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
Gender Impact Analysis: Unconditional cash transfers in South Central Somalia
Case Study
The Cash Consortium is a group of four NGOs (ACF, Adeso, DRC and Save the Children) that came together in mid-2011 to coordinate their aid response and use unconditional cash grants to meet the basic food and non-food needs of the most vulnerable households in South Central Somalia. The primary objective...
Cash, Food, or Vouchers? Evidence from a randomized experiment in Northern Ecuador
Report
The debate over whether to provide food assistance and the form that this assistance should take has a long history in economics. Despite the ongoing debate, little rigorous evidence exists that compares food assistance in the form of cash versus in-kind. This paper uses a randomized evaluation in...
Humanitarian Coalition East Africa Drought Appeal: Final Evaluation – Somalia
Case Study
In 2011, Somalia suffered from one of the worst droughts in 60 years which left more than 13 million people in need of food, water and emergency healthcare. Canadian donors contributed $14 million to the Humanitarian Coalition’s joint appeal for East Africa’s drought of 2011. These funds helped to...
Humanitarian Coalition East Africa Drought Appeal: Final evaluation report – Cash programs
Report
In 2011, suffered from one of the worst droughts in 60 years which left more than 13 million people in need of food, water and emergency healthcare. Canadian donors contributed $14 million to the Humanitarian Coalition’s joint appeal for East Africa’s drought of 2011. These funds helped to set up...
Humanitarian Coalition East Africa Drought Appeal: Final evaluation report
Report
In 2011, suffered from one of the worst droughts in 60 years which left more than 13 million people in need of food, water and emergency healthcare. Canadian donors contributed $14 million to the Humanitarian Coalition’s joint appeal for East Africa’s drought of 2011. These funds helped to set up...
Humanitarian Exchange: Special feature. New learning in cash transfer programming
Report
The special feature of this issue of Humanitarian Exchange, co-edited with Sarah Bailey and Breanna Ridsdel, focuses on new learning in cash transfer programming. While cash is now an accepted tool, and is increasingly being used in humanitarian response, most programmes are small and gaps in analysis and...
Impacts of Food Vouchers on Local Markets: Reflections from CRS’ experience in Niger
Report
In mid 2010, CRS-Niger designed and carried out a food voucher program to assist the most needy one-third of households in the departments of Ouallam and Tillabéri due to the poor harvest in 2009 (CRS, 2010). The ADVANCE project was implemented in collaboration with a local NGO partner Association pour...
Unconditional cash transfers in Gaza: an external review
Report
This is a review of small pilot project, which targets extremely vulnerable households with monthly unconditional cash transfers for a limited period. The target population is made up of two groups, one group already receiving assistance through a voucher from WFP but still showing poor food diversity...
MPESA Project Analysis: Exploring the use of cash transfers using cell phones in pastoral areas
Report
Safaricom Limited, a mobile network operator in Kenya, launched a mobile money transfer system called M-PESA in 2007. This system allows users to send or receive money on their Safaricom SIM card. Télécoms sans Frontières and Vétérinaires sans Frontières – Germany decided to work in partnership on...
Impact Evaluation of Cash, Food Vouchers, and Food Transfers among Colombian Refugees and Poor Ecuadorians in Carchi and Sucumbíos
Report
This report is the final impact evaluation of the World Food Programme’s Food, Cash, and Voucher intervention and contains analysis on outcomes including food security, social capital, anemia, and gender issues. Due to the targeting of Colombian refuges and poor Ecuadorians in Northern Ecuador, it also...
Standards and Practices Report for Electronic and Mobile Payments
Report
The benefits of new electronic and mobile payment methods in support of USAID objectives to better serve the unbanked have been well-documented in other literature, 2 and that case will not be reiterated in this report. A practical strategy for evaluating an individual program or Mission environment for...
An Emergency Market Mapping and Analysis study Market Support in South Sudan
Report
Abyei is a relatively small and disputed area of land on the border of North and South Sudan that has, in recent years, experienced much turmoil. Historically, both the governments of South and North Sudan have claimed Abyei and tensions that have existed since before the first Sudanese Civil War...
Comparative Review of Market Assessments Methods, Tools, Approaches and Findings – SWOT analysis
Guidelines and Tools
This document makes a comparative review of different market assessments methods, tools, approaches and findings. A SWOT analysis of the Emergency Market Mapping Analysis (EMMA), Market Information and Food Insecurity Response Analysis (MIFIRA) and World Food Programme Trader Survey (WFP TS) is...
Cash and Child Protection: How cash transfer programming can protect children from abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence
Guidelines and Tools
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 abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence. It aims to identify ways in which cash transfer activities could...
Cash transfer programming in urban emergencies: a toolkit for practitioners
Guidelines and Tools
In recognition of the increasing urban populations around the world and their increasing vulnerability to disasters, the the CALP Network endeavored to investigate the current status and impact of urban emergency response programs that utilise cash transfer programming. This study aims to better...
Cash Transfer Programming in Urban Emergencies: Tools (Annex 2)
Guidelines and Tools
This file contains the following tools referenced as Annex 2 of the the CALP Network Urban Toolkit:
1. Sample Focus Group Discussion Questionnaire to Establish Urban-Specific Vulnerability Criteria
2. Sample Urban Household Survey
3. Template in PowerPoint of Commodity Market Map
4. Template in PowerPoint...
Cash Transfers in Nairobi’s Slums
Report
In Kenya, a combination of factors led to the food crisis of 2008–9, which put around 9.5 million people at risk of starvation. About 4.1 million of those affected were living in informal settlements (slums) in the capital, Nairobi. Oxfam and Concern Worldwide developed a joint programme to address...
Final Evaluation Report of the Wet Feeding and Cash Transfer Project in Southern Somalia
Report
This evaluation report details the achievements of the ECHO funded Wet Feeding and Resource Transfer project implemented by Danish Refugee Council in Mogadishu and ended on March 30th. This synopsis precedes the details of the project and the evaluation as contained in the report. The wet feeding...
Child Protection Rapid Assessment Toolkit
Guidelines and Tools
The CPRA Toolkit provides all the information you need to conduct a CPRA over a five-week timeframe. The toolkit is divided into three parts: Part 1: a guide to CPRA provides an action plan with 6 key phases, giving guidance for tasks in each phase. Part 2: sample tools provides five key tools for...
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...