Sector-specific Cash and Voucher Assistance
CVA can help people in crises address their needs within a specific humanitarian sector, such as water, food, health, shelter, livelihood, or protection. Sector-specific CVA can be restricted or unrestricted, and conditional or unconditional, and will typically be provided as part of a comprehensive package which may also include in-kind and service-based assistance.
Each sector has to consider different questions, challenges, advantages and risks when it comes to supporting people’s recovery within their area of expertise. This requires evidence, tools, guidance and capacity. Meeting sector-specific outcomes through CVA also requires a multi-sectoral understanding of needs and of household economic security – see Multipurpose Cash Assistance. While some sectors are very experienced in implementing CVA and have done so for many years, others are now catching up. Most humanitarian sectors are committed and have been increasing their efforts on sector-specific CVA. The Global Cluster Coordination Group (GCCG) is also coordinating cross-cluster work to improve the sectoral used of CVA.
Current priorities
The CALP Network works closely with the cash technical groups/task teams within the global clusters, who have been defining their 2020 priorities and workplans during their regular meetings. A general overview and specific details of these priorities across each global cluster is available here.
Sector-specific CVA subpages
Camp Coordination, Camp Management and Cash and Voucher Assistance
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Find out more about Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) in relation to Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA). For the most up to date information visit the Global CCCM Cluster’s website.
Education and Cash and Voucher Assistance
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A brief introduction as to how Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) can support education outcomes. For the most up to date information please visit the Global Education Cluster’s website.
Food Security and Cash and Voucher Assistance
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A brief introduction as to how Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) can support food security outcomes. For the most up to date information please visit the Food Security Cluster Cash and Market Working Group web page.
Health and Cash and Voucher Assistance
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The content on this webpage has been developed with the Global Health Cluster.
Nutrition and Cash and Voucher Assistance
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Malnutrition continues to pose a major challenge to human well-being around the world. In 2020, an estimated 144 million children under five suffer from stunting (i.e. chronic malnutrition) , 47 million children under five were wasted (i.e. acute malnutrition) , of which 14.3 million were severely wasted, and an additional 340 million suffered from micronutrient deficiencies (UNICEF/WHO/WB...
Protection and Cash and Voucher Assistance
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How can Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) support protection outcomes? Please find a brief summary below, and for the very latest information, refer to the Global Protection Cluster Task Team on Cash for Protection.
Shelter and Cash and Voucher Assistance
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How can Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) support shelter outcomes? Please find a brief summary below, and for the very latest information, refer to the Shelter and Cash Working Group.
WASH and Cash and Voucher Assistance
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How can Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) support WASH outcomes? Please find a brief summary below, and for the very latest information, refer to the WASH Cluster’s Cash and Markets Technical Working Group.
Latest
Cash and Voucher Assistance for Health: Partner experiences in Ukraine
Report
Humanitarian cash has a long history in Ukraine and has evolved along the contours of the crisis. In December 2014, the Humanitarian Cluster Coordination System was activated following the outbreak of armed conflict in the Donetska and Luhanska oblasts earlier that year. At the time, humanitarian cash...
Strengthening localization: Implementing cash assistance with women-led and civil society organizations in Myanmar
Report
Aligned to our global commitment to supporting localization, UNFPA prioritizes partnerships with local actors, particularly women-led organizations (WLOs). The delivery of cash and voucher assistance (CVA), which has been well integrated across UNFPA’s humanitarian programming in recent years, is no...
Cash and Voucher Assistance in the Uganda Refugee Response
Report
The CVA infographic summarises key facts and figures about cash-based assistance on the Uganda refugee response. It also showcases the humanitarian actors implementing Cash and Voucher assistance, as well as Financial Service Providers (FSP) in refugee settlements across Uganda.
Implementation Guide: Cash transfers to promote access to adult labour in cocoa communities
Guidelines and Tools
Increasing the availability of affordable adult labour in cocoa-growing communities is key for addressing child labour. One approach proven to be effective in stimulating the use and availability of adult labour is encouraging farming families to hire adult labour groups by providing them with cash...
We Looked Back: Now Let’s Move Forward Humanitarian CVA in the Americas 2018–2023
Report
Between 2018 and 2023, the landscape of humanitarian aid transformed in the Americas, particularly with the increased implementation of CVA in the region.
Cash Assistance for the Purchase of Dignity Items in Emergencies: A Bangladesh case study
Report
Bangladesh is frequently affected by cyclical floods, a situation worsened by climate change. Between September 2023 and March 2024, UNFPA Bangladesh and local partners responded to severe floods in the Chattogram division, specifically in the hilly Bandarban district and the nearby coastal sub-district...
