Developing capacity across the Pacific region through CVA Preparedness 

Red Cross Red Crescent national societies in the Asia-Pacific Region are facing unique challenges in cash preparedness. Geographical factors, such as the vast distances between Islands and countries, as well as operational challenges, like limited personnel and funding constraints, are causing significant complexity to response efforts. Meanwhile, disasters continue to grow in intensity and regularity. 

Cash Preparedness or Cash and Voucher Assistance Preparedness (CVAP), refers to ongoing investments and planning by humanitarian stakeholders (especially the Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies) to develop a region’s capacity to deliver scalable, timely, accountable, and high-quality CVA when crisis strikes without needing external support.

Many national societies are now eager to scale up their capacity by investing in Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA), specifically in preparedness, as a means of scaling up support to local communities; and for good reason, this forward-thinking approach positions CVA as a fundamental tool that cross-cuts traditional sectors and supports long-term development projects. It goes beyond the traditional thinking of emergency response as addressing immediate basic needs, focusing instead on community resilience and enhanced response effectiveness in future operations. 

In October 2024, ten Pacific national societies – Fiji, Cook Island, Micronesia, Marshall Island, Kiribati, Tonga, Solomon Island, Samoa and Tuvalu – developed the Pacific CVA Preparedness Plan of Action. This came after the American Red Cross pledged to strengthen CVA preparedness across Asia and the Pacific, coming together with the IFRC CCD Pacific, IFRC APRO, IFRC Geneva to support the Pacific national societies in their ambitious new plan. In the lead up to the plan’s development, representatives from each national society assessed their strengths, assets, and operational gaps for successful preparedness programming. They highlighted key financial service providers that could be engaged through a regional framework agreement, and key thematic workstreams to guide their focus.  

National Societies’ representative used CVA experiences shared by Vanuatu, Tonga, Micronesia, and Fiji, detailing their own progress and prior experience. Each society set capacity dependent targets and outlined their desired level of operational readiness, aiming to achieve these goals within the next three years. They hope the plan of action will contribute to the shared objective of fortifying the Pacific region. This collaborative effort enables Pacific societies to enhance their readiness and resilience through coordinated, effective responses across the region. 

In particular the Tonga Red Cross took many learnings from the January 15, 2022, tsunami disaster triggered by the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption. Sini Latu, from the Tonga Red Cross Society, stated that the Tonga Red Cross Society has implemented five Community-Based Vulnerability Assessment activities. The activities focused on; 

Follow up for this workshop will be maintained through a sub region working group, led by Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, and Micronesia red cross societies. This group, with support from IFRC and Participating National Societies (PNSs), will gather and share information about new opportunities, information, and best practices among Pacific national Societies. 

This is the commitment of the Hanoi Call for action: Mutual aid between National Societies.   

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