Ministry of Agriculture
Disaster Risk Management and Food Security Sector
Food Security Coordination Directorate
Productive Safety Net Programme 4
Design Document
November 18, 2014
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Acronyms
AED
ADS
AGP
BCC
BOFED
BoLSA
CBN
CBPWD
CFSTF
CGAP
CIF
CMAM
COPCU
CPP
CRC
CRGE
CSA
CSC
CSI
DA
DCT
DFID
DHS
DRM
DRM-SPIF
DRMFSS
DRR
ERA
ESAP
ESMF
EWRD
EWS
FCA
FEMSEDA
FSCD
FSP
FTC
GoE
GPS
GTP
HABP
HEP
HEW
HIV/AIDS
HRD
IBLI
ICBPP
Agriculture Extension Directorate
Agricultural Development Sector
Agricultural Growth Programme
Behaviour Change Communication
Bureau of Finance and Economic Development
Bureau of Labour and Social Affairs
Community Based Nutrition
Community Based Participatory Watershed Development
Community Food Security Task Forces
Consultative Group to Assist the Poor
Community Investment Fund
Community-based Management of Severe Acute Malnutrition
Channel One Program Coordinating Unit
Country Programme Paper
Citizen Report Card
Climate Resilient Green Economy
Central Statistical Agency
Community Score Card
Climate Smart Initiative
Development Agent
Donor Coordination Team
Department for International Development (UK foreign assistance)
Demographic Health Survey
Disaster Risk Management
Disaster Risk Management Strategic Programme Investment Framework
Disaster Risk Management and Food Security Sector
Disaster Risk Reduction
Ethiopian Roads Authority
Ethiopia Social Accountability Programme
Environmental and Social Management Framework
Early Warning and Response Directorate
Early Warning System
Federal Cooperatives Agency
Federal Micro and Small Enterprise Development Agency
Food Security Coordination Directorate
Food Security Programme
Farmer Training Centre
Government of Ethiopia
Graduation Prediction System
Growth and Transformation Plan
Household Asset Building Programme
Health Extension Programme
Health Extension Worker
Human Immuno Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
Humanitarian Requirements Document
Index Based Livestock Insurance
Integrated Community Based Participatory Planning
ICT
IDDRSI
IGAD
ILO
IYCF
KAC
KFSTF
LIAS
LDD
M&E
MCH
MDG
MFI
MIS
MoA
MoFED
MoH
MoLSA
MoU
MoWCYA
MSE
MTR
NER
NGO
NNP
NPSDRM
NRM
NRMD
OCHA
OFSP
PAD
PASS
PBS
PCDP
PIF
PIM
PLW
PSNP
PTC
PWCU
REMSEDA
REST
RRT
RuSACCo
SLM
SLMP
SMS
SNNP
SNSF
TVET
UNICEF
Information and Communication Technology
IGAD’s Drought Disaster Resilience and Sustainability Initiative
Intergovernmental Authority on Development
International Labour Organisation
Infant and Young Child Feeding
Kebele Appeals Committee
Kebele Food Security Task Force
Livelihoods Impact Analysis Sheet
Livestock Development Directorate
Monitoring and Evaluation
Maternal and Child Health
Millennium Development Goal
Microfinance Institute
Management Information System
Ministry of Agriculture
Ministry of Finance and Economic Development
Ministry of Health
Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs
Memorandum of Understanding
Ministry of Women, Children and Youth Affairs
Micro and Small Enterprise
Mid-Term Review
Net Enrolment Rate
Non-Governmental Organisation
National Nutrition Programme
National Policy and Strategy on Disaster Risk Management
Natural Resource Management
Natural Resource Management Directorate
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Other Food Security Programme
Project Appraisal Document
Payroll and Attendance Sheet System
Promoting Basic Services
Pastoralist Community Development Project
Programme Implementation Framework
Programme Implementation Manual
Pregnant or Lactating Woman
Productive Safety Net Programme
Pastoral Training Centre
Public Works Coordination Unit
Regional Micro and Small Enterprise Development Agency
Relief Society of Tigray
Rapid Respond Team
Rural Savings and Credit Cooperative
Sustainable Land Management
Sustainable Land Management Programme
Subject Matter Specialist
Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples (Region)
Safety Net Support Facility
Technical Vocational Education and Training
United Nations Children’s Fund
URAP
USAID
WDRP
WFP
WFSTF
WOFED
WoLSA
Universal Road Access Programme
United States Agency for International Development
Woreda Disaster Risk Profile
World Food Programme
Woreda Food Security Task Force
Woreda Office of Finance and Economic Development
Woreda Office for Labour and Social Affairs
Ethiopian Words
kebele
The lowest administrative unit in Ethiopia
meher
The harvest resulting from the long rains
woreda
District
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1:
Background and Context .............................................................................. 1
Chapter 2:
PSNP 4 Objectives ........................................................................................ 3
2.1
Overview of Objectives ........................................................................................................... 3
2.1.1
Policy Objectives ............................................................................................................. 4
2.1.2
Programme Goal ............................................................................................................. 4
2.1.3
Programme Outcome...................................................................................................... 5
2.2
Key Issues Informing Programme Design ............................................................................... 6
2.2.1
Policy framework ............................................................................................................ 6
2.2.2
Priorities for the next phase ........................................................................................... 8
2.3
Scale and Scope....................................................................................................................... 9
Chapter 3:
Programme Outputs and Activities ............................................................. 10
3.1
Output 1: Prioritised instruments and tools in place to support an effective system for
Social Protection and Disaster Risk Management ............................................................................ 11
3.1.1
Overview of Output ...................................................................................................... 11
3.1.2
Lessons Learned Informing this Phase of the Programme Design ................................ 13
