Gender and Inclusion
Gender, age, abilities and other individual or context-specific characteristics present different opportunities and challenges to provide CVA to people in crisis in a dignified manner.
Among humanitarian actors, there is an increasing acknowledgement of the specific needs and constraints of people of differing abilities, older people, people of different genders, particularly women, and people on the move. Alongside this is a growing appreciation of the need for tailored and sensitive measures that ensure their effective inclusion.
Supporting the needs of diverse people with CVA goes beyond making them a target group; it is about meaningful engagement, purposive design and implementation, and programme adjustment to meet different groups’ needs with dignity. Inclusive approaches go hand in hand with people-centred aid.
Current priorities
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 the needs of diverse people in safe and dignified manners.
We will work to elevate the experiences and initiatives on CVA and gender, disability inclusive CVA, working with different ethnicities and cultural identities, minority groups, people with diverse sexual identities, and age groups.
CALP will also strive to make its work as accessible as possible.
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...
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...
A Gendered Analysis on Cash for Work Programming in Lahj Governorate
Case Study
Cash for Work (CFW) programmes are designed to help the most vulnerable people meet their essential and basic needs. In Yemen, CFW interventions are responding to an ever-growing proportion of the Yemeni population that are in need of humanitarian assistance. Working with communities in the targeted areas of Hudayda and Lahj, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency SIDA-funded...
How to Promote Gender Equality in Humanitarian Cash and Voucher Assistance
Guidelines and Tools
The use of cash and voucher assistance (CVA) in humanitarian action is increasing rapidly.
With this rise, there is also growing demand by stakeholders to ensure CVA is more gender-responsive, addressing gender gaps and moving towards greater gender equality.
Gender-responsive CVA, which recognizes existing disparities and addresses the needs of all crisis-affected people equally, has the...
Gender-Sensitive Cash and Voucher Assistance: Guidance to ensure the approach in the field
Guidelines and Tools
This guidance builds on CARE’s ambition-via practice, research, evidence on CVA–and aims to support the application of gender sensitive CVA throughout the project cycle and at the response level. It is divided into two sections: – Part A: ‘What has been learned about gender sensitive CVA?,’ briefly explains the recommendations that came from the research. – Part B: ‘How do we...
Enablers and Gaps: Gender Equality, Gender-Based Violence Response and Mitigation in Cash and Voucher Assistance at Response levels: analysis on three case studies
Report
The Gender and Cash Sub-Workstream identified three case studies that illustrate how Cash Working Groups, GBV Sub-Clusters, gender focal points (e.g. Gender in Humanitarian Action Working groups at country and regional level) and humanitarian partnerships can enable meaningful and wider engagement on gender equity and GBV response in CVA. The case studies all show different aspects of linking...
How to mitigate gender-based violence (GBV) risks in cash and voucher assistance (CVA)
Video
Cash and voucher assistance (CVA) is an important tool to help individuals affected by crises get back on their feet. But just like any other form of assistance, it is vital to ensure that it does not fuel tensions in the household or in the community and that it does not create new risks for women and girls. Fortunately, there are a variety of ways that cash actors can work to mitigate risks...
Inclusive Information Systems for Social Protection: Intentionally Integrating Gender and Disability
Policy paper
Digital information systems serving the social protection sector, and especially social assistance, are increasingly prominent and will continue to be, as is the case within all other sectors. “Why? Because the ability of a country to care for its people and respond to their lifecycle needs depends on its ability to identify those who are in need, enroll them, provide tailored benefits and...
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 organize the webinar “Mainstreaming disability inclusion into humanitarian CVA”, with the...
Disability Inclusive Cash Assistance: Learnings from Practice in Humanitarian Response
Guidelines and Tools
This case study collection describes lessons learned from seven inclusive humanitarian cash transfer projects implemented from 2015 – 2020 in Niger, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Philippines, and Indonesia, and five ongoing projects from the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic responses. This good practice collection aims to benefit both humanitarian practitioners engaged in Cash Based Interventions...
Cash and beyond – Analysis of extra costs associated with disabilities and disability-specific social protection in Ukraine, in the aftermath of the Russian invasion
Report
Following the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022 and the consequent humanitarian crisis, the country has experienced active fighting and massive displacement, both within and outside its borders. Persons with disabilities and older persons have been facing particularly harsh effects, especially for those with more severe forms of disabilities, who encountered challenges in...
Thematic lead
Latest
Leveraging Cash and Voucher Assistance in Gender-based Violence Prevention and Response
Blog Post
Despite a reported 60% scale-up in cash and voucher delivery from 2016-18, its use for protection outcomes – including to support the prevention of and response to gender-based violence – trails behind that of all other sectors. In our latest guest blog, Tenzin Manell of Women’s Refugee Commission...
How Cash-Based Approaches affect Nutrition Outcomes: Case Studies from World Vision cash programmes in Bangladesh and South Sudan
Report
Case studies South Sudan & Bangladesh – analysis of how different modalities meet their basic needs with flexibility and dignity, esp. contributing to improved nutrition outcomes. Factors such as spending patterns, availability of nutritious food in markets, dietary changes & coping strategies, transfer...
