Cash transfer programmes (CTP) provide victims of conflicts or natural disasters with money to cover their individual basic needs.
Restoring the freedom of choice in crisis-hit areas
In crisis-hit regions, CTPs include local vendors and markets in humanitarian efforts. By shifting the place of purchase from the global to local market, it enables shop-owners and local farmers to keep their businesses running despite all the suffering that has been created by the war or natural disaster in their region. For their part, the beneficiaries can buy food, water and other urgently needed items that they can choose themselves.
As well as running its own CTP projects, the SDC supports those of its multilateral partners by seconding Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit (SHA) experts. In 2015, 11 SHA personnel worked on cash transfer programmes run by UN agencies. These activities not only benefited the communities in need, but they also contributed to the wider adoption of this practice within the UN agency involved.For example, the World Food Programme relies heavily on CTP as a way of getting help to Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey.
