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Risk

To ensure cash and voucher assistance (CVA) is routinely considered by humanitarian actors when designing an intervention, we must address the perceptions and myths that it is a riskier form of response than others.

The CALP Network’s State of the World’s Cash report found that the perception that CVA is riskier than other forms of aid was one of the main barriers to CVA being routinely used. This concern is linked to the growing emphasis from donors on anti-terrorism and money laundering, and shrinking budgets for humanitarian assistance. The CALP Network’s work under this theme aims to debunk myths, facilitate collaboration, and share learning to ensure that CVA is systematically and equally considered, based on evidence of actual risks across modalities.

Current priorities

A variety of organisations are currently working on CVA and risk. The CALP Network is working to identify synergies among actors, avoid duplication, and define joint priorities that can be better addressed collectively. Together with WFP, the CALP Network is co-leading the risk priority within the Grand Bargain workstream on cash.

Latest

Managing Cash-Based Programmes in a Volatile Markets Contexts: The Case of Delivering Cash Using Mobile Money During the Zimbabwe Cash Liquidity Crisis

Report

This case study examines how the Zimbabwe national cash crisis evolved and the ways in which affected communities and the CTP adapted to the challenges it posed. The study highlights what worked well, what was less effective, and some other possible future opportunities. It also provides operational...

2017

Cash or in-kind? Why not both? Response Analysis Lessons from Multimodal Programming

Report

This research reviews lessons learned about response analysis from multimodal responses, that is, responses in which practitioners determined that more than one response modality between cash,vouchers, and in-kind, was a “best fit” or in which the conclusions about “best fit” changed over...

2017

Cash alone is not enough: a smarter use of cash

Guidelines and Tools

Cash based interventions (CBIs) enable crisis affected  people to make choices and prioritise their own needs. They also support markets critical to survival and recovery of communities.  NRC is committed to increasing the use of cash across its programmes. Yet, cash based interventions are not a...

2017

The Impact of Cash Transfers on Women and Girls

Report

This briefing summarises the findings on the impacts of cash transfers on women and girls. These are drawn from a rigorous review of the evidence looking at the impacts of cash transfers across six outcome areas (Bastagli et al., 2016). The review covered literature spanning 15 years (2000–2015). It...

2017

Cash Transfers During Urban Crises: Lessons for Women’s Economic Empowerment

Guidelines and Tools

Cash transfers are increasingly used in urban humanitarian crises. They can stimulate markets and let people choose the help they actually need. But they can also influence gender equality and women’s economic empowerment — for good or, potentially, for bad. This briefing reports research in Nepal...

2017

CTP in the Ethiopia Drought Response: Using Learning to Shape Action

Report

This workshop, convened by the CALP Network and the Ethiopia Cash Working Group, reflected on the use of cash transfers in the 2017 drought response. Key findings were: Cash helped address immediate needs and contributed to meeting some of the drought response objectives. There were significant...

2017

Enacting urban cash for work programmes in Lebanon in response to the Syrian refugee crisis

Guidelines and Tools

Humanitarian crises in cities require responses that reflect the urban context,address urban challenges, and provide urbanised solutions. This paper focuses on providing guidance on good practice in cash for work (CfW) programmes. Focusing on Lebanon and the Syrian refugee crisis, the paper provides nine...

2017

Checking Back – Using Cash and Vouchers in Somalia: Recommendations from the 2011-12 Somalia Drought Response

Report

This paper brings together recommendations from some of the key reports and evaluations from the 2011 Somalia drought response. The process of preparing this paper involved reviewing 17 reports and identifying five that had recommendations which could be useful for all agencies involved the current...

2017

Real time evaluation report for Kenya Red Cross Society

Report

After launching of its first Drought Emergency Appeal, Kenya Red Cross Society undertook a real time evaluation of its cash transfer response in May 2017 to find out what was working or not working in the KRCS emergency cash transfer response to enable decision making in the remaining period of the...

2017

Using Cash and Vouchers in Somalia in 2017: The Need to Build on Learning from the 2011-12 Somalia Drought Response

Report

During the 2011-12 drought response in Somalia, cash and vouchers were distributed at scale – a response that was unusual in such a context at that time. In 2017 cash is accepted as highly appropriate and is a major part of response plans. While it may not always be possible to apply all best...

2017

Mobile Money in Somalia – Household Survey and Market Analysis

Report

Key findings from an assessment of mobile money in Somalia. Provides information about mobile money penetration; practicalities; usage; perceptions and the use of shillings versus dollars.

2017

The Role of Financial Services in Humanitarian Crises

Guidelines and Tools

More than 75 percent of adults who live in countries that are coping with humanitarian crises remain outside the formal financial system. Financial inclusion would provide both refugees and residents with a diversified set of financial products (including savings, remittances, credit, and insurance) that...

2017

Is cash better than food vouchers for Syrian refugees?

Report

A comparative analysis of the effectiveness of unrestricted cash and food restricted voucher assistance modalities for Syrian refugee households’ food security in Jordan and Lebanon.

2017

ELAN Humanitarian KYC Case Studies

Report

Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations, also known as customer due diligence, are designed to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and other related threats to the financial system. They refer to the ID checks that financial institutions perform to comply with national financial regulations....

2017

Cash Transfers in Remote Emergency Programming

Guidelines and Tools

In emergencies with significant access challenges for humanitarian actors, the use of Cash Transfer Programming (CTP) has great potential to help provide life-saving support to the most vulnerable people. CTP may not require a heavy and consistent staff presence, is not subject to the same logistical...

August 2016

Cash Transfers in Remote Emergency Programming: Focus on risk mitigation

Blog Post

Humanitarian agencies increasingly deliver cash in locations with significant access constraints. Roger Dean, NRC’s Remote Cash Project lead, answers questions about how cash transfers can be used as an effective modality of response in such contexts.

1 August 2016

Cash Transfers: An Effective Tool for International Development and Humanitarian Aid

Report

In the last 20 years direct payments to recipients have emerged as an effective way to deliver aid to vulnerable people. Evidence from 200 studies shows that direct cash transfers (CTs) have a strong impact on poverty reduction, and that they are particularly efficient in emergency situations. This...

11 July 2016

Risk-verse to Risk-willing: Learning from the 2011 Somalia Cash Response

Report

In 201  the humanitarian community faced a difficult question. Could large-scale cash transfers provide an effective alternative to food aid delivery in South Central Somalia to avert a famine? Ultimately, between August 2011 and May 2012, more than 81 million US dollars in the form of unconditional cash...

8 July 2016

Introducing the ELAN Data Starter Kit

Blog Post

Electronic cash transfers (e-transfers) often necessitate the transfer of personal data, some of which is sensitive, between humanitarian and private sector actors, such as financial service providers (FSPs). As use of e-transfers increases, having strong data management and protection practices in place...

14 June 2016