By VINCENT OWINO

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Cash transfers have in the past been a preferred form of humanitarian assistance for aid organisations seeking to reach needy communities.

Recent challenges have, however, forced donors to resort to relief food and material goods, which too have proven susceptible to theft and misappropriation.

Besides, low network coverage and mobile phone penetration among vulnerable societies, cash transfers have been marred by cases of fraud and diversion of funds meant for the needy.

Just last week, GiveDirectly, a charity that purely uses cash transfers to support poor families in the region, reported losses of nearly $1 million in diverted funds meant for poor households in Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In Kenya, cash meant for vulnerable households during the pandemic peak in 2020 was reportedly squandered by public officials.

Human Rights Watch said the programme was marked by “lack of transparency, cronyism, nepotism and outright favouritism” and that government officials did not follow the due process of ensuring the monies ended up in the right pockets.

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These are the challenges that have inspired the development of cash transfer systems specifically for humanitarian aid delivery.
Hormuud, a telecommunications company in Somalia – where drought and conflict have left more than 5.9 million people in need of humanitarian assistance – is among organisations that have stepped in to ease cash transfers.

Using their mobile money platform EVC Plus, Hormuud built a humanitarian portal that enables aid agencies to directly send money to vulnerable people, instantly and without the need for middlemen or agents.

Hassan Dahir, Hormuud’s deputy communications manager, told The EastAfrican that the portal makes available names and contact details of needy people in different regions in Somalia and has a multilevel authorisation, meaning no one person can solely complete a transaction, which reduces the possibility of diversion of funds.

It also allows users from anywhere in the world, which can give donors the ability to oversee the process.

Since its establishment in 2021, EVC Plus has facilitated over $250 million in donations.

In Kenya, telecommunication firm Safaricom has developed Surepay, built on its mobile money platform M-Pesa.

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Surepay allows easy disbursing of aid money directly to vulnerable people in a single click. It allows organisations to track funds sent to beneficiaries and place restrictions on where the money is spent.

The World Food Programme (WFP) uses Surepay to support vulnerable people in Kenya, and it says the platform has significantly improved the efficiency of the process.

“It’s much easier now. We see an average error rate of just three percent, but six years ago we had errors of up to 40 to 50 percent,” said Felix Okech, head of refugee and relief operations in Kenya.

However, the system works well in Kenya majorly because the mobile penetration rate is already too high, and majority of the population have registered mobile money accounts and know how to use them.

“This is what is making the use of cash transfers in Kenya so easy, because mobile penetration is already high and you don’t have to train people on how to use mobile money or equip them,” Okech noted.

In Somalia, Mr Dahir noted, it is much easier to use cash transfers for aid deliveries since payment is largely cashless and majority of the people possess mobile phones and have mobile money accounts.