Project DINGGIN: Empowering Communities through Risk‐Based and Inclusive Cash Transfer in Disaster‐Prone Areas in Bangladesh and Philippines

Abstract

Disaster-prone communities in Albay, Philippines and Bhola, Bangladesh, face recurring typhoons, cyclones, and floods that simultaneously destroy homes, disrupt livelihoods, and threaten food security. Traditional cash transfer programs (CTPs) for disaster relief often lack inclusive, risk-informed design and fail to account for the intersectional vulnerabilities of at-risk groups. Project DINGGIN (Dynamic Inclusive Network for Governance, Guidance, Intersectionality, and Nexus) addresses this gap by developing a risk-based, community-informed cash transfer framework. The approach bridges bottom-up risk data gathered through household surveys, participatory risk mapping, focus groups, and interviews with top-down policy frameworks within a humanitarian-development-peace nexus approach. Data from Albay and Bhola revealed that affected households prioritise simultaneous home rebuilding and income recovery; however, existing cash assistance is fragmented and not well-coordinated. Using a decision-support dashboard, local governments and communities co-developed tailored Cash Transfer Values (CTVs) reflecting each community’s specific disaster risks and socioeconomic needs. The results demonstrate that an integrated cash transfer strategy—addressing shelter, food, and livelihoods together—can provide immediate relief while strengthening long-term resilience. For example, households in high-risk zones received larger grants for shelter reinforcement and livelihood restoration, aligning assistance with locally identified needs. This risk-informed, inclusive CTP model improved community ownership and met humanitarian Sphere standards for equity and adequacy. The discussion of Project DINGGIN’s pilot indicates strengthened multi-sectoral coordination and highlights areas for improvement, such as providing multi-phase support beyond the emergency phase, offering financial literacy training to beneficiaries, and implementing adaptive disbursement schedules. The study concludes that empowering communities to co-design cash interventions not only ensures a more effective disaster response but also institutionalises resilience-building for future crises, aligning with national disaster management plans and international frameworks.