How Cash-Based Approaches Affect Nutrition Outcomes – Guidence Note
Guidelines and Tools
Based on the case studies from South Sudan and Bangladesh, this summary guidance provides advise on use of CVA for improved nutrition outcomes in vulnerable children, emphasising recommendations to ensure that:
– as part of design and targeting, there is improved consideration of nutrition needs in MEB...
CARE Rapid Gender Analysis – A Commitment to Addressing Gender and Protection Issues in Cyclone – and Flood – Affected Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe
Report
CARE International is responding to the impact of Cyclone Idai and the associated floods in Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. As part of our response, CARE’s team in each of the countries is currently developing or is planning to develop a Rapid Gender Analysis (RGA) for the affected regions. An RGA...
#GenderCash: One year on from the Nairobi Gender Symposium
Blog Post
Together our members and partners have strengthened the evidence base and advanced the debate around gender and cash and voucher assistance. Looking ahead, how can we ensure we turn talk into action to deliver quality CVA for everyone?
The UN Common Cash Platform: What does it mean and how is the IRC responding?
Blog Post
Together our members and partners have strengthened the evidence base and advanced the debate around gender and cash and voucher assistance. Looking ahead, how can we ensure we turn talk into action to deliver quality CVA for everyone?
The Potential of Cash-Based Interventions to Promote Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment
Report
The study on The Potential of Cash-Based Interventions to Promote Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment sought to explore how CBIs can contribute to achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE), as ends in themselves and for food security and nutrition outcomes. Where changes in GEWE...
The Potential of Cash-Based Interventions to Promote Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment – Summary Report of the Multi-Country Study
Report
The study on The Potential of Cash-Based Interventions to Promote Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment sought to explore how CBIs can contribute to achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE), as ends in themselves and for food security and nutrition outcomes. Where changes in GEWE...
Cash Can Contribute to Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment
Report
In 2018, WFP conducted a multi-country study that demonstrated that interventions – programmes, projects, operations etc. – using cash-based transfers (CBTs) as an assistance modality can promote gender equality and women’s empowerment. The countries in which case studies were conducted were...
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...
Guide to Cash and Voucher Assistance and Gender-based Violence Resources
Guidelines and Tools
This one-page guide helps practitioners understand how three complementary resources support the integration of CVA and GBV prevention, mitigation and response to strengthen humanitarian response. It aims to help users make decisions on when to use each resource at different stages of work and compares:
Can cash transfers in humanitarian contexts help prevent, mitigate, and respond to gender-based violence? A review of the evidence
Report
Today, approximately 10 percent of humanitarian assistance globally is delivered via cash transfer programming (CTP) and cash is increasingly being scaled across the humanitarian system. Yet the use of cash within the protection sector trails behind the use of cash in all other sectors. Refugee and...
The potential of Cash and Voucher Assistance to empower women and reduce violence evidence
Report
On April 29 and 30th in Washington DC, CARE and UNWOMEN, on behalf of the gender and cash sub-workstream of the Grand Bargain, convened a workshop with the objectives of:
• Sharing and exchanging existing knowledge, experiences, and good practices;
• Exploring and prioritizing research gaps on cash...
The Gendered Dimension of Multi-Purpose Cash Supporting Disaster Resilience
Report
In 2017, in response to the mounting humanitarian crisis in Yemen, CARE Yemen and Action Contra la Faim (ACF) implemented a cash transfer program and community asset rehabilitation and skill building programing in the governorates of Abyan and Amran. This European Union (EU)-funded program integrated...
Minimum Expenditure Basket Harmonization Guidance
Guidelines and Tools
The present Minimum Expenditure (MEB) Guidance is an operational tool for the Refugee Response to inform humanitarian multi sector and/or multipurpose cash assistance to meet food needs and a broader set of essential needs of refugees in Uganda.
The Digital Lives of Refugees: How displaced populations use mobile phones and what gets in the way
Report
GSMA in partnership with UNHCR conducted quantitative surveys and qualitative research to understand the ways in which refugees are using mobile phones in order to help guide digital interventions by humanitarian organisations and mobile network operators. The research identifies key trends, statistics,...
Feedback Channels in Cash and Voucher Assistance: How to Apply Best Practices to CVA
Guidelines and Tools
Accountability is at the core of effective humanitarian programming, and it is our duty to ensure that all programs – including those that use CVA to meet outcomes – are responsive to the clients we serve. While CVA is not inherently more risky than other forms of assistance, there are specific...
Bridging the Mobile Gender Gap for Refugees
Report
Mobile phones have become an increasingly powerful tool with which to deliver life-enhancing information, services, and opportunities to millions who have not been able to access them before. This case study analyses data from two refugee contexts in East Africa to understand the degree to which women are...
CVA for Protection: A Mapping of IRC’s Use of Cash and Voucher Assistance to Help Achieve Protection Outcomes
Guidelines and Tools
The IRC first began to integrate cash into protection programs in 2013, leveraging the flexibility of CVA to support clients living in urban refugee contexts in the Middle East. Since then, IRC has rapidly expanded its use of CVA to help achieve protection outcomes. This scale-up has come with important...
Reflections and recommendations from evaluations of the 2017 CVA Somalia Drought Response
Report
Improving our response to drought to avert crises through the use of cash and voucher assistance requires us to build on experience. This paper pulls together reflections and recommendations from a review of eight evaluation reports, reviews and studies that were conducted during or after the 2017 drought...
