ONECARD FACTSHEET
OFFERING COORDINATED HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE
THROUGH A SINGLE, UNIFIED PLATFORM
January 2016
THE ONECARD PLATFORM
The OneCard has provided a platform for cash based humanitarian assistance
to reach over 95,000 vulnerable Syrian refugee, Jordanian and Lebanese
households. The platform has been used by twelve partners, including seven
INGOs, three UN agencies, one inter-governmental organization and the
Government of Lebanon. Assistance provided through the OneCard seeks to
meet the basic needs of beneficiaries, including education, food, non-food and
protection. The card facilitates common targeting and programming, as well
as information sharing among partners (including beneficiary vulnerability
criteria and spending patterns) to inform more comprehensive programming.
WHAT IS THE ONECARD?
PARTNERSHIPS
The OneCard is a tool first developed by WFP Lebanon in
2013, and introduced in Jordan in 2014. The tool consists
of a re-usable and re-loadable plastic prepaid card with a
magnetic strip. The electronic platform is managed by WFP
and enables financial transactions in partnership with the
private sector/bank. The card allows beneficiaries to
receive assistance in the form of both electronic value
transfer, and an optional cash withdrawal through
ATMs. Beneficiaries are thus able to cover food, non-food
and cash needs through one single electronic
pre-paid card. Upon redemption at WFP partner shops,
details of beneficiary spending patterns can be provided to
partners, allowing for greater analysis on the impact of
programmes on beneficiaries.
• The Government of Lebanon: The Government of
Lebanon is using the OneCard platform to provide
assistance to 5,075 vulnerable Lebanese households
registered under the country’s national social safety net
programme.
The OneCard platform seeks to:
• Harmonize and streamline humanitarian assistance
through one common platform;
• Improve cost efficiency for agencies by avoiding multiple
bank and distribution fees;
• Facilitate common targeting criteria and basic needs
programming;
• Develop a mechanism to support the safety net
programmes of host governments.
• UNHCR: In September 2015, a joint WFP-UNHCR pilot
project in Lebanon provided unrestricted cash assistance
to 266 Syrian refugee families, who were also targeted
by WFP food assistance.
• World Vision International: Since July 2015,
unrestricted cash assistance has been provided to an
estimated 170 Lebanese households and 630 Syrian
households, some of which are WFP e-card beneficiaries.
• Mercy Corps: In October 2015, WFP and Mercy Corps
signed a prepaid card platform management agreement
for a multipurpose cash project targeting 1,100 Syrian
and Jordanian families living in Jordan’s communities.
The Mercy Corps wallet is designated for ATM cash
withdrawals. In December 2015, each family received
approximately USD 140 (JOD 100) per month, for a period
of three months.
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• IOM: In August 2015, IOM used the OneCard platform
to deliver non-food item (NFI) vouchers, valued at USD 33
(24 JOD), to 574 single parent-headed households in
Jordan’s Azraq camp. These households also received WFP
food assistance.
• UNICEF: Jordan - Between December 2014 and
January 2015, UNICEF launched its first Winterization
Programme in Jordan’s two main refugee camps, Za’atari
and Azraq. The one-time cash transfer targeted 46,034
children between 0-14 years with USD 21 (14 JOD) per
child. The cash transfer was delivered on the same e-cards
WFP uses to transfer monthly food assistance. The
transfer allowed families to buy winter clothes for their
children at WFP-contracted supermarkets in the camps.
On 14 December 2015, UNICEF and WFP launched a
second winterization initiative via the OneCard in both
Azraq and Za’atari camps. The one-off cash grant from
UNICEF will provide USD 28 (20 JOD) per child, to a total
of 51,851 children under the age of 18 (representing
a total of 15,980 households in the two camps) until the
end of January 2016.
Lebanon – In December 2015, UNICEF joined the
OneCard platform to deliver one-off cash assistance for
winter clothing to 75,000 Lebanese children under the
age of 15 (across 30,000 households) and around 91,000
Syrian children (across 27,000 households).
• Lebanese Cash Consortium: Since February 2015, a
consortium comprised of six NGOs (ACTED, CARE, IRC,
Save the Children, Solidarites International and World
Vision) has been providing unrestricted cash assistance to
approximately 17,000 households, some of which
overlap with WFP e-card beneficiaries.
HOW DOES THE ONECARD
WORK?
Each card can have number of wallets, or sub-accounts (a
maximum of four in Lebanon and five in Jordan), assigned
to different humanitarian actors for various types of
assistance. Platform users can receive a report on the
transactions and balance of the beneficiary account upon
completion of the transfer cycle or project. The card can be
used at either a point of sale (such as WFP partner shops)
or an ATM to withdraw cash. Upon completion of each
transaction, beneficiaries receive SMS messages itemizing
the value spent/withdrawn, and the remaining balance on
their card.
WFP’S ROLE
WFP acts as the platform manager of the OneCard,
managing the relationship with the bank and acting as the
focal point for reporting loss, theft, or damage of the card.
WFP also takes appropriate action to prevent any
card-related fraud, and provides support services to
partner agencies using the platform.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF
USING THE ONECARD?
For participating agencies/partners:
• Improved cost efficiency by reducing overhead
costs (shared set-up, running costs, contract with a
single bank).
• Focus on core activities without worrying about logistics
and administration.
• Flexibility and control (WFP funds will be restricted to
food purchases from contracted retailers, thus
maintaining control over beneficiary spending choices
while also allowing beneficiaries to access cash through
ATMs).
• Coordination of assistance to reduce the potential for
duplication.
• Improved monitoring mechanisms and overall
verification, ensuring greater accountability to
stakeholders and preventing fraud or abuse.
• Streamlined and consolidated information to
facilitate analysis and reporting.
For beneficiaries:
• More efficient access to assistance provided by
different organizations.
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• Only one PIN code to remember.
• Only one helpline to contact if card is lost/rejected or
needs to be blocked or replaced.
• Reduced costs, as beneficiaries don’t need to travel to
distribution sites.
• Enhanced dignity and self-reliance.
• Convenience of using a single card instead of
carrying multiple cards for different types of
assistance.
WHAT ARE THE LIMITATIONS OF
THE ONECARD PLATFORM?
Although the system is flexible enough to support multiple
sub-accounts, some beneficiaries may not understand
how to navigate between various accounts/wallets. As
such, they may be unaware of how to access their
entitlements.
CONTACTS:
Amman Liaison Office for the Syria Crisis
[email protected]
1 PIN code – the numeric 4 digit code required to access cash.
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