Humanitarian Ministry, Stakeholders Meet On Zero Draft National Policy

The Ministry of humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development in collaboration with World Food Programme other stakeholders Thursday met to fine-tune the zero draft national guidelines to standardise the use of cash and voucher assistance in humanitarian interventions, Response in Nigeria.

The minister, Hajia Sadiya Umar Farouq who disclosed this at a workshop in Keffi, Nasarawa State said the workshop was aimed at sharpening the shared understanding of the relevant stakeholders on the use of cash and voucher assistance and to strategically position them to identify, design and develop an inclusive national policy that would strengthen the institutional capacity and operational environment of cash and voucher assistance in Nigeria.

The minister who was represented by the deputy director, disaster management, Dr Sulieman Abubakar, said cash and voucher assistance was gaining prominence and rapidly expanding modalities for the delivery of humanitarian assistance which has moved from the fringe of the humanitarian response to the mainstream.

She noted that the humanitarian agencies and governments had continued various degrees, examined and shifted how they plan, fund and coordinate humanitarian responses to help ensure that cash transfers are used when they are the best tool.

“It is against this phenomenal growth in the use of CVA in humanitarian interventions that the policy is being designed to provide a robust friendly environment for CVA operators as well as outline/clarify alignment between the cash related social protection programmes and humanitarian cash programmes,” she said.

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Also speaking, World Food Programme country director and representative in Nigeria, David Stevenson, said the policy was expected to lay a very strong and effective framework for administration of cash and voucher in the humanitarian settings.

Represented by Akeem Ajibola, Stevenson said the initiative would remove constraints across the value chain of regulatory, operational, delivery and assurance, evidence had also shown that it contributes to development through stimulating growth of the local economies where appropriately implemented.