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Gender-Sensitive Cash and Voucher Assistance

Three women and two children stand behind a bundle of food. One of the women holds up a card.
Crisis

What does gender-sensitive cash and voucher assistance look like, particularly in emergency and crisis contexts?

With gendered elements of cash and voucher assistance (CVA) often being built on assumptions rather than on evidence, CARE has identified the need to draw on the voices of women, girls, men, and boys in order to respond to this question.

CARE’s strategic ambition for CVA aspires to have all projects with CVA be gender sensitive and is committed to ensuring that projects are centered around women and girls, addressing their needs, challenges, and opportunities. For CVA to be gender sensitive it must meet the following four elements, relevant to all contexts:

Four parts of a circle, with each part housing a different sentence. The 4 sections read, 1) Responds to unique needs of all genders, 2) Recognizes diversity within gender groups, 3) Avoids exposing recipients to harm and risk, and 4) Builds on social norms work

Based on CARE’s research on its programming with CVA, six recommendations were identified as being critical for gender-sensitive CVA.

CVA that works for women is:

  • Gender-sensitive
  • Not only designed for them, but most importantly, with them
  • Based on robust gender analysis
  • Designed to sustainably transform gender roles and relations
  • Designed to increase their ability to manage their finances in the long term
  • Designed to protect them

In 2021, CARE and our partners reached 2.65 million people via CVA.

In 2021, CARE transferred 119 million USD directly to participants.

Programs

CARE Package Cash

A short-term influx of cash can make a meaningful difference in the lives of families struggling to survive from the economic impact of a protracted crisis or from the shock of a natural disaster.

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Training

Cash and Voucher Assistance and Gender-Based Violence Online Training

The Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) online training is a six-week facilitated course targeting protection, gender, and GBV specialists who are planning to or are encouraged to use CVA in their program to deliver their responses.

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Resources

What Does Gender-Sensitive Cash and Voucher Assistance Look Like? 2.0

In 2021, in a follow up to a 2019 study, CARE conducted a study aimed to evaluate the experience of respondents receiving cash and voucher assistance, with an emphasis on the experience of women respondents.

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Gender-Sensitive Cash and Voucher Assistance Guidelines

CARE has invested in significant research on how to make cash and voucher assistance (CVA) work for women and girls through a gender-sensitive approach that frames the processes and outcomes of the modalities. The organization aims to be “cash ready” to achieve breakthroughs for women and girls, and to respond to gender-based violence (GBV) with cash transfers and mitigate GBV risks in projects with CVA.

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