Pakistan - Post-Distribution Monitoring of Cash-Based Intervention, November 2020

THE CBI PDM Household Survey was conducted in Pakistan in November, 2020. UNCHR Pakistan has always been at the front line of dealing with the Afghan refugee crisis. In the wake of Covid-19 pandemic and its far lasting financial impacts, UNHCR Pakistan has rolled out an Emergency Cash Assistance Program to help refugees meet their basic needs and to mitigate harsh socio-economic impacts in the time of crises and countrywide lockdowns. UNHCR implemented a one-off emergency cash assistance to vulnerable refugee and asylum seeker families to help meet their basic needs including food, rent, and access to essential supplies and services. This large-scale cash distribution required an independent third-party post distribution monitoring (PDM) to confirm whether the beneficiaries have received their entitled cash payment and also to clarify the mode of utilization of cash, whether it has been shared, spent, or saved.

UNHCR uses Post-Distribution Monitoring (PDM) as a mechanism to collect refugees' feedback on the quality, sufficiency, utilization and effectiveness of the assistance items they receive. The underlying principle behind the process is linked to accountability, as well as a commitment to improve the quality and relevance of support provided, and related services. UNHCR increasingly uses Cash-Based Interventions (CBIs) as a preferred modality for delivering assistance, offering greater dignity and choice to forcibly displaced and stateless persons in line with UNHCR's core protection mandate. In order to ensure that the cash assistance provided meets the intended programme objectives and that desired outcomes are achieved, UNHCR conducts regular post-distribution and outcome monitoring with a sample or all of refugee recipients.