Middle East and North Africa
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Feasibility of Achieving Resilience by Linking Vulnerable Populations Receiving Humanitarian CVA to Development and Social Protection
Report
This report evaluates the capacities for establishing linkages between humanitarian CVA and state-led social protection in Iraq, Libya and Yemen.
Rapid Reflection on the Scale up of Cash Coordination- Türkiye/ Syria Earthquakes
Report
This rapid reflection piece looks at how cash coordination structures scaled up at the onset of the Türkiye/ Syria Earthquakes in February 2023. The short reports look at implications and good practices implemented by cash working groups in Türkiye, North West Syria, and Government-controlled areas of Syria; where they can also be relevant learning for other crises.
Locally-Led Responses to Cash and Voucher Assistance in the Middle East and North Africa: Barriers, progress and opportunities
Case Study
This research highlights moments of tension between the reported commitment of the humanitarian sector towards localization and the actual steps implemented to advance locally-led CVA. Subsequently, recommendations emphasize the responsibilities of the sector in order to expand locally-led approaches in an inclusive and practical way.
Investigating Operational Models for Multi-purpose Cash Delivery and Links to Social Protection: Spotlight on the Middle East and North Africa
Report
This piece of research looked at six case studies in the MENA region where CVA is being delivered at scale. It looked at the characteristics of the operational models of delivering multi-purpose cash assistance (MPCA), and how that enables (or not) links with existing national social protection systems. The research found that there’s no one model that enables links between humanitarian MPCA...
Cash Working Group De-activation in Iraq
Case Study
The humanitarian context in Iraq has evolved significantly in the past years, advancing towards recovery and sustainability for the conflict-affected population. During 2022, the humanitarian coordination structure worked on a process to phase out, in line with the transitional context. Clusters and the Cash Working Group (CWG) designed exit strategies that concluded with their de-activation...
Multi-purpose cash assistance for Lebanese – Inter-agency Joint Learning Event Learning Brief
Case Study
On June 27th 2023, Mercy Corps co-organized with Acted, Concern and Oxfam a learning event on the implementation of Multipurpose Cash Assistance (MPCA) interventions for Lebanese. While the MPCA modality has been initiated and designed around the assistance to refugees, the provision of unconditional cash assistance for Lebanese is a recent development in the country. This requires an...
Cash for Rent Guidelines for Yemen
Guidelines and Tools
Since the start of a civil conflict in Yemen in March 2015, the country has remained in a state of emergency. Ongoing fighting and military activities have made it challenging for humanitarian workers to reach affected populations and meet their basic needs, such as food, water, and shelter. Displaced persons often live with relatives, friends, or in collective shelters that offer inadequate...
An Integrated Approach to Menstrual Hygiene Management: Awareness sessions and cash assistance for women and girls affected by crisis in Lebanon
Case Study
In 2022, UNFPA Lebanon worked with local partners to launch an integrated cash and awareness for menstrual hygiene management (MHM) initiative as a way to tackle the growing issue of period poverty amidst the country’s economic crisis. Through the pilot, over 2,600 vulnerable women and girls of reproductive age received cash assistance intended to cover the purchase of monthly menstrual...
UNFPA’s approach to CVA in the Arab region and Türkiye
Policy paper
UNFPA experience in different humanitarian contexts has shown that cash and voucher assistance (CVA) is a powerful instrument that can save lives, alleviate risks, and help women and girls escape abusive environments. By giving women and girls greater access to vital services and empowering them with the freedom to choose, UNFPA has found that CVA can directly contribute to the realisation of...
Conflict sensitive cash assistance in Lebanon: Conflict sensitivity toolbox 1
Guidelines and Tools
The Conflict Sensitivity Toolbox series is produced under UNDP Lebanon’s Tension Monitoring System. The toolbox forms part of the conflict sensitivity mainstreaming work under the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan (LCRP) and has been produced in collaboration with House of Peace. In 2021, three Lebanon-specific guidance notes were developed to provide partners with practical tips for getting...
