Fijian communities get Disaster READY with Cash and Voucher Assistance pilots

Funded through the Disaster READY program, Save the Children is trialling a cash and voucher assistance program in Fiji.

Pacific Island Countries are disproportionately affected by climate change, and will experience greater and more intense weather events such as cyclones and floods in the coming years. 

As part of the Disaster READY program, in October 2019 Save the Children piloted providing cash and voucher assistance to beneficiaries following a disaster, by conducting simulation drills in three Western Fijian communities.

The three chosen communities: Narewa, Vio Island and Votua all exist in disaster-prone areas, and were well-equipped to participate in the drills due to their existing Community Disaster Committees and willingness to participate.

Cash and voucher assistance is an alternative to traditional aid, whereby affected people receive either physical cash, mobile money or vouchers in place of goods-in-kind and non-food-items, in the event of a disaster. It enables beneficiaries the power and dignity to determine their most urgent needs, as well as supporting the local economy by ensuring money is spent in local market systems.

Save the Children Fiji Cash and Voucher Assistance Preparedness Coordinator Suliasi Sarosaro said the exercise had been important in helping prepare the individual communities as well as the aid agency itself to deliver the program.

Funded through the Disaster READY program, Save the Children is trialling a cash and voucher assistance program in Fiji.

“The program was trialled in communities of varying size – Votua being the largest. Conducting these simulations has given us a much better grasp of the logistics and process required to deliver disaster recovery assistance in this way.”

“Crucially, these communities now view Cash and Voucher Assistance as central to their disaster preparedness considerations. The overwhelming feedback has been positive, as cash and vouchers give individuals and households greater control, choice and therefore the ability to cater to their most pressing needs in an emergency,” he said.

Vio Island resident and mother of four, Siteri, said she thought cash and voucher assistance was a very good idea. 

“Sometimes, for the mothers like me, the government gives tin and things for the houses. That doesn’t feed children. We need to buy diapers, milk – the stuff that children need. In the past we received materials for the house but no other aid. Cash is more equal,” Siteri said.

“There are also broader economic benefits to Cash and Voucher Assistance through its flow-on effect of supporting the local economy and getting businesses moving in the immediate aftermath of disaster,” explained Suliasi.

As cyclone season looms, this work is particularly important in the Pacific region, the most disaster-prone region in the world, where residents are five times more likely to experience a natural disaster than someone living elsewhere in the world.

In 2020, Save the Children plans to roll out cash and voucher assistance activities in other Fijian communities as well as in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.