Step-by-Step Guide - Prepare your CVA Project

This guide provides the essential steps to prepare and launch your Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) program through the 121 Platform. Please review each step carefully before getting started. You can also print or save this page to use as a checklist throughout the process.

1. Finalize Your Data Collection Form¶

Prepare your registration form in Kobo (or another supported tool). The form can only be integrated into 121 once finalized by your organization team.

[ ] Registration form is finalized (Kobo or other tool).
[ ] Form has been reviewed with the 121 CVA IM team (optional but recommended).
[ ] Form shared with 121 Kobo user for integration.

Important: Once the form is integrated and registration has started, no further changes can be made.

Our CVA IM team is available to review and advise on your form before integration — feel free to contact us for a quick review session. To share your form, please send it to our Kobo user (contact our support team to get the appropriate details).

2. Share Your Program Details¶

To set up your program in 121, please provide the following information:

[ ] Program title and location provided.
[ ] Total budget defined.
[ ] Number of transfers specified.
[ ] Transfer value per household set.
[ ] Number of households targeted confirmed.
[ ] Financial Service Provider (FSP) identified.
[ ] Currency to be used is specified.

3. Define Deduplication and Verification Processes¶

Let us know which fields should be checked for duplicate registrations. If the system identifies matching entries based on these fields, they will be flagged for review.
Please share with our team which specific fields you would like to check so we can configure this for your program.

[ ] Fields to be checked for duplicates (e.g., name, phone number, ID) identified.

[ ] Deduplication criteria shared with the 121 team for configuration.

4. Share Your FSP Template¶

If your FSP is not directly integrated with 121, we will need the payment instruction Excel template used by the FSP. This allows us to configure the platform so you can easily export the payment lists. Please share this template with our team.

[ ] Payment instruction template received from FSP (if not directly integrated).

[ ] Template shared with 121 team for platform configuration.

5. Create and Manage Your Team¶

Once your form and program are integrated, and project team members identified, you can add users to the project and assign them a role.

[ ] User accounts created for new team members.

[ ] Roles assigned to team members within the project in the 121 Platform. Follow the instructions on how to add team members to the project

The user has not been created yet? Refer to the user creation guide.

6. Set Up Messaging Services (Optional)¶

If you plan to send SMS via the 121 Platform:

  • The platform uses Twilio for messaging.
  • You will need to create a Twilio account and ensure sufficient funds are available to send messages.

Note: Without funds in Twilio, SMS or WhatsApp messages will fail. Contact our team if you need help setting up your Twilio account.

Number of characters per SMS

Please note that one SMS is limited to 160 characters — messages longer than this will be split into multiple SMS and charged accordingly. For example, a message between 161 and 320 characters will be counted and billed as two SMS.

If you plan to send messages at different stages of the program, templates can be added to your instance. Reach out to our support team to help you set them up.

7. Start Registration¶

Once your form, program, team, deduplication and verification process, payment setup, and messaging service (if needed) are all in place, registration can begin.

[ ] All previous steps completed (form, program, team, deduplication, payment setup, messaging).

[ ] Registration officially launched.

8. Plan Offline Validation (Optional)¶

If your verification process includes validating lists in the field, we can support you in setting up a special validation form. This can be prepared once registration and data cleaning are completed. Contact our team to organize this process and let us know the verification criteria and fields you want to use.

[ ] Decision made if field verification is needed.

[ ] Post-registration data cleaned and prepared.

[ ] Validation form requested and co-designed with the 121 team.

[ ] Verification criteria defined.

9. SIM Card Distribution (Optional)¶

If you are planning to distribute SIM cards to beneficiaries, we can support you in updating your database accordingly. To ensure proper matching in the system, key fields such as names, ID numbers, or registration numbers must exactly match the records already registered in 121. It is crucial to align the data between 121 and the provider managing the SIM card distribution to ensure a smooth update of the database.

Please contact us to set up a dedicated form and discuss how to align the data before starting the distribution.

[ ] Decision made on SIM card distribution and process discussed with 121 Team.

[ ] Key fields for matching (name, ID number, registration number) identified and verified.

[ ] Form for SIM card update co-designed with the 121 team.

You are now fully prepared to launch your program and successfully distribute cash assistance to those in need!

Need Support?¶

Please reach out to our support team at any time if you need assistance or further clarification.