IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/devpol/v39y2021i4p511-531.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Graduation after 10 years of Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme: Surviving but still not thriving

Author

Listed:
  • Rachel Sabates‐Wheeler
  • Jeremy Lind
  • John Hoddinott
  • Mulugeta Tefera Taye

Abstract

Motivation Many social protection programmes aspire to graduate poor people out of poverty. While some successfully ensure food security and survival for the poorest, few have moved large numbers of people sustainably out of poverty and into productive livelihood opportunities. Purpose This article aims to understand better the challenges to sustainable graduation out of poverty, and why graduation has been so difficult to achieve in many social protection programmes. Approach and Methods We define graduation and identify primary objectives related to food security and consumption and secondary objectives for asset accumulation. We then apply this thinking to the case of the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) in Ethiopia, drawing on evaluation spanning the first 10 years of the programme. Findings The programme has been successful on some fronts—such as saving lives, reducing distress sales and providing community‐level services—while on others, such as household asset building and livestock accumulation, it has failed to deliver. Given this, we ask why the programme has underperformed in building household assets, and further, why the PSNP programme proceeded to prematurely graduate so many households despite the lack of evidence on livelihood strengthening. It seems that the PSNP was unable to lift most households out of poverty, owing to lack of capacity to design and implement measures to raise incomes and to lack of opportunities to do so. Many households, however, were graduated out of PSNP, apparently because field staff had quotas to fulfil, whether or not the households had progressed out of poverty. Policy implications The PSNP shows how a programme can succeed in its primary objective of alleviating deep poverty and preventing people from becoming destitute. But it also shows that to reach the more ambitious target of graduating households out of poverty, more funds and administrative capacity are needed to generate additional household economic activity. Investments in complementary rural services are needed as well.

