Putting People First: Paycode’s Approach to Humanitarian Cash Assistance
- Gabe Ruhan
- 5 days ago
- 4 min read
As humanitarian needs reach record highs and the aid system faces pressure to evolve, the Common Donor Approach to Humanitarian Cash Assistance 2025 provides a timely and much-needed framework for rethinking how we deliver assistance.
At Paycode, we welcome this coordinated donor vision and fully support its call for more effective, efficient, and accountable cash assistance. We believe that digital cash, when delivered with the right technology and community-based design, has the power to transform lives.
For over a decade, Paycode has focused on solving the hardest last-mile problems: identity, connectivity and infrastructure, to ensure that people in remote and underserved areas can access financial services safely and with dignity.
With our proven biometric, offline transaction platform, we are uniquely positioned to contribute to the implementation of the CDA 2025 and scale its impact.
Reaffirming the Value of Cash
The donor approach reaffirms what we at Paycode have long understood: that cash is not only more efficient, but also more humane. Multi-purpose cash assistance (MPCA) empowers people to make their own decisions, whether they’re seeking food, healthcare, shelter or education. By giving people the tools to choose, we preserve dignity, build trust and strengthen community resilience. Cash also works across the entire crisis lifecycle - from anticipatory action to post-crisis recovery.
At Paycode, we’ve seen firsthand how digital cash transfers delivered through biometric smart cards can enable rapid deployment of funds to people affected by drought, displacement, or conflict - even in environments with little to no internet or banking infrastructure.
How Paycode Contributes to the CDA 2025 Pillars
The Common Donor Approach lays out five operational pillars. Here’s how Paycode contributes to each one:
1. Evidence-Based, Inclusive and Risk-Informed Cash Assistance
Paycode’s EDAPT platform is built on the principle that every transaction must be traceable, secure and auditable. We use biometric verification at the point of registration and transaction, ensuring that aid reaches the right person every time. This significantly reduces fraud and leakage and provides donors and implementing agencies with real-time, verifiable data to inform decisions. Moreover, our systems are designed with inclusivity in mind, supporting programming that considers the needs of women, people with disabilities and those in hard-to-reach communities.
We integrate with national ID systems where possible and support self-sovereign identity frameworks where state systems are weak or absent. By deploying technology that can operate fully offline, we also reduce the risks associated with fragile connectivity environments, making cash viable where other systems fail.
2. Cash Coordination and Operational Coherence
Disjointed platforms and fragmented delivery approaches create confusion and inefficiencies for recipients and aid agencies alike. Paycode supports the donor vision of integrated systems and common standards. Our technology is interoperable by design, able to integrate with humanitarian registries, mobile network operators, national switches and financial service providers. We offer a single platform that can handle registration, KYC, delivery and monitoring - reducing the burden on implementing partners.
In settings such as Ghana, Zambia and Afghanistan, Paycode has supported governments and banks in consolidating disbursements from multiple programs into a unified, seamless beneficiary experience. We also encourage alignment of transfer values and durations, and our data dashboards give program managers clear insights to avoid duplication and ensure fair coverage.
3. Local Leadership and Meaningful Community Engagement
Paycode’s model is anchored in local partnerships. We work with banks, government agencies, NGOs and community-based organisations to co-design and deliver programs that are contextually relevant. In places like Sudan and Afghanistan, we are enabling local banks to deliver aid directly to people who have never previously had access to formal financial services.
Our system supports direct-to-beneficiary models that reduce intermediaries and allow for better community oversight. Through biometric smart cards, individuals are empowered to redeem their entitlements in a secure, familiar and locally trusted environment - be it through a village agent, mobile ATM or temporary pay point.
4. Innovation and Responsible Use of Technology
Innovation is at the heart of Paycode’s work. We bring together biometric security, digital identity, and offline transaction capabilities to deliver digital cash to the last mile - without reliance on internet or mobile signal. Our privacy-first approach ensures that all personal and financial data is encrypted and securely stored. Where appropriate, we use anonymised transaction data to support program design, without compromising individual privacy. In line with the donor approach, we prioritise responsible interoperability.
For example, our technology has been deployed alongside national social protection systems, mobile operators and humanitarian registries. We support open standards and data-sharing agreements that put beneficiaries first while complying with global data protection norms.
5. Linking with National Systems for Sustainability
Perhaps the most important long-term contribution Paycode can make is in bridging the humanitarian and development divide. Our platform is designed not only for emergency aid distribution but also for ongoing financial inclusion. Once registered on our system, a person can use their card to receive government payments, wages, remittances or even access microloans and insurance products. This is particularly relevant in fragile contexts where humanitarian cash programs often act as the de facto social safety net. By linking with national ID systems, central bank infrastructure and mobile money ecosystems, we help governments build sustainable, inclusive cash delivery systems.
In Ghana, our partnership with the national switch (GHIPSS) and local banks has created a model where social protection, humanitarian response and commercial banking are mutually reinforcing. This is the type of future we believe CDA 2025 aims to build.
A Call to Collaborate
The Common Donor Approach to Humanitarian Cash Assistance 2025 is more than a strategy - it is a vision for dignified, data-driven, locally led humanitarian assistance. At Paycode, we are fully aligned with this vision and ready to partner with governments, donors, and humanitarian actors to bring it to life.
We invite stakeholders committed to improving aid outcomes to explore how biometric identity, offline payments and interoperable platforms can address the toughest last-mile challenges. Let’s work together to ensure that no one is excluded - because of where they live, who they are or what connectivity they have.
As the humanitarian system evolves, Paycode stands ready to be part of the solution: putting people at the center, technology in their hands and dignity in every transaction.
