Series 2 - Episode 1-Can Cash Change the Humanitarian System?

Tech brings new opportunities, risks, and dilemmas. Could the combination of technology and cash bring transformative change and finally make aid more people-centered? What are the risks and what are the opportunities?Host: Karen PeacheyGuests: Laura Walker and Chris Hoffman

This episode challenges the idea that locally led response and large-scale CVA are incompatible. We explore the myths around local actors and the barriers to further progress. Host: Karen PeacheyGuests: Ahmed Ibrahim, Chris Hoffman, and Christina Bennet

In this episode we explore accountability issues within the humanitarian system, their root causes and potential solutions. We ask if cash and voucher assistance has a part to play in improving accountability, and what that could look like. Host: Karen PeacheyGuests: Caroline Teti, Innocent Tshilombo, Meg Sattler, Christina Bennet, and Laura Walker

What does people-centered aid look like in practice, particularly when we think about cash and voucher assistance? What makes people centred aid different or is just a new buzz phrase? Have we been here before? Host: Karen PeacheyGuests: Innocent Tshilombo, Caroline Teti and Meg Sattler

If cash is going to reach its full potential and transform the humanitarian system, what changes need to happen first? Host: Karen PeacheyGuests: Meg Sattler and Innocent  Tshilombo 

Does cash have the potential to help transform the humanitarian system and become better at responding to the needs and preferences of people in crisis? Host: Karen PeacheyGuest: Christina Bennett 

En este episodio exploramos junto a expertos en el tema, cuáles son los desafíos existentes, además de las oportunidades e innovaciones necesarias para que la implementación de los programas de transferencias monetarias (PTM) respondan a las necesidades de las personas en movimiento en la región de las Américas.  Ante este contexto, en este episodio de CashCast nuestro panel de expertos explora una serie de preguntas, que incluyen:  ¿Cuáles son las soluciones que deben buscar los practicantes humanitarios sobre la combinación de estos dos temas: programas de transferencias monetarias y movilidad humana? ¿Cómo las necesidades específicas de las personas en movilidad pueden potenciar la implementación efectiva de los PTM? ¿Cuáles son los cambios que debemos ver en el sector humanitario para trascender del uso de las transferencias multipropósito y mejorar el capital de las personas vulnerables?  El anfitrión e invitados son: Holly Welcome Radice (anfitriona) – Representante regional – Américas, de la CALP Network.  Paula Gil Baizan – Consultora independiente. Diego Prado - Representante regional adjunto – Américas, de la CALP Network.  ¡Le invitamos a escuchar esta fascinante y profunda conversación! La idea para este episodio de CashCast surgió de nuestro reciente estudio, “¿Los PTM pueden alcanzar a las personas en movimiento? Análisis de los programas de transferencias monetarias en contextos de movilidad humana en las Américas”, comisionado por la CALP Network. Para ampliar más sobre este tema le invitamos a explorar los recursos relacionados a este estudio. 

In this episode we explore with experts the topic of humanitarian responses in contexts of human mobility. We discuss the challenges as well as the opportunities and innovations that exist when it comes toto effectively delivering recipient centered CVA in the Americas. Given this context, this episode of CashCast our panel of experts explores a series of questions, including:  What are the problems that Cash and Voucher Assistance actors should be resolving around  human mobility? How can we start to consider different populations according to their distinctive attributes, so that we can provide the most effective solutions?  What changes are needed in the way that CVA is delivered so that interventions do not inadvertently increase the vulnerability of people on the move? The host and guests are: Holly Welcome Radice (host) – Regional Representative – Americas, the CALP Network. Paula Gil Baizan – Independent consultant. Lucia Steinberg - Global Cash and Voucher Assistance specialist – Danish Refugee Council.  We invite you to listen in on this fascinating and in-depth conversation. The idea for this episode of the CashCast emerged from this recent study People are on the move: can the world of CVA keep up? Analysis of the use of CVA in the context of human mobility in the Americas, commissioned by the CALP Network. To learn even more take a look at the study and associated resources (theseinclude a blog post and a PowerPoint presentation summarizing the main findings of the study).  This episode is published along with a Spanish episode that explores this same topic. The CashCast is an occasional podcast from the CALP Network that looks in depth at the critical debates in humanitarian cash and voucher assistance (CVA). 

