Provision of Cash Assistance and Psychosocial Support in Response to COVID-19 In order to respond to the increased needs of vulnerable populations as a result of COVID-19, ICMC proposes a 5-month intervention to deliver cash assistance and psychosocial support (PSS) counselling services to those most in need of immediate assistance. Households who had minimal income prior to COVID-19 measures, have lost their usual source of livelihood and are struggling to cover basic needs in the short-term will be targeted through this project. A total of 835 households (4,175 individuals) from refugees and host communities will be provided cash assistance, of which 200 individuals including women, men, girls and boys identified with psychosocial needs will be directly supported by ICMC’s counselors, ensuring holistic support. Through providing PSS, ICMC aims to build resilience and support the development of positive coping strategies that will result in more protective family environments and complement the overall impact of its cash assistance intervention. Both the cash assistance and counselling will be provided to households living in urban and rural areas of Irbid, Mafraq, Zarqa, Jerash, and Ajloun governorates. The planned intervention will build on ICMC’s demonstrated experience in delivering timely and impactful cash assistance to alleviate urgent financial needs, and provision of high-quality PSS to individuals with specific protection needs. The project has been designed to reflect the priorities laid out in the Basic Needs COVID-19 Emergency Response Plan and developed based-on consultation with other partners in the sector to ensure wide coverage and non-duplication of beneficiaries. Further, the project activities are informed by the findings of ICMC’s rapid needs assessment conducted in April, which identified how needs and risks among vulnerable groups have evolved since the health pandemic. As with all of ICMC’s cash-based assistance projects, close coordination with UNHCR and the Ministry of Social Development will allow ICMC to obtain lists of potential refugee and Jordanian host community beneficiaries for the project. All potential beneficiaries will be assessed using ICMC’s comprehensive vulnerability assessment tool which closely reflects UNHCR’s Vulnerability Assessment Framework (VAF). This tool will ensure that households who recently lost their primary source of income, who have limited financial resources, high levels of debt and other economic vulnerabilities due to COVID-19 are prioritized for assistance. Additionally, the tool includes the short set of Washington Group questions to identify people with disabilities, as well as tailored questions designed to capture the protection needs of highly vulnerable groups due to their specific profiles including women and older individuals (age 60+) at risk, survivors of SGBV, people with disabilities, children at risk, and single parents/caregivers. Provision of the cash assistance will follow the Basic Needs COVID-19 Task Force’s standard assistance packages based on family size, targeting priority groups with specific needs related to gender, age, and disability, and PSS cases will be identified following the vulnerability assessment, based on recommendations from the caseworkers. ICMC is in the final stages of transitioning to the Common Cash Facility (CCF) platform for all of its cash distributions and expects this process to be completed by the start of the project. In case the CCF transition is not yet finalized upon inception phase of the project, ICMC will conduct the project’s distributions through local money lenders (Alawneh) in branches that are centrally located and accessible to the project’s beneficiaries. ICMC has also adapted its SOPs for cash distributions to reflect COVID-19 prevention measures in country. The impact of the project will be reported to the Basic Needs COVID-19 Task Force, of which ICMC is an active member, to ensure learnings and best practices are documented and shared within the sector