Evidencing the value for money of the CCI’s cash and legal programmes

Value for Money (VfM) considerations are an increasingly common requisite in humanitarian programmes. The UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) supports the adoption and scale-up of cash programming in humanitarian settings where appropriate, as both a more effective means for people to meet their basic needs in crisis, and a more cost-efficient modality than traditional forms of in-kind assistance. As part of its own VfM agenda, DFID would like to see whether INGOs, working through a consortium model, can scale to deliver cash assistance while demonstrating VfM. DFID have funded the Cash Consortium for Iraq (CCI) to respond in Iraq with MPCA, and to demonstrate VfM in their response.

The CCI was formed to better meet the needs of conflict-affected households by enhancing the impact of multi-purpose cash assistance (MPCA) through harmonisation, operational coordination, and expanded reach. The CCI is comprised of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Danish Refugee Council (DRC), Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Oxfam, and Mercy Corps as lead agency. CCI partners provided approximately 25,000 vulnerable households with MPCA in 2015 and 2016. In 2017, the CCI scaled-up its operations to provide 30,000 vulnerable households with MPCA, and so far in 2018, 20,000 households have received MPCA. To date, the CCI has distributed one-off and multi-month transfers to over 75,000 households, or 450,000 individuals.

To undertake its VfM analysis (discussed in further detail in Section 3) the CCI took a distinct approach, while working within DFID’s ‘4Es’ framework. This framework encompasses cost-efficiency, economy, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness. Cost-efficiency is the cost to provide an output, in this case MPCA.