Social Protection
Context
The State of the World’s Cash 2020 report found:
- Working with, through and alongside social protection systems is now considered key to strengthening the humanitarian-development nexus and humanitarians are increasingly active in this space
- Practitioners find that the three biggest challenges to effective linkages are: (i) lack of coordination between the actors involved, (ii) social protection systems are not designed to respond to crises, (iii) humanitarian practitioners lack expertise in social protection
- Critically, there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution to linking CVA and social protection. Trade-offs between efficiency, effectiveness, accountability, and sustainability must be considered to ensure the best outcomes for people living in crisis and depends on context, existing systems, and timeframe. Linking will not always be appropriate and social protection systems may not meet all needs. In many contexts, in the short to medium term at least, humanitarian programming will be required to fill gaps.
Current Priorities
The CALP Network has invested intensely in this thematic area over the last few years. We will continue to work closely with the SPIAC-B Working group on linking humanitarian (cash) assistance and social protection (formerly the Grand Bargain Sub-Workstream on Social Protection) and with the SocialProtection.org platform and the Online Community Social Protection in Crisis Contexts to develop evidence, produce capacity building materials and provide technical support to coordination actors.
Community of Practice
SocialProtection.org hosts a dynamic and collaborative online community of practice (CoP) bringing together individuals from diverse backgrounds interested in expanding social protection in crisis-prone areas. The CoP offers a space to exchange documents, insights, and news in order to progress and learn together. Its inclusive and member-led approach offers organisations and individual members a forum to increase learning and outreach, facilitating the exchange of experiences and expanding knowledge. A discussion group hosted by dgroups.org complements these activities by connecting users rapidly via email.
SPACE
There are a wealth of relevant resources from ‘Social Protection Approaches To Covid-19: Expert Advice’ (SPACE) published in the CALP library.
Featured content
Linking Social Protection and Humanitarian Cash and Voucher Assistance
Report
There is a growing momentum and body of work around the idea of developing stronger links between humanitarian cash and voucher assistance (CVA) and social protection (SP). This Briefing Paper for the CALP Network, based on a literature review, a survey, and interviews, is intended to inform the CALP Network’s overall approach in this area, and subsequently its capacity building and...
Linking Social Protection and Humanitarian Cash
Blog Post
The case for social protection to help people cope with shocks has always been clear and never more obvious than during the current Covid-19 crisis. These issues are currently playing out in real time as governments, donors and aid agencies scramble to find ways to get more help to more people to cope with the economic consequences of illness and lockdown. As the virus starts to take hold in...
Linking Social Protection and humanitarian cash and voucher assistance (CVA) – what do we really know and where to start? Findings from the CALP Network commissioned high level briefing paper at the time of COVID-19
Webinar
State of the World’s Cash 2020 Chapter 8 summary: Linking CVA and social protection
Report
Longstanding efforts to strengthen links between humanitarian CVA and social protection have been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, with significant progress since the last report. CVA should aim to complement robust social protection systems where they exist and contribute to their strengthening where they are weak or early-stage. This chapter asks: ‘What opportunities and challenges...
Supporting the Linkages Between Humanitarian Cash and Voucher Assistance and National Social Protection Systems
Report
This tipsheet aims to support country-level coordination efforts to strengthen the engagement between humanitarian coordination groups that implement cash and voucher assistance (CVA) and existing social
protection or disaster risk reduction coordination actors and groups. In particular, it seeks to offers inter-cluster and cash working group coordinators simple practical tips for engaging...
Case Studies
Linking CVA and Social Protection in the MENA Region – Crib sheet
Report
Building linkages between humanitarian cash and voucher assistance (CVA) and social protection (SP) has become an increasingly prominent topic over the past five years and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has been at the centre of this evolution. The objective of this resource set (the crib sheet and 3, soon to be 6, regional case studies) is to ensure that the CALP Network...
Linking CVA and Social Protection in the MENA Region – Iraq Case Study
Report
Building linkages between humanitarian cash and voucher assistance (CVA) and social protection (SP) has become an increasingly prominent topic over the past five years and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has been at the centre of this evolution. The objective of this resource set (the crib sheet and 3, soon to be 6, regional case studies) is to ensure that the CALP Network...
