Cash and voucher assistance has moved from a niche option to a mainstream way of delivering aid. Donors expect agencies to consider it first wherever markets function, and governments increasingly link emergency transfers to social protection systems. Done well, it gives people choice and injects money into local economies. Done badly, it creates tension in communities, leaks to the wrong households and exposes staff and recipients to avoidable risk.

Practical Cash & Voucher Assistance Training Course is a skills programme for the people who must make these programmes work on the ground. It starts with the decision to use cash, covering needs and market analysis, feasibility and response options. It then moves through programme design, including objectives, transfer value, frequency and conditionality, before addressing targeting, registration, delivery mechanisms and provider selection. The later days concentrate on controls: segregation of duties, reconciliation, fraud and diversion risk, safeguarding, data protection and accountability to affected people. The week closes with monitoring, evaluating outcomes and coordinating with other agencies and cash working groups.

Teaching is deliberately hands-on. Participants calculate a transfer value from real price data, compare delivery options against a decision matrix, complete a risk register and design a post-distribution monitoring tool, so each person returns with working documents rather than notes alone.

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

• Decide when cash or vouchers are an appropriate response using needs, market and feasibility analysis.
• Calculate transfer values and frequency from the minimum expenditure basket and local price data.
• Design targeting criteria and registration processes that are fair, transparent and verifiable.
• Compare cash, e-voucher and mobile money delivery and select a suitable financial service provider.
• Build a risk register covering fraud, diversion, safeguarding and protection concerns.
• Apply data protection principles when collecting and sharing beneficiary information.
• Set up feedback and complaints mechanisms that people can use safely.
• Plan post-distribution monitoring to track use of funds, satisfaction and market effects.

The programme is intended for people who plan, deliver or oversee transfer-based assistance, including:

• Humanitarian programme officers and field coordinators
• Cash and livelihoods specialists in NGOs and UN agencies
• Social protection officers in government ministries and county governments
• Monitoring, evaluation and accountability staff
• Finance officers and accountants handling transfer reconciliation
• Logistics and procurement staff managing vendors and voucher fairs
• Donor programme managers and grant officers
• Mobile money and bank representatives working with aid agencies
• Community mobilisers and protection officers

Participants return to work with:

• A completed cash feasibility and response analysis note for a live or realistic context.
• A worked transfer value calculation they can adapt to their own market data.
• A delivery mechanism comparison matrix for cash, e-vouchers and mobile money.
• A populated risk register with practical mitigation measures and responsibilities.
• A draft post-distribution monitoring questionnaire and reporting format.
• Clear steps for coordinating with cash working groups and government systems.

Delivery mirrors the way cash teams actually work, with short inputs followed by applied tasks. Sessions include:

• Field-based case files from drought, displacement and urban crisis responses
• Spreadsheet work on transfer values and payment reconciliation
• Small-group simulations of targeting committees and complaint handling
• Review of templates, checklists and tools used by leading humanitarian agencies
• Facilitated peer exchange on delivery problems from participants' own programmes

On completing all five days and the practical exercises, participants are awarded a CPD-accredited Certificate of Completion issued by Vision Reach Global Consultancy, recognising their grounding in cash and voucher programming.