Cash Working Group (CWG)

Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA)[1] for humanitarian response is becoming a common among organisations, donors and rights holders due to due to efficiency and beneficiaries’ choice. Cash and Voucher Assistance is also advantageous due to its flexibility in meeting the essential needs of affected people and providing a market-based approach. Cash and Voucher Assistance has been provided by several organisations in Cambodia for different purposes, including mother and child health and nutrition, humanitarian response, reintegration support, and school scholarships.

There is a critical need to harmonize the tools and approaches for CVA in Cambodia. The Cambodia Humanitarian Response Forum (HRF) has adopted a proactive approach and initiated discussions among its members related to their respective CVA programmes. For example, in 2019, DanChurchAid (DCA) and the World Food Programme (WFP) organized a CVA training for HRF members. This led to the decision in 2020 to formally establish a Cash Working Group (CWG) for Cambodia. Moreover, the participants also agreed that the CWG should be cross-sectoral in nature, rather than situated within the Food Security and Nutrition sector group, where it originated, in order to ensure broad participation and ownership from all sectors.  The CWG met during the flood response in October 2020 and the COVID-19 lockdown in April-May 2021 for coordination, information sharing, and technical discussions.

The overall objective of the Cambodia CWG is to improve the coordination of CVA programmes in Cambodia and to strengthen the capacity of organisations to deliver quality programmes at scale based on best practices. The specific objectives are:

Objective 1: Increasing coordination and enhancing CVA Standards

  • To coordinate and support CVA for humanitarian purposes across all sectors
  • To standardise and harmonise CVA tools, guidance, and approaches, ensuring a gender lens is mainstreamed within CVA practices

Objective 2: Establishing linkages with relevant stakeholders

  • To engage with relevant stakeholders in emergency preparedness activities for CVA
  • To strengthen collaboration with government and development partners on social protection, specifically cash-based social assistance programmes

Objective 3: Building the capacity of CVA actors through shared experiences and trainings

  • To share key experiences, best practices and lessons learned on CVA across organisations
  • To exchange on technical issues and build the capacity of CVA actors in the country 

 

CWG Co-chairs:
  • WFP
  • DanChurchAid (DCA)

 

CWG's Terms of Reference (TOR): Click here

List of CWG members: Click here

 

Any HRF members (UN agencies and INGOs/NGOs) who are interested to join the CWG are requested to inform the HRF secretariat at cambodia.hrf@wfp.org

 

 

[1] CaLP recommends that the term ‘Cash and Voucher Assistance’ (CVA) be used as the collective term. It has the advantage of descriptively matching what it is in practice to reduce misinterpretation. https://reliefweb.int/report/world/glossary-terminology-cash-and-voucher-assistance 

 

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