A New Model for Delivering Cash Relief: Findings from the IRC'S Cash Research and Development Program

Cash relief is one of the most effective and well-evidenced tools to help vulnerable people survive and recover in emergencies. Research has demonstrated that it is effective in enabling affected populations to meet basic needs, improve food security and economic well-being, and is increasingly used to support a number of outcomes in emergency settings. In 2015, the High Level Panel on Humanitarian Cash Transfers recommended large-scale expansion of the use of cash relief in humanitarian settings and, at the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016, the Grand Bargain on humanitarian financing included global commitments to increase the use and coordination of cash-based programming and invest in new delivery models which can be increased in scale.

As acceptance of cash as an effective method of delivering assistance has grown, attention is now shifting towards how to best delivery cash to people affected by crisis. Currently, it can take up to eight weeks for cash to be disbursed to affected families, and often much longer to reach significant scale. Delays in cash distribution can force people affected by crises to resort to negative coping mechanisms such as cutting the size of meals, engaging in harmful work practices and selling their assets. Increasing the speed of cash distribution in crises will support communities’ recovery and help prevent long term devastation. Increasing the cost efficiency of cash relief - making it cheaper to administer, transparently manage and comparable across programs - will mean scarce aid resources reach many more people when they need it most.