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Cash 101: Cash and Voucher Assistance Explained

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Markets

Well-functioning markets are a lifeline for people affected by crises. Effective cash and voucher assistance (CVA) uses and supports local markets. Market analysis must therefore be a key part of the response cycle, for cash programming and other forms of humanitarian assistance.

When designing a humanitarian intervention and deciding whether to use CVA, a market analysis should be part of the overall response analysis. Supporting markets to function well has been shown to lead to faster recovery and increased resilience in disaster affected areas.

Many organizations have invested in the development of tools to support market analysis and are considering market-based programming more holistically. This includes interventions that use the market (such as cash transfers to affected populations), as well as interventions that directly support markets (such as conditional grants to traders to get their market back up and running).

Latest

CVA in COVID-19 Contexts: Guidance from the CALP Network

Guidelines and Tools

This is a summary of the key points from the many resources you shared on CVA and COVID through this document. This is a living document and we will continue to update this summary as new resources are added. The below is intended to help organisations understand and prepare for likely impacts of COVID-19...

9 July 2020

Water, Markets, Cash and Drought Resilience in Somaliland

Report

This learning brief looks Cash to Access Water (CAW) in Somaliland. Water markets exist, and they exist everywhere. In Somaliland, these markets are the ‘first responders’ to critical water needs during severe dry seasons and droughts. For decades, humanitarian agencies have been focusing on the use...

2 July 2020

COVID-19: Invest now in cash/voucher-social protection scale-up or children pay the price later

Report

Read the article here. Only socially accountable Social Protection Assistance beyond humanitarian cash/voucher programmes – if properly and quickly implemented – will protect generations of children from the aftershocks of COVID-19. Despite cash and voucher transfers becoming the tool of choice of...

25 June 2020

CVA & COVID-19: Remote Market Assessment and Monitoring

Blog Post

As field practitioners adapt their programmes to COVID-19, colleagues across our membership and Cash Working Groups are identifying multiple challenges. The CALP Network is working with others to develop a series of short, field-focused recommendations for such practitioners. The purpose of this series is...

22 June 2020

Introduction to Market Based Programming in Emergency WASH

Webinar recording

The recordings of webinar are available in English , Spanish, French, and Arabic. The webinar was co-hosted by the Global WASH Cluster, PRO-WASH and the CALP Network in May and June 2020. The webinar introduced how market based programming can be used in emergency WASH, provide an overview of...

June 2020

Examples and Good Practices on the Use of Multi-Purpose Cash in the Food Security Sector

Guidelines and Tools

This global Food Security Cluster (gFSC) document was produced by the Cash and Markets Working Group (CMWG) to highlight the role and engagement of food security actors through different country experiences and good practices.
In recent years, multi-purpose cash (MPC) has been adopted more widely to...

1 June 2020

Introduction to Market Based Programming in Emergency WASH

Webinar

29 April 2020 / English

External Evaluation of SDC/HA Emergency Cash Pilot For Earthquake Affected Households in Bubq, Albania

Report

In November 2019, Albania was hit by a large earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4, causing 51 people to lose their lives and injuring 913 people. Around 47,000 additional people were directly affected by the earthquake. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) immediately deployed a rapid...

15 April 2020

Cash Feasibility Assessment for NorthWest Syria

Report

The objective of this cash feasibility assessment for northwest Syria is to provide evidence-based, structured analysis of the various dimensions that make cash and vouchers interventions feasible. The primary audience for this document are all the organizations either currently involved in cash-based...

7 April 2020

Statement on Likely Impacts of COVID-19 on Humanitarian Cash Transfers in Yemen

Report

The COVID-19 pandemic has now spread to the Middle East. Countries across the region are imposing measures to prevent further spread of the virus. Currently there are no confirmed cases in Yemen, but it is highly likely that COVID-19 will eventually reach the country. Organizations are shifting funding...

April 2020

MERS Guidance in Response to COVID-19

Guidelines and Tools

Markets play a critical role in how people survive, as well as being physical places where people meet to buy and sell goods. As COVID-19 disrupts the normal activities and relationships of communities we can look to the Minimum Economic Recovery Standards for some guidance on what to do. Now, when social...

30 March 2020

Sphere: Humanitarian Standards and Coronavirus 2020

Guidelines and Tools

Coronavirus is spreading globally. How can individuals, communities,
humanitarian actors, local and national authorities best respond to uphold the rights of all affected people?

26 March 2020

ICRC Tipsheet: Cash and Voucher Assistance and COVID-19

Guidelines and Tools

This tipsheet serves as guidance to help field teams think through different ways:
1) to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 through ongoing Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA);
2) inform the adaptation of CVA in the context of COVID-19;
3) promote sensitivity to evolving markets dynamics.
This tipsheet is...

21 March 2020

The Case for Cash in Responding to Humanitarian Crises in Malawi

Policy paper

A policy paper by the Malawi INGO Cash Consortium which makes the case for cash assistance as a response modality to humanitarian crises. It gives a brief overview of global evidence for cash and previous cash experience in Malawi, and makes several key recommendations. One of these key recommendations is...

12 March 2020

South Sudan Joint Market Monitoring Initiative (JMMI)

Report

In an effort to better inform cash-based interventions and understand market dynamics in South Sudan, the Joint Market Monitoring Initiative (JMMI) was created by the South Sudan Cash Working Group (CWG) in August 2019. The initiative is guided by the JMMI Technical Working Group (JMMI-TWG), led by REACH...

23 January 2020

Cash 101: Cash and Voucher Assistance Explained

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