Mongolia’s existing, near-universal Child Money Programme (CMP) was identified as the most suitable system to deliver an emergency cash transfer COVID-19 response, given that 96.6 per cent of children in Mongolia benefit from this flagship national programme. Furthermore, lessons learned from a recent government pilot implemented by UNICEF delivering shock-responsive cash transfers to mitigate climate risks were used in helping to implement a swift and effective response to the pandemic, building on the existing CMP implementation mechanism, its beneficiary database, payment and reporting systems, and national and local human resources. The government responded to the pandemic with a top-up to the CMP, increasing the benefit level by five times