Attachments
1) WHAT IS THE BACKGROUND ON CASH COORDINATION?
Cash Working Groups (CWGs) were created and proliferated in humanitarian operations out of a need to coordinate and harmonize the delivery of humanitarian cash and voucher assistance (CVA) from multiple actors. These CWGs were voluntary and lacked global guidelines, which led them to be often under-resourced, short-staffed, and illequipped.
Following several years of discussion on how to strengthen and systematize cash coordination, just under 100 entities (including UN, NGOs, private sector, donors) signed a “Call for Action on Cash Coordination addressed to the Emergency Relief Coordinator ” in 2021 as an outcome of the Grand Bargain. It highlighted a lack of global agreement on predictable, effective and well-resourced coordination of CVA among IASC agencies. With continued cash assistance growth, this letter emphasized on the increased need for cash coordination at country level to avoid fragmented programme approaches, delays, gaps, and duplication of cash transfers and assistance.
Following the letter, a ‘Cash Coordination Caucus’ was created under the new iteration of Grand Bargain 2.0 in 2022 to identify a solution to the identified challenges around cash coordination. In March 2022, the ‘Cash Coordination Caucus’ proposed and the IASC adopted the new ‘Cash Coordination Model’. A review of the Model will be conducted two years after its implementation to identify progress, outline challenges or bottlenecks and course correct, as required.