Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) Technical Specialist job at International Rescue Committee (IRC)

Background

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, the IRC is one of the world’s largest international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (INGO), at work in more than 40 countries and 29 U.S. cities helping people to survive, reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities. A force for humanity, IRC employees deliver lasting impact by restoring safety, dignity and hope to millions. If you’re a solutions-driven, passionate change-maker, come join us in positively impacting the lives of millions of people world-wide for a better future.

Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) is a key delivery modality under Pillar 1, and will enable households to meet essential needs, make choices according to their priorities, and access goods and services through local markets. Assistance will include multipurpose cash transfers, sector-specific cash or vouchers, and complementary services, referrals, or in-kind assistance.

The CVA Technical Specialist will provide technical leadership to ensure that cash-based assistance under Pillar 1 is feasible, timely, safe, inclusive, cost-effective, and compliant with IRC policies and FCDO requirements. The position will support the design, implementation, monitoring, and adaptation of CVA interventions, working closely with program, protection, operations, finance, supply chain, and Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) teams, as well as implementing partners and relevant coordination mechanisms.

The role will contribute to ReSET’s wider objective of strengthening the effectiveness and sustainability of Uganda’s refugee response by promoting evidence-based decisions, harmonized approaches, local partner capacity, and accountable delivery of lifesaving assistance.

Role Purpose

The Cash and Voucher Assistance Technical Specialist will lead the technical design, quality assurance, and implementation support for CVA interventions under ReSET Pillar 1. The postholder will ensure that CVA is used as a first-line assistance option where appropriate and that transfer modalities, values, delivery mechanisms, targeting criteria, and implementation arrangements are informed by robust needs assessments, market analysis, protection risk assessments, and the preferences of affected populations.

The Specialist will provide expert technical advice to project management, programming teams, consortium and implementing partners, and operational departments to ensure that CVA interventions meet immediate humanitarian needs while upholding dignity, safety, inclusion, accountability, and value for money.

The postholder will support the development and implementation of program tools, standard operating procedures, feasibility assessments, risk mitigation measures, and monitoring systems. They will strengthen the capacity of IRC staff and local partners, contribute to inter-agency coordination and harmonization, and generate evidence and learning to improve program quality and inform adaptive management.

The role will maintain a clear focus on the lifesaving objectives of Pillar 1 while identifying opportunities to coordinate with complementary protection and multisectoral services under pillar 2. Any transition towards longer-term self-reliance interventions will be coordinated with the relevant Reset program components rather than displacing the immediate lifesaving mandate of Pillar 1.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership and Strategic Direction

• Provide technical leadership for the design and implementation of CVA interventions under ReSET Pillar 1, ensuring alignment with the project results framework, IRC’s Economic Recovery and Development (ERD) strategy, relevant global standards, and FCDO requirements.
• Promote the cash-first principle by ensuring that cash and voucher modalities are systematically considered during response planning and program design, with modality selection informed by market functionality, feasibility, protection risks, accessibility, operational capacity, and affected people’s preferences.
• Lead or support CVA feasibility assessments, market assessments, response analysis, delivery mechanism assessments, and risk analyses to determine the appropriateness of cash, vouchers, in-kind assistance, or a combination of modalities.
• Provide technical recommendations on transfer values, transfer frequency and duration, targeting approaches, delivery mechanisms, and complementary assistance, using relevant evidence such as the Minimum Expenditure Basket (MEB), sector-specific needs, market prices, and applicable inter-agency guidance.
• Support the development, review, and updating of CVA strategies, implementation plans, technical guidance, standard operating procedures, and contingency plans for emergency response and changing humanitarian needs.
• Ensure that CVA interventions are informed by vulnerability and protection analyses and are responsive to the differentiated needs of women, girls, men, boys, older people, persons with disabilities, new arrivals, and other groups facing heightened barriers or risks.
• Identify emerging technical and operational challenges and recommend practical solutions relating to targeting, registration, identification, payment delivery, data management, market access, fraud prevention, and operational efficiency.
• Maintain awareness of developments in CVA policy, digital payment systems, humanitarian response standards, and emerging good practices, and translate relevant learning into program improvements.