In episode 7, we discuss how health needs, and the provision of health services, in humanitarian response works and where using Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) may help.  What we know already is that CVA may be used for health outcomes but giving cash via Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance (MPCA) via the Minimum Expenditure Basket (MEB) isn’t enough to meet health needs.  We look at best practice on including health in the MEB, innovations in using CVA on the demand side, and exciting new hybrid approaches that are bridging demand and supply to improve access and quality.Globally, meeting health needs is known to be an inherently complex challenge.  This is because both the demand side (who needs care, what care do they need), and the supply side (hospitals, doctors, nurses, pharmacies – and their funding) of quality health care are critical factors. Within a humanitarian context, accessing quality health services when needed is generally difficult for socio-economically vulnerable people, since individual health needs are often unpredictable. At the same time, access and availability of quality health services is likely to be affected by the crisis. The results of post-distribution monitoring and other surveys show that people in receipt of cash, especially multipurpose cash, repeatedly spend a large proportion of the cash on accessing health services.  Given this context, in this episode of the CashCast, our panel of experts explore the following questions:How do health cluster members approach meeting health needs in a humanitarian crisis? Why are health needs and health services different to other needs and services? For example, food security and markets.Should we include health needs in an MEB and thus in the MPCA transfer value?  Are there recent innovations in using CVA for health outcomes? The host and guests are:Julie Lawson-McDowall (host) – Technical Advisor at the CALP Network.Andre Griekspoor – a medical doctor and public health expert with long experience in humanitarian health response. Andre is currently working in the Fragile, Conflict affected and Vulnerable settings unit of the World Health Organization' s department for Health Emergency Interventions. Among other things, he is responsible for health policy development in protracted crises, which includes approaches for health system strengthening in fragile contexts, and support to post conflict and disaster recovery planning processes. Anna Gorter – a medical doctor with a PhD in epidemiology. She has 40 years of experience working in low- and middle-income countries as a public health expert. Since 1995, she has been involved in the development of various approaches for Results Based Financing (RBF) for Health, such as health vouchers, and cash transfers. Corinne Grainger – an independent consultant working in health financing and health systems strengthening, with more than 20 years’ experience providing technical assistance across a range of intervention areas including Sexual and Reproductive Health, Family planning, MNH and adolescent health. In addition to support for programme design, management and evaluation, she has provided capacity development and strategic planning support for a range of government and NGOs.  We invite you to listen to this fascinating and in-depth conversation!Further reading: there are associated resources produced by Global Health Cluster, WHO’s Cash Task Team and CALP. These include 

According to UNOCHA, between 2000 and 2019,  152 million people in Latin America and Caribbean were affected by 1,200 disasters that impacted the region. Furthermore, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) recently cited that extreme poverty in the region grew by 86 million people in 2021 because of the deepening social and health crises. Given this context, in this episode of the CashCast our panel of experts explores the following questions:  How can CVA effectively contribute to social assistance systems in order to improve the lives of millions of crises affected people? What can we learn from programmes in Latin America and Caribbean where there have been strong linkages between social protection and humanitarian CVA for preparedness? What are the challenges, enablers, barriers, and opportunities to using these modalities in this new way? The host and guests are: Holly Welcome Radice (host) – Regional Representative – Americas, the CALP Network. Isidro Navarro Payá – Senior Regional Technical Advisor for CVA in Latin America and Middle East regions, World Vision. He is a humanitarian professional with over two decades of professional experience, most of it in programme management and as technical advisor from emergency relief to long term development programmes. Isidro has worked in all continents focusing on n the food security and livelihoods sector, recently specialising on cash and voucher assistance. Juan Gonzalo Jaramillo Mejia – Social Protection Programme Policy Officer at the United Nations’ World Food Programme. He is a global social protection specialist focused on researching and advising on the socio-economic impacts and enabling policy and programmatic features enhancing the food security, nutritional and socially inclusive outcomes of social assistance interventions. Rodolfo Beazley – An independent consultant with more than 15 years of experience in the field of social protection. He conducts research and supports governments and partners in designing and implementing policies and programs, with a focus on service delivery, including information systems, targeting approaches, and payment mechanisms, among others. In recent years he has focused on studying how social We invite you to listen in on this fascinating and in-depth conversation!  The idea for this episode of the CashCast emerged from this recent study “Cash & Voucher Assistance Within Social Protection Preparedness in Central America, Mexico, and The Dominican Republic”, commissioned by the CALP Network. To learn even more take a look at the study and associated resources which include two case studies, a blog, explainer video, infographics and the recording from the launch webinar. The CashCast is an occasional podcast from the CALP Network that looks in depth at the critical debates in humanitarian cash and voucher assistance (CVA).