Survival minimum expenditure basket, minimum expenditure basket, gap analysis and transfer values for cash programming
Case Study
The CWG in Iraq has updated the SMEB and has designed a new MEB and gap analysis to inform the transfer values for cash programming in 2023. This document is a technical note with the summary of the values and the methodology.
With the coordination and technical support of CashCap and the Data analysis of REACH-Initiative.
Integrating Cash Assistance into Gender-Based Violence Case Management to Support GBV Survivors and Individuals at Risk in Jordan
Case Study
With support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC) and CARE are leading an initiative on behalf of the Global Protection Cluster (GPC) Task Team on Cash for Protection (TTC4P) to expand access among field-level
practitioners to the requisite knowledge, skills, guidance, and tools to integrate cash and voucher assistance (CVA) and...
Integrating Cash Assistance into Gender-based Violence Case Management to Support GBV Survivors and Individuals at Risk in Jordan Snapshot
Case Study
Jordan is home to the second largest refugee population per capita in the world. The country’s population of 10,571,602 includes more than 760,000 refugees registered with the UN refugee agency. More than 80 percent live in urban areas rather than in refugee camps.
A recent assessment by CARE Jordan found that the lack of income opportunities, COVID-19, and community conflict were the most...
Integrating Cash Assistance into Gender-based Violence Case Management: Learnings from Colombia, Ecuador, and Northwest Syria
Case Study
In 2020-2022, WRC partnered with CARE in three locations, Ecuador, Colombia and Syria, to better understand the use of CVA in GBV case management. In Guayaquil, Ecuador, WRC and CARE worked with
three Ecuadorian organizations to strengthen the capacity of GBV service providers to use CVA within case management in response to intimate partner violence for migrant, refugee, and local...
Leaving No One Behind: Evidence from Lebanon on How Multi-purpose Cash Beneficiaries with Different Vulnerability Profiles Spend Income and Access Services
Case Study
This study aims to generate a more in-depth and nuanced understanding of the impact of MPC assistance on Syrian refugee households with different vulnerability profiles, and explores how complementary interventions can support severely vulnerable households to meet their basic needs and address issues beyond the reach of cash. Generating evidence on this topic will support WFP, donors, and...
Transitioning out of Humanitarian Cash Assistance in Iraq: Critical Actions to Ensure Gender-based Violence Risks are Mitigated and Prevented throughout the Transition
Case Study
In light of ongoing efforts to transition away from humanitarian Cash assistance in Iraq, a two-day workshop took place in Erbil on June 22 which gathered more than 32 gender-based violence (GBV) and cash and voucher assistance (CVA) actors with the goal of identifying priorities for the transition period related to GBV mainstreaming in humanitarian Cash and Social Protection assistance. This...
From Risk to Choice: Cash within GBV Case Management in Jordan
Case Study
In 2021, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Jordan piloted the integration of cash assistance within gender-based violence (GBV) programming. The pilot targeted GBV survivors and women at risk of GBV – including Jordanians, Syrian refugees and refugees of other nationalities – within the framework of GBV case management. Two modalities were used: one-off Emergency Cash...
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CashCap /NORCAP Support to Red Cross/Red Crescent National Societies Pilot Review. Ukraine and Syria. Final report.
Report
Over the past two years NORCAP’s CashCap programme in collaboration with British Red Cross, invested efforts in an initiative to test whether NORCAP/CashCap’s expertise in coordination, facilitating multistakeholder collaboration processes, capacity-strengthening, policy influence and advocacy for...
Community Participation in the Design of Multi-purpose Cash Programs – Perspectives from the field
Report
The design of cash and voucher assistance (CVA) programs, especially when implemented at scale, is often driven by technical considerations. The conversations often focus on the survival minimum expenditure basket, financial service provider’s fees and targeting algorithm. Important decisions regarding...
Reflecting on Humanitarian Cash Response in Gaza – Insights and Key Takeaways
Webinar recording
Our discussions with the Gaza Cash Working Group coordinators focused on achievements, challenges, and strategies for implementing rapid cash responses.
Report Launch and Panel Discussion: Achieving Resilience by Linking Humanitarian CVA to Social Protection in MENA
Event
Join as for a rich panel discussion on linking humanitarian CVA to social protection in MENA!
