“When the conditions are right, receiving cash gives people more choice to direct their own recovery and prioritise their needs”.
Giving disaster affected people cash and voucher assistance is a growing and critical part of humanitarian action, and it can be used to restore access to water and sanitation and enable hygiene practices of communities.
For example, cash assistance can be provided to incentivise the building of latrines or other essential sanitation services, to purchase hygiene products, or to pay for water utilities.
From 2020 to 2024, a dedicated Movement technical working group worked on strengthening WASH actors’ understanding of and engagement with market-based approaches when designing and implementing WASH interventions. They developed guidelines, case studies and trainings (find them all in the Resources section).
Do you have a question related to Cash and WASH, or about the work of the Technical Working Group? Contact the co-chairs Alexander (alexander.oeze@roteskreuz.at) and Jamilee (jamilee.aldoueihy@ifrc.org)
This document was prepared by the members of the Cash and WASH TWG and is intended for practitioners (including programme managers) who want to understand and explore how cash and voucher assistance can support WASH outcomes.
The Cash Hub, hosted by British Red Cross, aims to accelerate the use and increase the scale-up of cash assistance in the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of humanitarian action. You can find out more and about the work of National Societies and access different resources related to cash, vouchers and WASH.
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