Cash assistance comes in handy for refugees in Ethiopia's Somali Region

The heat of the day is not enough to keep away the people who have formed long queues outside the UNHCR field office in Sheder camp in Jijiga, Ethiopia.

They are here to collect their eagerly anticipated vouchers, which are being distributed as part of a cash-based assistance project (CBI) that was launched three months ago.

“The day I picked my vouchers was one of the luckiest days of my life.”

“The day I picked my vouchers was one of the luckiest days of my life,” says Fadumo Mohamed Ali, a 35-year-old refugee from Galguduud in Southern Central Somalia. She recalls how excited she was to receive her vouchers, just before Ramadhan.

“I was able to trade in my vouchers for a brand new kitchen set,” she says. “And I can now continue cooking good meals for my family. It truly feels like a blessing.”

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, launched the voucher project in Jijiga to ensure that specific cash assistance would be available to refugees with disabilities and specific needs like Fadumo.

“It truly feels like a blessing.”

With her right leg paralyzed from childhood due to polio, life in Somalia was hard for Fadumo. Fleeing the conflict back home was even harder.

“Life back home was really difficult but I had to leave,” she explains. In July 2008, she set out on the difficult journey to safety, together with extended family members. She however got separated from the rest of her family and arrived in Sheder alone. She has never heard from them since then but counts herself lucky to have made it to safety.

The project, which started in March 2018, is funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), and focuses on the needs of refugee women, girls, boys, the elderly and people with disabilities like Fadumo.

“All refugees in Jijiga can trade their vouchers for laundry soap and new kitchen sets, while women in the reproductive age will receive sanitary kits,” says Mary Karanja, UNHCR’s CBI Officer based in Addis Ababa. She adds that vulnerable families will also be supported to improve their shelters.

“Investing in efforts like vouchers or cash...allows refugees and host communities to thrive together.”

Fadumo and all other refugees receiving vouchers can claim various items from predetermined local shops in Sheder town, providing the local communities with new business opportunities.

“Investing in efforts like voucher or cash interventions allows refugees and host communities to thrive together,” explains Karanja who adds that such interventions are in line with the new approach to handling refugee issues – the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework – launched in Ethiopia in late 2017 and locally in the Somali region in May 2018.

A local shop owner, Abdullahi Aden Rooble agrees. “For us, this is a business and an investment. It will empower refugees and hosts like us and strengthen our local economy.”

He adds that refugees now purchase goods from his shop in larger quantities as compared to before the project launch.

“Now, with the vouchers, I can already see a big difference,” he says. Abdullahi believes that the interventions should not be limited to kitchen sets and soap, but should extend to other locally available services.

The voucher project will continue in Jijiga until the end of June. To date, over 7,000 vouchers have been distributed to over 7,700 refugees.

As part of the cash assistance, UNHCR is also supporting 4,200 refugees in Addis Ababa with a multi-purpose cash grant that enables them meet their immediate food and non-food needs.