Amina and her goats. ©FAO

Two years ago, Amina Abdi, 40, from Gursum Woreda in the Somali region, relied only on the social protection grants provided by the Government to provide for her family and buy food. However, her life changed when in 2021, she received a USD 300 Livelihood grant from FAO. With the funds, Amina started her goat enterprise. She buys goats, fattens, and sells them. The nine goats in the goat shade at the periphery of her compound are the third lot. Besides getting income from the goats, Amina also gets milk, which she gives to her children. Before starting this enterprise, FAO trained Amina in business management and supported her in developing a business plan. "I learned important skills such as record keeping, planning, budgeting, animal husbandry, and knowing when to sell the goats. For example, the goats fetch a good price during the dry season", she said. With more than USD 400 saved in the bank, Amina is relieved that she can take care of her family in the eventuality of a shock. "Having savings in the bank gives me peace of mind," she said.

Amina's household is one of the over 3 200 (16,000 individuals) from the Somali and Oromia regions that received a cash+ package that included USD 300 cash (ETB 11 300), business planning training, and extension support. FAO targeted vulnerable households facing several shocks such as desert locusts, COVID-19, and drought for assistance.

Through the European Union-funded Global Network against Food Crises Partnership Programme, FAO implemented the cash+ transfer model and demonstrated the importance of supporting the bottom poor households with Livelihood grants and social transfers to improve food consumption. Evidence from the Graduation and Livelihoods effectiveness review of the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) conducted by FAO and the Government in 2019 demonstrated the need to increase the Livelihood grant value as well as the size of the Livelihood loan to prevent the beneficiaries from sliding back into food insecurity and poverty and generate transformative change in the livelihood of the targeted families.

Ethiopia's PSNP provides chronically food-insecure households and the poor with cash and food transfers through Public Work for poor people with labour capacity and unconditional grants for poor people who cannot work. The Program also facilitates access to credit and provides technical support to households based on tailored business plans and training in livelihood activities (crop and livestock, off-farm, and employment) to increase and diversify their incomes and build their assets.

The initial expectation was that the number of PSNP participants would fall over time as households graduated (met their food needs, were able to withstand modest shocks and no longer needed the Programme's support).

However, the 2019 Graduation Review conducted by FAO, the Government and partners, found that out of over 315 000 households that completed the livelihood pathways during the PSNP-4, only 14 percent graduated against the planned 50 percent. The PSNP graduates are also supposed to continue to obtain support in the form of extension and credit for a defined period.

 However, the Review found that 38 percent of the households that developed business plans did not access credit to implement them.

The Review recommended ways to improve the effectiveness and impact of the Livelihood component of the PSNP; specifically, refined targeting to minimize drop- out, capacity building of the frontline workers by introducing coaching (as Training of Trainers is not enough), and business intensification such as market linkages.

In this regard, in consultation with the Government and the PSNP Livelihood Technical Working Group, FAO piloted an improved Livelihood sequencing and transfer to inform the Livelihood pathways (On-farm and Off- farm) guidelines for the PSNP5. FAO used the social protection delivery system, such as the targeting structure, and cash the wage rate for the cash+ transfer.

The post-distribution monitoring and project evaluation found that the beneficiaries used the cash to meet their households' food and non-food needs, such as buying seeds, fertilizer, animal feed, and services. In addition, the beneficiary households invested the grants in a range of enterprises, including livestock rearing and the operation of retail outlets such as shops and restaurants.

Hubi Iman, 25, from Gursum Woreda, Somali region, invested her USD 300 in a vegetable retain business. With USD 500 saved in her account in the Somali Microfinance Institution, Hubi is expanding her business to spices and cooking oil. She is also planning to construct her shop.

The shock-responsive cash transfer has contributed to building the resilience of the beneficiaries' livelihoods against future shocks and improving their food security and nutrition status.

Since November 2018, FAO has contributed to strengthening the delivery mechanism of the PNSP's integrated livelihood programme, including the sensitive nutrition component, the training package, and the graduation system.

Contacts

Rachel Nandelenga

Communications Consultant 

[email protected]