Read the full report - Danish Refugee Council

CASH PROGRAMME REVIEW FOR IDPs IN KABUL INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS 473. Determining the size of the grantThe amount of the grant varies according to intervention modalities and purposes. In the perspectiveof addressing (i) needs during the winter, and (ii) a recovery interventions, the following differentdeterminants can be taken into account:Previous or current assistance to the target households. Given the high degree of assistanceprovided in the KIS, specific attention will need to be provided to the type of assistanceoffered and received by households in each of the targeted camps, to assess the preferredobjective of the grant and tailor its size accordingly. If assisted in the form of food or nonfooditems, cash assistance can be directed towards other needs, such as small-scaleinvestments as working capital, repayment of debts, improving the consumption basket, etc.Cash grants can be calculated to be smaller and complementary to existing assistance, orcome as a helping hand after other forms of assistance.Actual needs: Given the unstable nature of incomes noticed through our survey, basinggrants on a theoretical average monthly basket of basic necessities (food, fuel, clothing,water etc.) might be challenging, and needs to take into consideration seasonal variationsand other forms of assistance. An alternative solution is to base the grant on the averagefood consumption and the ability of targeted communities to meet their needs on their own.The majority (40%) of surveyed households in our sample explained they often have problemsatisfying their food needs, and 31% to encounter difficulties 3 to 6 times a month, mainlyrelying on debts. In such cases, grants adapted to the food basket to cover all the needs ofbeneficiaries might need to be considered, especially in times of acute shortage like winter.Cash grants or vouchers provided to households can help complement provision of in-kinddistribution of staples, or be redirected towards other urgent needs- such as repayment ofdebts. The initial phase is to get exact information on daily food consumption throughhousehold surveys, complemented by a market micro-surveillance and pricing.Size of households: the amount of grants does not need to be “one-size-fits-all” and can varyaccording to the size of the households and an evaluation of their needs, requiring closemonitoring to avoid artificial inflation of household numbers.Inflation rate and market prices in the local market, to adapt the size of grants accordinglyand adjust the actual purchasing power of beneficiary households. A fixed amount of cashwill not have the same purchasing power in pre and post inflation periods, the purchasingpower of beneficiaries might be affected and the outcomes of the programme diverted.Determining the amount of regular cash transfers should be done in close coordination with NGOs ina nearby area. Different cash grants or methods of implementation in a limited geographical spacecan create conflicts and competition between programmes.Determining the fair value of the grant with ACF Afghanistan.The amount of cash distributed by ACF is based on the average one-month foodconsumption of a household of 7 members, calculated based on a micro-market surveillanceand price assessment.The wages for CFW have to be 25% under the labour rate in order not to compete with thelabour environment and create artificial disruptment of the labour market. This practice isnotably different from that of PIN, which fixes its wages at the same level as the labour rate,based on the observation that the labour market is not functional in post-disaster situationsand that cash-for-work creates a temporary but necessary income generation activity forbeneficiary households. A major point underlined by ACF was the need for coordinationbetween agencies on the rate of wages in order to avoid tensions between communities andagainst NGOs due to differences in wages in neighbouring areas: “we had to conform towhat the community was used to. We have future CFW programmes pipelined for 2013, andwe budgeted 300 per day, as opposed to 250, which is the labour rate we had calculated.” –ACF Programme Manager.