Consultancy: Protection Case Management & Cash Assistance

Consultancy for the development of a protection case management and cash for protection framework for the Protect Aid Workers mechanism

Background

Humanitarian workers face increasing risks in the course of their work.
In response to these challenges, a consortium of NGOs, including Legal Action Worldwide (LAW), Integral Interagency Security Forum (GISF) and Protect Humanitarians (PH), established the Protect Aid Workers (PAW) mechanism with the support of DG ECHO.

The mechanism assists humanitarian workers who have experienced a critical incident, face an immediate threat to their safety or well-being, or have been arrested, detained or are facing legal proceedings linked to their humanitarian work. Support aims to reduce protection risks, prevent further harm, facilitate recovery and improve the well-being of affected individuals and their families.
Since its launch, the mechanism has supported approximately 750 humanitarian workers and their dependants across 20 countries.

PAWis structured around three complementary pillars:

- Pillar 1: Provision of direct assistance to humanitarian workers through financial and legal assistance
- Pillar 2: Development and dissemination of good practices, peer-learning opportunities, technical resources and collaborative initiatives aimed at strengthening aid worker protection and duty of care systems across the humanitarian sector.
- Pillar 3: Engagement with decision-makers to raise awareness of risks faced by aid workers and promote stronger protection policies and practices.

The ambition ofPAWis to establish a comprehensive and survivor-centred support model. The mechanism combines case management,



financial assistance and access to specialised services tailored to the needs of affected individuals.

Requests for support may be submitted through organisations or directly by aidworkers. Applications are reviewed by a case management team responsible for verification, needs assessment, eligibility review and support planning.

A central component of the mechanism is the provision of protection grants. These grants may be provided directly to affected individuals and their families or channelled through organisations delivering support on their behalf. Assistance may cover a wide range of protection-related needs, including relocation, safe accommodation, legal representation, medical care, psychosocial support, temporary income replacement and other measures aimed at reducing protection risks and supporting recovery.
Over time, the mechanism has also increasingly relied on unrestricted cash assistance where appropriate, enabling affected aid workers to prioritise and address their own protection and recovery needs in a flexible and dignified manner.

Alongside financial assistance, the mechanism provides access to specialised legal support and is progressively strengthening referral pathways for mental health, healthcare and other protection-related services. While these components have expanded significantly over recent years,



they remain at different stages of development and would benefit from further structuring and integration within an overarching case management framework.

Purpose of the consultancy

Over the past two years, PAW has experienced significant growth in terms of geographical coverage, number of cases supported and diversity of assistance provided. While this expansion has demonstrated the relevance and effectiveness of the mechanism, it has also highlighted the need to further consolidate and formalise its direct support model.

The mechanism has progressively developed a range of practices, tools and decision-making processes relating to case management, protection grants, cash assistance and specialised referrals. In particular, the use of cash assistance has expanded over time, including through the growing use of unconditional cash transfers where appropriate, allowing humanitarian workers to address urgent protection and recovery needs in a flexible and dignified manner.

While this evolution has enabled PAW to provide tailored support across a wide range of contexts and protection risks, several components of the model have developed incrementally in response to operational realities. As a result, approaches to case management, grant allocation, cash assistance modalities, referral pathways and documentation requirements are not yet fully standardised.

Objectives of the consultancy

The overall objective of this consultancy is to review and strengthen the Protect Aid Workers direct support model by developing a coherent operational framework integrating protection case management, cash assistance and referral mechanisms.

The consultancy should build on existing PAW practices and tools, identify areas for improvement, a

📌 Consultancy: Protection Case Management (Argentina)
🏢 GISF Steering Group
📍 Argentina