Managing Cash-based Programmes in a Volatile Markets Context: The Case of Delivering Cash Using Mobile Money during the Zimbabwe Cash Liquidity Crisis

This case study of the first large-scale humanitarian cash programme in Zimbabwe presents learning and recommendations on how to design and adapt cash transfer programmes to mitigate the risk of a cash liquidity crisis.

The study explores how the programme, which delivered cash through mobile money, coped with a national cash liquidity crisis. Mobile money proved to be a highly flexible way to deliver cash during a liquidity crisis, given its option for e-purchasing, which enabled continued access to food.

The case study concludes with a set of more widely applicable recommendations that could apply beyond Zimbabwe in contexts with similar features of: a) integrated markets and prices; b) markets which are accessible to beneficiaries; c) access for aid agencies to monitor; and d) a functioning private sector.