3.1.3
Priorities under PSNP 4 ................................................................................................. 17
3.1.4
Next steps over coming year......................................................................................... 29
3.2
Output 2: Appropriate, timely and accessible transfers received by male and female clients
31
3.2.1
Overview of Output ...................................................................................................... 31
3.2.2
Lessons Learned Informing this Phase of the Programme Design ................................ 32
3.2.3
Priorities under PSNP 4 ................................................................................................. 34
3.3
Output 3: Sustainable community assets built up and access to social services enhanced . 41
3.3.1
Overview of Output ...................................................................................................... 41
3.3.2
Lessons Learned Informing this Phase of the Programme Design ................................ 44
3.3.3
Priorities under PSNP 4 ................................................................................................. 47
3.3.4
Next Steps Over the Coming Year ................................................................................. 55
3.4
Output 4: Clients’ livelihood opportunities facilitated through three pathways: crop and
livestock, off-farm income generation, and employment ................................................................ 56
3.4.1
Overview of Output ...................................................................................................... 56
3.4.2
Lessons Learned Informing this Phase of the Programme Design ................................ 57
3.4.3
Activities ........................................................................................................................ 59
3.4.4
Priorities under PSNP 4 ................................................................................................. 67
3.4.5
Next Steps Over the Coming Year ................................................................................. 70
3.5
Output 5: Effective management and operational processes in place to manage the
programme ....................................................................................................................................... 71
3.5.1
Overview of Output ...................................................................................................... 71
3.5.2
Lessons Learned Informing this Phase of the Programme Design ................................ 72
3.5.3
Priorities under PSNP 4 ................................................................................................. 74
3.5.4
Next Steps over the Coming Year ................................................................................. 77
Chapter 4:
4.1
4.2
Management Structures ............................................................................. 79
Implications of the New Design ............................................................................................ 79
Roles and Responsibilities of Implementing Sectors & Institutions ..................................... 81
4.2.1
Federal Level ................................................................................................................. 81
4.2.2
Regional Level ............................................................................................................... 88
4.2.3
Woreda Level ................................................................................................................ 89
4.2.4
Kebele and Community Levels ...................................................................................... 90
4.3
Programme Budget Financing ............................................................................................... 92
4.4
Programme Monitoring and Evaluation ............................................................................... 93
4.4.1
Common Logical and Results Framework ..................................................................... 95
4.4.2
Monitoring and Evaluation Tools .................................................................................. 95
Chapter 5:
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
5.6
5.7
5.8
Log frame................................................................................................. 100
Policy Objectives indicators ................................................................................................ 100
Goal indicators .................................................................................................................... 101
Outcome indicators............................................................................................................. 102
Output 1 indicators : ........................................................................................................... 105
Output 2 indicators ............................................................................................................. 109
Output 3 indicators ............................................................................................................. 111
Output 4 indicators ............................................................................................................. 117
Output 5 indicators ............................................................................................................. 120
Chapter 1:
BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT
1.
Over the past decade, Ethiopia has experienced significant economic growth and progress
toward Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Ethiopia’s annual GDP growth averaged 10.3%
between 2004 and 2012, a period that also corresponded to an impressive decrease in poverty
rates: in 2004, 38.9% of the population lived below the national poverty line ($0.60 per day); in
2012, this figure was down to 29.6%. Ethiopia has enjoyed a steady increase in life expectancy
during this timeframe, from 55.6 years in 2004 to 62.2 years in 2012. The country is expected to
reach its MDGs related to gender parity in primary education, child mortality, HIV/AIDS, and malaria,
and has also made significant strides towards reducing child malnutrition, and improving primary
school enrolment and completion.1
2.
