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
Review of Food for Peace Market-Based Emergency Food Assistance Programs: Democratic Republic of Congo Case Study Report
Report
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) case illustrates the complexity and diversity of contexts within which program design and implementation occurs. It highlights the need for provincial-scale assessments, local market monitoring, and flexibility to pivot to different modalities depending on changing...
Guide to Developing Education Cluster Strategies
Guidelines and Tools
All Education Clusters should have a Strategy in place that guides partners in their implementation of an effective, timely, and quality emergency response. Having an Education Cluster Strategy allows us to better communicate the needs of crisis-affected children, beyond a summary in an inter-sectoral...
Cash Programming Fact Sheet
Report
A cash programming fact sheet demonstrating cash intervention in Kenya funded by EU Humanitarian Aid (ECHO). The program objective was to increase access to humanitarian assistance for vulnerable and drought-affected populations in the ASAL counties of Kenya.
Review of Food for Peace Market-Based Emergency Food Assistance Programs: Haiti Case-Study Report
Report
Haiti is a very low-income country with a degraded ecological setting that faces repeated threats from multiple hazards. It is an excellent example of Food for Peace (FFP) linking emergency and development funding through the Kore Lavi Title II program that serves as a model for the national social...
Addressing food insecurity: Does the choice of transfer modality matter?
Report
This operational study analyses the impact of multipurpose cash (MPC)—associated with a nutrition-sensitive training—on the food security and nutrition of the households affected by the drought in the Salvadoran Dry Corridor. Three quantitative and qualitative surveys—with a strong gender...
Response options analysis and planning for Fafan zone (Somali region, Ethiopia)
Guidelines and Tools
Between October 2017 and March 2018, the Consortium began the pilot in Ethiopia with the aim of providing technical and strategic support to country-based humanitarian organisations, enabling them to engage in collaborative assessments and decision making. Whilst the Consortium has not been conceived to...
The Role of Cash Transfers in Social Protection, Humanitarian Response and Shock-Responsive Social Protection
Guidelines and Tools
Cash transfers have expanded rapidly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) around the world in the past decade. The contexts in which they are implemented have also diversified; while cash transfers were mostly adopted initially as central elements of social protection systems, they have become...
Mozambique Rapid Market Assessment
Report
Mozambique is a country prone to natural disasters, most markedly floods, cyclones, pest and disease outbreaks and frequent droughts. These regularly exacerbate the underlying poverty and food security situation and cause major damage and set back economic growth in disaster-affected areas. Meteorological...
The 1.5 Billion People Question : Food, Vouchers, or Cash Transfers?
Report
Most of the people in low and middle-income countries covered by social protection receive assistance in the form of in-kind food. The origin of such support is rooted in countries’ historical pursuit of three interconnected objectives, namely attaining self-sufficiency in food, managing domestic food...
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...
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...