Please join us on April 18th 2024 from 15:00-16:30 Amman time to launch CALP's new report on the Feasibility of Achieving Resilience by linking vulnerable populations receiving humanitarian CVA to development...
MENA Membership Engagement Event
Meeting minutes
This event brought together CALP members in the MENA region and focused on how we can collectively advance Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA). Throughout the event, attendees engaged in fruitful breakout room discussions on membership engagement, had a discussion on advancing CVA based on the...
Empowering Communities: Post-earthquake small business recovery in Hatay, Turkey
Case Study
On February 6, 2023, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake devastated Turkey and Syria, following by numerous aftershocks. The Turkish areas of Hatay, Adıyaman, Kahramanmaraş and Malatya were the hardest hit. Immense infrastructure damage—including roads, medical centers, and houses—over 108,000 injured...
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...
MENA Membership Engagement Event
Event
Online- March 6th, 2024, 11:00-13:30 Amman time
The Group Cash Transfer Approach in Yemen
Case Study
The GCT approach was contextualized and piloted successfully in both North and South Yemen by ZOA Yemen and its local partner SDF in 2022 and 2023. More than 100 community groups submitted their plans and received cash transfers to implement their proposed activities. Cash transfers ranged from 2,000 USD...
Cash and Voucher Assistance: Breaking down barriers to SRH care in humanitarian settings
Case Study
Global commitments to universal health coverage mean that all people should have access to a full range of quality health services without financial hardship. Despite these commitments, populations affected by emergencies often face heightened barriers to accessing health services due to disruptions to...
Year-End Post-Distribution Monitoring Report: UNHCR’s multi-purpose cash assistance to refugees in Egypt – 2023
Report
UNHCR uses cash-based interventions to provide protection, assistance, and services to the most vulnerable. From January to December 2023, UNHCR Egypt provided regular multipurpose cash assistance (MPCA) to 20,944 refugee and asylum seeker households from all nationalities, including new arrivals from...
Post-Distribution Monitoring of MCPA to Sudanese New Arrivals – Egypt 2023: A two-time UNICEF-funded cash assistance programme implemented by UNHCR
Report
UNHCR provided a multipurpose cash assistance funded by UNICEF to the most vulnerable new arrivals from Sudan, who were on UNHCR waiting list, to support them in covering their immediate needs, and mitigate potential protection risks, and also to reduce their resorting to negative coping strategies. The...
Egypt Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) and Child Labor: Program Summary and Evidence-Building Infographic
Case Study
This infographic highlights the main findings and achievements of Save the Children CVA operations in Egypt between March 2023 and November 2023, which aimed to assess and highlight the impact that CVA has on child protection outcomes, with a specific focus on unaccompanied and separated refugee children...
Payment Solutions for CVA Implementers
Report
This report explores how CVA implementers can leverage developments in payment technology to empower recipients, offering them a choice of CVA delivery mechanisms.
Payment Solution Seekers Webinar
Webinar recording
This webinar marked the launch of the Payment solutions for CVA implementers report; which helps implementing organizations, payment companies and regulators leverage FinTech innovations to increase the impact of Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA).
Calculating the GHG Footprint of Food Aid using Cash Transfers
Case Study
In early 2021, Action Against Hunger (ACF) France is launching a GHG emissions assessment with other members of the Humanitarian Environment Network (REH). The scope of accounting target all emissions, and very quickly some activities, which can generate considerable variability in the results, are...
“Stop the war and let me return to my home, even if it is destroyed.” Community priorities and perceptions of aid and support in Gaza
Report
In early November, Ground Truth Solutions (GTS) and Arab World for Research and Development (AWRAD) set about talking to people in Gaza to find out what the humanitarian situation looked like from their perspective. Access challenges for large agencies are well known, but how have communities been...
Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance (MPCA) Design, MENA Community of Practice Terms of Reference
Guidelines and Tools
CaLP Network in MENA, following a consultative process, established 4 CVA communities of practice with thematic focus and one being the CVA & Localization Community Of Practice (LCOP) in December 2021. This regional space brings together donors, UN agencies, INGOs, local actors, and other stakeholders to...