Housing, Land and Property and Cash and Voucher Assistance - Tip Sheet

This tip sheet summarises key points to reflect on HLP programmes when considering the support of Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) f or the achievement of HLP outcomes. It is intended to assist HLP Area of Responsibility coordinators and partners to highlight linkages between Cash and Voucher Assistance and HLP activities and consider ways CVA can be used to minimise protection risks and enhance protection benefits. Thanks to the generous contribution of the U.S. Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (BPRM) for funding the Global Protection Cluster’s Task Team Cash for Protection (TTC4P) activities, and the copyediting and design of this tip sheet.

Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) refers to the provision of assistance to individuals, groups or communities through cash and vouchers, as an alternative modality to doing in-kind distribution or direct service provision. CVAs are not a programme, they are a modality that contributes to the achievement of programmatic results (such as enabling populations to meet basic needs, assist with livelihoods recovery, or improve access to services). CVAs are used when target populations access to goods and services are hindered by insufficient income/money. Market-based exchanges can play a positive role in the de facto integration of displaced persons with host population. Fostering economic connections, including through CVA, across different social strata may increase displaced persons access to social and economic capital. Combining CVA with other types of programming and services strengthen protection services and generates benefits that go beyond the duration of cash assistance and are an integral part of durable solutions. Do no harm approaches must guide all context analysis and decision making about whether to adopt CVA as well as the design and implementation method of the chosen intervention(s). The participation of the targeted population as well as that of other persons with ingrained knowledge of the socioeconomic aspects of the context of intervention is crucial to inform its design and implementation processes.