Cash and livelihoods

Livelihoods encompass the capabilities, assets and activities required to make a living. Ensuring that vulnerable households have sustainable livelihoods increases their access to a stable income, as well as their dignity, resilience, and ability to be active in society. Livelihoods support helps people affected by crisis to build more sustainable means of living, develop skills and gain greater access to opportunities.

Cash assistance can be an effective way to protect, restore, or enhance livelihoods which enable people to become self-sufficient and improve wellbeing for current and future generations.

Learn about the work of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement in this field by accessing different resources related to cash and livelihoods below.

For more information on livelihoods, visit the Livelihoods Centre, hosted by the Spanish Red Cross and IFRC.

> Click here to find key resources

A wide range of resources on livelihoods programming, including the livelihoods toolbox, can be found on the Livelihoods Resource Centre website, hosted by the IFRC and Spanish Red Cross.
Household Economic Security (HES) guidelines and the accompanying short video that gives an overview of what HES is and how HES findings can be used. These resources are available in English, French and Spanish.
Guidelines on Cash Transfers and Livelihoods based on a learning workshop in Guatemala City.

5 March 2024

Afifa’s Story: Cash for business support in East Sudan

Type:

Case study

Organization:

German Red Cross, Sudanese Red Crescent Society

Livelihood and food security of refugees in camps and hosting communities in east Sudan to reduce humanitarian assistance.

17 August 2023

Cash for work to construct and rehabilitate the WASH facilities

Type:

Case study

Organization:

Cash Hub, IFRC

This case study provides an overview of the WASH project and the use of CfW (Cash for Work) to construct and rehabilitate WASH facilities in the camps in Iraq. It…

27 March 2023

Actions in Livelihoods: Technical training and conditional cash transfers

Type:

Guidance

Organization:

Livelihoods Centre

The Actions in Livelihoods guidance provides key information on interventions for recovery, strengthening, diversification and protection of livelihoods in different contexts. This chapter focuses on cash transfers in the context…

5 January 2023

Stories of Change: Cash stories from The Philippines

Type:

Case study

Organization:

Philippine Red Cross

Stories of Change: Cash stories from the Philippines Cash Working Group (PCWG) provides insight into the Cash Transfer Programming (CTP) of the Philippines Red Cross Society, particularly as a modality…

27 December 2022

A community-led livelihoods approach in flood-prone areas of Bangladesh during COVID19 pandemic

Type:

Case study

Organization:

Bangladesh Red Crescent, IFRC

This case study examines how livelihood support provided by BDRCS and IFRC during COVID19 pandemic has strengthened the target families’ income-generating activities. The families acknowledged that the whole process had…

14 November 2022

Stories of Change: Cash Case Stories from The Philippines

Type:

Case study

Organization:

PCWG, Philippine Red Cross, WFP

Stories of Change: Cash stories from the Philippines Cash Working Group (PCWG) provides insight into the Cash Transfer Programming (CTP) of various humanitarian organisations, including Philippines RC, particularly as a…

Page 2 of 7