Program Design, Implementation and Quality Assurance

• Provide technical input into project work plans, program designs, budgets, implementation schedules, procurement plans, and resource requirements to ensure that CVA activities are feasible and aligned with approved project objectives and deliverables.
• Work with program teams and relevant technical specialists to design and implement appropriate CVA interventions, including multipurpose cash assistance and sector-specific cash or voucher support, based on assessed needs and the approved Pillar 1 response model.
• Support the development and application of transparent, context-appropriate targeting and beneficiary selection criteria, ensuring that selection processes are consistent, inclusive, documented, and protected against discrimination, exploitation, and undue influence.
• Provide technical oversight throughout the CVA program cycle, including assessment, response analysis, targeting, registration, verification, transfer delivery, post-distribution monitoring, complaints handling, and program closure.
• Work closely with finance, operations, supply chain, information management, and security teams to establish effective delivery arrangements and internal controls, including segregation of duties, reconciliation, exception management, audit trails, and fraud risk mitigation.
• Ensure that payment delivery mechanisms are appropriate to the context and accessible to intended recipients, considering options such as mobile money, bank transfers, payment cards, regulated financial service providers, vouchers, and other approved mechanisms.
• Promote coordination between CVA and complementary protection and multisectoral services, ensuring that referrals and linkages are established where appropriate and that assistance does not expose recipients to additional protection risks.
• Conduct regular field visits to monitor implementation quality, engage with affected communities and implementing partners, identify operational bottlenecks, and agree on corrective actions with relevant teams.
• Provide timely technical advice to project management on implementation progress, emerging risks, delivery challenges, and proposed adjustments to ensure that assistance remains relevant and responsive to changing needs.
• Support the development and implementation of contingency and scale-up plans for sudden increases in humanitarian needs, new displacement, market disruptions, or other shocks affecting target populations.

Market Analysis, Transfer Value and Delivery Mechanisms

• Lead or coordinate market assessments and ongoing market monitoring to establish the availability, accessibility, affordability, and reliability of essential goods and services in targeted locations.
• Analyze market prices, household expenditure patterns, purchasing power, and relevant sectoral needs to inform the calculation, review, and adjustment of transfer values.
• Support the application and contextualization of the Minimum Expenditure Basket and other relevant transfer-value calculation methodologies, ensuring that assumptions, data sources, and decisions are documented and periodically reviewed.
• Assess the feasibility and risks of proposed payment and voucher delivery mechanisms, including provider capacity, geographical coverage, transaction costs, liquidity, recipient accessibility, data protection, and continuity of service.
• Coordinate with financial service providers, vendors, and other relevant market actors, in collaboration with procurement, finance, and operations teams, to support reliable, transparent, and cost-effective assistance delivery.
• Monitor market conditions and identify risks such as inflation, price volatility, supply constraints, market concentration, and disruptions that could undermine the effectiveness of CVA.
• Recommend appropriate adaptations to transfer values, delivery mechanisms, or assistance modalities when market conditions, recipient needs, or protection risks change.
• Promote responsible use of digital technologies and data systems to improve delivery efficiency, while ensuring that digital exclusion, identification barriers, connectivity limitations, and data privacy risks are adequately addressed.

Qualifications And Education

• A university degree in Economics, Development Studies, International Development, Humanitarian Affairs, Public Administration, Agriculture and Food Security, Social Sciences, or a related field.
• A postgraduate qualification in a relevant discipline is an advantage.
• Professional training or certification in Cash and Voucher Assistance, such as CaLP/Cash Learning Partnership or equivalent recognized CVA training, is desirable.
• Training in market analysis, humanitarian protection, accountability to affected populations, financial inclusion, or emergency response is an advantage.

Experience And Technical Competencies

• At least six years of progressively responsible experience in design, implementation, technical support, or oversight of CVA in humanitarian and/or development settings.
• Demonstrated experience supporting emergency cash programming for refugees, internally displaced people, and other crisis-affected populations, preferably in complex operational environments.
• Proven experience conducting or interpreting CVA feasibility assessments, market assessments, response analysis, protection risk assessments, and delivery mechanism assessments.
• Strong understanding of multipurpose cash assistance, sector-specific cash and voucher interventions, transfer-value calculation, and the application of the Minimum Expenditure Basket.
• Experience with a range of cash and voucher delivery mechanisms, including mobile money, bank transfers, payment cards, electronic vouchers, paper vouchers, and other context-appropriate approaches.
• Practical understanding of beneficiary identification, registration, verification, targeting, and deduplication processes, including barriers associated with documentation and access to identification systems.
• Demonstrated knowledge of financial controls, payment reconciliation, fraud risk mitigation, audit requirements, and operational procedures for cash transfer delivery.
• Experience integrating protection, gender equality, disability inclusion, safeguarding, and accountability considerations into CVA programming.
• Strong understanding of MEAL systems, post-distribution monitoring, post-transfer monitoring, community feedback mechanisms, and evidence-based program adaptation.
• Demonstrated experience training, coaching, mentoring, and strengthening the capacity of national NGOs, local partners, and program staff.
• Experience working with humanitarian coordination mechanisms, particularly Cash Working Groups, and contributing to inter-agency technical discussions.
• Demonstrated ability to develop technical guidance, standard operating procedures, implementation plans, assessments, and donor reports.
• Experience contributing to program design, proposal development, budget planning, and donor compliance.
• Familiarity with Sphere Standards, relevant Cash and Voucher Assistance guidance, and applicable humanitarian principles.
• Ability to interpret program data, identify implementation challenges, and develop practical, evidence-based solutions.