Empowering Communities: Vital rental assistance support for displaced Ukranian families
Report
On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a military invasion of Ukraine. The active conflict continues two years on, with 3.67 million Ukrainians displaced internally and 5.97 million Ukrainians displaced across Europe (UN OCHA Feb 2024). Given continued shelling, extensive damage to over 1.4 million homes,...
Examining Barriers to Family Planning Information, Products, and Services among Ukrainian Refugees and Host Communities in Poland: Findings from mixed methods research to inform cash and voucher assistance programming
Report
The study aimed to understand the FP needs of newly arriving Ukrainian refugee women in Poland and to assess the feasibility of using CVA to support access to FP services to inform the design, coordination, and funding of future CVA programming for SRH, specifically FP service provision, in the refugee...
Mapping of Cash and Voucher Assistances (CVAs) in Türkiye in 2023
Report
TÜRKİYE CASH-BASED INTERVENTIONS TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP | 2024
Cash-Based Interventions Technical Working Group (CBI TWG) published this document to
share a summary of the findings of Mapping of CVAs in Türkiye in 2023, along with the
background information and purpose (Annex A). Further findings...
Improving Food Security and Nutrition through Cash+ in Armenia: Combining cash transfers, productive assets and inputs distribution with agricultural and nutrition trainings for vulnerable rural households in Lori and Shirak region
Report
Armenia is an upper-middle-income country in the South Caucasus with a population of three million people. It is landlocked and a net importer of food. The country is vulnerable to natural hazards, including floods and drought, and external shocks, namely global food price fluctuations, which often have...
IOM Cash-Based Interventions: Annual Report and Case Studies 2023
Report
In recent years, IOM has placed special attention on increasing the use and coordination of cash-based interventions (CBI) across the organization in line with the Grand Bargain commitments and the IOM CBI Strategy 2022–2026.
In 2023, IOM continued to increase the use of CBI modalities to empower aid...
Advocating for Cash and Voucher Assistance with Governments
Webinar recording
Discover how advocacy and collaboration with governments are vital for leveraging Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) in humanitarian responses.
Save the Children Cash for Education Impact Evaluation in Malawi
Report
Save the Children implemented a Catch-up Club (CuC) project, funded by the Swedish Postcode Lottery (SPL), in 20 schools in Lilongwe, Malawi. CuCs are a short-term, data-driven intervention to build foundational skills in literacy, numeracy and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), during learning...
Literature Review: Unconditional CVA ‘plus’ SBC for nutrition outcomes
Report
Over the years, CVA has gained attention in social protection schemes to improve child nutrition outcomes. While much of the existing evidence comes from conditional cash transfers, recent evidence demonstrates a push for more unconditional CVA. Evidence shows that nutrition-sensitive cash assistance can...
From Feasible to Life-Saving: The urgent case for cash at scale in Sudan
Report
About 18 million people are currently facing crisis (IPC 3) or emergency (IPC 4) levels of food insecurity across Sudan. This means more than one in three people are suffering from acute hunger in the country. As the conflict rages on, food insecurity is rapidly deteriorating, and communities in many...
Empowering Communities: Fuel vouchers to farmers during the harvest season in Mykolaiv, Ukraine
Report
Two years on since Russia launched a military invasion of Ukraine those living along the frontline oblasts face the highest levels of food insecurity. 1.8 million people are struggling to restore food production and agriculture-related livelihoods.
Repeated attacks against Ukrainian infrastructure,...
Colombia and Lebanon Evaluation Report: Measuring the impact of cash on child protection outcomes
Report
As humanitarian crises break down traditional protection mechanisms and the loss of income restricts access to basic resources, children become increasingly vulnerable to abuse, neglect, exploitation, and violence. Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) is a critical modality that is increasingly being adopted...
Cash & Voucher Assistance (CVA) & Child Protection (CP) Global Study – Research Report in the DRC, Egypt, Lithuania and the Philippines
Report
Since 2022, Save the Children has been scaling up its use of CVA for Child Protection (CP) programming through various pilot projects.
Research was commissioned in four countries in 2022-23 to generate evidence and learning to inform the design of future programming but also to design a robust...
Cash and Vouchers Assistance (CVA) and Child Protection: Summary of practice and evidence from Save the Children programmes 2023 Edition
Report
In an effort to increase global knowledge and learning, Save the Children conducted a global review of twenty Country Offices and their programs in order to assess and highlight the impact that different forms of Cash and Vouchers Assistance (CVA) have on Child Protection (CP) outcomes, to identify...
Cash & Voucher Assistance (CVA) for Health Outcomes: a case study in Peru
Report
This case study is drawn from Save the Children CVA operations in Peru between 2021 and 2023, focusing on the achievement of health outcomes for vulnerable Venezuelan migrants.
Following an overview of the contexts and of the needs, it deep dives into the technical design of the integrated program,...