Research shows that, where markets operate, cash-based interventions have the potential to efficiently reach people in needfaster and at lower cost than other forms of emergency assistance. This empowers people to make choices about assistance orservices, in accordance with principles affirmed in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), andsimultaneously sustains the local economy. Humanitarian actors now invest in cash-based interventions on a larger scale andmore consistently, reflecting a commitment set out in the Grand Bargain, an agreement involving more than 30 of the biggestdonors and aid providers.
Cash-based intervention is one modality of assistance and has been used for many years in disability-inclusive social protectionand safety net programming in development settings. Humanitarian actors can draw on this experience when they pilot and scaleup cash-based support in emergencies.77
However, cash is only one modality. It can complement or be complemented by in-kind delivery of assistance at distributionpoints or at household level.78 There is still a large evidence gap and an incomplete understanding of the role that cash-based interventions may play inthe protection and empowermentof persons with disabilities in humanitarian contexts, or the risks that persons with disabilities may face when they accesscash in these settings.79