Core Skills And Competencies

• Strong technical analysis, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Excellent planning, coordination, organization, and prioritization skills.
• Ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong interpersonal, negotiation, facilitation, and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively with multidisciplinary teams and implementing partners.
• Demonstrated commitment to accountability, inclusion, safeguarding, and the dignity of crisis-affected people.
• Strong computer literacy and proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, particularly Excel, Word, and PowerPoint; experience with relevant data collection and analysis tools is an advantage.
• Strong written and spoken English, including the ability to prepare high-quality technical reports and program documentation.
• Willingness and ability to travel to project implementation locations, including refugee settlements and host communities, subject to operational and security requirements.

NB: This advert will close on 29-Oct-26 and applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

• Provide technical leadership for the design and implementation of CVA interventions under ReSET Pillar 1, ensuring alignment with the project results framework, IRC’s Economic Recovery and Development (ERD) strategy, relevant global standards, and FCDO requirements.
• Promote the cash-first principle by ensuring that cash and voucher modalities are systematically considered during response planning and program design, with modality selection informed by market functionality, feasibility, protection risks, accessibility, operational capacity, and affected people’s preferences.
• Lead or support CVA feasibility assessments, market assessments, response analysis, delivery mechanism assessments, and risk analyses to determine the appropriateness of cash, vouchers, in-kind assistance, or a combination of modalities.
• Provide technical recommendations on transfer values, transfer frequency and duration, targeting approaches, delivery mechanisms, and complementary assistance, using relevant evidence such as the Minimum Expenditure Basket (MEB), sector-specific needs, market prices, and applicable inter-agency guidance.
• Support the development, review, and updating of CVA strategies, implementation plans, technical guidance, standard operating procedures, and contingency plans for emergency response and changing humanitarian needs.
• Ensure that CVA interventions are informed by vulnerability and protection analyses and are responsive to the differentiated needs of women, girls, men, boys, older people, persons with disabilities, new arrivals, and other groups facing heightened barriers or risks.
• Identify emerging technical and operational challenges and recommend practical solutions relating to targeting, registration, identification, payment delivery, data management, market access, fraud prevention, and operational efficiency.
• Maintain awareness of developments in CVA policy, digital payment systems, humanitarian response standards, and emerging good practices, and translate relevant learning into program improvements.
• Provide technical input into project work plans, program designs, budgets, implementation schedules, procurement plans, and resource requirements to ensure that CVA activities are feasible and aligned with approved project objectives and deliverables.
• Work with program teams and relevant technical specialists to design and implement appropriate CVA interventions, including multipurpose cash assistance and sector-specific cash or voucher support, based on assessed needs and the approved Pillar 1 response model.
• Support the development and application of transparent, context-appropriate targeting and beneficiary selection criteria, ensuring that selection processes are consistent, inclusive, documented, and protected against discrimination, exploitation, and undue influence.
• Provide technical oversight throughout the CVA program cycle, including assessment, response analysis, targeting, registration, verification, transfer delivery, post-distribution monitoring, complaints handling, and program closure.
• Work closely with finance, operations, supply chain, information management, and security teams to establish effective delivery arrangements and internal controls, including segregation of duties, reconciliation, exception management, audit trails, and fraud risk mitigation.
• Ensure that payment delivery mechanisms are appropriate to the context and accessible to intended recipients, considering options such as mobile money, bank transfers, payment cards, regulated financial service providers, vouchers, and other approved mechanisms.
• Promote coordination between CVA and complementary protection and multisectoral services, ensuring that referrals and linkages are established where appropriate and that assistance does not expose recipients to additional protection risks.
• Conduct regular field visits to monitor implementation quality, engage with affected communities and implementing partners, identify operational bottlenecks, and agree on corrective actions with relevant teams.
• Provide timely technical advice to project management on implementation progress, emerging risks, delivery challenges, and proposed adjustments to ensure that assistance remains relevant and responsive to changing needs.
• Support the development and implementation of contingency and scale-up plans for sudden increases in humanitarian needs, new displacement, market disruptions, or other shocks affecting target populations.
• Lead or coordinate market assessments and ongoing market monitoring to establish the availability, accessibility, affordability, and reliability of essential goods and services in targeted locations.
• Analyze market prices, household expenditure patterns, purchasing power, and relevant sectoral needs to inform the calculation, review, and adjustment of transfer values.
• Support the application and contextualization of the Minimum Expenditure Basket and other relevant transfer-value calculation methodologies, ensuring that assumptions, data sources, and decisions are documented and periodically reviewed.
• Assess the feasibility and risks of proposed payment and voucher delivery mechanisms, including provider capacity, geographical coverage, transaction costs, liquidity, recipient accessibility, data protection, and continuity of service.
• Coordinate with financial service providers, vendors, and other relevant market actors, in collaboration with procurement, finance, and operations teams, to support reliable, transparent, and cost-effective assistance delivery.
• Monitor market conditions and identify risks such as inflation, price volatility, supply constraints, market concentration, and disruptions that could undermine the effectiveness of CVA.
• Recommend appropriate adaptations to transfer values, delivery mechanisms, or assistance modalities when market conditions, recipient needs, or protection risks change.
• Promote responsible use of digital technologies and data systems to improve delivery efficiency, while ensuring that digital exclusion, identification barriers, connectivity limitations, and data privacy risks are adequately addressed.

