Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) - Technical Specialist

International Rescue Committee · Adjumani

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, the IRC is one of the world's largest international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (INGO), at work in more than 40 countries and 29 U.S. cities helping people to survive, reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities. A force for humanity, IRC employees deliver lasting impact by restoring safety, dignity and hope to millions. If you're a solutions-driven, passionate change-maker, come join us in positively impacting the lives of millions of people world-wide for a better future.

The IRC and its consortium partners have been selected by British High Commission (BHC) Kampala for the Refugee Support, Empowerment and Transformation (ReSET) Programme, pillar 1. ReSET programme aims to make Uganda’s refugee response more sustainable and locally owned, while protecting refugees’ rights, delivering lifesaving aid, and supporting self-reliance and resilience.

The IRC leads Pillar 1 (Lifesaving Assistance) through a local consortium of Refugee-Led Organisations Network (RELON), Transcultural Psychosocial Organisation (TPO) Uganda and Uganda Network on Law, Ethics and HIV/AIDS (UGANET). Pillar 1 meets core needs, such as food security and protection, for the most vulnerable refugees (typically new arrivals) and host communities facing acute shocks. It applies a cash-first principle, primarily multipurpose cash linked to protection and referral systems.

ReSET will improve the ability of the most vulnerable refugees and host communities to meet core needs, withstand shocks, and avoid negative coping strategies, along with better community cohesion, more resilient local economies, and a more efficient, effective, and sustainable refugee response. The programme is built on vulnerability-based targeting, a “no wrong door” approach, closed-loop referrals, community-informed accountability, and the progressive transfer of leadership to government, national organizations and refugee-led organizations (RLOs). Stabilized households will be voluntarily connected to ReSET Pillar 2 and other self-reliance opportunities, with a route back to humanitarian assistance if vulnerability re-emerges.

The programme covers 10 refugee settlements across 4 regions (West Nile, Mid-Western, Northern, South-Western), in close coordination with OPM, UN agencies, INGOs, national NGOs and district local governments.

SCOPE OF WORK:

Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) is a key delivery modality under Pillar 1, and will enable households to meet essential needs, make choices according to their priorities, and access goods and services through local markets. Assistance will include multipurpose cash transfers, sector-specific cash or vouchers, and complementary services, referrals, or in-kind assistance.

The CVA Technical Specialist will provide technical leadership to ensure that cash-based assistance under Pillar 1 is feasible, timely, safe, inclusive, cost-effective, and compliant with IRC policies and FCDO requirements. The position will support the design, implementation, monitoring, and adaptation of CVA interventions, working closely with program, protection, operations, finance, supply chain, and Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) teams, as well as implementing partners and relevant coordination mechanisms.

The role will contribute to ReSET's wider objective of strengthening the effectiveness and sustainability of Uganda's refugee response by promoting evidence-based decisions, harmonized approaches, local partner capacity, and accountable delivery of lifesaving assistance.

ROLE PURPOSE:

The Cash and Voucher Assistance Technical Specialist will lead the technical design, quality assurance, and implementation support for CVA interventions under ReSET Pillar 1. The postholder will ensure that CVA is used as a first-line assistance option where appropriate and that transfer modalities, values, delivery mechanisms, targeting criteria, and implementation arrangements are informed by robust needs assessments, market analysis, protection risk assessments, and the preferences of affected populations.

The Specialist will provide expert technical advice to project management, programming teams, consortium and implementing partners, and operational departments to ensure that CVA interventions meet immediate humanitarian needs while upholding dignity, safety, inclusion, accountability, and value for money.

The postholder will support the development and implementation of program tools, standard operating procedures, feasibility assessments, risk mitigation measures, and monitoring systems. They will strengthen the capacity of IRC staff and local partners, contribute to inter-agency coordination and harmonization, and generate evidence and learning to improve program quality and inform adaptive management.

The role will maintain a clear focus on the lifesaving objectives of Pillar 1 while identifying opportunities to coordinate with complementary protection and multisectoral services under pillar 2. Any transition towards longer-term self-reliance interventions will be coordinated with the relevant Reset program components rather than displacing the immediate lifesaving mandate of Pillar 1.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Technical Leadership and Strategic Direction

