October 26, 2021
CPDP Deployment Blog Post: Shubhadra Devkota’s story
This blog series will focus on the highlights from different Cash Practitioner Development Programme deployments in 2021, allowing practitioners to share what they have learnt and experienced during their Cash School learning deployments.
The Cash Practitioner Development Programme aims to expand the ready pool of cash experts available to deliver humanitarian cash assistance, and to strengthen the community of qualified practitioners with up-to-date skills in all areas of cash assistance. Cash deployments are a key element of participants learning schedules, these deployments aim to enhance skills and confidence in implementing cash based assistance. Some deployments are run in partnership with NORCAP, with practitioners accessing deployment opportunities from a range of humanitarian agencies.
Name: Shubhadra Devkota
Job Title: Senior Programme and Livelihood Officer, DRC Country Office Nepal
Where were you deployed?
Remotely deployed to the Africa Region to work with Ghana Red Cross Society (GRCS), Nigeria Red Cross Society (NRCS), and Rwanda Red Cross Society (RRCS).
What type of CVA work did you complete as part of the deployment?
I supported the development of the Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) Generic Risk Register and user guidelines which shall be used by National Societies (NSs) in the Africa region. While developing this template I ensured coordination with the CVA risk advisor and the protection gender and inclusion advisor of the Africa region, as well as with the information management and data protection advisor from Geneva to capture the context of the region and include risks related to all sectors.
The active involvement and contribution from the CVA teams of three different NSs (GRCS, RRCS and NRCS ) was outstanding. Alongside consultations with sectoral experts and working sessions with CVA teams, a desk review and analysis of available reference materials was conducted from different sources to develop the CVA risk register. I also conducted a series of briefing and working sessions on CVA risk analysis and on the CVA risk register, as well as a short briefing session with the Zambia Red Cross team.
What was the area you learnt most about?
- Development of CVA risk register & user guideline
- CVA risk analysis skills for NSs
- How to use information from the CVA risk register to inform response analysis and CVA programme design
- Virtual working sessions, briefings, and trainings working collaboratively with NSs
- Africa Region Cash Coordination structure
What was a ‘stand out’ moment for you on your deployment?
Preparing a ‘ready to use’ generic CVA risk register and user guidelines acceptable to the region, in consultation with sectoral experts. I also enjoyed the active engagement of different NSs of the region which I consider a “stand out” moment for me during this deployment. Coordination with multiple experts, multiple NSs and managing time in their busy schedules was not an easy task. However, with the teams’ support and input, the CVA risk register and user guidelines were ready within six weeks of my deployment period.
I was also able to share the tools during an online learning session on “Risk management in CVA and the CVA-risk matrix” for NSs, partner NSs and IFRC representatives of the region. The suggestions and reflections from the wide range of participants was another “stand out” moment for me, which indicated that tools shall be used in other contexts and not only in the Africa region.