The Importance of Acting on Grand Bargain Commitments for a Meaningful Focus on Gender in Cash and Voucher Assistance: Responses to the Covid-19 Pandemic

n 2016, world leaders, United Nations (UN) agencies, and humanitarian agencies came together to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of humanitarian action resulting in 51 commitments known as the Grand Bargain. The global COVID-19 pandemic has already highlighted the gendered impacts of the virus: an exacerbated burden of unpaid care work on women, negative impacts on women’s economic empowerment, likely leading to reduced livelihoods and income opportunities, increased gender-based violence (GBV) and protection risks, and interrupted access to sexual and reproductive healthcare. Cash and voucher assistance (CVA) continues to be scaled in humanitarian responses and is an increasingly useful tool at this time of quarantine and social distancing. It is more imperative than ever before to ensure that the commitments made toward mainstreaming gender in cash and voucher responses are front and centre.