Cash Working Group: CVA Coordination Structure in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) - September 2023 (updated)

The current document outlines how the cash and voucher coordination structure in the oPt operates, the roles, responsibilities, and relationships with the Cash Working Group and other stakeholders. This updated version mainly concerns the National CWG, and it is drafted in July 2023 on the basis of the experience in the first fourteen months of its operations and of the recommendation from the Global Cluster Coordination Group (GCCG).

The original configuration was based on the analysis of challenges and opportunities faced over the first two years of work of the Cash Working Group in Gaza, and on similar experiences stemming from other humanitarian contexts. The Cash Coordination model endorsed by IASC in early 2022 constituted as well the basis to model the structure outlined here.

A. Background

The Gaza Cash Working Group (CWG) was first established in 2012 under the Food Cluster and was restructured in 2015, as a thematic, multi-sectoral technical working group. Starting from 2019, the group reports to the Gaza Inter-Cluster Coordination Group (ICCG). The Gaza CWG primary role was to facilitate a cohesive coordination of Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) in Gaza and to provide technical guidance and capacity building to cash partners, other organizations, and Clusters, working around CVA.

In early 2020, a co-chair from a programmatic agency (Action Against Hunger - AAH) was appointed in support of OCHA’s role. The additional co-chair ensured the CWG a fully dedicated coordinator for the first time since its inception. In March 2022 a new structure for CVA coordination in oPt was launched, prompting the creation of a WB CWG and a National CWG.