Cash and voucher assistance now makes up a growing share of humanitarian and social protection spending across East Africa and beyond. Digital delivery promises faster payments, better records and greater dignity for recipients, yet many agencies struggle with fragmented systems, limited network coverage, and unclear accountability when something goes wrong.

The Digital Transformation in Cash & Voucher Assistance Training Course walks participants through the programme cycle with a technology lens. It begins with feasibility: market functionality, recipient preferences, mobile network and agent coverage, and the legal and regulatory environment. It then addresses targeting and registration, selecting payment mechanisms and providers, contracting, system integration, reconciliation, risk management and monitoring. A dedicated session deals with protection, gender and inclusion for people without phones or identity documents.

Participants work through realistic scenarios, build registration forms and reconciliation sheets, and review sample service provider contracts. The final day brings the pieces together in a digital transformation roadmap that includes budget, staffing, pilot design and indicators for the organisation or programme each participant represents, so that learning moves directly into planning and budgeting back at the office.

On completion, participants will be able to:

• Assess whether a context is ready for digital cash or voucher delivery.
• Compare payment mechanisms and select one using defined criteria.
• Design beneficiary registration and deduplication processes using digital data collection tools.
• Draft requirements and evaluation criteria for a financial service provider.
• Reconcile payments and spot signs of fraud, diversion or error.
• Apply data protection principles, including consent, minimisation and secure storage.
• Include women, older people and persons with disabilities in digital delivery.
• Develop a phased roadmap to digitise a cash programme.

The course is intended for people who design, fund or run cash-based assistance, including:

• Cash and voucher programme managers and coordinators
• Humanitarian and development programme officers
• Finance and audit staff in NGOs and UN agencies
• MEAL and information management officers
• Social protection and social cash transfer officials
• Donor and grant managers
• ICT and data officers supporting field operations
• Staff of mobile money operators and banks serving aid agencies

Participants leave with:

• A readiness checklist for digital cash delivery in a given location.
• A comparison matrix of delivery mechanisms with scoring guidance.
• A template registration form and deduplication workflow.
• A payment reconciliation sheet and fraud risk register.
• A data protection checklist for programme staff and partners.
• A costed digital transformation roadmap with pilot milestones.

The programme draws on field practice and keeps theory to what participants will use. Activities include:

• Practitioner-led presentations on current cash assistance tools
• Hands-on building of registration forms and reconciliation sheets
• Case files from drought response, refugee and urban programmes
• Review of sample provider contracts and data sharing agreements
• Peer clinics where each participant pressure-tests a digital roadmap

A CPD-accredited Certificate of Completion, issued by Vision Reach Global Consultancy, is awarded to participants who attend the full programme and complete the exercises.