Social protection and humanitarian cash responses1 to the COVID-19 pandemic have emerged globally within the last few months, with more responses to come as the early phases of lockdowns have in many places been replaced with the beginnings of L-shaped recessions and on-going extreme economic hardship for tens of millions globally2 .
While the value for money (VfM) of social protection and cash transfers is already well established, and existing guidance already plentiful3 , the COVID-19 context raises some particular issues from a VfM perspective. This short note addresses these issues and is aimed at economists, social protection and humanitarian specialists within development partner organisations, as well as policy-makers in government – anyone tasked with designing social protection responses and assessing different options, whether in concept notes, business cases, or budget submissions.
The emphasis of this note is mainly on what is new with respect to VfM for social protection in the COVID-19 context. As such, this note assumes some familiarity with value for money concepts as they relate to social protection and cash.
