Virtual event
Money Where It Matters: The Case for Locally Led Cash
Held on 1 June 2026, Money Where It Matters: The Case for Locally Led Cash brought together humanitarian leaders and practitioners to examine the growing evidence for cash assistance and its role in driving more effective, efficient and people-centred responses.
Drawing on new findings from the IFRC’s Money Where It Matters research and CaLP’s Show Me The Money report, the event demonstrated that cash, particularly at scale and delivered through locally led systems, consistently outperforms in-kind aid, delivers strong value for money, and better reflects people’s preferences and priorities.
Across three sessions, speakers explored how efficiency is driven by investment in preparedness, systems and partnerships rather than context alone; how cash improves not only basic needs coverage but also wellbeing, dignity and agency; and how the key challenge now is not proving the value of cash, but translating evidence into action through stronger political commitment, increased support for local actors and a shift towards scalable, sustainable delivery models.
Session 1 | Locally Led Efficiency
Speakers: Olena Skrypnikova (Ukrainian Red Cross), Nisan Geysu Özdemir (Türk Kızılay), Cate Turton (CALP)
This session explored what drives efficiency in humanitarian assistance and presented new evidence from both the Money Where It Matters: A Cost-Efficiency Analysis of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Network and the CaLP Show Me The Money report. Across both studies, cash assistance consistently outperformed in kind assistance, with multipurpose cash assistance (MPCA) emerging as the most efficient modality. The findings also demonstrated that local and national actors can deliver highly efficient cash responses, challenging assumptions that localisation comes at the expense of value for money.
Session 2 | Acting on People’s Preferences
Speakers: Elisia Abdo (Lebanese Red Cross), Peter Murgor (Kenya Red Cross)
The session shifted from efficiency to effectiveness, showing how cash assistance is experienced by recipients and why it is often preferred, with examples from Kenya and Lebanon illustrating how it enables people to prioritise their own needs with dignity, autonomy and choice. Speakers emphasised that true accountability means aligning support with people’s preferences, not just consulting them, and highlighted evidence that cash improves not only basic needs coverage but also mental wellbeing, social relationships, safety and long-term planning. They argued that while the sector measures efficiency well, it must better capture the wider impacts of cash on wellbeing and agency, concluding that cash is not just a delivery tool but a people-centred approach that strengthens dignity and accountability.
Session 3 | From Evidence to Action
Speakers: Ashley Sarangi (FCDO), Richard Blewitt (British Red Cross), Marina Skuric-Prodanovic, (United Nations OCHA)
The final session focused on translating evidence into action, examining how cash can play a central role in humanitarian reform, with speakers from FCDO, OCHA and the British Red Cross emphasising its strong alignment with localisation, value for money and the Humanitarian Reset, and its potential to shift power closer to affected communities through locally led responses and links to social protection systems. While the evidence base for cash is widely accepted, speakers highlighted that remaining barriers are mainly political and institutional, calling for greater investment in preparedness, stronger support and funding for local actors, and more effective advocacy beyond the cash community. The session concluded that the challenge is no longer demonstrating the value of cash, but ensuring this evidence drives meaningful change through political leadership, institutional commitment and a shift in resources and decision making towards affected populations.
Key Resources
In partnership with:
