Fiji Cash Working Group

The Fiji CVA WG is established as a technical working group under the umbrella of the Pacific RCWG, a Pacific-wide working group comprised of various UN and INGOs, and private sector actors working on humanitarian cash response across the region.  
The main objectives of the Fiji CVA WG chaired by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation include: 

• To serve as a main information sharing and coordination platform for all CVA actors, relevant Government Line Ministries, national bodies and wider humanitarian and development actors to discuss and share best practices and develop joint normative guidance related to CVA in Fiji.  
• To standardize and harmonize CVA standards and common approaches in ongoing operations, as well as in the regional specific context of emergency response and preparedness, including programming in urban areas, links with formal and informal safety nets, emerging technology, and remittances.   
• To oversee the functionality of CVA and ensure it is fit for purpose and context in design, targeting, delivery, and assurance of cash and vouchers assistance in Fiji. 
• To identify appropriate national advocacy methods to promote quality and appropriate CVA to agencies, donors, government and private sector, and propose key ways forward regarding national and regional partnerships. 
• To enable mechanisms for effective identification of vulnerable communities, utilizing existing government and stakeholder data for targeting affected communities (census, anonymized SP scheme statistics, hazards, assessments), so that targeting is informed by a coherent estimation of risk.   
• To ensure adequate integration of protection, gender, disability inclusion and accountability to affected populations considerations throughout cash and voucher assistance and capacity building initiatives. 

The first large-scale CVA in Fiji dates back to 2016 when Tropical Cyclone (TC) Winston severely impacted Fiji causing extensive damage. Following TC Winston, the Government of Fiji introduced large-scale cash and voucher transfers to reduce the impact of the shock. Several key actors have responded to the impacts of TC Harold and Covid-19 through existing Government social safety nets and more direct implementation modalities.  In November 2020 WFP, together with DSW and Poverty Monitoring Unit (PMU), as part of the recovery response to TC Harold, supported a vertical expansion of existing social protection programs (PBS, SPS, CPA and Disability Allowance (DA). At the same time DFAT, the World Bank and Save the Children are providing significant cash and related technical assistance. 

With the increased number of key actors and growing use of CVA to respond to disasters and the impacts of Covid-19, agencies are in need of a forum to coordinate and share information including beneficiary targeting, Minimum Expenditure Basket (MEB), transfer value, lessons learned, technical assistance and capacity building initiatives.