Coordination
Background
Effective coordination can prevent gaps and overlaps in humanitarian responses, ensure the impact of CVA is optimised for the benefit of crisis affected populations, whilst also making the most of limited humanitarian funding. But the CALP Network’s State of the World’s Cash report found that cash coordination is seen as weak and ad hoc, and that this is having serious operational impact.
Ninety-five donors, international and national NGOs, private sector actors and one UN agency have called for clarity on two key issues surrounding cash coordination:
- Who should be accountable for ensuring effective cash coordination, and
- What the scope of Cash Working Groups should be, including in relation to multipurpose cash.
We urgently need to build on what works and provide clarity at the global level on the questions above, whilst adapting to different contexts. Clear decisions based on the impact on affected populations rather than agency politics are long overdue.
Current priorities
We aim to contribute to progress on this issue on three levels: supporting Cash Working Groups at the regional level; contributing to practical solutions for cash coordination at the global level; and convening evidence-based discussion on the key issues, highlighting critical decision points and opportunities for progress.
Featured content
Cash Coordination – LIVE timeline
Page
The latest updates on cash coordination as they unfold.
95 Organisations Sign Letter Calling for Strengthened Cash Coordination
News
Today a letter signed by 95 organisations was handed into the Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC) urging the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) to take a decision on the leadership and scope of cash coordination in the coming year.
Is cash transforming the humanitarian system or is the system limiting how cash is used?
Blog Post
At the State of World’s Cash 2020 launch event, Sorcha O’Callaghan, Director of Humanitarian Policy Group at ODI warned that, “Cash offers a huge transformative potential, but as far as the system is privileging the interest of the agencies over people in crisis, we won’t be able to see it”. If you missed the State of the World's Cash 2020 launch we're sharing highlights. Quote 4...
State of the World’s Cash 2020 Chapter 5 summary: Coordination
Report
There has been very limited progress on cash coordination since 2017. Cash continues to challenge the established coordination and funding architecture, and efforts to resolve outstanding questions around cash coordination have failed. Despite the lack of global agreement, Cash Working Groups are pushing forward and contributing to improved programming, and generating new approaches. This...
Cash Coordination Tip Sheet
Guidelines and Tools
This tip sheet sets out established best practice, key guidance and resources for all aspects of cash coordination, intended as a clear, accessible and action-oriented guide for those engaged in coordination of cash and voucher assistance (CVA) at the field level.
Introducing the Cash Coordination Tip Sheet
Webinar
The CALP Network has developed a tipsheet setting out established best practice and key guidance and resources for all aspects of cash coordination, intended as a clear, accessible and action-oriented guide for those engaged in coordination of cash and voucher assistance at the field level.
Cash Coordination: A proposal from members in MENA
Blog Post
Earlier this year the CALP Network undertook regional consultations to explore options for cash coordination. This blog lays out recommendations from participants from the Middle East and North Africa who sketched out what cash coordination, and coordination more broadly, could look like in future to support a more effective, efficient and accountable response.
Thematic lead
Latest
CTP in the Ethiopia Drought Response: Using Learning to Shape Action
Report
This workshop, convened by the CALP Network and the Ethiopia Cash Working Group, reflected on the use of cash transfers in the 2017 drought response. Key findings were: Cash helped address immediate needs and contributed to meeting some of the drought response objectives. There were significant...
White Paper on Cash Coordination
Report
As more agencies are using cash transfer programming in humanitarian contexts, the need for coordination has grown. Aid organizations have set up cash working groups in many emergency settings that often differ in terms of leadership and institutional setup. This ad hoc approach has helped provide...
Libya Humanitarian Cash Working Group (CWG) Key Messages
Report
The purpose of this document is to provide key messages of the Cash Working Group (CWG) that can be used in discussions with humanitarian stakeholders. This document is not designed to be passed to interlocutors, but rather inform CWG members on key points to raise in discussions.
Looking Back to Move Forward: Building on Learning from 2011 to Strengthen the 2017 Drought Response in Somalia Learning Report
Report
This report provides a summary of the discussions that took place during a half-day reflection workshop in May 2017. More than 40 people from national and international NGOs, the UN, donors and research organisations came together to consider lessons from the 2011 drought response, reflect on the use of...
