The Grand Bargain caucus on cash coordination - Principals agree on a way forward

On Monday 22 November, Principals from the agencies participating in the caucus (the US government, ECHO, WFP, OCHA, UNHCR, UNICEF, IFRC, ICVA, A4EP and the CCD) as well as observers (CaLP, Cashcap and the World Bank) attended the first high-level strategic meeting on cash coordination, convened and facilitated by Jan Egeland in his role as EP.

Participants to the meeting expressed support for the process and recognised the need to find a timely solution that can provide a system for accountable and predictable cash coordination. Several stakeholders stressed the importance of better defining the expected functions of cash coordination – overall, there was a call to define the what before moving ahead to discussions around the who and the how. There was however broad agreement on the why.

Participants also reiterated support for an inclusive and transparent process. Some of the themes that were mentioned and that the process will further unpack are: the role of local actors and affected people, so as to build an inclusive and representative system; the perceived dichotomy between operational and strategic coordination, and the need to better define the scope of work of the caucus with regards to this issue; issues of resourcing and leadership of the coordination system.

Senior technical representatives of this group will meet first on 29 November for a preparatory meeting, then convene for a two-day workshop that will take place on 7 and 8 December. It was agreed that the outcome of the workshop will be then transmitted back to the Principals, to endorse the recommendations, unlock any remaining areas of disagreement and officially share with the IASC for adoption.

Click here to read the strategy and the timeline of the caucus.