Definition

Emergency cash transfers (CTs) are payments made to address humanitarian needs in any type of emergency, including those related to conflict, climate change and other natural disasters, economic or health crises, as well as displacement.  

They can be delivered either as a one-off payment or through regular monthly transfers. Similar to regular CTs, they can be distributed via different mechanisms or providers, such as bank accounts, post offices, money transfer services, mobile phones, or manually.  The amount of an emergency CT is usually based on the objective of the programme, local costs of living and the specific needs of the affected population.  

Emergency CTs can be used as a stand-alone intervention or can be combined with complementary interventions that improve specific outcomes in nutrition, education, and child protection (also called 'cash plus' approach) to reinforce overall wellbeing outcomes. In the context of severe food and nutrition insecurity, i.e., Integrated Food Security Phase Classification 5, where there is elevated risk for acute malnutrition, emergency CTs can be combined with interventions that improve access to nutritious foods, good nutrition practices and access to essential services, that potentially contributes to the prevention and treatment of acute and/or chronic malnutrition.  

More recently, some countries have implemented CTs that are paid prior to a predictable crisis, i.e., anticipatory action, including seasonal periods of expected drought. This helps families to protect themselves and their assets and ease financial and mental stress in the immediate aftermath.  

Rationale

Emergency cash transfers provide a rapid and flexible way to meet urgent basic needs in crisis contexts - by restoring purchasing power, they enable affected households to access food, services, and essential goods while supporting local markets and preventing negative coping strategies.

Key features

Who receives emergency CTs?

• Emergency CTs are paid to individuals or households affected by a crisis, often prioritizing the most vulnerable populations such as young children, pregnant or lactating women, the elderly, people with disabilities, and those with specific urgent needs.

Who implements emergency CTs?

• Emergency CTs are typically implemented by ministries of social protection and/or by national disaster management authorities and/or, in coordination with ministries of finance and other relevant ministries/authorities such as health, education, agriculture etc., as well as with local governments/authorities.  The involvement of international partners is highly dependent on the scale of needs, the extent to which the national systems were able to withstand the shock, and the maturity, including shock-responsiveness of the existing social protection system (for example, whether relevant information and payment systems required for an emergency CT are already in place).  
• This means that in some contexts, national governments will lead the implementation without major international support. Yet, in other contexts, they are supported by international partners. An example of the latter would be: While the Government provides and manages social registry data, payment systems and social workforce staff, the international partners support in the actual delivery of the transfers and ensure grievance and redress mechanisms are in place.  
• However, in some cases (for example, where the government is party to a conflict or humanitarian principles cannot be upheld or in a context of severely constrained national capacities), it might mean that international partners implement a humanitarian cash transfer, either leveraging only some of the features of the national system or in a parallel manner, carrying the full accountability of the programme.  

What are the different implementation modalities of an emergency CT?

The scale of needs and the maturity, including shock responsiveness of the existing social protection system determine the implementation modality of an emergency CT.  

• For instance, where considered relevant and feasible, an existing CT programme can be adjusted to ensure an uninterrupted delivery of regular CTs or expanded vertically and horizontally. While vertical expansion refers to a temporary increase of the benefit value or duration of the programme for some or all existing recipients (also called ´top-ups´), horizontal expansion refers to temporarily including new beneficiaries from affected communities.
• Yet, in some cases, a new emergency programme might be more appropriate to accommodate new populations and needs; it can piggyback on existing systems (e.g., data, capacity, delivery mechanism), where possible.  
• Where it is not possible or desirable to go through the national system, emergency CTs can nevertheless be aligned to create ground for future expansion or to preserve and/or further strengthen an existing social protection system. For example, objectives, targeting method, transfer value or delivery mechanism can be aligned to existing programmes. When implemented in parallel or as standalone interventions, it is possible to draw upon elements of humanitarian systems and capabilities to strengthen the national social protection system – with a view to longer term system strengthening.

What needs to be in place for adoption of an emergency CT?  

The scale of an existing social cash programme makes a crucial difference when using an existing social protection programme in response to a shock, which is often faster than setting up a completely new programme.

• Up-to-date social registries and disaster information systems, preferably that include migrants and displaced populations, are extremely useful to know who will be in need, when, and who to pay an emergency CT to.  
• Strong coordination mechanisms and data sharing protocols between social protection, disaster risk management and international actors, as well as all other relevant actors to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the overall response in times of crisis.  
• Enabling policy frameworks that regulate roles and responsibilities during emergencies, including when international partners come in to align their programmes.
• A contingency budget to ensure that the necessary financial resources are available to respond swiftly and effectively to unforeseen crises, allowing for immediate assistance to affected populations without delay. Where a contingency budget is not available or possible, it is critical to identify financial resources (both public/national and international) and how these can be channeled via government systems for a response.  
• Social workers and other front line workers at decentralized level to identify and reach the most vulnerable individuals, provide necessary information and assist recipients in accessing additional services and resources they may need.
• For an emergency CT to be inclusive in terms of gender and persons with disabilities and other groups of concern, requires needs-assessments, targeted outreach, accessible delivery mechanisms, robust grievance systems, as well training and sensitization for staff.  
• In complex emergencies and fragile contexts great care must be taken to ensure interventions are “conflict sensitive” and specifically tailored to the contexts in which they are delivered to avoid exacerbating conflict or tensions.
• More generally, it means reviewing and strengthening administrative and delivery systems to enable a) continuity of service delivery, and b) the potential for flexing and scaling up in response to shocks.

All of the above requires disaster preparedness assessments, many of which already exist