Cash transfer platforms in humanitarian contexts

Abstract

This helpdesk report addreses the following questions: What is the rationale for using multipurpose cash transfers and single platforms? What is driving donor agency positions on these issues? What is the evidence that single cash platforms are more efficient and effective than multiple platforms? What are the (unforeseen) negative consequences of moving to a single platform? As cash transfer programming (CTP) in humanitarian contexts has increased, so has the use of multipurpose (unconditional) cash transfers and the range of actors providing them. Use of different cash delivery platforms by different agencies can increase costs, inefficiency, and the risk of duplication and fraud, so ‘single cash platforms’ (the same delivery mechanism for cash transfers from different agencies and for different objectives) have been piloted