Seoul, Republic of Korea – The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the cross-border delivery of humanitarian assistance around the world. Amid uncertainty, cash-based interventions (CBI) are receiving significant attention as they allow remote delivery that can be traceable. Last year, IOM implemented CBI in 56 countries, reaching more than 1,600,000 persons in need.

The IOM Republic of Korea (ROK) Mission, with support from the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), hosted the ‘Cash-based Interventions in Emergencies Webinar’ on 19 October 2021. 

The webinar, which consisted of a presentation by Fouad Diab, head of the Global CBI support team at IOM Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland and live Q&As with the audience, sought to facilitate knowledge-sharing through case examples built upon the basic concept of CBI and programming principles. 

“CBI gives beneficiaries freedom and dignity to choose commodities and services based on their unique needs. If well-designed and smart control measures are put in place, it can be more transparent, traceable and accountable than in-kind distribution,” said Diab. “More CBI was done during COVID-19 because CBI could serve as a safer modality of providing rapid relief. It allows for remote delivery and can reduce crowds in distribution sites,” he added.

The webinar was attended by a total of 76 ROK humanitarian NGO workers, government officials, academia, and staff of other United Nations agencies. 

The webinar is part of a quarterly knowledge-sharing series which aims to introduce a wide range of topics in humanitarian assistance including latest advancements and innovations to ROK humanitarian professionals while sensitizing the wider public about principled and coordinated humanitarian intervention. 

“The series is a great opportunity to raise awareness on humanitarian assistance given the increasing presence and importance of this sector in ROK,” said IOM ROK Chief of Mission, Steve Hamilton. “We are pleased to hold this webinar on cash-based interventions in emergencies today. It cannot be a timelier and more appropriate topic for both professionals and interested public at a time when humanitarian intervention has been greatly affected by the pandemic,” he added.

Since March 2014 to June 2021, IOM ROK has been providing capacity-building support for ROK humanitarian actors with financial support from USAID BHA to enhance disaster preparedness and response capacity of the ROK government and civil society to natural and man-made emergencies. Most recently, on July 1 of this year, IOM ROK launched a new project under the same theme of disaster readiness and response. This webinar was organized as part of this capacity-building program.

For more information, please contact Eunice Jieun KIM, National Project Officer, IOM Republic of Korea Mission, Tel.: +82 70 4820 0291, Email: jikim@iom.int.