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Paper short abstract:

This study intends to critically examine the Emergency Social Safety Net (ESSN). The research reveals how technocratic frameworks and donor priorities can marginalize beneficiaries and perpetuate inequalities despite claims of empowerment and dignity.

Paper long abstract:

Established as the world’s largest humanitarian cash assistance program in 2016, the ESSN was initially designed to address the emergency needs of Syrian refugees in Turkey. However, the EU-funded program evolved into a central pillar of the humanitarian-development nexus (HDN) where emergency relief increasingly overlaps with development-oriented interventions. The ESSN’s transformation signifies how cash assistance programs, while promoted as "dignified" aid that empowers recipients and gives them the freedom of choice, might systematically reproduce undignified practices and policies.

Employing a qualitative methodology complemented by budget analysis, textual analysis and 13 semi-structured interviews, the research comprehensively evaluates the ESSN's effectiveness as a poverty reduction tool and its impact on refugees’ treatment, particularly in relation to food security. A particular focus is placed on the role of the World Food Programme (WFP), the program’s main implementing agency between 2016 and 2020. The WFP’s influence in defining poverty metrics, setting arbitrary eligibility criteria and developing the Minimum Expenditure Basket (MEB) with the “2100 calories per day” principle reveals a contested framework.

The research scrutinizes how the ESSN cloaks dehumanizing practices in depoliticized and technocratic discourses. These critical discussions illustrate that modern development programs risk breaching the principles of “Do No Harm”, “Leave No One Behind” and “Zero Hunger”. By fostering a critical conversation around the policies of global donors and implementing agencies, the study thereby seeks to debunk the myth of cash assistance as inherently dignified while probing its overall implications for humanitarian and development paradigms as well as the aid industry.