Provide technical leadership for the design and implementation of CVA interventions under ReSET Pillar 1, ensuring alignment with the project results framework, IRC's Economic Recovery and Development (ERD) strategy, relevant global standards, and FCDO requirements.
Promote the cash-first principle by ensuring that cash and voucher modalities are systematically considered during response planning and program design, with modality selection informed by market functionality, feasibility, protection risks, accessibility, operational capacity, and affected people's preferences.
Lead or support CVA feasibility assessments, market assessments, response analysis, delivery mechanism assessments, and risk analyses to determine the appropriateness of cash, vouchers, in-kind assistance, or a combination of modalities.
Provide technical recommendations on transfer values, transfer frequency and duration, targeting approaches, delivery mechanisms, and complementary assistance, using relevant evidence such as the Minimum Expenditure Basket (MEB), sector-specific needs, market prices, and applicable inter-agency guidance.
Support the development, review, and updating of CVA strategies, implementation plans, technical guidance, standard operating procedures, and contingency plans for emergency response and changing humanitarian needs.
Ensure that CVA interventions are informed by vulnerability and protection analyses and are responsive to the differentiated needs of women, girls, men, boys, older people, persons with disabilities, new arrivals, and other groups facing heightened barriers or risks.
Identify emerging technical and operational challenges and recommend practical solutions relating to targeting, registration, identification, payment delivery, data management, market access, fraud prevention, and operational efficiency.
Maintain awareness of developments in CVA policy, digital payment systems, humanitarian response standards, and emerging good practices, and translate relevant learning into program improvements.

Program Design, Implementation and Quality Assurance

Provide technical input into project work plans, program designs, budgets, implementation schedules, procurement plans, and resource requirements to ensure that CVA activities are feasible and aligned with approved project objectives and deliverables.
Work with program teams and relevant technical specialists to design and implement appropriate CVA interventions, including multipurpose cash assistance and sector-specific cash or voucher support, based on assessed needs and the approved Pillar 1 response model.
Support the development and application of transparent, context-appropriate targeting and beneficiary selection criteria, ensuring that selection processes are consistent, inclusive, documented, and protected against discrimination, exploitation, and undue influence.
Provide technical oversight throughout the CVA program cycle, including assessment, response analysis, targeting, registration, verification, transfer delivery, post-distribution monitoring, complaints handling, and program closure.
Work closely with finance, operations, supply chain, information management, and security teams to establish effective delivery arrangements and internal controls, including segregation of duties, reconciliation, exception management, audit trails, and fraud risk mitigation.
Ensure that payment delivery mechanisms are appropriate to the context and accessible to intended recipients, considering options such as mobile money, bank transfers, payment cards, regulated financial service providers, vouchers, and other approved mechanisms.
Promote coordination between CVA and complementary protection and multisectoral services, ensuring that referrals and linkages are established where appropriate and that assistance does not expose recipients to additional protection risks.
Conduct regular field visits to monitor implementation quality, engage with affected communities and implementing partners, identify operational bottlenecks, and agree on corrective actions with relevant teams.
Provide timely technical advice to project management on implementation progress, emerging risks, delivery challenges, and proposed adjustments to ensure that assistance remains relevant and responsive to changing needs.
Support the development and implementation of contingency and scale-up plans for sudden increases in humanitarian needs, new displacement, market disruptions, or other shocks affecting target populations.

Market Analysis, Transfer Value and Delivery Mechanisms

Lead or coordinate market assessments and ongoing market monitoring to establish the availability, accessibility, affordability, and reliability of essential goods and services in targeted locations.
Analyze market prices, household expenditure patterns, purchasing power, and relevant sectoral needs to inform the calculation, review, and adjustment of transfer values.
Support the application and contextualization of the Minimum Expenditure Basket and other relevant transfer-value calculation methodologies, ensuring that assumptions, data sources, and decisions are documented and periodically reviewed.
Assess the feasibility and risks of proposed payment and voucher delivery mechanisms, including provider capacity, geographical coverage, transaction costs, liquidity, recipient accessibility, data protection, and continuity of service.
Coordinate with financial service providers, vendors, and other relevant market actors, in collaboration with procurement, finance, and operations teams, to support reliable, transparent, and cost-effective assistance delivery.
Monitor market conditions and identify risks such as inflation, price volatility, supply constraints, market concentration, and disruptions that could undermine the effectiveness of CVA.
Recommend appropriate adaptations to transfer values, delivery mechanisms, or assistance modalities when market conditions, recipient needs, or protection risks change.
Promote responsible use of digital technologies and data systems to improve delivery efficiency, while ensuring that digital exclusion, identification barriers, connectivity limitations, and data privacy risks are adequately addressed.

