Launch of the online Africa Cash Community of Practice and the Africa Cash Roadmap

Author: Maja Tønning, Regional CVA Coordinator, IFRC Africa

The IFRC in the Africa Region has coordinated the launch of an online Cash Community of Practice (CoP) for all African National Societies (ANS), now live on the Cash Hub platform. The online CoP seeks to connect all ANS and their partners and to strengthen peer learning and sharing. This online cash CoP will also host the Africa Cash Roadmap 2022-25 which is structured around National Society priorities and ongoing efforts and experiences in Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA).

The Cash Roadmap and the online Cash CoP were based on consultations with 72% of African National Societies as well as the engagement of regional and global IFRC staff and partners, including ICRC, supporting CVA in Africa. In total, around 500 answers to challenges and opportunities were collected.

Great initiative, and really impressive to hear how many African NS have been involved in defining the needs.

PNS representative during the review session

The Africa Cash Roadmap consists of several related and integrated parts:

• A PDF which is an overall introduction to the Cash Roadmap and a narrative to use with partners, for fundraising and for external communication.
• The online Cash Community of Practice (CoP) for African National Societies, which can be accessed clicking on this link.
• The online Cash Roadmap outlining National Society priorities for CVA on an annual basis. Click here to access a web page dedicated to the Africa Cash Roadmap.
• An online Kobo survey, which feeds into the online Cash roadmap and specific action plans for National Societies in Africa.

Jordane Hesse who worked as a consultant on developing the Africa Cash Roadmap stated:

When the Movement established a CVA objective at 50% by 2025*, with 49 National Societies and many Partner National Societies having different starting points and challenges, an interactive roadmap became a must to support each ANS in scaling CVA, targeting qualitative and efficient interventions. The tool developed is a response to what the field voiced. It aims to support, facilitate, inspire each one of them, and will evolve over the next 4 years.

*the assistance delivered directly to households, i.e. between in-kind and CVA, excluding services