Sudan: INGO Cash Advisor - Khartoum, Sudan

Organization: Mercy Corps
Country: Sudan
Closing date: 17 Jan 2020

This role is running until March 2020

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future.

Program / Department Summary Mercy Corps has been operational in Sudan since 2004 and currently leads humanitarian assistance efforts in the conflict-affected states of South Darfur and South Kordofan. Mercy Corps is also engaged in the South Sudanese refugee response in eight refugee camps across White Nile State, and we are looking to expand our presence in East Sudan, Blue Nile State, and other localities in the near future. Our Sudan team is made up of more than 70 team members, 65 of whom are from Sudan. Mercy Corps currently implements a portfolio of donor-funded programs with a primary focus on the Food Security and Livelihoods; Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene; and Market Systems Development sectors

Background

Cash Transfer Programming (CTP) (alternatively named Cash Based Interventions (CBI)), is increasingly being embedded within humanitarian response efforts to complement in-kind assistance during emergencies. When appropriate, the provision of cash empowers the affected population to choose methods to meet their own needs using locally available resources, thereby strengthening market sustainability. The flexibility of CTP allows those receiving cash to work out how best to meet their priority needs at any given time. Research has also shown that CTP can make humanitarian aid budgets go further.

The Grand Bargain, a set of commitments developed by many of the world's largest humanitarian donors and agencies following the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016, emphasized the need to increase the use and coordination of cash-based programming across humanitarian interventions. While the context ultimately defines which tools to use, it encouraged donors and aid organizations to routinely consider cash when evaluating response options. Despite this growing recognition, CTP still makes up a small percentage of humanitarian aid, in part as it does not fit neatly into the existing sector-based humanitarian architecture. This not only creates challenges in delivery and coordination on the ground, it means there are relatively few fora in which all relevant stakeholders are able to come together to identify and resolve the barriers to better implementation of CTP across sectors.

CTP has been in practice by the Government of Sudan (GoS) since 2011 through the Ministry of Welfare and Social Security (MoWSS) as the national social safety net. Given the sizable number of INGO and UN actors are now using it as a methodology to implement humanitarian programming throughout the country, a more harmonized approach is required. The Cash Working Group (CWG), established in January 2017, has attempted to coordinate such efforts, and provided a forum to enhance technical knowledge through information sharing and learning experiences. At this stage however, the efforts have not been sufficient to support harmonization and have failed to bring about coordinated actions. Currently members of the CWG are not aligned in their approach to the delivery of cash assistance. The need for a more strategic approach is required.

2.**Objectives**

To help support INGO actors to transition further programming to CTP and to coordinate their efforts, the INGO Forum proposes the appointment of a Cash Advisor to support the harmonization of CTP across INGO and other cash actors in Sudan. In the event of being elected, the Cash Advisor will also act as CWG co-chair to represent the interests of the members as per the CWG Terms of Reference. The CWG co-chairs report to the Inter-Sector Coordination Group (ISCG), Humanitarian Country Team (HCT), and the Humanitarian Coordinator (HC) ultimately. Individual reporting lines for the Cash Advisor will be established with the INGO Steering Committee. Mercy Corps will facilitate the recruitment of the Advisor and host him/her in their office. The INGO SC (Steering Committee) envisions the use of funding from ECHO to support the position.

The main objectives of the INGO Cash Advisor will be:

1.Co-chair of the CWG: If elected, the Cash Advisor will serve as co-chair, leading its direction and approach, including efforts at the state level.

2.Harmonization of tools: CTP actors in Sudan have struggled in the harmonization of their approach. The Advisor will work within the CWG to advocate for the adoption of standardized tools and approaches in the following areas:

Standard operating procedures
Needs and market assessments
Modality selection
Targeting and vulnerability criteria
Financial service provider (FSP) selection
Monitoring and evaluation tools, particularly in post-distribution monitoring, to allow actors to collect comparable data and the potential to build on lessons learned
Community accountability and reporting mechanism, including referrals.

3.**Financial service provider (FSP) outreach**: With the problem of accessing cash from financial institutions, the Cash advisor will work with CWG and relevant authorities to ensure service delivery is sustained. The Advisor will also work with the Government and other authorities to investigate potential move towards electronic payments.

4.Market monitoring: Given the highly volatile currency devaluation and market price fluctuations, with the CWG and relevant actors, the Cash Advisor will work within the CWG to engage with humanitarian actors and agencies to undertake price monitoring at state level in a systematic manner. Efforts will be made to create an interagency platform to share cash-related data;
5. Government outreach and alignment: The Cash Advisor will work within the CWG to ensure sufficient outreach to relevant government stakeholders, to provide sufficient buy in, and to ensure greater knowledge and understanding on CTP. Efforts will also be made to link to Government CTP efforts to ensure there is no overlap or conflicting approaches;

6.**Technical support**: The Cash Advisor will work with Forum members to provide training, capacity building, and technical support for ongoing projects and future interventions.
Deliverables

In event of election to be CWG Co-Chair, key deliverables from the Cash Advisor will be aligned with the CWG ToRs and relevant work plans. These include:

Leading the process of engaging appropriate expertise to carry out a nationwide cash programming feasibility study, to inform cash actors about which modalities will work
Developing a Minimum Expenditure Basket (MEB) for Sudan, with adjustments made at the state level
Developing a standardized transfer value, with adjustments made at the state and locality level
Developing a countrywide approach for CBT/ CBI
Harmonizing tools for:
- Needs and market assessments
- Modality selection of Targeting and vulnerability criteria
- Monitoring and evaluation tools, particularly in post-distribution monitoring, to allow actors to collect comparable data and the potential to build on lessons learned
Comprehensive analysis of Financial Service Providers (FSP) to support efficiency
Market monitoring system and cash-related data platform
Engaging strategy with relevant GoS ministries on CTP
With OCHA, the RCO, and other relevant actors, developing a standardized complaints and referral mechanism (or integration into an existing effort such as PSEA)**Mercy Corps' experience**

Mercy Corps has been a global leader in CTP, with CTP representing 48% of Mercy Corps' humanitarian portfolio. This rapid growth within Mercy Corps aligns with industry trends, high level commitments made at the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit, and Grand Bargain work streams to increase CTP. As a firm believer in the efficacy of cash programming, Mercy Corps has implemented CTP in 31 countries including Syria, Ukraine, Haiti, Niger, Yemen, Greece and Uganda. Mercy Corps was the first agency to implement CTP in response to the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004, the first to pilot cash-for-work in Afghanistan, and the first to us electronic vouchers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mercy Corps also leads the Electronic Cash Transfer Learning Action Network (ELAN) and has served on the Technical Advisory Board of the Cash Learning Partnership (CaLP).
Timeline

Activity

Timeline

Responsible

Development of Country Wide Approaches to CBT

31 March 2020