Monitoring and Evaluation
Most M&E challenges, such as a lack of sufficient investment and capacities, are not specific to CVA. But those that are relate primarily to monitoring outcomes for unrestricted transfers. The flexibility of cash transfers can make it difficult to determine appropriate outcome indicators, as they may involve a combination of sector-specific and cross-cutting indicators. At the same time, there are limitations on gathering accurate data on how cash transfers are spent.
Grand Bargain signatories have committed to ensuring relevant M&E mechanisms are in place for cash, and increasing understanding of the costs, benefits, impacts and risks of cash relative to other modalities. Building on this, the GB cash workstream has action points including the development of common outcome indicators for multipurpose cash, and metrics for analysing value for money. Systematic value for money analysis has been limited by factors including a lack of agreed upon approaches, the need for quality outcome data, and the intensive nature of the analysis.
Current priorities
As part of the Grand Bargain cash commitments, the CALP Network has co-led (with USAID and CRS) the development of Multipurpose Cash Outcome Indicators. The draft for testing is currently available in English, French and Spanish via the library.
Related initiatives
Featured content
Multipurpose Cash Outcome Indicators – Final Draft for Testing
Guidelines and Tools
Note that the MPC indicators have now been revised. Please click here to access the updated Multipurpose Outcome Indicators and Guidance, which is available in Arabic, English, French and Spanish. Multipurpose Cash Outcome Indicators – Final Draft for Testing Multipurpose cash (MPC) is a type of assistance intended to enable people to meet their basic needs through local...
Monitoring 4 CTP: Monitoring Guidance for CTP in Emergencies
Guidelines and Tools
This guidance provides a central resource to promote a common understanding of the most important monitoring considerations for humanitarian projects using cash transfer programming (CTP). The primary audience for this guidance is field-level practitioners, from organisations directly involved in the design, implementation, monitoring, and accountability of projects using cash and vouchers...
Cost-Efficiency Analysis of Basic Needs Programs: Best Practice Guidance for Humanitarian Agencies
Guidelines and Tools
The Efficiency, Effectiveness and Value for Money Sub-Workstream is pleased to share the final output on Cost-Efficiency Analysis of Basic Needs Programs: Best Practice Guidance for Humanitarian Agencies (attached).
Cost-efficiency analysis estimates the ratio of program costs to outputs created, allowing you to compare cost-per-output for programs which all produced the same output. Such...
Thematic lead
Latest
The Mam’out Project: Seasonal Multiannual Cash Transfers for the Prevention of Acute Malnutrition in Tapoa
Report
In response to alarming rates of acute malnutrition, Action Against Hunger (ACF) initiated a project to strengthen and evaluate the prevention of acute malnutrition of children younger than 36 months in the Tapoa province, Burkina Faso. Using seasonal and multiannual unconditional cash transfers, ACF’s...
Mobile Money Transfers – For Humanitarian Assistance & Development Programming: Service Provider Perspective
Report
This report summarizes findings from research on how digital payment services providers in Africa have worked with Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) customers to deliver digital payments to their program participants/beneficiaries in the context of providing humanitarian assistance and/or for...
Using Cash for Shelter: Project Daijok ("Helping Each Other")
Report
After a major earthquake in the Philippines in October 2013, Catholic Relief Services reached 5,000 families with emergency shelter materials, water and hygiene kits, and emergency latrines. In November 2013, CRS staff conducted a housing and market assessment in three of the worst‑hit municipalities of...
EMMA on CGI Sheets in Eastern Samar, Philippines
Report
Super Typhoon Haiyan (locally known as Yolanda) made landfall on the 8th of Nov’13 and left a trail of destruction along its path. It is estimated that 14 million people were affected and 4.1 million were displaced in the Philippines as a result of this super typhoon.Eastern Samar province of the...
The Impact of Earned and Windfall Cash Transfers on Livelihoods and Conservation in Sierra Leone
Report
This study by Bulte et al. measures the impact of a cash transfer programme aimed at alleviating poverty and reducing pressure on the natural environment in Sierra Leone. Researchers offered aid to 91 rural communities, which are dependent on slash-and-burn agriculture in three forms: as windfall...
Cash or Food A Comparative analysis of the effectiveness of food assistance modalities in refugee settlements
Report
A comparative analysis on the effective of food and cash transfer modalities for household food security in refugee settlements in Uganda.
