The Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) initiative targets some of the underlying causes of food insecurity, or lack of access to safe, nutritious and sufficent food, in Ethiopia. Led by the Government of Ethiopia, with the support of DFATD and other donors, this flagship program helps meet the food needs of many of the country’s most impoverished people in the time between harvests by providing them predictable, multi-year transfers of either food or cash. Recognizing Canada’s expertise on capacity development, the Government of Ethiopia and other donor partners have mandated DFATD to design and implement a capacity development initiative, the Safety Net Support Facility, as part of Canada’s overall support to the Productive Safety Net Program. The Safety Net Support Facility project aims to enhance the technical, administration, and management capacity of government partners to deliver the PSNP. It provides technical assistance to regional implementers of the PSNP in four regions of Ethiopia (Tigray; Amhara; Oromiya; and Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region) in order to improve the PSNP results. This is achieved by strengthening institutional systems, processes and coordination mechanisms and increasing the organizational capacity of key PSNP implementers.
Results achieved as of the end of the project (June 2015) include: (1) increased effectiveness of federal, regional and district institutions in delivering Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) (average of more than 50% increase from the 2012 baseline); (2) improved performance in the areas of coordination of PSNP activities among district stakeholders, financial management, monitoring and evaluation, gender mainstreaming and information technology applications ; (3) improved financial ability by using the Payroll and Attendance Sheet System (PASS), also improving the transfer times to PSNP beneficiaries; (4) improved timelines in planning cycles, allowing for earlier procurement and enabling districts to begin public works activities up to two months earlier in the year; (5) 320 training courses delivered in all PSNP regions of Ethiopia, reaching 3,000 officials and technical personnel and nine SNSF courses scaled-up by the regional governments (at least in 228 more districts); (6) 80 knowledge products developed (reference books, guides, posters, DVDs and PSNP Guidance Notes); and (7) improved knowledge and application of the gender provisions significantly in SNSF-supported districts. This project improved the ability of federal, regional and district institutions to effectively implement the Productive Safety Net Program.
