Gender and Inclusion
There is an increasing demand from stakeholders that, as CVA continues its rapid growth, it should take greater account of gender and inclusion issues because, ‘Gender-responsive CVA which recognizes existing disparities and addresses the needs of all crisis-affected people equally, has the potential to positively impact women and girls by improving their protection and promoting their empowerment, while also strengthening sector-specific impacts which can lead to more resilient and empowered households and communities in recovery from crises.’ (Guidelines for Grand Bargain Cash and Gender Workstream). The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the urgency for action as it has affected women and excluded groups more severely through increasing care-giving, reducing employment opportunities disproportionately, exposing women to greater financial hardship and increased gender based violence.
The CALP Network continues to build on the 2018, our #GenderCash Symposium in Nairobi and the commitment enshrined in the Agenda for Collective Action that resulted. The SOWC 2020 report found notable progress in work on gender and CVA, identified as a critical evidence gap in the last report: new guidelines have been produced on gender and CVA and gender and GBV and efforts have focused attention on synthesising and identifying more robust evidence. The initial focus on GBV is now shifting towards gender equality and to better programming that can move beyond gender sensitivity towards becoming gender responsive – and even gender transformative. However, while we see progress globally at the technical level, this has not yet translated into consistent changes in planning, implementation and monitoring.
Current priorities
We will continue to work closely with the Grand Bargain Cash sub-workstream leads, CARE and UN Women, to help deliver the sub-workstream workplan. The CALP Network will continue to encourage cash actors to widen their focus to be more inclusive, and champion a fuller understanding of how CVA can go beyond the notion of ‘do no harm’ towards appropriately addressing these socio-economic inequalities through the provision of other services and support.
Featured content
Collected Papers on Gender and Cash Transfer Programmes in Humanitarian Contexts
Report
Existing gender inequalities mean that disasters and conflicts impact women, men, girls and boys differently. Cash based assistance is one of the most significant developments in humanitarian assistance in recent years. But the relationship between gender and cash based assistance in humanitarian contexts is poorly understood. All too often, interventions are designed based on assumptions...
Guide for Protection in Cash based Interventions
Guidelines and Tools
This guide identifies minimum necessary information and key resources needed to help humanitarian practitioners ensure that protection risks and benefits are considered and monitored throughout the cash-based interventions (CBI) program cycle, using a community-based approach and participatory methods as much as possible. It can help to inform CBI in any program context: protection...
Microlearning video: CVA and Gender
Blog Post
This video provides an overview of the relationship between gender and cash and voucher assistance (CVA) structured around the humanitarian project cycle, which include: Assessment and response analysis: How to adjust the assessment processes to achieve a more accurate reflection of gender and markets. Design and implementation: How to use methods and protocols to reduce the potential...
Better Gender Outcomes in Food Assistance through Complementary and Multi-Modal Programing: Promising Practices Tip Sheet
Guidelines and Tools
This Tip Sheet is excerpted from the research report, “Better Gender Outcomes in Food Assistance through Complementary and Multi-Modal programming,” and gives promising practices by the cycles of project cycle management, as well as at the response level. Additionally, there are expert tips and wisdom practices that support the use of a gendered approach in development or humanitarian...
Cash & Voucher Assistance and Gender-Based Violence Compendium
Guidelines and Tools
The Compendium is intended as a companion to the 2015 Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Guidelines for Integrating Gender-Based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Action and its companion resource, the GBV Pocket Guide. The guidance was developed through the efforts of 15 organizations who contributed expertise in the inception, design and review of the document. The process was led...
Cash and Voucher Assistance that Works for Women: 6 lessons from the field
Report
Building on CARE’s commitment to be ‘cash ready’ to achieve breakthroughs with and for women and girl, CARE commissioned a study –in Malawi, Haiti, Jordan, the Philippines and Niger–on gender-sensitive CVA that allowed actual CVA recipients to frame the discussion. This is a brief from the research “What Does Gender-Sensitive Cash and Voucher Assistance Look Like?” and presents...
