Humanitarian cash assistance: risks and opportunities for local peace

Abstract

This article unpacks the conflict-sensitivity concerns of humanitarian cash and voucher assistance programs (CVA). Contrasting orthodox analysis of economic programming that focuses on the macro level, the article highlights how CVA impacts everyday social and economic dynamics in communities with specific reference to Lebanon. The findings confirm a short-term stabilising effect on the macro level; however, it is also identified that CVA heightens social tensions between groups. To conclude, the article outlines how conflict-sensitive programming could foster opportunities for peace and peacebuilding and spread economic gains more broadly despite the identified obstacles.