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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Pinning Down Moving Targets: Research Note Medium-term priorities for cash assistance in Lebanon
Report
Whilst most humanitarian responses across the globe have had to navigate the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, in Lebanon the challenges related to COVID-19 emerged on top of an unprecedented protest movement, political instability, a rapid deterioration of the economy and the increasingly protracted...
“Pinning down moving targets”: Adapting humanitarian cash programmes to the multi-pronged crises in Lebanon
Report
Whilst most humanitarian responses across the globe have had to navigate the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, in Lebanon the challenges related to COVID-19 emerged on top of an unprecedented protest movement, political instability, a rapid deterioration of the economy and the increasingly protracted...
Cash Transfer and Education: Supporting basic education for Syrian refugees and Egyptian host communities
Report
This report assesses Plan International’s Tawasol: Learning for Coexistence Project in Egypt to understand its strengths and weaknesses, including implementation challenges and successes, risks and benefits for beneficiaries, and any needs for continued capacity building. Plan International – with...
Establishing a Cash Working Group and GBV Sub-Cluster task force: NW Syria Case Study
Report
The case study was created with the inputs of two Cash Working Group leads and the GBV Turkey cross-border Sub-Cluster leads in the Northwest Syria response. The case study demonstrates an example of meaningful linking of gender-based violence response and cash and voucher assistance. As Cash and Voucher...
EMMA: Relying on Markets for the Beirut Blast Shelter Response – Emergency Market Mapping and Analysis of Selected Construction Material Markets in Lebanon
Report
The EMMA focused specifically on those markets that are critical for supporting the reconstruction materials needs of Beirut Port Blast-affected people:
• cement and hollow blocks
• flat glass, transparent 6mm
• medium-density fibreboard (MDF) 8mm
• aluminium window frames
The report concludes...
Webinar Series – Organisational Cash Readiness Tool (OCRT)
Webinar
You are invited to a series of webinars on Organisational Cash Readiness Tool (OCRT) on the 22, 26 and 28th of October 2020.
Desk-based Review on Cash and Voucher Assistance in Education in Emergencies
Report
In 2018, the Global Education Cluster documented practices in CVA for education in emergencies (EiE). Within this framework, this Desk Review is the first part of a larger study finalized with the publication in February 2019 of the CVA for EiE Synthesis and Guidelines. The Desk Review provides the reader...
Enhancing Child Protection Services by Incorporating Cash-based Interventions as Part of Comprehensive Programming
Report
Children account for 2.5 million (almost half) of the Syrian refugee population, and child protection remains a core element of UNHCR’s protection response. UNHCR has been promoting research projects aimed at assessing the contribution of different cash assistance modalities for enhancing child...
Joint Financial Service Providers mapping-Iraq 2020
Report
FSP mapping covering financial infrastructure and the environment in Iraq, FSP`s capacity to current and increased demand, FSPs presence and area coverage, transactions and payment approval process and fees, regulations and required documentations, advantages, disadvantages, challenges, risks and...
Stepping up CVA with COVID-19: Paving the way we respond to future crisis
Report
COVID-19 has thrown the world into lockdown and taken a tremendous toll on the health, social, and economic status of vulnerable communities, households, and individuals. Limitations on daily activities and an over-arching health crisis, restrictions on movement, closures of schools and businesses have...
Gaza Multi-Purpose Cash Programme: Endline Evaluation
Report
This report presents the key findings of the pilot Gaza Multi-Purpose Cash Program (GMPC) implemented by Mercy Corps Palestine in the Gaza Strip during 2019-20. The aim of the programme was to allow 1,227 poor and food insecure households to meet their varied basic needs, by delivering three cash...
Use of Foreign Currency for Designing of Assistance Packages in Yemen_Fina
Guidelines and Tools
The Yemeni Rial (YER) during the course of 2020 has shown high levels of volatility in its value against foreign currencies, in particular, the United States Dollar (USD). As program budgets are calculated in USD or EUROs, but cash transfers are made in YER, the reduction in the value of the YER against...
Multi-purpose Cash Transfers and Health Among Vulnerable Syrian Refugees in Lebanon
Report
This briefing sheet summarizes findings from a research study conducted from May 2018 through July 2019 to evaluate the impact of MPC on health care-seeking and expenditures by Syrian refugees in Lebanon. The study compared approximately 173 households receiving multipurpose cash transfers (MPC) from...
Multi-purpose Cash Transfers and Health among Vulnerable Syrian Refugees in Jordan
Report
This briefing sheet summarises findings from a research study conducted from May 2018 through July 2019 to evaluate the impact of MPC on healthcare-seeking and expenditures by Syrian refugees in Jordan. The study compared approximately 429 households receiving multi-purpose cash transfers (MPC) from UNHCR...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Responding to the COVID-19 Crisis: Linking humanitarian Cash and Social Protection in practise
Report
This paper seeks to demonstrate practical ways in which NGOs are linking their humanitarian work to social protection and the added importance of this in the context of COVID-19, following from the earlier work of CCD outlining the role of NGOs to
improve the access to and delivery of social protection in...
Analysis of key value chains (wheat and wool), with a special focus on the light manufacturing sector in Mosul
Report
DRC has commissioned this study with the end objective of providing access to market opportunities for privately-owned small and medium enterprises and job opportunities for conflict-affected men, women and youth. For that purpose, DRC has taken a marketsystem and value-chain approach to development and...