Multipurpose cash transfers in humanitarian contexts: Ideas, priorities, consequences.

Confronted with a variety of challenges, the international humanitarian system tries to develop innovative approaches in order to adapt and adjust humanitarian action to the needs and requirements of our time. One of these approaches, which is considered to have a positive transformative potential, is multipurpose cash transfer programming. This thesis aims to illuminate the ideas behind multipurpose cash transfers (MPCTs) in an effort to understand the possible long-term impacts of MPCTs on beneficiaries and their communities. How does this reform idea conceive beneficiaries? Are beneficiaries and their well-being the primary concern of this reform or are the benefits of it rather directed towards the administrative, donor- and implementer-side? What do practical experiences with this type of programming tell us? All these questions will be answered in the course of this paper, finally leading to a conclusion concerning the benefits or harmful effects of MPCTs on beneficiaries and their communities.