Operational Guidance and Toolkit for Multipurpose Cash Grants

This operational guidance and toolkit brings together worldwide expertise on cash-based interventions (CBIs). It provides comprehensive and practical guidance for humanitarian actors to assess the feasibility, conceptualise the design and structure the implementation of MPGs. The guidance focuses on MPGs whose primary objective is to meet basic needs as defined by affected people themselves, International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law and Sphere Standards. However, the nature of MPGs means they can be easily “topped” up for time-bound and specific needs that can be met by cash, e.g. school supplies or seasonal livelihoods activities.

As MPGs present both opportunities and risks from a protection and “Do No Harm” perspective, protection features prominently in the guidance and toolkit. However, many of the “protection flags” that appear in each section are not specific to MPGs but applicable to all forms of assistance, both in-kind and cash-based.