Linking CVA and Social Protection in the MENA Region – Lebanon Case Study
Report
Building linkages between humanitarian cash and voucher assistance (CVA) and social protection (SP) has become an increasingly prominent topic over the past five years and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has been at the centre of this evolution. The objective of this resource set (the crib sheet and 3, soon to be 6, regional case studies) is to ensure that the CALP Network...
Linking CVA and Social Protection in the MENA Region – Yemen Case Study
Case Study
Building linkages between humanitarian cash and voucher assistance (CVA) and social protection (SP) has become an increasingly prominent topic over the past five years and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has been at the centre of this evolution. The objective of this resource set (the crib sheet and 3, soon to be 6, regional case studies) is to ensure that the CALP Network...
Linking Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) and Social Protection – Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT): Country Summary
Report
This country summary is part of a larger resource set, providing practitioners with examples of different approaches to linking CVA
and social protection.
Linking Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) and Social Protection – Turkey: Country Summary
Report
This country summary is part of a larger resource set, providing practitioners with examples of different approaches to linking CVA
and social protection.
Linking Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) and Social Protection – Lebanon: Country Summary
Report
This country summary is part of a larger resource set, providing practitioners with examples of different approaches to linking CVA
and social protection.
Thematic lead
Latest
Cash transfers: Lump Sums
Report
This briefing is one of a series of six produced as an output from a three year ODI research study on cash transfers and their role in social protection. The study explores issues of interest to donors and governments, comparing cash with other forms of transfer, identifying where cash transfers are...
Money Matters: An evaluation of the use of cash grants in UNHCR’s voluntary repatriation and reintegration programme in Burundi
Report
To access another publication available in this series, titled ‘The Use of Cash Grants in UNHCR Voluntary Repatriation Operations: Report of a Lessons Learned Workshop’, please click here. There has been growing interest in recent years in the use of cash grants as a humanitarian assistance and...
Cash transfers in emergencies: A synthesis of World Vision’s experience and learning
Report
This HPG study report, commissioned by World Vision, looks at the shifting view towards cash programming by the humanitarian community, and focuses on the specific challenges and needs which World Vision would have to address when considering the use of cash in emergencies. A general background of cash...
Cash Transfers, Gender and Generational Relations: Evidence from a Pilot Project in Lesotho
Report
Food aid has been the main response to repeated and protracted humanitarian crises in Lesotho since 2002, and during that time it has also been the major part of World Vision’s emergency responses. Along with the government, donors and NGOs, World Vision is increasingly interested in the role that cash...
Dowa emergency cash transfer, Malawi
Case Study
This case study looks at the innovative Concern Worldwide project which provided monthly cash transfers to beneficiary households using smartcards utilising mobile ATMs to deliver the cash. The report examines the choice of programme delivery mechanism, the targeting of beneficiaries, coordination, cost...
Is cash a feasible alternative to food aid for post-drought relief in Lesotho
Case Study
This report summarises the findings from a study undertaken to assess whether or not a cash based response by World Vision to the current drought in Lesotho would be an appropriate and feasible response. It looks at the potential problems which could affect the feasibility of cash interventions and...
Cash transfers in Sierra Leone: Appropriate, affordable and feasible?
Case Study
This paper is one of a series of outputs from ODI’s research study (2006–09) “Cash Transfers and their Role in Social Protection”. The study aims to compare cash with other forms of transfers, identifying where cash transfers may be preferable, the preconditions for cash transfers to work well,...
No small change: Oxfam GB Malawi and Zambia emergency cash transfer projects: A synthesis of key learning
Case Study
This learning document uses Oxfam GB’s experience of emergency cash transfer programming in Malawi and Zambia to draw out some important lessons in using cash. It examines the two programmes and the findings of the evaluations and asks the question, “Is cash more cost-effective than food aid?”...
Cash Transfers in Emergencies: A Review Drawing upon the Tsunami and Other Experience
Report
This 2006 document from the Social Policy and Economic Analysis office of UNICEF (East Asia and the Pacific Region) draws upon examples from the tsunami and other contexts to explore cash transfer experience in emergencies. It presents existing evidence of impact of cash transfers on children; reasons...
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...