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Cash assistance has emerged - including within the protection sector - as an increasingly utilized modality of assistance in humanitarian contexts, delivering greater choice, dignity, and rights realization to conflict and crisis. This modality of assistance aims to contribute to reducing the risk of harm to individuals by providing them with the support they need to protect themselves and their families. It also gives affected populations the flexibility and agency to prioritize and meet their needs by enabling them to make decisions based on their unique circumstances and preferences.
In protection programming, cash assistance can serve as a vital tool in reducing exposure to harm and addressing protection risks. When effectively designed and implemented, Cash for Protection (C4P) can facilitate access for at-risk populations to essential services, mitigate harmful coping mechanisms and enhance safety and wellbeing. Given the complex protection environment in Syria, where displacement, lack of legal documentation and access barriers to services remain key concerns, C4P must be contextually adapted to contribute to mitigating risks and enhancing protection outcomes.
This document provides guidance on the design of protection programming with a Cash for Protection component in Syria, with the view of ensuring a common understanding and harmonized practice. In particular, these guidelines aim to:
• Provide a definition of cash for protection and specify its objectives;
• Provide an overview of its scope of application and its complementarity with other sectors’ interventions including other cash-based interventions;
• Provide guidance on transfer values and modalities of implementation.
While this guidance note only addresses the use of cash assistance, see Annex I for an overview of other types of protection interventions. The choice between cash or other interventions should be addressed in the partner’s program design.
These guidelines build on the Note on Cash for Protection in specialized/stand-alone protection programming by the Global Protection Cluster, Cash for Protection – Guidelines for Protection Partners by the Protection Cluster in Iraq, Cash for Protection – Guidelines for Protection Partners in Afghanistan, Protection Sector Cash Guidance by Protection Sector in Lebanon, Guidance on Provision of Cash and Inkind Support for Protection by the Protection Cluster of North-West Syria and Cash for Protection – Guidelines for Protection Partners in North East Syria.