Background
• Launched in 2005, it has been defined as the “biggest social protection instrument in Africa and one of the biggest programs in the world” and is a partnership between the Government of Ethiopia and a group of donor agencies.

• its primary design feature is its provision of multi-annual, predictable assistance to an identified group of the chronically food-insecure, to help them manage risks and overcome their food insecurity

• the objectives of the PSNP are “to provide transfers to the food-insecure population in chronically food insecure woredas [districts] in a way that prevents asset depletion at the household level and creates assets at the community level”

Food-for-work (FFW)
.
• An initiative under, the PSNP is the Food-for-Work program that helps to help preserve human capital, reduce risk exposure, encourage asset accumulation, and adoption of improved technology by guaranteeing a minimum income to all those who can work.

• The program acts as a social welfare safety net for poor communities in food insecure areas – functioning as a transition between relief and the achievement of long-term objectives.

• As a result, the program revolves around conditional work that can be either labor-intensive (e.g. road construction, irrigation, water conservation structures) or income generating activities like starting a market garden.

• By this, the program will strengthen the capacity of the community to cope with droughts or other shocks in the future

Policy Recommendation

• This brings us to our first policy recommendation which is to IMPROVE FFW AND DEVELOP INFRASTRUCTURE!

• For an effective implementation of the FFW program, we noticed that local capacity is more suitable in handling and distributing food. Therefore there is need to strengthen and scale-up local capacities in the targeting of extremely poor areas in order to ensure effective supply and sustainability

• The maintenance of infrastructure under the current FFW model has been neglected. This lack of infrastructural upkeep hampers the economic development of the state. This challenge can be remedied locally, by instituting the community to provide all unskilled laborers, majority of who are women, who are paid in food according to attendance and productivity

• By promoting this, the participating members are able to benefit from significant improvements in residence mobility, particularly during the rainy season

• The accompanying infrastructure provides a means to access markets and better employment opportunities – and achieves a positive impact for women in the family dynamic

• Finally, as a means to scale up the program, the FFW project can also not only focus on seasonal jobs to the rural communities but offer long-term employment possibilities. Such a project can be dispersed regionally and be combined with basic education.

• Ultimately, the program will be able to achieve its objective of providing relief as well as long-term development

Graduation from PSNP!

Can either accomplish Food sufficiency vs. Food security