Cash in conflict
Cash is the main means with which people pay for goods and services all around the world. This fact does not change because there is an emergency. Having cash in their hands can be the difference between life and death for people affected by armed conflict.
© Revol Didier / ICRC
Cash Transfer Programming (CTP) has several significant benefits that are well known, including increasing people’s dignity, power, autonomy and choice in how they manage their survival and recovery. CTP can also offer greater operational flexibility and achieve wider social and economic multiplier effects beyond its specific purpose.
The ICRC – who have 16,800 staff in over 80 countries, helping people affected by armed conflict and violence – is enthusiastic about the benefits of CTP and realistic about when it is best to use it. Our experience and evidence shows that cash is an essential tool in humanitarian action in armed conflict, and our own operational analysis confirms many of the positive findings from other policy and academic studies.
This section of the Cash Hub aims to share the experience of the ICRC and of those Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies working in countries affected by conflict and other situations of violence.
Read the latest report on: Cash Transfer Programming in Armed Conflict: The ICRC’s Experience
Money is the main means of survival for most people around the world, and this does not change in armed conflict: having cash to buy essential goods can mean the difference between life and death. Read on to find out about the ICRC’s experience of using CTP in armed conflict.
10 Sep 2018
Cash Transfer Programming in Armed Conflict: The ICRC’s Experience
Type: Research
Organisation: ICRC
ICRC's experience and evidence show that cash is an essential tool in humanitarian action in armed conflict and a valuable option in responding to a wide range of the needs people have in such situations.
01 Aug 2018
Humanitarian cash and financial inclusion: Kenya case study
Type: Research
Organisation: Humanitarian Outcomes, British Red Cross, Kenya Red Cross
This research has the goal to further the evidence base on whether and how humanitarian cash transfers can foster the financial inclusion of crisis affected people focusing on two Kenya Red Cross projects in Kilifi and the Tana Delta where cash was delivered using M-Pesa.
01 Aug 2018
Humanitarian cash and financial inclusion: Nigeria case study
Type: Research
Organisation: Humanitarian Outcomes, British Red Cross, ICRC
This research has the goal to further the evidence base on whether and how humanitarian cash transfers can foster the financial inclusion of crisis affected people through a review of a “cash for livelihoods” programme implemented by ICRC in Nigeria.
06 Apr 2018
Bangladesh: Transforming lives and livelihoods
Type: Article
Organisation: ICRC
"Times were tough when I couldn't find work." But all that changed after Mr Majid received a cash grant as part of a programme to help people living in south-eastern Bangladesh become self-sufficient.
01 Nov 2017
Red Rose: The tech behind our humanitarian assistance in Nigeria
Type: Article
Organisation: ICRC
Previously, distributions took an average of 5 hours, whereas with Red Rose (data verification system providing an end-to-end solution for programming), it takes an average of 35 minutes for people to get their cash grants!
23 Aug 2017
Handbook on Data Protection in Humanitarian Action
Type: Research
Organisation: ICRC and Brussels Privacy Hub
This Handbook was published as part of the Brussels Privacy Hub and ICRC’s Data Protection in Humanitarian Action project. It is aimed at the staff of humanitarian organizations involved in processing personal data as part of humanitarian operations.
03 Jul 2017
Data Protection and cash transfer programming
Type: Video
Organisation: ICRC
Video on risks regarding data protection in cash transfer programmes
12 Jun 2017
Kenya: Cash assistance is putting more than just food on the table
Type: Photo gallery
Organisation: ICRC
Haduko who lives in Kenya's drought affected Tana Delta region has just received a cash transfer message on her mobile phone. She makes her way to a mobile money vendor to withdraw the cash
15 May 2017
A crucial lifeline is restoring dignity for drought-affected families in Somalia
Type: Photo gallery
Organisation: ICRC
Farmers were hit by successive failed rains that has exacerbated the drought conditions across Somalia. Cash given by ICRC via mobile money has helped Isaaq to buy food for his family and buy seeds in anticipation of the rains.
10 Mar 2017
Burundi : Thérèse, a mother and widow, launches her restaurant "The Umbrella"
Type: Photo gallery
Organisation: ICRC
Thérèse opened a restaurant in November 2016 thanks to her business acumen and ICRC's financing program, which gave her a cash grant of USD 120 to invest in her business.
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