British Red Cross: Onward Bound — Evaluating Cash and Voucher Assistance for Migrants on Sahel's Migration Trail
July 2023
Cash and voucher assistance (CVA) can play a significant role in migration programming by providing support and empowering individuals or families who are migrating to meet their needs.
Recognising the value of granting migrants greater autonomy in meeting their immediate needs, humanitarian actors are increasingly turning to cash assistance. Its flexibility has proven effective in supporting migrants' ever-changing circumstances, but its use remains limited.
To better understand the opportunities and challenges of integrating CVA into migration programming, Samuel Hall, in collaboration with the British Red Cross, conducted a study focused on transit migration in the Sahel region—Burkina Faso, Chad, and Mauritania.
While CVA is widely used and documented, its application for migrants, especially transit migrants, remains limited, and evidence of its impact is lacking. The research aimed to bridge this gap by providing evidence on both the impact and best practices for organisations utilising CVA.
Samuel Hall's findings reveal that transit migrants had a strong preference for cash-based assistance (65%) due to its versatility and potential for addressing their needs, particularly in supporting livelihoods and self-sufficiency. Despite their relevance, targeted cash assistance programmes for transit migrants are scarce, resulting in limited impact on their livelihoods. This is partly due to the perception that CVA would influence migrants’ decisions - a perception that evidence collected as part of this research strongly debunks.
Moreover, transit migrants represent a diverse and complex group. Reaching and assisting the intended individuals becomes challenging due to various factors. These include the high mobility of migrants, security concerns, lack of support from local authorities and communities, limited infrastructures, and limited trust from vulnerable migrants. Additionally, assessing the specific needs of at-risk individuals further complicates the implementation process.
To address these challenges, a shift is urgently needed from a country-based approach to a journey-based approach in planning CVA interventions in the Sahel region – which would better align with migrants' needs. Furthermore, it is crucial to integrate protection considerations into programming and CVA design. Governments must also take action to improve the financial service infrastructure, considering the limitations faced by migrants.