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
Vanuatu Cash Transfer Feasibility Assessment – Report summary
Report
This is a summary of the findings of the Vanuatu Cash Transfer Program (CTP) Feasibility Assessment that was conducted to build a context-specific evidence base to guide preparedness initiatives related to the use of cash and vouchers as a means of humanitarian assistance for response, recovery and...
Feasibility Study on Cash Transfer Programming for the Returnees and the Host Communities in Gedeo and West Guji in Ethiopia
Report
This document reveals the outcome of a feasibility study on cash transfer programming targeted for the returnees and the host communities in Gedeo and West Guji Zones.
The major objectives of the study were as follows:
1. Understand general cash transfer environment in Ethiopia
2. Validate the needs of...
Introductory Research on the Feasibility of Cash and Voucher Assistance in Rural Fiji
Report
This report presents the findings of a study into the general feasibility of using Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) in responding to disasters in Fiji. The term “Cash and Voucher Assistance” or CVA, is used in the report in line with the the CALP Network definition, so it refers to programs where...
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...
The CALP Network Publishes Collection of Research Papers to Fill the Evidence Gap Around Gender and Cash
Blog Post
UN Women, Concern Worldwide and World Food Programme are the first to contribute research to this ongoing series of papers.
The CALP Network’s Karen Peachey in Devex: “For cash transfers to work, we can’t ignore gender”
Blog Post
Our interim director Karen Peachey is featured on Devex.com discussing the need to build the evidence around the relationship between gender and cash transfers. The CALP Network’s ‘Collected Papers on Gender and Cash Transfers’ is out now.
Setting the Stage: What we know (and don’t know) about the effects of cash-based interventions on gender outcomes in humanitarian settings
Report
From ‘Collected Papers on Gender and Cash Transfer Programmes in Humanitarian Contexts’. 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...
Gender and Cash-Based Programming in Malawi: Lessons from Concern Worldwide’s humanitarian and development experience
Report
From ‘Collected Papers on Gender and Cash Transfer Programmes in Humanitarian Contexts’. 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...
How Cash and Food Transfers and Asset Creation Can Contribute to Women’s Empowerment: Learning from Niger, Kenya and Zimbabwe
Report
From ‘Collected Papers on Gender and Cash Transfer Programmes in Humanitarian Contexts’. 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...
Evaluation of the 2017 Somalia Humanitarian Cash-Based Response
Report
After several years of poor rainfall, the humanitarian community responded to a famine alert issued in January 2017 with a significant scale-up of funding and programmes. Having originally published a 2017 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) in November 2016, by May 2017, the Somalia Humanitarian Country...
Moving Forward with Cash in Haiti: A Review of Cash-Based Interventions during Hurricane Matthew Response in Haiti
Case Study
Mercy Corps, with funding from European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) has conducted an extensive review of lessons learned and contextual data, combined with key informant interviews and workshops to compile, analyse and present core lessons from the Hurricane Matthew cash-based...
The Grand Bargain Cash Meetings: what did we learn, how are we doing, where next?
Blog Post
After cash focal points from Grand Bargain signatory organisations gathered in Rome for the second annual meeting of the Grand Bargain cash workstream, we ask how much progress has been made towards commitments, and what remains to be done.