• Technical analysis
• Problem-solving
• Decision-making
• Planning
• Coordination
• Organization
• Prioritization
• Communication
• Interpersonal skills
• Negotiation
• Facilitation
• Stakeholder engagement
• Team collaboration
• Accountability
• Inclusion
• Safeguarding
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint)
• Data collection and analysis tools
• Written and spoken English

• University degree in Economics, Development Studies, International Development, Humanitarian Affairs, Public Administration, Agriculture and Food Security, Social Sciences, or a related field.
• Professional training or certification in Cash and Voucher Assistance, such as CaLP/Cash Learning Partnership or equivalent recognized CVA training, is desirable.
• Training in market analysis, humanitarian protection, accountability to affected populations, financial inclusion, or emergency response is an advantage.
• At least six years of progressively responsible experience in design, implementation, technical support, or oversight of CVA in humanitarian and/or development settings.
• Demonstrated experience supporting emergency cash programming for refugees, internally displaced people, and other crisis-affected populations, preferably in complex operational environments.
• Proven experience conducting or interpreting CVA feasibility assessments, market assessments, response analysis, protection risk assessments, and delivery mechanism assessments.
• Strong understanding of multipurpose cash assistance, sector-specific cash and voucher interventions, transfer-value calculation, and the application of the Minimum Expenditure Basket.
• Experience with a range of cash and voucher delivery mechanisms, including mobile money, bank transfers, payment cards, electronic vouchers, paper vouchers, and other context-appropriate approaches.
• Practical understanding of beneficiary identification, registration, verification, targeting, and deduplication processes, including barriers associated with documentation and access to identification systems.
• Demonstrated knowledge of financial controls, payment reconciliation, fraud risk mitigation, audit requirements, and operational procedures for cash transfer delivery.
• Experience integrating protection, gender equality, disability inclusion, safeguarding, and accountability considerations into CVA programming.
• Strong understanding of MEAL systems, post-distribution monitoring, post-transfer monitoring, community feedback mechanisms, and evidence-based program adaptation.
• Demonstrated experience training, coaching, mentoring, and strengthening the capacity of national NGOs, local partners, and program staff.
• Experience working with humanitarian coordination mechanisms, particularly Cash Working Groups, and contributing to inter-agency technical discussions.
• Demonstrated ability to develop technical guidance, standard operating procedures, implementation plans, assessments, and donor reports.
• Experience contributing to program design, proposal development, budget planning, and donor compliance.
• Familiarity with Sphere Standards, relevant Cash and Voucher Assistance guidance, and applicable humanitarian principles.
• Ability to interpret program data, identify implementation challenges, and develop practical, evidence-based solutions.