This paper uncovers the mechanisms shaping the impact of the public work component of Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) on beneficiaries and communities’ food security and vulnerability to various shocks. From a policy perspective, the empirical findings recommend explicitly integrating environmental and climate considerations to design social protection programmes which target poor agricultural households highly vulnerable to weather shocks.

The findings of this paper have been summarized in the policy brief:
Reducing vulnerability to weather shocks through social protection in Ethiopia