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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The Impact of Economic Resource Transfers to Women versus Men: A Systematic Review
Report
This systematic review examined the question: “what is the evidence of the impact on family well-being of giving economic resources to women relative to the impact of giving them to men?” This review is of interest to policy-makers and funders in developed and developing countries, given the recent...
What Cash Transfer Programming can do to Protect Children from Violence, Abuse and Exploitation – Review and recommendations
Report
This discussion paper examines the links between cash transfers and the positive and negative outcomes for children, in particular the role cash transfers have played in protecting children from harm, exploitation, abuse and violence. The objective of this paper is to identify ways in which cash transfer...
Good Practice Review 11: Cash transfer programming in emergencies
Guidelines and Tools
The GPR is intended for humanitarian practitioners who plan and implement emergency responses – both those who are already familiar with cash-based interventions and those who are not. It synthesises cash transfer guidelines, highlights lessons from evaluations and adds practical examples drawn from...
Learning from Cash Responses to the Tsunami: Issue Paper 6: Monitoring and Evaluation
Report
This is the last of six issue papers which form part of a project to document learning around cash-based responses to the Indian Ocean tsunami. The project was funded by the British Red Cross, Save the Children UK, Oxfam GB, Mercy Corps and Concern Worldwide. This Issue Paper focuses on the question of...
Walking the Talk: Cash Transfers and Gender Dynamics
Case Study
Concern Worldwide (Concern) and Oxfam GB (Oxfam) jointly commissioned this report to look at the impacts of cash transfers (CTs) on gender dynamics both within households and communities. This report was commissioned because of the agencies’ concerns that while CTs, now being used in many different...
Public Health Agencies and Cash Transfer Programmes: Making the case for greater involvement
Policy paper
This report examines the case for greater involvement by public health agencies in cash transfer schemes, a form of welfare assistance. It seeks to identify opportunities, obstacles and actions that might support greater involvement. The issue arises because cash transfer schemes are an increasingly...
Cash Transfer Guide for Western Ivory Coast
Report
This document provides locally-adapted guidelines for cash transfer programming for the Western region of Ivory Coast. Developed by the CALP Network focal point in June-July 2011, these guidelines include: Context Stakeholder analysis Challenges & risk management options Response options Assessments &...
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...
Cash-For-Work in Somalia: Linking relief to recovery
Policy paper
In complex emergency situations such as that in Somalia, marred by violence, destitution and famine, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has managed to implement a large cash-for-work (CFW) programme. The programme provides emergency relief while building the base for...
Women’s WASH Platforms in Bangladesh and Cambodia
Case Study
Oxfam’s multi-country portfolio is located in more than 100 remote rural communities in six countries and is funded by AusAID’s Civil Society Organisation WASH Fund. The water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) projects in Bangladesh and Cambodia deliver multiple outcomes including improving water and...