Catholic Relief Services Jerusalem West Bank Gaza Country Program Envision Gaza 2020 Catholic Relief Services Jerusalem West Bank Gaza Country Program

Project Background Envision Gaza 2020 is a USAID-funded 5-year, $50 million activity implemented in Gaza Goal: Make vulnerable communities more resilient to the stresses and shocks that define life in Gaza Objectives: Provide humanitarian assistance to vulnerable Gazans (food and NFIs; provide livelihoods opportunities to vulnerable Gazans. 5 Gazan partners, 11 emergency response partners, 2 INGO emergency surge partners EG2020 addresses need of vulnerable communities in transition and the critical lack of employment opportunities across Gaza E-vouchers for food and NFIs are a quick, easy, independent way for Gazans to purchase what they need when they need it

ICT4D Solution Palpay: software provider Web Based system with a strong security measure Activity Module Corporate Partner Module Phase Module Participant Module Item Module Transaction Module Top-Up operation Module Approval Module Report Module Administration Module

ICT4D Solution Fully Managed solution Online portal for Beneficiary registration Require a Magnetic Card with predefined pin codes Merchant POS transactions & Settlements Beneficiary Transactions Comprehensive mechanism for transaction validation Secure Data Exchange and confidentiality of beneficiary information Emergency situations / Deployment Compliance with payment systems security and general security certifications Full transaction Logging and Monitoring Multi-Tier support

ICT4D Solution

Key Successes Efficient, accurate loading and top of e-voucher cards Good for use across 38 vendors in Gaza Wide range of items available for purchase through the cards

Key Issues / Challenges Selecting beneficiaries and educating them on e-voucher card use Loading and bar-coding over 30,000 items for purchase Mis-use of e-voucher cards

Lessons Learned Solution targets the vulnerable in Gaza with sustainable solutions Ability to scale up only restricted by budget; available for scale in Gaza and West Bank Budget constraints won’t allow for expansion at present Support costs are minimal, needs are great and will remain so Conflict will hamper ability of Point of Sale machines to function

Summary and Close E-vouchers remove the need for ‘old school’ food delivery, e.g. distribution centers, commodities tracking E-vouchers are safe and efficient as long as there is power across Gaza E-vouchers allow for freedom of choice and freedom to shop when and where individuals want