Suggested Citation

  • Rachel Sabates‐Wheeler & Jeremy Lind & John Hoddinott & Mulugeta Tefera Taye, 2021. "Graduation after 10 years of Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme: Surviving but still not thriving," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 39(4), pages 511-531, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devpol:v:39:y:2021:i:4:p:511-531
    DOI: 10.1111/dpr.12515
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/dpr.12515
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/dpr.12515?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sarah Baird & Francisco H. G. Ferreira & Berk Özler & Michael Woolcock, 2013. "Relative Effectiveness of Conditional and Unconditional Cash Transfers for Schooling Outcomes in Developing Countries: A Systematic Review," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(1), pages 1-124.
    2. Rachel Sabates‐Wheeler & Ricardo Sabates & Stephen Devereux, 2018. "Enabling graduation for whom? Identifying and explaining heterogeneity in livelihood trajectories post‐cash transfer exposure," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(7), pages 1071-1095, October.
    3. AfDB AfDB, . "Improving Statistics for Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture & Rural Development - An Action Plan for Africa (2011–2015) - Bulletin N°3," Global Strategy Implementation Bulletin, African Development Bank, number 368.
    4. Davis, Benjamin & Handa, Sudhanshu & Hypher, Nicola & Winder Rossi, Natalia & Winters, Paul & Yablon (ed.), 2016. "From Evidence to Action: The Story of Cash Transfers and Impact Evaluation in Sub Saharan Africa," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198769446.
    5. John Hoddinott & Guush Berhane & Daniel O. Gilligan & Neha Kumar & Alemayehu Seyoum Taffesse, 2012. "The Impact of Ethiopia's Productive Safety Net Programme and Related Transfers on Agricultural Productivity," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 21(5), pages -786, November.
    6. Farzana A. Misha & Wameq A. Raza & Jinnat Ara & Ellen van de Poel, 2019. "How Far Does a Big Push Really Push? Long-Term Effects of an Asset Transfer Program on Employment Trajectories," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 68(1), pages 41-62.
    7. John Hoddinott & Tseday J. Mekasha, 2020. "Social Protection, Household Size, and Its Determinants: Evidence from Ethiopia," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(10), pages 1818-1837, October.
    8. Sabates-Wheeler, Rachel & Devereux, Stephen, 2010. "Cash transfers and high food prices: Explaining outcomes on Ethiopia's Productive Safety Net Programme," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 274-285, August.
    9. Guush Berhane & Daniel O. Gilligan & John Hoddinott & Neha Kumar & Alemayehu Seyoum Taffesse, 2014. "Can Social Protection Work in Africa? The Impact of Ethiopia's Productive Safety Net Programme," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 63(1), pages 1-26.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Abay, Kibrom A. & Abay, Mehari H. & Berhane, Guush & Chamberlin, Jordan, 2022. "Social protection and resilience: The case of the productive safety net program in Ethiopia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    2. Richard Freund & Marta Favara & Catherine Porter & Jere Behrman, 2022. "Social protection and foundational cognitive skills during adolescence: evidence from a large Public Works Programme," PIER Working Paper Archive 22-022, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania.
    3. Roosa Lambin & Milla Nyyssölä, 2022. "Exploring social policy trajectories in Mainland Tanzania: Driving for gender-inclusive development?," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2022-38, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jules Gazeaud & Victor Stephane, 2023. "Productive Workfare? Evidence from Ethiopia's Productive Safety Net Program," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 105(1), pages 265-290, January.
    2. Stoeffler, Quentin & Mills, Bradford, 2014. "Households’ investments in durable and productive assets in Niger: quasi-experimental evidences from a cash transfer project," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 170212, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Ferrière, Nathalie & Suwa-Eisenmann, Akiko, 2015. "Does Food Aid Disrupt Local Food Market? Evidence from Rural Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 114-131.
    4. McGuire, Joel & Kaiser, Caspar & Bach-Mortensen, Anders, 2020. "The impact of cash transfers on subjective well-being and mental health in low- and middle- income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis," SocArXiv ydr54, Center for Open Science.
    5. Hirvonen, Kalle & Hoddinott, John F., 2018. "Payment modality preferences: Evidence from Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme," ESSP working papers 125, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    6. Girmay Berhe Araya, 2020. "Impact of Ethiopia's productive safety net program on manure use by rural households: Evidence from Tigrai, Northern Ethiopia," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 51(5), pages 725-742, September.
    7. Araya, Girma Behe & Holden , Stein T., 2017. "Is Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Program Enhancing Dependency?," CLTS Working Papers 5/17, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Centre for Land Tenure Studies, revised 21 Oct 2019.
    8. Hirvonen, Kalle & Bossuyt, Anne & Pigois, Remy, 2017. "Complementarities between social protection and health sector policies: Evidence from the Productive Safety Net Program in Ethiopia," ESSP working papers 112, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    9. Simons, Andrew M., 2022. "What is the optimal locus of control for social assistance programs? Evidence from the Productive Safety Net Program in Ethiopia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    10. Melisew Dejene Lemma & Logan Cochrane, 2020. "Social Protection Implementation Issues in Ethiopia: Client Households’ Perceived Enablers and Constrainers of the Productive Safety Net Program," Societies, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-14, September.
    11. Debela, Bethelhem Legesse & Holden , Stein, 2014. "How Does Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Program Affect Livestock Accumulation and Children’s Education?," CLTS Working Papers 8/14, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Centre for Land Tenure Studies, revised 10 Oct 2019.
    12. Scarlato, Margherita & D'Agostino, Giorgio, 2016. "The political economy of cash transfers: a comparative analysis of Latin American and sub-Saharan African experiences," IDOS Discussion Papers 6/2016, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    13. Silvio Daidone & Francisco Pereira Fontes, 2023. "The role of social protection in mitigating the effects of rainfall shocks. Evidence from Ethiopia," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 315-332, December.
    14. Beegle, Kathleen & Galasso, Emanuela & Goldberg, Jessica, 2017. "Direct and indirect effects of Malawi's public works program on food security," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 1-23.
    15. Borga, Liyousew G. & D’Ambrosio, Conchita, 2021. "Social protection and multidimensional poverty: Lessons from Ethiopia, India and Peru," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    16. Paul,Boban Varghese & Dutta,Puja Vasudeva & Chaudhary,Sarang, 2021. "Assessing the Impact and Cost of Economic Inclusion Programs : A Synthesis of Evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9536, The World Bank.
    17. Bezawit Adugna Bahru & Manfred Zeller, 2022. "Gauging the impact of Ethiopia’s productive safety net programme on agriculture: Application of targeted maximum likelihood estimation approach," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(1), pages 257-276, February.
    18. Hailemariam Teklewold & Tagel Gebrehiwot & Mintewab Bezabih, 2022. "Social protection and vulnerability to nutrition security: empirical evidence from Ethiopia," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 14(5), pages 1191-1205, October.
    19. Sakketa, Tekalign G. & Kornher, Lukas, 2021. "Unintended Consequences or a Glimmer of Hope? Comparative Impact Analysis of Cash Transfers and Index Insurance on Pastoralists’ Labor Allocation Decisions," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315113, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    20. Bethelhem Legesse Debela & Gerald E. Shively & Stein T. Holden, 2021. "Implications of food-for-work programs for consumption and production diversity: Evidence from the Tigray Region of Ethiopia," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 9(1), pages 1-24, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:devpol:v:39:y:2021:i:4:p:511-531. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/odioruk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.