This report looks at the ICRC’s experience of using cash transfer programming (CTP) in armed conflict. The ICRC has increased its use of cash and vouchers in recent years and is very encouraged by the clear benefits of cash transfer programming in certain situations. The ICRC is enthusiastic about the benefits of CTP and realistic about when it is best to use it. Our 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.
The report focuses on the ICRC’s experience in Yemen, Nigeria, South Sudan, Lebanon and Ukraine, among others, and our own operational analysis confirms many of the positive findings from other policy and academic studies referred to in this report. The purpose of this report is to share some of the ICRC’s experience of using CTP in armed-conflict environments and so inform and influence the wider policy debate around cash, especially in relation to its use as a tool in principled humanitarian action in armed conflicts.