Individual protection assistance: eligibility, prioritisation and safeguarding the process

Special cases: C04 and C09 are eligible because of imminent risk despite a low score; C05 does not get criterion c because a provider exists; C07 is capped; C08 has a high score but falls under the 12-month rule; for C03, money alone is not enough: a case management plan with the family and the child is needed, together with a referral to child protection services.

Priority 1: C01 450 + C03 400 + C04 540 + C07 600 + C09 120 = USD 2,110. Remaining: 2,300 - 2,110 = USD 190, not enough for C06 (USD 350).

C06 (priority 2): placed at the top of the list for the following month, unless the operation is urgent on medical advice; in that case, ask the manager for an advance on the next budget, or look for another funder (health programme, partner). No partial payment of USD 190, which would not make the operation possible. C08: submission to the committee; if the exception is granted, funding from the next budget or through another programme. C02, C05, C10: written referrals and follow-up (free legal aid, health centre, social services), with reassessment if the situation changes. Each person is informed of the decision and of the possibility of challenging it.

Risks: (1) the same volunteers identify, refer and pay: no segregation of duties, power over access to aid, fertile ground for sexual exploitation and abuse and for fraud; (2) cash at home: risk of theft, assault, diversion and visibility of beneficiaries; (3) list of names with protection reason and nationality shared in a messaging group, including with landlords: serious breach of confidentiality, risk of eviction, discrimination and retaliation (survivor of intimate partner violence, threatened young man); (4) 9 volunteers without a code of conduct; (5) no clear information to communities that the aid is free.

Revised process: volunteers only refer; the assessment is carried out by a salaried case worker; the decision is taken by the review committee using anonymised codes; payment is made by a financial service provider (mobile transfer or card) triggered by finance, with verification through an independent follow-up call. Data: coded list, stored on a restricted-access server, no more sharing via messaging; no data passed on to landlords (rent negotiation is done case by case, with the person's written consent). Code of conduct signed and PSEA training for all volunteers before any activity. Public messages: the aid is free, no one may ask for money or favours, here is how to report. Complaints mechanism with a confidential channel that does not go through the volunteers.

48 hours: thank the community mobiliser, note the facts reported without seeking details or identifying the woman concerned; pass the information on the same day, confidentially, to the PSEA focal point, who decides on the follow-up (it is not for the protection officer to investigate or confront the volunteer); if the woman is identified by the focal point, offer her assistance and inform her of her rights; check without delay that her file is following the normal process; on management's decision, remove the volunteer from tasks involving contact with beneficiaries as a precautionary measure; do not discuss it in the messaging group. Speed up the signing of the code of conduct by everyone.

Message: "Assistance from [organisation] is free. No one has the right to ask you for money, a service or a sexual favour to be registered or helped. If this happens to you, call [number], free and confidential, or talk to a female community mobiliser. Your file will not be affected." (49 words)