C The Cash Learning Partnership THE STATE OF THE WORLD’S CASH REPORT FOREWORD Imagine that you had to flee your home with your young children and elderly parents. That you had to leave everything behind. At long last, an aid organization arrives in your displacement camp. They come from far away and know neither your needs nor your heritage. Fortunately, they ask a question first: ‘Would you like us to give you boxes containing what we think you need, or would you like to receive cash and decide for yourself?’ Which would you choose? Personally, I would choose unconditional cash and decide for myself, provided there is a market available that can meet my needs. That is why I suggested in the DFID high-level panel on humanitarian cash that all decision makers in the aid world should always be required to ask: ‘Why not cash? And if not now, when?’ And that is why I think the Cash Learning Partnership (CaLP) and this report are so important. Cash-based assistance is, in brief, one of the most significant reforms in recent years. There is no longer serious dispute about whether cash can significantly improve humanitarian aid. Established humanitarian actors now invest in cash at greater scale and more consistently than ever before. It is at the forefront of innovation for people in crisis. However, while the overall argument is won, important debates continue about how cash-based assistance should best be used. This is because we are still learning about how best to use cash in different contexts and because it challenges established ways of operating in the humanitarian sector. Cash-based assistance is not necessarily a substitute for or very different from existing humanitarian programming. When we embrace the complementarities between different forms of humanitarian assistance, cash undoubtedly helps to better serve affected populations. With a humanitarian sector in rapid change, there is an urgent need to take stock of how much progress the sector is making in using cash and how we best learn from good practices. We also need to agree on the next steps for making the most of the potential of cash-based assistance. This report addresses that need. It has been prepared by an expert team on the basis of extensive research and the best available evidence. It provides a comprehensive overview of the issues and establishes a new understanding of the practical steps needed to make the most of cash. A stronger collective understanding will drive a stronger collective reform. I therefore welcome the report as an important step in our shared journey to continually improve humanitarian aid, so that limited funds provide the greatest possible benefit to people in desperate need all around the world. Jan Egeland Secretary General Norwegian Refugee Council 1