Protection, Accountability and Inclusion

Ensure that CVA interventions are informed by protection risk analysis and the principles of safe, dignified, equitable, and accountable humanitarian assistance.
Work closely with Protection, Women's Protection and Empowerment, Child Protection, and other relevant teams to identify and mitigate risks associated with targeting, registration, collection, movement, household decision-making, and the use of assistance.
Support the integration of gender equality, disability inclusion, age sensitivity, and other relevant social inclusion considerations throughout the CVA program cycle.
Ensure that affected populations receive clear, accessible, and timely information on eligibility, entitlements, transfer values, payment schedules, delivery procedures, and available feedback and complaints mechanisms.
Support the establishment and effective functioning of safe, confidential, accessible, and responsive feedback and complaints mechanisms, including procedures for referrals, escalation, resolution, and the identification of recurring concerns.
Promote meaningful participation of persons with disabilities, refugees and host communities in program design, implementation review, and monitoring, ensuring that feedback informs decisions and corrective action.
Ensure that CVA data is collected, accessed, stored, shared, and retained in accordance with IRC data protection requirements, informed consent principles, confidentiality standards, and applicable legal and donor obligations.
Support the identification, prevention, reporting, and mitigation of safeguarding concerns, sexual exploitation and abuse, fraud, corruption, and other misconduct in accordance with IRC policies and established reporting procedures.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning

Work with MEAL colleagues to establish and maintain appropriate monitoring frameworks, indicators, data collection tools, reporting schedules, and quality assurance processes for CVA activities under Pillar 1.
Ensure that CVA monitoring is aligned with the ReSET results framework and captures relevant outputs and outcomes, including the timeliness, adequacy, accessibility, utilization, safety, and effectiveness of assistance.
Support baseline and post-distribution monitoring, post-transfer outcome monitoring, recipient feedback exercises, and other assessments required to measure program performance and inform adaptation.
Analyse monitoring data and community feedback to identify implementation gaps, protection concerns, inclusion barriers, unintended consequences, and opportunities to improve assistance delivery.
Ensure that program teams use reliable evidence to inform targeting, transfer value reviews, delivery mechanism adjustments, and decisions about the continuation or modification of interventions.
Document technical decisions, implementation challenges, good practices, and lessons learned, and share findings with program management, IRC technical teams, implementing partners, and relevant coordination forums.
Contribute to donor reporting, internal program reviews, learning events, and evidence-based recommendations for improving the quality, efficiency, and impact of CVA.
Support periodic program reviews and adaptive management processes to ensure that CVA interventions remain responsive to the evolving humanitarian context and the needs of affected populations.

Capacity Strengthening and Support to Implementing Partners

Assess the CVA technical, operational, financial, and compliance capacities of implementing partners, including national NGOs and other locally led organizations involved in ReSET Pillar 1 delivery.
Develop partner-specific capacity-strengthening plans based on identified gaps, program requirements, and agreed partnership objectives.
Deliver or facilitate training, coaching, mentoring, and on-the-job technical support covering CVA fundamentals, market assessments, response analysis, transfer-value calculations, targeting, registration, payment delivery, risk management, accountability, monitoring, and reporting.
Support partners to develop and apply appropriate CVA tools, standard operating procedures, control mechanisms, and documentation systems in line with IRC and donor requirements.
Conduct periodic partner support visits and technical reviews to assess implementation quality, identify challenges, track capacity-development progress, and agree on improvement measures.
Promote equitable partnerships, local leadership, knowledge sharing, and the progressive strengthening of local actors' capacity to plan, deliver, monitor, and manage quality CVA interventions.
Facilitate the exchange of experience and good practices among IRC teams, consortium partners, local organizations, and other humanitarian actors.

Coordination, Representation and External Engagement

Represent IRC in relevant Cash Working Group meetings, CVA technical forums, inter-agency coordination mechanisms, and other relevant platforms, as delegated by project management and country program leadership.
Contribute to coordinated and harmonized approaches to CVA, including the exchange of market information, transfer-value analysis, delivery mechanism learning, technical guidance, and operational best practices.
Collaborate with relevant government institutions, UN agencies, humanitarian organizations, financial service providers, and local actors to support coherent, complementary, and accountable assistance.
Support the development and dissemination of technical briefs, assessment findings, learning products, and evidence-based recommendations relevant to CVA under Pillar 1.
Maintain constructive working relationships with internal and external stakeholders while ensuring that IRC's technical positions and program commitments remain consistent with approved strategies and donor requirements.
Identify opportunities for joint assessments, shared market monitoring, harmonized tools, and inter-agency learning that improve response quality and reduce duplication.

