Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

Cambodia

Terms of Reference: Cambodia Humanitarian Response Forum (HRF) Cash Working Group (CWG), August 2021

Attachments

Background

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 marketbased 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 crosssectoral 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.