CARE Failing Forward

Cash transfers designed to help women re-enter markets after COVID-19 lockdowns lifted worked really well, AFTER we added programming to address GBV. Partway through the project, gender dialogues showed that women were facing so much violence that even cash was not enough to get back into the market. So the project re-designed their work to include social norms and addressing GBV, and helped more than 1,400 vendors get back on track. Media Matyanga talks about what the team learned, how they learned it, and what they did next.

Rojan Bolling and Hannah Itcovitz talk about their paper on how to design flexible programs that work for fragile settings. Along the way, they discovered 4 myths that everyone believes work, but that really don't. Flexibility can make a huge difference--especially in complex contexts--and that makes it even more important that we do it well. The idea of flexibility in institutions and relations, not just in operations, and getting beyond a 15% budget benchmark are two of their key insights.

Monica Tobar and Ronald Picso talk about their experience working with cryptocurrency instead of cash to support refugees and host communities in Ecuador. Some key lessons? Just do it--don't spend all of your time trying to get everything perfect. Get lots of feedback--participants will tell you what's not working. Build more supply--get many vendors up to speed on crypto so people have choices about where to shop. Plan for training--it takes time to learn a new technology, especially in a crisis. Plan lots of time to support people in using and adopting a new tool, it won't happen overnight.

We talk about sustainability all the time, and commit to guaranteeing it in almost every development program. But is it really working? CARE launched a series of post-project studies to find out what lasts and what doesn't after a project closes. Caitlin Shannon and Maria Tobin talk about what they learned doesn't work. A few tips they saw across all 9 research studies:

• No matter how good it is, training alone is not enough for sustained impact.
• If you can't figure out how people will get paid in the long term, it probably won't last.
• You have to design differently. Participants who will have to live with systems in the long term should be at the heart of decisions about sustainability.

There are lots of things that worked too. Check out all of the studies to learn more.

"You have to believe that girls have the power. You don't empower the girl; you have to see the power in her." Suniti Neogy from CARE and Jayanthi Pushkaran talk about lessons from girl-led activism in the Tipping Point project, adapting a model from EMpower in India to Bangladesh and Nepal. What would they do differently now? Have girls lead more! It's very difficult for adults to let go of control, but girls can lead themselves. Ask them the questions; don't tell them the answers. Help girls think through risks and what activism means for them, and how we can be their allies. In needs cultivation, coordination, and commitment.

Thanks to Colleen Farrell for hosting the interview!

Madj Sawan from Ihsan for Relief and Development Organization, Fe Kagahastian from CashCap’s Syria response, Ola Batta from the Shafak Organization, and Reem Khamis from UNFPA describe their experience from the Cash and GBV working group. Why was 9 years into the crisis the right time to get started? How do we overcome the failure that most cash responses aren’t focusing on survivors of GBV? They shared the process that helped them get to a better set of standard procedures, and what we have to do to make them real in the way we do programs.

This podcast is produced in partnership with the Women's Refugee Commission and with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

Fe Kagahastian from CashCap’s Syria response and Reem Khamis from UNFPA talk about the importance of getting Cash practitioners and experts in supporting GBV survivors. Doing it wrong sets off all kinds of alarm bells, because if we do it wrong, we can hurt the people we’re trying to support. We need to speak “not necessarily the same language, but at least an understandable language.”

This podcast is produced in partnership with the Women's Refugee Commission and with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

Madj Sawan from Ihsan for Relief and Development Organization and Ola Batta from the Shafak Organization talk about the challenges they see while working on cash responses to protect women and girls and support survivors of Gender​-based Violence​ in Syria. Some of their recommendations are to speed up the cash process so survivors can get services fast, to make sure there is a referral system in place, and to prioritize survivors and take action to support them. This podcast is produced in partnership with the Women's Refugee Commission and with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

This is a translation of the original Arabic podcast here: https://careinternational.podbean.com/e/move-faster-finding-ways-to-support-gbv-survivors-with-cash-services/

ARABIC Podcast. Madj Sawan from Ihsan for Relief and Development Organization and Ola Batta from the Shafak Organization talk about the challenges they see while working on cash responses to protect women and girls and support survivors of Gender​-based Violence​ in Syria. Some of their recommendations are to speed up the cash process so survivors can get services fast, to make sure there is a referral system in place, and to prioritize survivors and take action to support them. This podcast is produced in partnership with the Women's Refugee Commission and with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

Stay tuned for the English version of this podcast, coming soon.

 

Nour AlSaaideh and Heba Abu Deyak reflect on what they learned doing cost efficiency analysis with the Dioptra tool. When they look at Conditional Cash Transfers for Education, cost is one metric, but it's not the only--or maybe even the most important one. Learn more about how we can focus on effectiveness AND efficiency so that when we lower costs, we don't compromise on impacts. Focusing on just cost runs the risk of creating programs that reach a lot more people without providing useful impacts in their lives. Do it well, and with some structure, can you can learn a lot about improving your programs.

In this English version recorded based on translations from the original Arabic podcasts, Fatima Azzeh from CARE interviews Samar Karamo and Baraa Bobaki from IHSAN Relief and Development, who talk about what they've learned on designing cash programming so it supports and protects women facing gender-based violence. This interview his interview covers why cash is important, how to make sure we don't retraumatize survivors, and the importance of understanding local context and testing our approach. It also shows how important it is to set up safety plans, think about potential harm, and build in holistic services. This podcast is produced in partnership with the Women's Refugee Commission and with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). CARE and WRC’s programming that integrates CVA into GBV response is also supported by USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance.

The original Arabic podcast was in two parts. The English language version covers the same content and is directly translated from the originals. However, it is in only one podcast because the recording time was shorter in English.

 

 

Fatima Azzeh from CARE interviews Samar Karamo and Baraa Bobaki from IHSAN Relief and Development, who talk about what they've learned on designing cash programming so it supports and protects women facing gender-based violence. The second in a 2-part series (check out part one here), this interview covers how important it is to set up safety plans, think about potential harm, and build in holistic services. This podcast is produced in partnership with the Women's Refugee Commission and with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). CARE and WRC’s programming that integrates CVA into GBV response is also supported by USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance.

In our first ever Arabic podcast, Fatima Azzeh from CARE interviews Samar Karamo and Baraa Bobaki with IHSAN Relief and Development, who talk about what they've learned on designing cash programming so it supports and protects women facing gender-based violence. The first in a 2-part series, this interview covers why cash is important, how to make sure we don't retraumatize survivors, and the importance of understanding local context and testing our approach. This podcast is produced in partnership with the Women's Refugee Commission and with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). CARE and WRC’s programming that integrates CVA into GBV response is also supported by USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance.

Holly Radice reflects on 3 years of cash and voucher programming at CARE, where we've grown, and where we need to invest more. Working with cash and vouchers to ensure that we're supporting gender equality and reducing risks of GBV is possible, but it's also a challenge. Here are some places that we need to strengthen: get participants more involved in design, listen to feedback, and understand that you've always got different levels of skills and experience are some of her big recommendations. She also says we need to be patient with ourselves, and always learning more.

Amani Idfonce from CARE Tanazania talks about how reinforcing the whole health system--especially with community health workers--makes it possible to get an even better COVID response than focusing on the disease alone would have done. How did they manage it? They worked on aligning with existing priorities, thinking about infectious diseases more broadly, and remembered to keep regular services running. Read more about the project here.