Can cash transfers in humanitarian contexts help prevent, mitigate and respond to gender-based violence? A review of the evidence

Traditionally, refugees and internally displaced persons have received aid in the form of in-kind assistance. Today, approximately 10 percent of humanitarian assistance globally is delivered via cash transfer programming (CTP) and cash is increasingly being scaled across the humanitarian system. Yet the use of cash within the protection sector trails behind the use of cash in all other sectors. Refugee and internally displaced women and girls face risks of and incidents of gender-based violence (GBV) before, during, and after crises and GBV is a pressing concern and the responsibility of all humanitarian actors. It is essential to better understand how cash transfers can help prevent, mitigate, and respond to GBV.

Building evidence on the use of CTP to achieve GBV protection outcomes is central to the work of the Global Protection Cluster Task Team on Cash for Protection, co-chaired by the Women’s Refugee Commission and the International Rescue Committee. New jointly-undertaken research outlines existing evidence on CTP and the prevention and mitigation of and response to GBV in humanitarian settings, and recommends priority areas for future research.