Contactless Selection & Registration in Peru for Populations on the Move

Save the Children Peru began implementing the Multipurpose Cash Assistance 'Plus' activity in June 2019 across five coastal regions, funded by USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance. The goal of the Multipurpose Cash Assistance 'Plus' activity is to provide life-saving, emergency assistance to Venezuelan migrants to meet their food needs and other basic needs and to reduce reliance on negative coping strategies. 

During the first year of implementation, Save the Children Peru received a high volume of emails, calls, and in-person requests for assistance from existing and potential new beneficiaries. Given the large number of emails and calls, and the emergency context, the team did not have the bandwidth to respond to each request in a timely manner. The situation was further exacerbated by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, bringing all in-person implementation to a halt. At this point, Save the Children Peru had about three months left in year one implementation and was planning for the year two follow-on activity.

Save the Children Peru applied monitoring and evaluation, pause and reflect, and adaptive management to improve the quality of the selection and registration process. As a result of CLA approaches, Save the Children Peru has reached over 26,000 vulnerable Venezuelans with financial assistance to meet their basic needs; reduced the time needed to process the selection and registration information (48 hours vs one week); and expanded complementary nutrition, protection, and livelihood activities through social media. These approaches have been so successful that Save the Children Peru has been able to reach its second year target two months ahead of schedule, amidst a global pandemic and without any face-to-face interactions.