Multipurpose Cash Assistance
Multipurpose Cash (MPC) are unrestricted cash transfers that people affected by crises can use to cover their basic needs. By its nature, MPC is the assistance modality which offers people a maximum degree of choice, flexibility and dignity. There is also growing evidence that it is more cost-efficient and cost-effective to meet multiple needs.
But this requires new ways of collaborating between humanitarian actors, at all stages of the program cycle, and across sectors. While solid tools exist to support collaboration, they have not been widely adopted and MPC is still used in an ad-hoc way. Challenges remain to be addressed if we are to successfully fit MPC into the humanitarian system.
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Multipurpose cash outcome indicators and guidance
Guidelines and Tools
The indicators in this document, developed by the Grand Bargain Cash Workstream, focus on the primary objectives of humanitarian Multipurpose Cash Assistance (MPC), and the outcomes to which MPC...
Minimum Expenditure Basket (MEB) Decision Making Tools
Guidelines and Tools
Update: This publication was revised in 2022. Please read the revised publication here. The purpose of this tipsheet is to accompany practitioners and decision makers through key stages in the...
Operational Guidance and Toolkit for Multipurpose Cash Grants
Guidelines and Tools
This operational guidance and toolkit brings together worldwide expertise on cash-based interventions (CBIs). It provides comprehensive and practical guidance for humanitarian actors to assess...
Definition of Minimum Expenditure Baskets (MEB) in West Africa
Report
Throughout 2017, five countries in West Africa have worked collectively to define minimum expenditure baskets, in order to better capture the contribution that humanitarian assistance is making to...
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Choice, Dignity and Empowerment? Cash and Food Transfers in Swaziland: An evaluation of Save the Children’s Emergency Drought Response
Report
This evaluation report looks at the Save the Children’s cash transfer project, which was a response to the 2007/8 food crisis in Swaziland, with the aim of not only providing humanitarian assistance but also as a way to break the dependency of rural families on food aid. Selected beneficiaries were...
A summary of the British Red Cross cash grants for livelihood recovery in Aceh, Indonesia
Case Study
From April 2005 to June 2008, the British Red Cross Society (BRCS) disbursed more than USD 10 million in cash grants directly to over 10,000 tsunami-affected people in Aceh to support the recovery of their predominantly agriculture and fisheries-based livelihoods. This study draws lessons from the rich...
Implementing cash-based interventions: A guideline for aid workers
Guidelines and Tools
This is a comprehensive guide to the theory and practice of cash-based interventions in the field, covering cash grants, vouchers, and labour-based interventions (cash for work). It also includes practical templates including examples of questionnaires, market surveys, beneficiary cards, voucher formats...
Guidelines for cash transfer programming
Guidelines and Tools
A practical guide, including guidance sheets and a section on practical tools. Building on the broad range of cash experiences within the Movement and in the humanitarian sector, these guidelines provide practical, step-by-step support to the design and implementation of cash programmes.
Cash Workbook: A Practical User’s Guide for the Preparation and Implementation of Cash Projects
Guidelines and Tools
This workbook is a tool that guides managers through the project cycle of managing a cash transfer programme including administrative and database setup, and project management systems and procedures.
Independent Evaluation of Oxfam GB Malawi’s Emergency Cash – Transfer Programme
Case Study
Poor rainfall in Malawi in the 2004/2005 growing season resulted in significantly reduced cereal and non-cereal food production in the country, leaving up to 4 million people in need of assistance. In response, Oxfam planned a programme in southern Malawi, which included a ‘pilot’ cash-transfer...
Cash-transfer programming in emergencies
Guidelines and Tools
A compact and concise guide aimed at supporting programme managers to assess whether cash is the most appropriate response in an emergency and choose between different types of cash-based interventions. This guide is based on the experience of Oxfam GB over five years (2000–2005) in a variety of...
Cash Grants and Microfinance in Livelihood Recovery: Experiences from tsunami-affected areas of Sri Lanka
Report
The devastating tsunami that hit Sri Lanka on 26 December 2004 killed over 35,000 people, making it the worst natural disaster in the country’s recorded history. Over 200,000 people were estimated to have lost their livelihoods, half of them in the fishing sector. The major objectives of the study is...
Cash Transfers in Emergencies: Evaluating Benefits and Assessing Risks
Report
In terms of both theory and practice, there appears to be a strong case for cash-based responses to food emergencies where the supply and market conditions are appropriate. Amartya Sen’s work on entitlements offers a solid theoretical base for cash transfers, and the practical experience so far, limited...