Report

Independent review: Cash based programming in Iran

Published 09. Mar 2020
Review of Iran’s cash assistance programme in the recent years. The main conclusions was that the use of one-off emergency multi-purpose cash was discouraged in favour of more targeted and longer-term interventions.

For several years, the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), and Relief International (RI) have been supporting vulnerable Afghans in Iran- The International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) aim at helping vulnerable Afghans improve their living conditions and prevent secondary displacement.

From mid 2016 to the end of 2017, the INGOs implemented the Humanitarian Implementation Plan 2016 (HIP16) funded by the European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department’s (ECHO). They have been providing cash to support Afghans in accessing basic needs as well as to assist them addressing individual protection needs. While the INGOs have been working with different delivery mechanisms, they all made use of unrestricted and unconditional cash allowing beneficiaries to spend the assistance according to their individual needs.

All three INGOs will continue using cash modalities in their Humanitarian Implementation Plan for 2018, which they will start implementing from June 2018. In order to inform their respective projects and the related Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) efforts, they commissioned an independent ‘light-touch’ remote review of the outcomes of the CBIs implemented during HIP16.

This document presents the results of the commissioned review. It discusses the extent to which the interventions have achieved set objectives, identifies exiting information gaps, and proposes ways to strengthen the cash-based programming and the related M&E to further improve the INGOs future efforts to support vulnerable Afghans in Iran.

Download the review below: