| Resumen: |
Existing literature has found that cash transfers can be an effective way to meet the basic needs of crisis-affected people across contexts, often at lower costs compared to alternative forms of aid such as in-kind food and non-food aid where contextually appropriate.
To learn how to further maximize the cost-efficiency of unconditional cash transfers focused on meeting basic needs (also known as multipurpose cash assistance, or MPCA) in different contexts, the Dioptra Consortium reviewed 79 cost-efficiency analyses implemented by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in 29 countries between 2013–2025. Each analysis includes the program costs, support costs, and indirect costs from the NGO implementer’s perspective to implement a basic needs cash intervention, from targeting, registration, distribution, to post-distribution monitoring. Our question was: what contextual features and design characteristics of basic needs cash are correlated with cost-efficiency? |
