Making the most of cash at scale - Mercy Corps Policy Paper - October 2023

Mercy Corps’ new study explores the potential of cash at scale to meet increasing humanitarian needs and deliver peoplecentric response. For Mercy Corps, cash at scale to date has been delivered via consortium models. Over the past few years, Mercy Corps has led cash consortia around the globe, delivering cash at scale with partners to meet critical basic needs. Compared to single-agency led operations, successful consortia generally drive the quality and effectiveness of cash at scale – as such, the consortium model has become integral to ongoing discussions on cash at scale.

Mercy Corps is now reflecting on its learnings and investigating how cash at scale can be used to better support people affected by crisis. The new research seeks to help fill evidence gaps by questioning:
 

• Whether the presumed benefits of cash at scale are true and if so, how the sector can capitalize on these moving forward;
• Whether the perceived opportunities presented by cash at
  scale do exist and if so, how they can lead to improvements;
• Whether the perceived risks of cash at scale exist and if so, how they can be mitigated.