Cash-based interventions

UNHCR uses cash transfers to provide protection, assistance and services to vulnerable displaced persons. This allows them to meet their most pressing needs, build and support livelihoods, and facilitate voluntary return.

When people are forced to flee their homes, they leave with the bare essentials. They also lose their ability to earn and spend in the process. Our cash-based interventions (CBIs) seek to protect refugees by reducing the risks they face and maintaining their capacity to spend. CBIs can be used in a variety of settings, as long as there is a stable market and a safe way to provide vulnerable people with cash or vouchers. The flexibility that CBIs offer makes them a more dignified form of assistance, giving them the ability to immediately prioritize and choose what they need.

Cash transfers make people in need less likely to resort to harmful coping strategies, such as survival sex, child labour, family separation or forced marriage. They also directly benefit the local economy and can contribute to peaceful coexistence with host communities.

• See also:  Cash assistance gives refugees the power of choice

At UNHCR, we promote collaborative cash approaches to maximize the benefits to our persons of concern. Whenever possible, we also try to strategically leverage our cash assistance to pave the way towards financial, social and economic inclusion.