“My mom asked me – Son, as you need to go back to school very soon, what kind of things do you need, and I said to her - I need a school bag, some books and a set of sports clothes as this is required by my school”. These were the priorities described by 11-year old schoolboy, Nath Sineth, for the cash transfer received by his household following the flooding of his village, in October 2020. “Without these items, I wouldn’t feel confident to return back to school, especially as the school requires sports clothes”, he added. 

Nath Sineth and his family were among those vulnerable households identified to receive unconditional cash transfers following flooding in his village. His family, like many others interviewed, explained that the unconditional cash transfer supported them to meet their basic needs during the transition period in which relief aid from many agencies is declined including food in a challenging period of time, and contributed to children’s education and return to school following Covid-19 school closures.

His mother Mrs. Kum Sokkea described the experience of flash flooding: “At the time of the flash flood I returned home from Lem where I was working with my husband in the cassava farm, and it was only when to find my house in home village was submerged. We stayed at a local Buddhist temple for about three weeks before we could finally return home”. 

Moung Reussei district, Battambang province was one of the target districts of the Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT) program supported by Save the Children and local partner Komar Rikreay Association (KMR). Mrs. Kum Sokkea is 31 years of age, and lives together with her husband and three sons. Her family holds a COVID-19 social protection equity card issued by the Government of Cambodia. Her oldest son, Nat Sineth, is 11 years old and just started the school term entering grade 5 at Kokoh primary school in the village. 

Mrs. Kum Sokkea and her husband work in the cassava farm in Lem on the Cambodia-Thai border, which is some distance from her home village. Frequently, the couple would leave two sons at home with their parents and bring one with them to work as domestic migrant labour.  Normally their daily income working at the cassava farm, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, was in the range of 30,000 to 50,000 Riels (USD $7.50 to $12.50). However, it stopped completely when the flash flood destroyed the cassava farm in Lem. 

Kum Sokkea added that “after the flash flood I returned from home village to Lem together with my husband in December 2020. Then I came to know that I was selected by the local authority to receive 200,000 Riels (USD $50) as a cash grant from Komar Rikreay Association to support flood-affected households during this difficult time. At that time, I could not find a job in Lem because of the flash flood and also the COVID-19 outbreak so my husband and I came back home”. 

Responding to the question on how she used the USD $50 grant, Mrs. Kum Sokkea said: “The $50 came at the right time for my family in mid-January 2021 when we could not earn anything and my oldest son needed to return to school when they finally re-opened after school closures due to Covid-19 prevention measures. After discussion with my husband and son, we decided to use the $50 to buy two sacks of rice to meet our needs for about two months and some school materials such as a book, school bag, and sports clothes for my son. Receiving assistance in cash helped my family a lot as we could use it to support both our food for the next two months and also support my son’s return to school”. 

The assessment found that although the unconditional cash assistance was provided to the most vulnerable households about two to three months after the flash flood, both the local authorities and the beneficiaries of the cash transfers, confirmed that it came at the right time for them.  Emergency assistance provided by the government and other aid agencies came during the flood time and up until two to three weeks after that.  The cash assistance filled the gap during the period where local livelihoods affected by flooding had not yet returned to normal, coupled with the continual disruptions and uncertainties due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It was found that the cash assistance contributed to the basic needs of households such as rice, purchasing of medicine and/or health care, and in sending children back to school. Further, a number of households described that the cash assistance supported in repaying outstanding debts with local moneylenders which had been taken out prior to receiving the cash assistance.  Echoing the sentiments of a number of beneficiaries interviewed, one woman said, “when I hear about this cash assistance, the first thing that comes to my mind is – I will use it to buy food, to pay my debts, and also to support my children to go back to school. Without this we would likely continue to go to a local money lender to borrow more money at high interest, leading us into more debt”.