​This report presents the findings of Phase 2 of a monitoring exercise of a unique partnership, the Cash and Voucher Monitoring Group (CVMG), involving non-governmental organisations (NGOs) providing cash-based interventions in response to famine and humanitarian emergency in South Central Somalia. It was the first large-scale cash-based response to be implemented in Somalia, and – at a global level – the first non-governmental emergency cash-based programme on this scale.

Key findings:

• Despite the significant security and access challenges faced by humanitarian agencies Somalia is an appropriate environment for cash interventions due to the hawala system and the highly integrated and competitive market system. 

• A comprehensive external evaluation of the CVMG determined that cash programming was the appropriate response to the famine and severe food insecurity. Additionally, cash programming was held to different standards in terms of both monitoring and targeting than food assistance.

• The monitoring system also allowed agencies to pick up issues in real time, allowing for timely changes to their projects. By Phase 2 beneficiaries answered the majority of the process monitoring questions positively, indicating that the cash and vouchers were reaching them in a timely and appropriate manner.

• There is strong evidence that the cash and voucher interventions enabled households to purchase food, increase the number of meals consumed each day and increase dietary diversity. Importantly, there is evidence that the intervention also allowed households to repay debts, which opened up new lines of credit, contributing to household resilience.

Sophia Dunn, Mike Brewin and Aues Scek