“ Cash preparedness in Asia Pacific” Asia Pacific State of the World Cash webinar Bangkok, 16th May 2018

Definition of preparedness: “Building up of operational readiness for timely and appropriate emergency responses. With good preparedness, cash transfer programing (CTP) responses can be implemented quickly on a large scale” – IFRC Preparedness also involves assessing risk and identifying whether CTP, in kind or a mixture of the two is required - CaLP

Is preparedness important? People preparedness Service providers agreements & contract negotiation Pre-positioning CTP equipment Inter-agency collaboration & simulations Collaboration with government(s) - enhance staff competencies and institutional ownership on prep. - opportunities to explore linkage with SP systems

Communication & coordination Potential activities Enabling systems Programme tools Resources & capacity Communication & coordination Developing or adapting contingency plans for CTP. Research and prepare most appropriate cash delivery mechanism. Develop CTP SOPs. Adapt financial system. Assessment (e.g. market) tools adjusted for CTP. NDRT/ERT trained and prepared for CTP. Agreements templates etc. set-up. Adapt M&E systems. Train staff and volunteers. Simulation exercises. Peer to peer exchanges. Develop advocacy messages (internal and external). Coordinate actions with other organisations. Develop and share case studies and learning with other organisations.

Stages in time: The IFRC suggests a process organized into three stages to develop a CTP preparedness Plan of Action and strategy: Stage 1. Prepare and analyze Stage 2. Develop and implement Stage 3. Review, learn and improve For each stage, there is a road map with short guidance, minimum standards, description of sub-steps and existing tools. http://rcmcash.org/

STAGE 1. PREPARE AND ANALYSE OCAT self assessment Identify scenarios for preparedness Cash preparedness Plan of action STAGE 2. Develop & implement Organizing Cash Task forces and cash focal points Mainstream CTP in strategies, policies, contingency plans, develop SOPs/ guidelines so that cash can be implemented at scale Conduct feasibility assessments: Markets, financial service providers, community/ authorities acceptance, gender & protection issues Set up accountability mechanisms and beneficiary communication Pre agreements with FSPs, cash transfer values Coordination with relevant humanitarian actors and stakeholders (CWGs) Conduct pilot/simulations STAGE 3. review, learn & improve

CONSIDERATIONS: Geographical considerations depending on the scale of the emergency: It may not be possible or efficient that each country has an ongoing level of response capacity for any emergency. Some capacities might have to be available at regional or global level, especially staff and to a lesser extent regional/global payment solutions Cash pre-positioning: Money transfer from HQ to the field may take 3 weeks. Need to pre-position cash for immediate delivery in a few hours or days). Forecast based financing Classic approach to preparedness looking to natural disasters but not so much to Pandemics (Ebola in West Africa) or humanitarian crisis. Tracks of content – all need to be developed for CTP to be institutionalised. Where I talk of a NS you can consider your own organisation or any organisation / partner