mechanism to Sector Specific Services

Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance (MPCA) has been a major activity in Iraq since 2015, used mainly for responses for conflict affected populations. Results from Post-Distribution Monitoring (PDM) show high levels of satisfaction, supporting access to basic needs and expenditures on critical needs. However, a recent study conducted by the Cash and Livelihoods Consortium for Iraq (CLCI) showed that 75.4% of beneficiaries remained eligible for MPCA assistance 9 to 12 months after receiving the first assistance and only 8.3% beneficiaries had achieved self-reliance.

Based on these findings, the CWG recommends linking MPCA beneficiaries with integrated approaches in order to increase the impact of this assistance.

Linking MPCA with other sectoral assistance and services is crucial to provide holistic support and to ensure that targeted beneficiaries have access to services for all their existing needs. These referrals to different activities can complement each other: MPCA can be either an entry point to ensure that basic needs are covered before receipt of further assistance, and it can be complemented with other types of support in parallel to increase the impact of this short-term support.

Five sectors have been identified as the most relevant to link with MPCA:

Agriculture: Focused on linking MPCA with agricultural support for better sustainability in rural areas

Livelihoods: Linking MPCA with livelihoods support will provide self-reliance of beneficiaries by engaging with income generating activities

Health: MPCA beneficiaries are reporting health as one of their priority needs, with high level of expenses. However, the SMEB does not include a health component, as needs can vary greatly between households

Protection (GP, CP and GBV): Continuing with the existing related referrals to legal assistance while identifying new referrals for other protection support, especially those MPCA beneficiaries with extremely high levels of vulnerability and less possibility to engage in income generating activities, knowing that Social Protection support is limited

Shelter: MPCA beneficiaries are reporting shelter as one of their top priority needs. Critical shelter provision is a key indicator of vulnerability for 2022