Digital Payments
Digital technology is transforming the way we respond to emergencies. Innovations range from how we identifying people eligible for assistance, to data collection for assessments and monitoring, to communication with crisis-affected communities. Digital payment systems, including mobile devices, electronic vouchers, and cards – when used appropriately – can deliver timelier, more secure, more cost effective, and inclusive assistance. But as the volume of data we collect, store and share about people grows, we must ensure that our data protection systems keep pace and that we understand and mitigate for the risks inherent in new technologies.
Featured Content
Podcast: Is informed consent possible in humanitarian CVA?
Podcast
Episode 2 of the CashCast tackles data responsibility with Amos Doornbos, Linda Raftree, James Eaton Lee and Ric Tighe
Consent and Ownership in the Shift to Digital Cash and Voucher Assistance
Blog Post
Part of committing to cash and voucher assistance (CVA) is committing to going digital and collecting data. While they are two different things, they are deeply intertwined. And while an...
Latest
Beyond Banks: Cash Transfers 2.0 – Electronic payments technology in humanitarian assistance in Kenya
Report
This article in Monday Developments Magazine (June 2011) looks at how the emergence of new technologies in the financial sector in Kenya – namely remote banking and mobile phone banking – have the potential to enable aid organisations to delivery money to unprecedented numbers of people, with record...
Electronic Payment Systems 201
Guidelines and Tools
Disruptive innovation in the payments sector—and indeed the retail financial services industry—does not occur frequently. This is partly due to the dominant position of the incumbent players (primarily banks and payment networks), and partly due to the nature of the sector itself: as they relate to...
Sharing What Works – Working with payment service providers
Report
A handy tool on choosing payment service providers for delivering cash transfers. Developed by WFP Zambia. Mobile money and m-banking are now providing unprecedented opportunities to enhance programming within the WFP through cash and vouchers delivery mechanisms. Often in this context providers are...
Zap It to Me: The Short-Term Impacts of a Mobile Cash Transfer Program
Report
Conditional and unconditional cash transfers have been effective in improving development outcomes in a variety of contexts, yet the costs of these programs to program recipients and implementing agencies are rarely discussed. The introduction of mobile money transfer systems in many developing...
DFID Cash Transfers Literature Review
Report
This paper provides a synthesis of current global evidence on the impact of cash transfers in developing countries, and of what works in different contexts, or for different development objectives. Cash transfers are direct, regular and predictable non-contributory cash payments that help poor and...
Delivering Money: Cash Transfer Mechanisms in Emergencies
Report
This report documents lessons learned in cash transfer programming in emergencies, with a particular focus on the practicalities of how to deliver money to beneficiaries. It provides guidance for project managers needing to make choices about how to efficiently and effectively deliver cash, and explores...
Evaluation of Concern’s Post Election Violence Recovery (PEVR) Programme
Report
Concern’s Post Election Violence Recovery (PEVR) Programme was a cash transfer programme operating in areas of Kenya (Nairobi, Nyanza, and the Rift Valley) affected particularly badly by the violence that followed the announcement of the national election results in late 2007. Building on several other...
Cash Transfers through Mobile Phones: An Innovative Emergency Response in Kenya
Case Study
Kenya was the first country in the world to use mobile phones for cash transfers; through a service called M-PESA, developed by Safaricom Limited. Concern Worldwide has pioneered the use of M-PESA for
emergency cash transfers in Kenya. This paper highlights Concern’s experience, which shows that despite...
Evaluation of Concern Kenya’s Kerio Valley Cash Transfer Pilot (KVCTP)
Report
The Kerio Valley Cash Transfer Pilot (KVCTP) was Concern and its local partner the Catholic Diocese of Eldoret’s short-term and targeted response to the food security problems that affected communities in four Sub-locations in Baringo North and Pokot East Districts as a result of the post election...
Implementing Cash-Based Interventions: A Guideline for Aid Workers
Guidelines and Tools
This is a comprehensive guide to the theory and practice of cash-based interventions in the field, covering cash grants, vouchers, and labour-based interventions (cash for work). It also includes practical templates including examples of questionnaires, market surveys, beneficiary cards, voucher formats...