Women-Led Cash During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Haiti Case Study

ActionAid Haiti adapted a women-led cash distribution to respond to the Covid-19 crisis.

Executive summary

ActionAid’s humanitarian work centres around women’s leadership and ensuring women are empowered to make decisions about the needs of their community. 

ActionAid considers the role of women in leading and implementing humanitarian responses, including Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA). We believe cash offers dignity and flexibility to women affected by crisis, and promotes women’s leadership by empowering women who might not otherwise have access to money to make spending decisions.

From January-July 2020, ActionAid Haiti worked with the World Food Programme (WFP) and with local women’s rights organisation, Papaya Peasant Movement (MPP), on a seven-month project which involved supplementing household incomes with cash transfers.

This case study reviews how ActionAid adapted this cash project to the challenges posed by Covid-19 in 2020. It reviews the outcomes of cash support in the light of the Covid-19 crisis and the role of women in leading and participating in the response, and offers learnings and recommendations for future implementation of cash programming.

Download the case study in French.