Learning Event Report " Getting ready for cash transfer programming"
Report
Despite the rapid, dynamic evolution of cash transfer implementation in West Africa, actors’ lack of preparation means that the tool cannot fulfil its potential. As a result, the scope of interventions remains limited, the combination of different methods is not often envisaged, the most...
Cash transfers programming in the Pacific: A Feasibility Scoping Study
Report
The use of Cash Transfer Programming (CTP) to provide humanitarian assistance so that people may access the goods and services they need before, during and following a crisis has been gaining momentum over the past decade. Despite the considerable use of cash and vouchers by government and non-state...
International Cash based assistance
Report
For more than 60 years, the United States provided assistance to food-insecure countries primarily in the form of food commodities procured in the United States and transported overseas. In recent years, the U.S.government has increasingly provided food assistance in the form of cash transfers or food...
Cash and Markets In The WASH Sector
Report
Market based programming is increasingly heralded as having a critical place in the future of humanitarian programming. The proposed benefits of working through existing market systems include improvements to speed, efficiency and effectiveness of programming and increased beneficiary dignity and...
Economic Impact of Refugee settlements in Uganda
Report
Uganda is home to close to 800,000 refugees, mostly from South Sudan, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It also has one of the most favorable and progressive refugee assistance programs in the world, with freedom of movement, work rights, and land officially set aside for refugees to...
Can E-transfers Promote Financial Inclusion in Emergencies: A Case Study from Bangladesh
Report
The Electronic Cash Transfer Learning Action Network (ELAN) launched research to build an evidence base around connecting emergency electronic transfer (e-transfer) recipients with additional financial services. They wanted to learn if, when, and how e-transfers can promote sustained uptake and use...
Rapid Assessment for Markets: Bidibidi Refugee Settlement
Report
The Rapid Assessment of Markets (RAM) conducted within the Bidibidi Refugee Settlement and in the surrounding Ugandan towns and trading centres sheds some light upon the rapidly developing network of marketplaces within one of the world’s fastest growing refugee settlements. The RAM highligthed key...
Case Study:Cash-based programming in the food assistance sector
Report
The purpose of this case study is to explore the pattern of innovation in the food supply and distribution area (i.e. not concerned with nutrition). The case raises some key policy issues: How to foster entrepreneurship and create enabling conditions for small-scale experiments and prototypes? How can...
Cash Transfer Programming for Syrian Refugees: Lessons learned on vulnerability, targeting, and protection from the Danish Refugee Council’s e-voucher intervention in Southern Turkey
Report
DRC Turkey is currently implementing a two-year, DFID-funded project that aims to provide immediate support to and strengthen the coping mechanisms of vulnerable non-camp Syrian refugees in southern Turkey. The first phase of the project focused on identifying and providing monthly cash transfers (in the...
Can E-Transfers Promote Financial Inclusion in Emergencies: A Case Study from Zimbabwe
Report
The Electronic Cash Transfer Learning Action Network (ELAN) launched research to build an evidence base around connecting emergency electronic transfer (e-transfer) recipients with additional financial services. They wanted to learn if, when, and how e-transfers can promote sustained uptake and use...
Market Analysis and Outcome/Impact Measurement in Cash Transfer Programming in the WaSH and Shelter Sectors in Sudden Onset Disasters
Report
Over the past five years, cash transfer programming has become an increasingly popular modality of humanitarian intervention. Recently, unconditional and unrestricted MPGs have been increasingly championed as a default modality, based on evidence collected by organisations such as the...
DFID Shock-Responsive Social Protection Systems research: Literature review
Report
DFID has commissioned research into Shock-Responsive Social Protection systems, to further understand the nature of the interaction between social protection, humanitarian and disaster risk management systems and ways in which long-term social protection systems can be scaled up to
provide support in...
Using Cash for Shelter: An Overview of CRS Programs
Report
Cash continues to gain prevalence as a modality for humanitarian agencies to help people meet multiple and diverse needs in the wake of a crisis. It provides people with the dignity of choice, and is often significantly more cost-efficient than the delivery of in-kind aid. In programs with a shelter...
Scale Right: Coordinating Improved Cash Assistance in Greece
Report
Europe is still reeling from the largest refugee crisis it has experienced since World War II. During the first half of 2015 Greece saw an average of 3,000 refugees arriving daily by sea onto the island of Lesvos. While the number of new arrivals—fleeing war in Syria, conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and...