GPC Task Team on Cash for Protection

 

Background: Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) as a modality of assistance is increasingly being used by humanitarian actors to reach humanitarian and protection outcomes and facilitate access to services. CVA is seen to deliver greater choice, dignity, and realization of rights to conflict and crisis-affected people as well as strengthening local markets. Following the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) in Istanbul in 2016, humanitarian organizations committed to increase the use and coordination of CVA when delivering assistance to affected populations. Among the six commitments made at the WHS, aid organizations and donors committed to “build an evidence base to assess the costs, benefits, impacts and risks of cash (including on protection) relative to in-kind assistance, service delivery and vouchers, and combinations thereof”. The Grand Bargain specifically states that “delivering cash should, where possible and appropriate, use, link or align with local and national mechanisms such as social protection systems.”

The objectives of the GPC Task Team on Cash for Protection are in line with the Grand Bargain commitments as well as the overall goal of increasing knowledge about the use of CVA in the protection sector. Moreover, the objectives aim to increase the effectiveness and quality of programs using CVA to achieve protection outcomes. Those objectives are to:

  • Support protection and CVA practitioners to apply the best practices, evidence, guidance and tools developed/ made available by the GPC’s Cash for Protection Task Team
  • Regularly update best practices, evidence/ evidence gaps, guidance, tools and trainings are so that protection practitioners and humanitarian research stakeholders have  access to the materials
  • Equip protection and CVA practitioners with the knowledge, skills, guidance and tools to use CVA for protection outcomes
  • Support protection and CVA practitioners to effectively coordinate to exchange knowledge, information and resources
  • Mobilize resources for the GPC’s Cash for Protection Task Team workplan

The Global Protection Cluster’s (GPC) Task Team on Cash for Protection was established in 2017 with the aim of increasing knowledge about the use of CVA in the protection sector and increasing the effectiveness and quality of programmes using CVA to achieve protection outcomes. For more information see the Task Team on Cash for Protection Terms of Reference.

In light of the escalation of conflict in Ukraine and unprecedented migration flows of Ukrainian refugees in Europe a temporary Ukraine Regional Response Cash for Protection Task Force was created which sits under the Task Team on Cash for Protection. For more information on the Task Force see its Terms of Reference which will be revisited in July 2022.

Membership:
The Task Team on Cash for Protection is open to any organization, agency or cluster that would like to participate. It represents a diversity of organizations, countries, experiences and skillsets on both protection and CVA. It currently hosts over 50 participants across 30 organizations and is one of the most active Task Teams in the cash for protection sphere. Its members are planning numerous, diverse and innovative activities in the field of cash for protection (as well as protection mainstreaming in cash) for 2021. Moreover, the Task Team coordinates with existing initiatives such as the Cash Learning Partnership (CaLP) and the Grand Bargain Sub workstream on Cash and Gender.

Workplan:
The activities of the Task Team are guided by a multi-year workplan which is continually updated. Members actively support activities within the workplan to the extent possible. If you would like to nominate your agency to lead or contribute to any Task Team activities outlined in the workplan, please do reach out to the Task Team co-chairs as detailed below. We can go farther and faster, together.

Contacts:
The Task Team is currently chaired by the Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC) and Save the Children.

Meetings and Meeting Minutes:
The Task Team on Cash for Protection meets on the second Tuesday of every other month at 10am EDT/EST; 3pm GMT/BST; 4pm CEST/CET. More information on Task Team meetings – full meeting recordings where available, minutes and actions can be found here.

Useful Resources:
The Task Team on Cash for Protection has published a number of key resources on Cash for Protection including:

  • Ukraine
    • Fact sheets collate key updates, findings and resources as drawn from Humanitarian Impact situation Reports; minutes from the Cash Working Group (CWG), Protection cluster and sub-cluster/AoR meetings; IOM; UNHCR and other UN sources. It is produced on a bi-weekly basis for Protection and Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) specialists who are considering, planning for, or already using CVA integrated into protection programming to support protection outcomes for individuals and households inside and outside of Ukraine. Key findings are paired with “hints” wherever possible based on the current state of information and best practice resources on how CVA for Protection can be applied.
    • Web map based on a matrix being populated by Task Force members which includes ongoing and planned assessments and cash and protection activities. It is updated on a weekly basis.

 

Learn more about Cash and Voucher Assistance for Protection, including other key resources

Learn about Mainstreaming Protection in Cash and Voucher Assistance