Partnering with Mobile Network Operators in Zimbabwe to Deliver Cash Transfers
Report
This case study seeks to investigate and document the following: The process of engagement between MNOs and CARE. Clarity of roles between CARE/WVI as implementing agencies and MNOs. Successes and challenges in the partnership between CARE/WVI and the MNOs Measures taken to manage the impact of the...
Zimbabwe ‘Cash First’ Humanitarian Response 2015–2017: Evaluation Report
Report
CARE International and World Vision International (WVI) in Zimbabwe implemented the UK Department for International Development (DFID)-funded project ‘Emergency Cash First Response to Drought-Affected Communities in the Southern Provinces of Zimbabwe’ from August 2015 to April 2017. The project...
Social protection in Madagascar – The Case of Cash Transfers: Capacity to respond to shocks and options for harmonization
Report
The report has been prepared as commissioned by the Government of Madagascar (Ministry of Population, Social protection and Women’s Promotion and the National Office of Risk and Disaster Management) in coordination with the members of the emergency cash group and with UNICEF’s funding and technical...
Cash or in-kind? Why not both? Response Analysis Lessons from Multimodal Programming
Report
This research reviews lessons learned about response analysis from multimodal responses, that is, responses in which practitioners determined that more than one response modality between cash,vouchers, and in-kind, was a “best fit” or in which the conclusions about “best fit” changed over...
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...
Fast Forward. A discussion paper on the future of cash
Report
This discussion paper has been co-created by the CALP Network with input from its members during the month of September 2016 to inform ongoing discussions about cash transfer programming worldwide. This discussion paper briefly describes one of the most ambitious reform proposals to implement cash...
Food or Cash or Vouchers? New report on U.S. food assistance monitoring and evaluation suggests “All of the above”
Blog Post
In this special blog Jenny Coneff, the CALP Network's North America Focal Point, reflects on the main findings of the GAO report.
Cash is the answer to change the global aid system
Blog Post
A variety of studies show that recipients of cash not only use the assistance to meet immediate needs (food, shelter, health, schooling) but they also use it to invest in businesses. Cash is not only a dignified way of helping people in need get back on their feet, it incentivises and supports...
Gender Analysis for MVAC Emergency Cash Transfer Programme
Report
Cash Transfers (CTs) provided an effective means of supporting men and women to meet their basic needs in an emergency. CTs assisted men and women to meet their practical needs, giving men a sense of purpose as a provider, and allowing women to fulfil their traditional roles as wife and mother. CTs led...
Cash Transfers in Remote Emergency Programming: Focus on risk mitigation
Blog Post
Humanitarian agencies increasingly deliver cash in locations with significant access constraints. Roger Dean, NRC’s Remote Cash Project lead, answers questions about how cash transfers can be used as an effective modality of response in such contexts.
Cash Transfers: What Does the Evidence Say? A Rigorous Review of Programme Impact and of the Role of Design and Implementation Features
Report
Cash transfers have been increasingly adopted by countries worldwide as central elements of their social protection and poverty reduction strategies. A growing number of studies provide rigorous evidence on the impact of cash transfers, and the role of specific cash transfer design and implementation...
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...
Introducing the ELAN Data Starter Kit
Blog Post
Electronic cash transfers (e-transfers) often necessitate the transfer of personal data, some of which is sensitive, between humanitarian and private sector actors, such as financial service providers (FSPs). As use of e-transfers increases, having strong data management and protection practices in place...
Future of NGOs: Smaller, more specialised, and more efficient
Blog Post
The WHS was far from a revolution. Yet the unprecedented place occupied by cash at the WHS shows the ball is rolling. Nigel Timmins, Oxfam International’s Humanitarian Director, reflects on what underlies our attitudes and how NGOs will need to focus on a set of core activities that reflect their...
E-Vouchers for Syrian Refugees in Turkey: Challenges and lessons learned around vulnerability, targeting, and protection
Blog Post
There are more than 2.5 million Syrian refugees living in Turkey. The vast majority of these individuals have settled in cities, not camps, and therefore receive minimal or no humanitarian assistance to help meet their basic needs. In response to this gap, the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) in Turkey...
The Use of Cash Transfer for Livelihoods: Considerations and lessons learned
Blog Post
As the use of cash transfer programming increases, questions of how it can be used both to meet short-term relief needs and to contribute to recovery and longer-term development become more pertinent. In particular, the use of cash transfers to meet livelihoods objectives can be a highly effective means...