Compliance, Risk Management and Reporting

Ensure that CVA activities comply with IRC policies and procedures, the IRC Cash Transfer Programming Operations Manual, applicable humanitarian standards, approved project documents, and FCDO contractual and reporting requirements.
Support the identification, documentation, monitoring, and mitigation of financial, operational, fiduciary, protection, safeguarding, security, market, and data protection risks associated with CVA.
Work with finance, operations, supply chain, security, and program management teams to ensure that appropriate internal controls are in place and consistently applied throughout the transfer delivery cycle.
Ensure that program documentation, beneficiary records, payment reconciliation, distribution reports, monitoring findings, and other supporting evidence are complete, accurate, securely maintained, and available for authorized review.
Provide timely technical input to donor reports, work plans, budget revisions, risk registers, audit processes, and other program management requirements.
Escalate significant implementation risks, suspected fraud, safeguarding concerns, payment failures, data breaches, and other incidents through established IRC reporting channels.
Support program management in tracking progress against agreed deliverables, indicators, milestones, and expenditure plans, and in developing corrective actions when performance falls below expectations.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EDUCATION

A university degree in Economics, Development Studies, International Development, Humanitarian Affairs, Public Administration, Agriculture and Food Security, Social Sciences, or a related field.
A postgraduate qualification in a relevant discipline is an advantage.
Professional training or certification in Cash and Voucher Assistance, such as CaLP/Cash Learning Partnership or equivalent recognized CVA training, is desirable.
Training in market analysis, humanitarian protection, accountability to affected populations, financial inclusion, or emergency response is an advantage.

EXPERIENCE AND TECHNICAL COMPETENCIES

At least six years of progressively responsible experience in design, implementation, technical support, or oversight of CVA in humanitarian and/or development settings.
Demonstrated experience supporting emergency cash programming for refugees, internally displaced people, and other crisis-affected populations, preferably in complex operational environments.
Proven experience conducting or interpreting CVA feasibility assessments, market assessments, response analysis, protection risk assessments, and delivery mechanism assessments.
Strong understanding of multipurpose cash assistance, sector-specific cash and voucher interventions, transfer-value calculation, and the application of the Minimum Expenditure Basket.
Experience with a range of cash and voucher delivery mechanisms, including mobile money, bank transfers, payment cards, electronic vouchers, paper vouchers, and other context-appropriate approaches.
Practical understanding of beneficiary identification, registration, verification, targeting, and deduplication processes, including barriers associated with documentation and access to identification systems.
Demonstrated knowledge of financial controls, payment reconciliation, fraud risk mitigation, audit requirements, and operational procedures for cash transfer delivery.
Experience integrating protection, gender equality, disability inclusion, safeguarding, and accountability considerations into CVA programming.
Strong understanding of MEAL systems, post-distribution monitoring, post-transfer monitoring, community feedback mechanisms, and evidence-based program adaptation.
Demonstrated experience training, coaching, mentoring, and strengthening the capacity of national NGOs, local partners, and program staff.
Experience working with humanitarian coordination mechanisms, particularly Cash Working Groups, and contributing to inter-agency technical discussions.
Demonstrated ability to develop technical guidance, standard operating procedures, implementation plans, assessments, and donor reports.
Experience contributing to program design, proposal development, budget planning, and donor compliance.
Familiarity with Sphere Standards, relevant Cash and Voucher Assistance guidance, and applicable humanitarian principles.
Ability to interpret program data, identify implementation challenges, and develop practical, evidence-based solutions.

Core Skills and Competencies:

Strong technical analysis, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
Excellent planning, coordination, organization, and prioritization skills.
Ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly to technical and non-technical audiences.
Strong interpersonal, negotiation, facilitation, and stakeholder engagement skills.
Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively with multidisciplinary teams and implementing partners.
Demonstrated commitment to accountability, inclusion, safeguarding, and the dignity of crisis-affected people.
Strong computer literacy and proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, particularly Excel, Word, and PowerPoint; experience with relevant data collection and analysis tools is an advantage.
Strong written and spoken English, including the ability to prepare high-quality technical reports and program documentation.
Willingness and ability to travel to project implementation locations, including refugee settlements and host communities, subject to operational and security requirements.

NB: This advert will close on 29-Oct-26 and applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Professional Standards: All International Rescue Committee workers must adhere to the core values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. Our Standards are Integrity, Service, Equality and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Safeguarding, Conflicts of Interest, Fiscal Integrity, and Reporting Wrongdoing and Protection from Retaliation. IRC is committed to take all necessary preventive measures and create an environment where people feel safe, and to take all necessary actions and corrective measures when harm occurs. IRC builds teams of professionals who promote critical reflection, power sharing, debate, and objectivity to deliver the best possible services to our clients.

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