Cash Transfer Resilience Tool

This document presents the Cash Transfer Resilience Tool (CTRT) to help humanitarian agencies at the country level better prepare for emergency response using cash transfers. The CTRT will enable humanitarian actors to assess which types of cash transfer (CT) services might be more resilient to the shocks typically incurred during a crisis. As such, the tool aims to inform the pre-crisis assessment and analysis of potential partner financial service providers (FSPs) to deliver timely and quality cash transfers, at scale, during unfolding emergencies.

This tool can be used to decide which, if any, of the framework agreements signed with FSPs ahead of crises might be the ‘best fit’ for the specific shocks incurred during and immediately after an emergency. The CTRT can also be used in conjunction with other FSP assessment tools. The CTRT aims to guide humanitarian organizations to preposition cash transfer services and implement partnership agreements with FSPs by assessing:

• The likely impact that future crisis-related shocks may have on a given FSP’s CT services;
• The mitigation capacity of the FSP (i.e., plans and systems to avoid or reduce this impact);
• The resulting resiliency of the CT services (i.e., the likelihood that these services will continue or can be expanded to meet the needs of disaster-affected populations during and immediately after a crisis).

It is recognized that more often than not, humanitarian organizations are unaware of or do not have a wide spectrum of choice between CT services availed through FSPs in areas of potential crisis. However, it is assumed that the availability and understanding of different payment mechanisms will increase as both the development and humanitarian communities work to strengthen local financial infrastructure in areas vulnerable to shocks.