Providing improved access to essential goods and services for highly vulnerable populations in hard to reach areas - II The project “Providing improved access to essential goods and services for highly vulnerable populations in hard to reach areas II” aims at continuing mitigating the existent constraints surrounding access to both food and non-food items/services, and the subsequent negative mechanisms utilised by individuals and families to manage these access constraints. This project will do so by maintaining the provision of direct, Multipurpose Cash transfers allowing people to their basic needs in Aarsal area, where no other Cash method can effectively reach the underprivileged population. This intervention will continue targeting the most severely economically vulnerable Syrian Refugees and extremely poor Lebanese households living in hard to reach areas, where assistance coverage is extremely reduced. The cash support serves as a boost to the purchasing power of people in need, facilitating their access to goods and services available in the markets, those which are not directly accessible for the target populations through the existing cash transfer modalities. This project will also serve as a boost to the local market economies, particularly local vendors that will benefit from direct cash injection in their businesses.

In order to increase transparency, accountability, dignity, speed, security, and monitor impact of aid response, ACF will use the KACHE System (Kit for Autonomous Cash transfer in Humanitarian Emergencies) made of: a) a small number of “terminals” to be deployed at selected vendors offering goods and/or services in the intervention areas (shops, market stalls, health centres, etc.), working on large-duration batteries and not requiring connection to a telecommunication network b) a large number of smart cards to be easily configured at the beginning of the response with beneficiaries personal data and amount of cash to be monthly transferred, and c) a comprehensive monitoring software allowing to track the locations and goods/services purchased by the beneficiaries. With the use of this modality of e-payments ACF will be able to reach remote areas, usually under-served (due to restricted access to agencies and no banks/ATM present in the area) and will allow for closer monitoring of activities and programme impact.

This proposal is a follow up and continuation of an OCHA-funded project, which ended on 31 December 2016. The continuation of the project activities to another 4 months is deemed necessary for allowing the beneficiaries to prepare for the upcoming cold season and winterise their shelters. The beneficiaries will be, as previous years, exposed to adverse weather conditions and essential items will be included in the aid packages to be distributed to beneficiary HHs with specific needs.
The winterisation activities will be focused on two key components: multi-purpose cash and winterisation top-up. The proposal consists on both 3 disbursements of USD175 on a monthly basis for 653 beneficiary HHs (including Syrians and Lebanese) from January to March 2017 and 2,5 disbursements of USD75 on a monthly basis for 555 beneficiary HHs (only Syrians) from January to mid-March 2017 as a winterisation top-up. The disbursements will be followed by a tight monitoring of beneficiaries and vendors using both the Kache platform and household/vendors visits. The full program will allow to develop a capitalisation document considering best practices, lessons learned, and recommendations for future programming. A capitalisation report will be shared with Basic Assistance Working Group members and other stakeholders for an impact assessment of assistance modality.

Due to the particularities of Aarsal area, with high concentration of severely vulnerable households (85%) in an isolated area, and the lack of alternatives cash methodologies, ACF will also use the extension period to advocate for the continuation of the programme in front of other donors for the remaining months of 2017.