Cash transfers and vouchers let people choose what they need most, support local markets and often deliver faster than in-kind aid. They also bring distinct risks: exclusion errors, diversion, price inflation, tension within households and weak financial service providers. Monitoring and evaluation is how an organisation knows whether the model is working and where it is failing.

Monitoring and Evaluation of Cash & Voucher Assistance covers the whole measurement cycle. Participants begin with the logic of cash programming and its theory of change, then move to indicators, baselines and data sources. They study process monitoring of beneficiary registration, verification and payments, post-distribution monitoring, market price tracking, and complaints and feedback analysis. The later sessions address outcome measurement for multipurpose cash, cost-efficiency comparisons with in-kind aid, evaluation questions and the use of evidence in programme decisions. Throughout, attention is paid to inclusion, data protection and the safety of recipients.

The course is practical. Participants build tools in spreadsheets and mobile data platforms, analyse sample monitoring data and finish with a monitoring plan they can take back to their programme.

By the end of the programme, participants will be able to:

• Develop a results framework and indicator set for a cash or voucher programme.
• Design post-distribution monitoring with appropriate sampling and questionnaires.
• Monitor targeting, registration and payment processes for errors and leakage.
• Track market prices, supply and retailer capacity affecting transfer value.
• Identify fraud, diversion and protection risks and set up controls and escalation.
• Calculate and interpret cost-efficiency and cost-effectiveness measures.
• Frame evaluation questions and choose designs for multipurpose cash.
• Report findings clearly for programme teams, donors and coordination groups.

The programme is intended for practitioners who manage, monitor or oversee cash-based work, such as:

• Monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning officers
• Cash and voucher programme managers
• Field monitors and post-distribution monitoring supervisors
• Social protection and safety net analysts
• Finance, audit and compliance staff handling transfers
• Programme officers in UN agencies, NGOs and the Red Cross movement
• Government staff running cash transfer schemes
• Donor technical advisers and evaluators

Participants take away:

• A monitoring plan outline for a cash or voucher programme.
• A post-distribution monitoring questionnaire adapted to their context.
• A market monitoring tool and a simple price tracking routine.
• A risk and fraud monitoring matrix with suggested controls.
• A worked cost-efficiency calculation they can repeat with their own figures.
• A reporting format that presents cash results concisely to donors.

Teaching centres on tools and data participants will meet in their daily work:

• Short technical inputs followed by guided exercises
• Sample registration, payment and survey datasets for analysis
• Hands-on spreadsheet and mobile survey tool practice
• Case examples from humanitarian and social protection cash programmes
• Group critique of each participant's draft monitoring plan

Participants who attend the full programme and complete the practical exercises are awarded a Certificate of Completion issued by Vision Reach Global Consultancy and accredited for continuing professional development (CPD).