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
E-Transfer implementation guide
Guidelines and Tools
This updated E-transfer Implementation Guide replaces the original guide published in 2014. In cash transfer programming (CTP), electronic transfers (e-transfers) are a digital replacement for paper vouchers or physical cash. E-transfers are a disbursement mechanism – a way of transferring money, goods...
Supporting markets in emergencies. Scoping study
Report
A review of recent humanitarian interventions that support local markets in emergency contexts revealed a limited scope and breadth of this type of activity. While many agencies show good creativity and understanding of market systems in emergencies, most activities are in the form of small grants to...
Shock-Responsive Social Protection Systems Research: Literature Review (2nd Edition)
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...
Cash and Education in Somalia, Somalia Education Cluster (October 2017) – CTP in the education response
Report
Two-page briefing on cash and education in Somalia
Cash for Education: A global review of UNHCR programmes in refugee settings
Report
This review provides an overview of the use of cash assistance in 45 cash-related education programmes in 21 UNHCR operations. It highlights the key opportunities and challenges with the use of cash for education and provides key direction for future programming and related protection considerations....
Challenging the System: Humanitarian Cash Transfers in Iraq
Report
Cash transfers have been used in Iraq to meet the critical basic needs of a highly vulnerable population, providing them dignity and flexibility in a context of uncertainty and economic need. Although Iraq is an appropriate context for the use of cash transfers, factors including government acceptance,...
Can Conditional Cash Transfers improve the uptake of nutrition interventions and household food security? Evidence from Odisha’s Mamata scheme
Report
There is considerable global evidence on the effectiveness of cash transfers in improving health and nutrition outcomes; however, the evidence from South Asia, particularly India, is limited. In the context of India where more than a third of children are undernourished, and where there is considerable...
Humanitarian Cash Transfers in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Report
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is at a crossroads with regard to cash transfers. On the one hand, cash has been accepted by most donors and aid agencies as an appropriate response, with solid evidence underpinning its use. Aid agencies have driven important innovations in an environment where...
Food – Restricted Voucher or Unrestricted Voucher Cash? How to Best Support Syrian Refugees in Jordan and Lebanon?
Report
The World Food Programme (WFP) plays a pivotal role in the food security of Syrian refugees within the Syria +5 region. WFP periodically reviews its operational approach, so it is timely to consider what the best modality for the next phase of the response might be, including the pros and cons of...
Effects of Unconditional Cash Transfers on the Outcome of Treatment for Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM): A Cluster-Randomised Trial in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Report
Cash transfer programs (CTPs) aim to strengthen financial security for vulnerable households. This potentially enables improvements in diet, hygiene, health service access and investment in food production or income generation.The effect of CTPs on the outcome of children already severely malnourished...
Cash alone is not enough: a smarter use of cash
Guidelines and Tools
Cash based interventions (CBIs) enable crisis affected people to make choices and prioritise their own needs. They also support markets critical to survival and recovery of communities. NRC is committed to increasing the use of cash across its programmes. Yet, cash based interventions are not a...
Fitting aid to context: community experiences of aid delivery in northern Syria
Report
The ongoing conflict in Syria has left 13.5 million Syrians in need of humanitarian assistance. Several local and international organisations provide aid to northern Syria, but their chosen modalities fail to effectively meet community members’ needs. While aiming to respond to immediate short-term...
Aid in context: the importance of market-based approaches to aid delivery in northern Syria
Report
With the Syrian conflict now in its seventh year, 13.5 million Syrians need humanitarian aid. But aid in northern Syria focuses inflexibly on food kits that are expensive to administer, designed to satisfy short-term needs.
Many people sell their food aid to pay for other urgent needs. This
undermines...
Is cash better than food vouchers for Syrian refugees?
Report
A comparative analysis of the effectiveness of unrestricted cash and food restricted voucher assistance modalities for Syrian refugee households’ food security in Jordan and Lebanon.
2016/7 Winter Inter-Agency PDM Report
Report
Between August 2016 and March 2017, fourteen organizations provided more than 140,000 Syrian refugee households in Turkey with assistance to stay warm through the harsh winter season. Organizations delivered winter support to refugees in 52 of Turkey’s 81 provinces, primarily through restricted and...
Research agenda-setting on cash programming for health and nutrition in humanitarian settings
Report
While the evidence base for cash transfer programming (CTP) in humanitarian contexts is more established for food security, it is very limited for health. The aim of this study was to develop a research agenda on CTP for health and nutrition in humanitarian settings.
As the movement for cash transfer programming advances, how can we ensure that people with disabilities are not left behind in cash transfer programming for emergencies?
Report
It is estimated that 15% of the world’s population has a disability and evidence has shown that those with a disability are likely to be disproportionately affected when a crisis hits. In a 2015 global consultation carried out by Handicap International, 75% of respondents living with a disability, the...
Cash Transfers Programming and Persons of Concern
Report
A significant majority of Persons of Concern (POC) in Asia are living in non-camp, urban settings. The longer-term implications of this for assistance programmes have often been overlooked or even dismissed as being too complex or politically sensitive to consider interfering. Nevertheless, the...
Finding Economic Opportunity in the City: Lessons from IRC’s Cash and Livelihoods Programmes in Cities within Lebanon and Jordan
Report
This report looks at IRC’s experiences in cash assistance and livelihoods programming in Lebanon and Jordan in the context of the Syrian regional response. It explores opportunities and challenges inherent to cash and livelihoods programming, identifying good practices and ways to integrate other...
End-line report on the impact of Cash Based Transfer in Tharparkar, Umerkot and Sanghar
Report
The Food for Assets through Cashed Based Transfers was implemented in three drought affected districts of Sindh namely Tharparkar, Umerkot and Sanghar during the period from July 2015 to January 2016 covering 17,000 beneficiaries. The programme engaged beneficiary households in Cash for Training...