CVA and Human Mobility
Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) is frequently used to meet the needs of migrants in crisis. This page serves as a space to house materials connected to CVA and migration.
The Red Cross is preparing to provide humanitarian assistance to migrants ready to depart Honduras for Guatemala as part of a migrant caravan.
©Johannes Chinchilla / IFRC.
Conflict, economic crisis and natural disasters have forced people on arduous and risky journeys across multiple borders in search of safety, security and livelihoods. In 2020, the number of people forcibly displaced soured to a record high of over 80 million – nearly double the number a decade earlier. This trend is worsening and the effects of climate change threaten to displace up to 200 million people by 2050.
Increasingly, cash and voucher assistance (CVA) is being used to meet the needs of people on the move. It has been used at scale in various contexts from the 2015 European migration crises to ‘los caminantes’ from Venezuela. Equally, it has been used in other mixed migration crises, such as Central America, the Sahel, the Mediterranean, and the Horn of Africa. Currently, CVA is one of the main forms of assistance to the displaced populations in Ukraine and the surroundings countries.
There are many perspectives and definitions about what it means to be a migrant and how humanitarians should respond. Intentionally, we are not using a single definition for now as the discussion on CVA and migration is in its early stages a language is evolving.
Documenting and sharing evidence will help improve response effectiveness. This page houses a useful selection of resources related to migrants and the use of CVA. It will be updated as conversations evolve within humanitarian CVA spaces.
Current priorities
We aim to contribute to progress on this issue by:
- Supporting evidence generation at regional and global levels;
- contributing to practical solutions to delivering CVA to migrant populations; and
- convening evidence-based discussion on the key issues.
Featured content
People are on the move: Can the world of CVA keep up? Analysis of the use of CVA in the context of human mobility in the Americas
Report
This study proposes a new vision for the implementation of cash and voucher assistance (CVA) in contexts of human mobility in the Americas region.
This is not a drill: Cash and human mobility
Blog Post
In this blog Paula Gil Baizan presents three new lenses through which we can view human mobility. She outlines how these lenses intersect with Cash and Voucher Assistance with a particular focus...
DIGNIFYING, DIVERSE AND DESIRED: CASH AND VOUCHERS AS HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE FOR MIGRANTS
Report
This report looks at the use of Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) in supporting migrants. This report includes a baseline review of the use of CVA in the IFRC’s past and current operations...
CVA in Migration Context – Voices of Migrants in Niger
Report
On 24–31 August 2021, the Niger Red Cross, supported by the IFRC, conducted a survey with 35 migrants in neighbourhoods around the capital city of Niamey to ask about their views on CVA, their...
CASH ON THE MOVE – Adapting Multi-Purpose Cash ‘Plus’ Assistance to support people on the move in Peru
Report
In 2019 and 2020, with the support of USAID´s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (formerly FFP and OFDA), Save the Children implemented
a multi-purpose cash ‘Plus’ program in response to the...
IOM Cash-Based Interventions Annual Report and Case Studies 2020
Case Study
The IOM Cash-Based Interventions (CBI) Annual Report and Case Studies 2020 features case studies from a large number of missions that implemented CBI in 2020 and highlights the increasing use of...
CVA in Migration Context – Voices of Migrants in Kenya
Report
This report summarizes community consultations that were conducted in Kakuma refugee camp and Kalobeyei integrated settlement. It introduces the local context and the current user journey,...
Thematic Leads
Latest
Ukraine: Unlocking a more effective humanitarian response (Peresentation)
Presentation
This slide deck was used in the 8 February 2023 webinar organised by CALP, Ground Truth Solutions and Humanitarian Outcomes title: “Ukraine: Unlocking a more effective humanitarian response”. Agenda Brief presentations Key findings from Ground Truth Solutions, Marina Key findings from the Ukraine...
Why you need a plan A, B and C: Using cash in hard-to-reach contexts
Blog Post
Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) can be a valuable response choice in hard-to-reach areas, but it must be properly adapted to context with sufficient investment given to preparedness. Mirko Tommasi explains how preparing multiple plans, being flexible and ready to change plans fast and frequently is...
Evidence of impact research study: Cash and voucher assistance in Niger
Case Study
While in-kind assistance constitutes the bulk of humanitarian aid globally, Cash and voucher assistance (CVA) is quickly gaining ground among donors and practitioners. Between 2014 and 2020, the share of CVA-based support within the overall humanitarian assistance portfolio) increased 4.5 times — from...
CVA for people on the move: Time for a new vision?
Event
If you are interested in deepening your understanding of cash and voucher assistance (CVA) in the response to people on the move, including migrants, refugees and displaced persons, this event should be on your agenda. We invite you to explore our recent study, “People are on the move: can the world of...
CVA for people on the move: Time for a new vision?
Webinar recording
This event presented the main findings of our recently released study People are on the move: Can the world of CVA keep up? Analysis of the use of CVA in the context of human mobility in the Americas. Additionally, invited guests discussed key issues on facing the topic of human mobility and CVA and...
Episode 8: CVA- catching up with people on the move in the Americas
Podcast
In this episode we explore with experts the topic of humanitarian responses in contexts of human mobility. We discuss the challenges as well as the opportunities and innovations that exist when it comes toto effectively delivering recipient centered CVA in the Americas.
This is not a drill: Cash and human mobility
Blog Post
In this blog Paula Gil Baizan presents three new lenses through which we can view human mobility. She outlines how these lenses intersect with Cash and Voucher Assistance with a particular focus on the Americas.
People are on the move: Can the world of CVA keep up? Analysis of the use of CVA in the context of human mobility in the Americas
Report
This study proposes a new vision for the implementation of cash and voucher assistance (CVA) in contexts of human mobility in the Americas region.
Integrated Cash and Gender-Based Violence Programming for IPV Survivors in Guayaquil, Ecuador
Case Study
Migrant and refugee women and girls are vulnerable to a range of risks before, during, and after humanitarian crises. Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a type of gender-based violence (GBV) and is among the many protection-specific risks they face.
As a result of the conflict in Venezuela, an estimated...
Digital Feast and Famine: Digital Technologies and Humanitarian Law in Food Security, Starvation and Famine Risk
Report
This working paper presents the findings of a brief exploratory study into the role of digital technologies in International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and its implications for starvation and famine risk. It is a work in progress, intended to raise issues rather than reach definitive conclusions (given the...