Toolkit for Optimizing Cash-based Interventions for Protection from Gender-based Violence
Guidelines and Tools
Efforts to prevent and respond to GBV should be a priority for all actors in all humanitarian response operations from the very start. By mainstreaming GBV considerations in CBIs throughout the program cycle and by utilizing cash within GBV case management services, cash can be optimized as a tool to enhance the protection of crisis- and conflict-affected populations and to mitigate risks of...
Thematic lead
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Building Capital in Crisis: How women in CARE’s VSLAs in Emergencies increase savings and solidarity
Report
Since 2017, CARE has piloted and refined our VSLA in Emergencies model to reach people in need of humanitarian assistance and provide an approach that can reduce long term vulnerability while being more sustainable. In this second report on our pilot research, we provide insights from three pilots in...
Humanitarian Cash Transfers and Intimate Partner Violence in South Sudan
Case Study
Cash-based programming, an intervention commonly provided to people affected by humanitarian crisis, has the potential to affect IPV positively or negatively. This study, however, found no evidence that this cash-based project had any significant effect on IPV. However, the relationship between cash...
“Men have the power to say everything, women don’t.” Women’s perceptions of cash and voucher assistance in Maiduguri’s outskirts
Case Study
In northeast Nigeria, women and girls constitute approximately two-thirds of cash and voucher assistance (CVA) recipients. However, stark gender inequalities in the region make it difficult to hear women’s perspectives. This study aims to amplify their voices and concerns to inform decision-making...
Onward Bound: Evaluating Cash and Voucher Assistance for Migrants on Sahel’s Migration Trail – Research and learnings from the Sahel region
Report
This research – a collaboration between the British Red Cross and Samuel Hall – provides evidence on the opportunities and challenges to integrate cash and vouchers assistance (CVA) as a support modality in migration programming in the context of transit migration in the Sahel. While CVA has become...
Impact Evaluation of Cash-Based Transfers and Gender in Kenya: Inception report
Guidelines and Tools
Gender inequality in economic autonomy is pervasive, particularly in developing countries, and its potential welfare implications are concerning. The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report for 2022 ranks Kenya as 57th for the Gender Gap on Economic participation, and an opportunity index...
Saving Lives and Assets: The value of nexus “Cash” approaches to Anticipatory Action and Social Protection during climate-induced crises
Report
As a follow-on reflection from an inter-agency panel presentation at the ECHO EHF 2023, panelists highlight the importance of drastically changing “gear” to scale up pre-crisis Anticipatory Action investment, leveraging the “nexus” enabler – cash. Humanitarian needs have reached an unprecedented...
An Integrated Approach to Menstrual Hygiene Management: Awareness sessions and cash assistance for women and girls affected by crisis in Lebanon
Case Study
In 2022, UNFPA Lebanon worked with local partners to launch an integrated cash and awareness for menstrual hygiene management (MHM) initiative as a way to tackle the growing issue of period poverty amidst the country’s economic crisis. Through the pilot, over 2,600 vulnerable women and girls of...
Mainstreaming disability inclusion into humanitarian CVA
Presentation
What is a rights-based approach to disability? How can disability inclusion be mainstreamed to ensure more inclusive and effective CVA humanitarian responses? To answer these key questions, CALP, CBM Global, European Disability Forum and International Organization for Migration (IOM), came together to...
Microlearning video: CVA and Gender
Blog Post
This video provides an overview of the relationship between gender and cash and voucher assistance (CVA) structured around the humanitarian project cycle, which include: Assessment and response analysis: How to adjust the assessment processes to achieve a more accurate reflection of gender and...
Presentation: Module about Cash and Voucher Assistance & Gender
Presentation
This slide presentation is part of CALP Network’s microlearning video, produced in collaboration with CARE. This micro-learning module provides an overview of the relationship between gender and cash and voucher assistance (CVA) organized around the humanitarian project cycle, and is part of UN...