Case Study: Position Paper on Cash-Based Intervention by Viet Nam Red Cross

The Viet Nam Red Cross Society (VNRC) is one of the leading humanitarian organization in Viet Nam with clear roles in responding to disaster and emergency situation. As an auxiliary to the government, VNRC works closely with the government structures at national, provincial and community level to provide assistance to vulnerable household affected by disasters. In this capacity, it is recognized as the first

agency to deliver much needed relief and support the long-term recovery of disaster affected populations in the areas of food, non-food items, water, hygiene and sanitation, livelihoods and shelter.

The use of cash has a long history in humanitarian development and emergency programming in Viet Nam. It has increasingly become a preferred emergency response option in addition to distribution of household kits and provision of food and non-food items. There is a growing evidence that cash-based intervention (CBI) is an effective modality to meet humanitarian needs of the disaster affected communities. However, there is still much scope for improvement of CBI approaches in Viet Nam.

This paper provides an overview of the increasing use of CBIs by VNRC in emergency operations and highlights the current initiatives taken by VNRC to improve capacity of the National Society for future large-scale responses.

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Viet Nam Red Cross Conducts Pre-Disaster Meeting | 22 May 2019 | Hanoi, Viet Nam

Pre-disaster meeting (PDM) has become a routine exercise of Viet Nam Red Cross for the past several years. The event brought both management and technical people together to review the achievements and lessons learned from the previous disaster season, and discuss, mobilise and prepare for what are to be projected in coming months.

The event is a great opportunity for strengthening partnership with both internal and external partners (VNDMA, NGOs, IOs and donors) and to prove with partners VNRC’s capacity, methodologies of doing things, response tools including policies to facilitate so call an effective response operation. It is more meaningful for VNRC Headquarters and disaster-prone chapters to have dialogues and better understanding between each other on what need to be done to ensure an effective disaster response.

The event was attended by almost 80 participants from VNRC HQs, disaster prone provinces, partner National Societies, ICRC, IFRC and external partners of UN Country Team, NGOs, INGOs, governmental agencies and private sector.

On this occasion, the IFRC CCST presented Viet Nam Red Cross the ASEAN Award for School Safety Initiative in recognition of Viet Nam RC’s great contribution toward building safer and more resilient communities in Viet Nam and a resilient ASEAN region.

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Lao Delegation Visits Viet Nam To Learn About Emergency Fund | 27-30 May 2019 | Hanoi, Viet Nam

 

From 27-30 May, Lao delegation paid an official visit to Viet Nam to learn and exchange information on sub-legislation and establishing a dedicated disaster management fund decree, and best practices and challenges in its implementation. The delegation was led by Mr. Vilayphong Sisomvang- Acting Director General and Head of Secretariat of National Committee for Disaster Prevention and Control (NCDPC) together with representatives of Prime Minister Office, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare and Lao Red Cross.

On 28 May in Hanoi, the Lao delegation was received by Viet Nam Red Cross (VNRC); Ministry of Labour and Invalid and Social Affairs (MOLISA) and Viet Nam Disaster Management Authority (VNDMA). In the morning, the delegation paid a courtesy visit to Viet Nam Red Cross and was received by Mr. Nguyen Hai Anh- Viet Nam Red Cross’s Vice President and Secretary General who has expressed his recognition of long-term and neighbouring bilateral relationships between the two countries and two Red Cross National Societies and he also emphasized that Viet Nam Red Cross will continue to accompany and provide support to Lao Red Cross in various areas such as Red Cross Law development and implementation; community based initiatives; livelihoods opportunities for vulnerable people so on so forth. On this occasion, VNRC shared its experience in establishment and management of its emergency fund as well as its disaster preparedness and response capacity.

In the afternoon of the same day, the delegation was warmly welcomed by Mr. Nguyen Duc Quang, Director of Disaster Response Department of Viet Nam Disaster Management Authority- Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and his team. At the meeting, Mr. Quang enthusiastically shared with the delegation of step by step process in establishing the Disaster Prevention and Control Fund aftermath the Disaster Prevention and Control Law in 2014 and guided by Decree 64/TTg on Disaster Prevention and Control Fund. According to Mr. Quang, majority of provinces in Viet Nam have already had the fund established and but the use of the fund has its limitation due to lack of guidance and mechanism in place. Mr. Quang also mentioned that the revision of the Disaster Prevention and Control Law and several Decrees are under the process. The afternoon session went very well with a lot of technical questions and discussions.

