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Cash transfer programmes review in Kachin/Northern Shan and Rakhine states

Countries
Myanmar
Sources
Crown Agents
+ 1 more
Publication date
Origin
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CONTEXT

The use of Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) in Myanmar dates to 2008, with the first CVA emergency response to Cyclone Nargis. By 2020, more than one million people received a total of 35.6 million USD worth of CVA, distributed by 63 organisations nationwide. Even so, government acceptance of CVA was not uniform in all contexts and sectors of implementation. On 1St February 2021, the Myanmar military overthrew the government in a coup d'etat. The combined effects of COVID-19 as well as the February 2021 coup have turned back the development clock by years. The resulting economic crisis comprised of inflation, depreciation of the Myanmar kyat (M MK) against the United States dollar (USD), as well as a liquidity crisis/low supply of bank notes and closure of banks.

Objectives In light of this, this review aimed to harness lessons learned from the design, implementation and monitoring of past and current humanitarian CVA projects by humanitarian actors before and after 1St February 2021 in order to inform future crisis response in Rakhine, Kachin and Northern Shan states. Accordingly, the review mapped the use of CVA and CVA stakeholders, collated qualitative accounts of challenges and opportunities faced by humanitarian organisations, identified adaptations to the change in economic situation, market functionality and protection risks.

Methodology The review took place from October 2021 to March 2022 and utilised a qualitative approach relying on a variety of primary and secondary data sources, both capturing qualitative and quantitative data. The research team reviewed a total of 56 documents and interviewed 39 humanitarian practitioners.

Findings

Yearly CVA volume

• Rakhine accounted for the largest volume of cash transfer programming in 2021 with a total of USD21,212,651. This is a significant increase compared with 2019 and 2020, USD 6,294,712 and USD20,714.603 respectively.

• In Kachin and Northern Shan. the CVA volume in 2020 amounted to USD 7.261.976 and USD 1,022.432 respectively. In 2021, the volume in Kachin and Northern Shan increased to USD 8,856,565 and USD1,420,218.

CVA actors

• In Rakhine, WFP accounted for the largest share of the CVA volume transferred with 75% (USD 15,586,124) in 2020 and 93% (USD 19,578,449) in 2021. 34% of the assistance was distributed to recipients by local and national organisations acting as implementing/cooperating partners of international organisations.

• In Kachin and Northern Shari WFP Is the largest and most active cash Implementer accounting for 76% IUSD778,6051 and 59% (USD 4,287.130) of total transfer volumes respectively in 2020. This remains similar in 2021 with WFP representing 63% (USD 5,380,683) in Kachin and 95% (USD 1,348,369). 57% of CVA in Kachin and 42% in Northern Shan respectively are distributed to recipients by local and national organisations acting as implementing/cooperating partners of international organisations.

Sector

• In Rakhine, Kachin and Northern Shan. CVA for food represented the biggest CVA volume since 2019 until the time of this review. This is due to the WFP being the largest CVA actor in the three states.