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Tracking Cash and Voucher Assistance

We have committed to strengthening the scale and quality of cash and voucher assistance (CVA), but to measure our progress against this commitment, we must agree to a shared approach to collecting and analyzing data.

Grand Bargain signatories committed to increase the use of CVA, and to use common markers to measure these increases. Although the volume of CVA is beginning to be more effectively tracked, technical and policy challenges remain. These include:

  • Defining what data to collect, and how
  • Ensuring commitment to and use of data categories and systems
  • Addressing shortcomings of existing reporting systems which have often not been designed to include or disaggregate cash, vouchers, and other modalities
  • Reaching common agreement on standard categories for reporting to avoid incomplete and inconsistent data.

Current priorities

From 2017 to 2019, the CALP Network co-led the Grand Bargain Cash sub-workstream on Tracking CVA with DG ECHO, with the main objective of agreeing minimum requirements for tracking CVA. This includes the integration of CVA into key interagency reporting systems and platforms, namely OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service (FTS) and HPC Project Module, the International Aid Transparency Initiative’s (IATI) Data Standard, and 3W (Who does What, Where) reporting. The sub-workstream on Tracking CVA has now been merged into the Efficiency, Effectiveness and Value for Money sub-workstream, which the CALP Network will continue to co-lead.

Latest

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2017

Cash-based transfers. Analytical Paper on WHS Self-Reporting on the Agenda for Humanity

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Forty-three stakeholders reported on World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) commitments related to cash-based transfers (CBT). Self-reports indicate that cash is increasingly a preferred option, when appropriate, taking into account context and feasibility considerations. Cash programming is being streamlined...

2017

The State of Evidence on Social Cash Transfers in Africa. Transfer Project Workshop Brief 2017

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The annual workshop of the Transfer Project, “The State of Evidence on Social Cash Transfers in Africa” focused on new challenges arising from moving from fragmented programmes to integrated social protection systems, combining cash transfers with complementary (also referred to as ‘plus’)...

2017

Cash-based approaches in humanitarian emergencies A systematic review. April 2016

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Humanitarian actors have a responsibility to ensure that assistance is provided in a way that minimizes risks and maximizes benefits to people affected by crisis. However, there are many challenges in evaluating ‘what works’ in addressing the needs of crisis-affected populations, and translating...

April 2016

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Market based programming is increasingly heralded as having a critical place in the future of humanitarian programming. The proposed benefits of working through existing market systems include improvements to speed, efficiency and effectiveness of programming and increased beneficiary dignity and...

2016

Economic Impacts of Humanitarian Aid

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Humanitarian aid – whether in-kind or cash transfers – can have a significant economic impact. Potential positive effects include stimulating demand, supporting regeneration of local businesses, job creation and increased tax revenue for governments. Potential negative effects include price inflation,...

2016

DFID Shock-Responsive Social Protection Systems research: Literature review

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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
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January 2016

Literature review on the Use of Cash in Shelter

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The Global Shelter Cluster (GSC) with support from UNHCR conducted this literature review of the use of cash in shelter programming to help assess how much documented evidence was currently available from within the sector. The objective of this study is to help better prepare the GSC and its members to...

2016

Research: Refugees Can Bolster a Region’s Economy

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The world’s refugee population has increased sharply in recent years, leading governments to argue over which countries should take in people displaced by war or other calamities. At the core of this debate is cost: refugees are usually considered an economic burden for the countries that take...

2016

Mobile Money Transfers – For Humanitarian Assistance & Development Programming: Service Provider Perspective

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This report summarizes findings from research on how digital payment services providers in Africa have worked with Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) customers to deliver digital payments to their program participants/beneficiaries in the context of providing humanitarian assistance and/or for...

2016

Determining the Value of Cash Grants in Remote Access Areas

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This review aims to complement the work of NRC within the framework of the ECHO funded Remote Cash Project by providing a comparative analysis of different means of determining the size of cash grants, with the development of practical recommendations for approaches that can be used in hard to access...

2016

Principles on Public-Private Cooperation in Humanitarian Payments

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E-payments can make the delivery of cash disbursements more secure, cost- effective, faster and more convenient. In the context of humanitarian crises, digital payments offer recipients choice and can help stimulate the local economy. To fully realize the benefits of new technologies and achieve scale,...

2016

Can E-transfers Promote Financial Inclusion in Emergencies: A Case Study from Bangladesh

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The Electronic Cash Transfer Learning Action Network (ELAN) launched research to build an evidence base around connecting emergency electronic transfer (e-transfer) recipients with additional financial services. They wanted to learn if, when, and how e-transfers can promote sustained uptake and use...

2016

International Cash based assistance

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For more than 60 years, the United States provided assistance to food-insecure countries primarily in the form of food commodities procured in the United States and transported overseas. In recent years, the U.S.government has increasingly provided food assistance in the form of cash transfers or food...

2016

IOM Cash-Based Transfer – Update and Case Studies

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Cash-based transfers have a long history in the support of people on the move. Cash or vouchers have been an element of the International Organization for Migration’s resettlement support for people moving to new countries, or returning to countries they had to leave. Increasingly over the last decade,...

November 2015

Summary Evaluation Report of WFP’s Cash and Voucher Policy (2008-2014)

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The  WFP’s Summary Evaluation Report on cash and voucher policy  (2008-2014) was commissioned by WFP’s  Office of Evaluation in order to assess the quality and results of the policy and its implementation. The evaluation found that although the policy does not represent WFP’s current best...

9 January 2015

Kit for Autonomous Cash transfer in Humanitarian Emergencies (KACHE)

Guidelines and Tools

The present document reports the development of the Kit for Autonomous Cash transfer in Humanitarian Emergencies (KACHE), built upon Red Rose ONE system© supported by the WFP’s Cooperating Partners’ Innovation Fund (CPIF). Firstly, it gives a brief description of the main features of the kit....

2015