PDM cash, in one sentence
A PDM cash is a survey run with beneficiaries after a cash or voucher distribution, to check that they actually received it, how they used it, whether they are satisfied with the modality, and whether the programme raised problems nobody foresaw: safety at the collection point, tension within the household or the community, effects on local prices.
When to run a PDM cash survey
Usually 2 to 4 weeks after the distribution: early enough that respondents remember precisely how they used the transfer, late enough to observe real use rather than a stated intention. For a multi cycle programme, repeat it every cycle or on a rolling sample, so a targeting or modality problem shows up quickly.
The key indicators of a PDM cash survey
- Actual receipt rate: % of beneficiaries who received the planned amount, in full and on time.
- Time to receipt: the gap between the announced date and the actual date of receipt.
- Use of the transfer: breakdown by spending category (food, health, education, debt, rent, and so on).
- Satisfaction: with the modality, the amount, and the payment provider (mobile money, agent, card).
- Awareness of the complaints mechanism: do beneficiaries know how to report a problem?
- Protection: safety of the journey and of the collection point, and specific difficulties for particular groups (women on their own, older people, people with disabilities).
Method and sampling
A PDM cash survey generally works from a random sample representative of the beneficiaries, not a census, with a margin of error and a confidence level set in advance, which you can fix with the sample size calculator. Collection is done with an XLSForm questionnaire deployed on KoboToolbox or ODK, face to face or by phone depending on field access, with a short qualitative module (open questions) to catch the unforeseen problems that closed questions would miss.
PDM cash and the CVA framework
Cash and voucher assistance (CVA) is now one of the most widely used humanitarian response modalities, with a body of method behind it, carried in particular by the CALP Network. PDM sits at the centre of it because, unlike an in kind distribution, how cash is used remains the beneficiary's choice, which makes tracking actual use all the more necessary to document that the aid met its objective.
Common mistakes
- Surveying too early or too late: biases either the respondents' memory, or the observation of real use.
- A questionnaire that is too long: answer quality collapses towards the end of the interview. Stay on the essential indicators.
- No disaggregation: without breaking results down by gender, age or vulnerability status, a problem affecting one subgroup stays invisible in the average.
- No open questions: closed questions on their own miss the problems nobody anticipated.
These mistakes are about method. For the list of sections people forget when writing the questionnaire itself, section by section, see PDM cash: the checklist of sections that get forgotten far too often.
Glossary
- PDM
- Post-Distribution Monitoring, the follow up run after a distribution, whether cash or in kind.
- CVA
- Cash and Voucher Assistance, humanitarian assistance in the form of cash transfers or vouchers.
- Targeting
- The process of selecting beneficiaries against defined vulnerability criteria.
- Complaints and feedback mechanism
- The channel through which a beneficiary can report a problem or a complaint about the programme.
- Disaggregation
- Breaking results down by subgroup so that no inequality is hidden.
Frequently asked questions
What is a PDM cash survey?
A PDM (Post-Distribution Monitoring) cash survey is run with beneficiaries after a cash transfer, to check that they received it, how they used it, whether they are satisfied with it, and whether the modality raised any protection or market access problems.
When should you run a PDM cash survey?
Usually 2 to 4 weeks after the distribution: early enough that respondents remember precisely how they used the cash, late enough to observe real use rather than a stated intention.
Which indicators does a PDM cash survey track?
Typically: the actual receipt rate, the time to receipt, the use of the transfer by spending category, satisfaction with the modality and the provider, awareness of the complaints mechanism, and any safety or protection problems around collection.
Can a PDM cash questionnaire be generated automatically?
Yes. Opti Gemba generates a complete XLSForm questionnaire from a simple description ("a PDM cash survey for ECHO"), with the standard indicators already structured, ready to import into KoboToolbox or ODK.
Generate your PDM questionnaire with Opti'
Just tell Opti Gemba: "build me a PDM cash survey for ECHO", and you get a complete questionnaire, with the key indicators already structured, the skip logic and the qualitative module, ready to import into Kobo or ODK. Then adjust it in plain language: "add a question on the complaints mechanism", and it is done.
