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Sector-specific Cash and Voucher Assistance

As part of a sector-specific intervention, such as helping people affected by crises to access healthcare, or rebuild their livelihoods, cash and voucher assistance (CVA) may be provided as part of a package. But each sector requires different skills and considerations to ensure CVA is used and monitored effectively.

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.

Latest

DRC Cash and Vouchers Food Security Evaluation (2014)

Report

People in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have long faced protracted conflict and instability resulting in the displacement of populations. In order to provide households affected by new displacements with timely access to food, ECHO funded the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), the Association...

2014

Training Report – Emergency Market Mapping and Analysis (EMMA): Focused on WASH

Report

Emergency Market Mapping Analysis (EMMA) is a toolkit guidance manual for humanitarian staff in sudden-onset emergencies which aims to improve emergency responses by encouraging and assisting relief agencies to better understand, support and make use of local market-systems in disaster zones. EMMA offers...

2014

Evaluation of ECHO-Funded Cash and Voucher Food Assistance in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Report

People in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have long faced protracted conflict and instability resulting in the displacement of populations. In order to provide households affected by new displacements with timely access to food, ECHO funded the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), the Association...

2014

PCPM’s Cash for Shelter Program in Akkar Governorate, Lebanon: Evaluation and lessons learned

Report

The aim of this report is to provide an evaluation of the activities of Polish Centre for International Aid (PCPM) cash for shelter programme in the Akkar district in Lebanon. The evaluation has been focused on the long-term results of the humanitarian aid provided by PCPM to the Syrian refugees in Akkar...

2014

Support to the local tool market post-Typhoon Haiyan

Report

Super Typhoon Haiyan struck Leyte and Eastern Samar in the Philippines in November 2013. CRS responded by initiating a program in 2014 to support the livelihoods recovery of 5,250 agriculture-based households. The Livelihood Early Recovery Support to Agricultural Households Affected by Typhoon Yolanda...

2014

MasterCard Worldwide and Mercy Corps: ELEVATE phase I report

Report

The Nepal pilot focused on testing several key stages in the deployment of mobile vouchers, including the following: Identify a technology partner, Customize a mobile voucher platform, and Use the platform to distribute goods to people in need. Two different types of mobile vouchers (SMS and smartphone...

2013

Cash or Coupons? Testing the impacts of cash transfers versus vouchers in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Report

Despite the increased use of conditional and unconditional cash-transfer programs worldwide, a majority of social protection programs in both developed and developing countries use in-kind transfers and vouchers. This paper reports the results of a randomized evaluation of an unconditional cash transfer...

2013

Enhancing WFP’s Capacity and Experience to Design, Implement, Monitor, and Evaluate Vouchers and Cash Transfer Programmes: Study summary

Report

With support from the Government of Spain, and in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP), researchers from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) evaluated four pilot projects to assess the comparative performance of cash transfers, food payments, and vouchers on household food...

2013

Impact Evaluation: Evaluation of the impact of food for assets on livelihood resilience in Nepal

Report

This evaluation, conducted by an independent team between January and July 2013, assessed the outcomes and impacts of the food-for-assets (FFA) components of two WFP programmes in Nepal: country programme (CP) 100930 (2002–2007) and protracted relief and recovery operation (PRRO) 106760 (2007–2010)....

2013

Water Trucking Market System in Harshin

Report

The Somali region of Ethiopia is an arid area which suffers from a water shortage every year. However, the degree of severity can differ quite markedly from year to year and the existence of microclimates within the region itself means that needs are never uniform. In 2011, the region experienced two...

2013

Cash Voucher Programme: Review of voucher assistance as a safety-net transfer modality in the Gaza Strip

Report

This review commissioned by Oxfam GB and WFP, looks at the effect of the Cash Voucher Project of WFP / Oxfam / Ma’an (CVP) on beneficiaries in Gaza. The review studies the impact on beneficiary diets and interviews beneficiaries to obtain their opinion on cash vouchers over in-kind food aid. The review...

2013

Water Vouchers Evaluation Report, Gaza 2013

Report

A participatory assessment on disaster risk reduction (DRR) was undertaken in GAZA governorate in 2011, OXFAM being the lead agency within the WASH cluster emergency response and preparedness in this area. Three vulnerable neighbourhoods (AL MALALHA, AL MOGRAGHA and AL ZARGA), were identified and an...

2013

Enhancing Nutrition: A New Tool for Ex-Ante Comparison of Commodity-based Vouchers and Food Transfers

Report

Traditionally, programs with nutrition objectives have relied on in kind (or direct) food transfers. More recently, both cash and vouchers have been increasingly used in a wide variety of food assistance programs. While having additional options in terms of transfer modality is certainly an advantage,...

2013