Iraq: MPCA & Vulnerability Assessment: Combined 2020 guidelines - Cash Working Group guidelines for proposal development and programme implementation
Mauro Clerici, Cash Working Group coordinator; Gabrielle Fox, Cash Working Group co-lead; Safwan Khan, Cash Working Group Economist; Joe Mekhael; Taban Ihsan, Sub-National CWG Coordinator – Kirkuk
2. Introduction
MPCA response in humanitarian settings finds its fundamentals in the 2018 OCHA message on Cash Coordination, which states that “Humanitarian actors should work together to ensure that cash is the preferred and default form of assistance where markets and operational contexts permit.” The document emphasizes how “it can also serve as an important bridge between humanitarian and development activities”. On assessment of humanitarian MPCA response, the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) strategic note on Cash Transfers in Humanitarian Contexts notes that:
“The needs assessment process is largely conducted with a sectoral lens {...} Cash transfers have highlighted the need to broaden the scope and uptake of such cross-sector approaches”.
Finally, the 2020 Humanitarian Programme Cycle (HPC) guidelines in the context of the above, also underline maintaining a focus on intersectoral discussions, stating that “response analysis during the preparation of the Humanitarian Response Plan should enable more systematic inter-sectoral discussions about required multisectoral response approaches, which could include multipurpose cash, and to identify the potential use of national social protection systems.”
The MPCA response in Iraq is based on these principles. In doing so, it encompasses the three pillars of the response: relying on existing function market for goods, adopting a cross-sectorial approach in targeting, and identifying referrals to other sectors and linkages with the existing social protection system.
While the number of people unable to cover their basic needs in 2020 remains almost constant in comparison with 2019 (2,8 Vs 2,9 million people countrywide), the acute PIN (people in need, see calculation rationale in section 5) is 2 ML people, an increase of 25 percentage points from 2019. This has resulted from protracted displacement and an increased rate of return, with no significant macro-economic improvement and livelihood opportunities, or a strengthening of national social protection systems in areas of origin. MPCA continues to be a preferred assistance modality that affords vulnerable households the flexibility to meet their survival basic needs. More significantly, MPCA decreases the incidence of negative coping strategies, including secondary displacement that are triggered by financial constraints, and plays an essential role in supporting (re) integration and transition to durable solutions.
