The Future of Financial Assistance (Future of Cash)

The scale up of cash assistance is catalysing rapid change in the humanitarian sector – the emergence of new operational models, changing use of technology and partnerships with private sector actors, and stronger links between humanitarian assistance and other types of financial flows. This has implications for the future roles of humanitarian actors and for the ways in which they plan and deliver to optimize results for people in crisis.

This initiative intentionally situates cash assistance in the much broader space context of ‘financial assistance’. This term is understood to mean all financial flows which reach vulnerable and crisis-affected people at individual or household level. It is intentionally used in recognition that there is a broad set of instruments which can support individuals to meet their humanitarian needs through improving their financial access to markets and services. This assistance may be provided through a range of mechanisms, including institutions (state or non-state) or directly from other individuals.

This report is the product of a collaborative process between Cash Learning Partnership (CaLP)  and The Inter-Agency Research and Analysis Network (IARAN) to envision the future of financial assistance to meet humanitarian needs, with a 2030 horizon. The analysis uses foresight methodologies to propose 4 scenarios for the future of financial assistance. These aim to support humanitarian actors involved in cash assistance to collectively understand how they will most effectively capitalise on the future trends relating to financial assistance, to best meet humanitarian needs.