A new and an appropriate concept called The Cash Learning Partnership (CaLP), formed by a consortium that includes Oxfam Great Britain, the British Red Cross, Save the Children, Action Against Hunger / ACF International and the Norwegian Refugee Council, is focused on improving the quality of programs whose approach includes the use of cash transfers whether in physical cash, paper voucher or digital currency form.
Everyone knows, There is a growing recognition in the humanitarian sector that in an emergency, cash transfers and vouchers can be appropriate and effective tools to support populations affected by disasters in a way that maintains dignity and choice for beneficiaries while stimulating local economies and markets.
The CaLP provides leadership, expertise and evidence to support cash transfer programming in humanitarian situations. With an outreach to over 1,000 practitioners through trainings and online forums in 2011, and the presence of cash coordination groups in several countries, CaLP is working to mainstream tools and trainings, gather learning and research, and advocate for coherent approaches on a national and global level.
In the past two years the CaLP has also played a key role in providing emergency technical support and coordination to humanitarian actors implementing cash-based programming in response to the Haiti earthquake, the Pakistan floods, Ivory Coast post-election violence and the Horn and East Africa drought crisis. Furthermore, the CaLP works in 4 focus countries (Niger, Zimbabwe, Philippines, and Kenya) to support the mainstreaming of the use of cash and voucher transfers in these disaster prone countries.
