Risks and safeguarding strategies in multi-purpose cash assistance (MPCA) programming. Lessons from VenEsperanza, Latin America’s largest cash consortium

This report, prepared and published as part of VenEsperanza’s research and learning agenda, provides an account of VenEsperanza’s cash transfer program in Colombia and lessons learned to date. The report describes the five phases of VenEsperanza programming and presents prominent potential risks and safeguarding strategies during each phase, including lessons learned and best practices. This report also explores VenEsperanza’s two modalities of cash transfer, including advantages and disadvantages of each, as well as key considerations for event planning, communication of key messages to program participants, and fraud detection and response mechanisms.
This guidance is intended for internal VenEsperanza stakeholders, so that lessons learned serve to inform future programming and for external stakeholders delivering multi-purpose cash assistance, so that lessons learned from VenEsperanza allow for adoption of best practices and avoidance of mistake repetition.