The next day 29 May, the delegation visits Hai Phong city, it is one of the most successful provinces in the country in establishing and managing the fund since the availability of Decree 64/TTg. At the reception, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Chuyen- Vice chairman of the provincial people committee briefed the delegation of some remarkable tiers of friendship between the city and two other provinces of Laos such as Vientiane province and Oudomxay as well as the city economic development in the past years. After the reception, both sides had two intensive session to deeply discuss on the disaster prevention and control fund.

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Viet Nam Red Cross Conducts Minimum Expenditure Basket Workshop | 24-26 April 2019 | Hanoi, Viet Nam

   

 

Cash & Vouchers Assistance (CVA) has increasingly become a preferred option in humanitarian response in Viet Nam. Various stakeholders including UNDP, FAO, IOM, UN Women, IFRC, Viet Nam Red Cross (VNRC), Catholic Relief Service (CRS) and Save the Children have addressed needs of disaster affected people through CVA.  In 2017 alone, most of the funding from UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) was allocated to CVA interventions.

There are different approaches to CVA in terms of transfer values and targeting processes. Being cognizant of global and local trends towards coherent and coordinated approaches toward CVA to optimize resources, the in-country Cash Working Group (CWG) was created. The group aims to organise a platform of stakeholders engaged in CVA to exchange experiences and knowledge, communicate best practices and lesson learned on CVA, as well as to seek harmonization of CVA approaches both in terms of process and transfer value. To achieve this, apart from regular coordination meetings, the CWG proposes capacity building for its members, particularly on market assessments and calculation of transfer values.

To carry it forward, IFRC/VNRC and FAO jointly organized the Minimum Expenditure Basket (MEB) Workshop in Hanoi between 24 and 26 April with 17 participants (10 female) from VNRC, Swiss Red Cross, UNDP, UNICEF, CRS, Care International, World Vision and Plan International. The Regional cash working group (IFRC and CaLP) provided technical support. The workshop provided common understanding on MEB and transfer value calculation following disaster and crisis. The next steps will be the consultation with cluster specialists to finalize the MEB (e.g. shelter, WASH and food security) so that it has the input from the different sectors. This workshop, coupled with field work, is expected to harmonize the calculation of transfer values in humanitarian programmes and to harmonize the methodology and amounts actually delivered to beneficiaries. The workshop objectives are i) to enhance capacity on market assessment for CWG members and ii) o propose MEB which is mutually agreed among stakeholders within the CWG.

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Viet Nam Red Cross Conducts Training on Cash & Data Management | 5-8 March 2019 | Ha Noi, Viet Nam

 

Viet Nam Red Cross society (VNRC) is implementing a cash preparedness project since the past year which paves the way to acceptance of cash as one of their aid delivery modalities from emergency response to recovery and long-term development. Significant key achievements have been noted as manifested in the successful completion of several cash in emergency DREF responses and finalization of the VNRC’s CVA position paper among others. Results of external evaluations and the midterm review conducted last November 2018 revealed the little use VNRC makes of new technologies in general, digital means for data collection and management, such as tablets and mobile phones. As a result, considerable amount of time is spent on beneficiary data entry and sanitising the excel document to comply with data quality requirements. These bottlenecks affect the desired speed and over-all effectiveness of the assistance. VNRC will soon start delivering cash assistance though financial service provider to process fund transfers which further compounds the need for timely collection and management of data meeting the required quality standards.

To move forward, a 5-day workshop were organized in Ha Noi from 5th to 8th March 2019 with participation 32 people (12 female) from VNRC, IFRC, Swiss Red Cross, American Red Cross, government disaster management agency, Save the Children, and Catholic Relief Services. The training was facilitated by the IFRC and Swiss Red Cross.

The purpose of the training to build the capacity of VNRC staff by understanding and practically apply mobile data collection and management tools which will be rapidly deployed in response to emergencies. This training also attempted to link mobile data collection systems to beneficiary registration and monitoring in VNRC.

Evaluation from participants:

Overall it seems that participants were satisfied with the workshop as an introduction to digital data collection and management. Data literacy has strong links to other areas of work such as monitoring and reporting which were also of interest for participants but the time available was insufficient.

Next steps:

It is important that VNRC staff could practice the use of the digital tools in the scenario which is planned to take place in May so that data is collected with RR
Collect, managed with the RR platform and then linked to the FSP for cash distribution. Then VNRC can complete the learning cycle and put into practice what has been taught in the training.

 

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