These improvements reflect a strong commitment by the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) to
invest in agriculture, health, and other pro-poor sectors. The GoE’s current Growth and
Transformation Plan (GTP) aims to enhance productivity and production of smallholder farmers and
pastoralists; strengthen marketing systems; improve participation and engagement of the private
sector; expand the amount of land under irrigation; and reduce the number of chronically food
insecure households. Spending on “pro-poor” sectors (health, education, agriculture and natural
resources, and rural roads and urban construction) has increased from 52% of general government
expenditure in FY 2003 to 70% in FY 2011/12 (MOFED). The Productive Safety Net Programme
(PSNP) and the Other Food Security Programme (OFSP) and Household Asset Building Programme
(HABP) represent an important contribution to the GoE’s pro-poor development agenda, amounting
to approximately 9% of pro-poor spending and 1.1% of GDP.2
3.
The launch of the PSNP in 2005 represented a pivotal departure from the cycle of annual
emergency food aid appeals. Following the drought of 2002/2003, the Government of Ethiopia
formed the New Coalition for Food Security to identify key actions to break the cycle of emergency
appeals—which saved lives but did little to protect household assets—and comprehensively address
food insecurity in Ethiopia. This process resulted in the creation of the Food Security Programme
(FSP). Launched in 2003, the FSP was funded by the GoE and Development Partners and
implemented, mostly through government structures, in Amhara, Oromiya, Tigray and Southern
Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNP), with Harari and Dire Dawa added in 2005. During
these first two phases (2005-2009), the FSP comprised three complementary components: the
Productive Safety Net Program, the Other Food Security Program, and the Land Access Programme
(resettlement). The PSNP provided food and/or cash transfers to food insecure households in
chronically food insecure woredas (those receiving food aid annually prior to 2005) in exchange for
labour-intensive public works, while labour-poor households received unconditional “direct support”
transfers. The public works component, which covered approximately 80% of programme
participants, focused on the implementation of soil and water conservation measures and the
development of community assets such as roads, water infrastructure, schools, and clinics. The OFSP
provided productive asset packages on credit in order to build household assets and enable
graduation from the PSNP as well as investments in socio-economic infrastructure.
4.
The following phase of the programme saw significant expansion and some important
improvements in programme design and implementation. In 2008 and 2009, the GoE and
Development Partners reviewed the successes and lessons learned from past implementation and
designed the 2010-2014 phase of the FSP, which would now comprise four components. The first
component, PSNP, built on the successes and lessons learned of the previous phase to improve the
program, by expanding into two new regions (Somali and Afar); improving the timeliness of
transfers; enhancing the quality of public works; and shifting increasingly to cash transfers. The
1
MoFED, 2012, Assessing Progress Towards the Millennium Development Goals: Ethiopia MDG’s Report 2012
FDRE, 2010, Growth and Transformation Plan 2010/2011 – 2014/2015 and White, P and F. Ellis, 2012, Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net
Programme, 2010 – 2014 – a value for money assessment, DFID/International Development UEA
2
1
second component, HABP, was a redesigned version of the OFSP, designed to build household assets
but through improved technical assistance, business planning, and credit provision from appropriate
financial institutions (microfinance institutions [MFIs] and rural savings and credit cooperatives
[RuSACCOs]). The final two components were the Complementary Community Infrastructure and
Resettlement components. This five-year phase was extended by six months and is due to end in
June 2015.
5.
PSNP and OFSP/HABP have contributed significantly to food security. In the highlands,
participants in the PSNP have seen their average months of food security rise from 8.4 months per
year in 2006 to 10.1 in 2012. The majority of this increase occurred between 2010 and 2012,
reflecting the important improvements in the quality of programme implementation (e.g. in the
timeliness of transfers and full family targeting) during this period.
6.
PSNP public works have led to important improvements in rural infrastructure and
watershed development. PSNP public works participants have constructed over 39,000 km of road
and maintained an additional 83,000 km, thereby linking rural communities to small towns where
they can access inputs, markets, and services. Public works have also contributed to improved access
to education and health services through the construction of over 900 health posts and
construction/rehabilitation of 4,300 school rooms. In terms of watershed development, PSNP
participants have constructed 600,000 km of soil and stone bunds, which enhance water retention
and reducing soil and water run-off; and protected 644,000 ha of land in area enclosures, which
increases soil fertility and carbon sequestration.Finally, public works have supported livelihoods
through the development of water infrastructure for household and agricultural use through the
construction or rehabilitation of over 208,000 ponds, the development of 8,100 springs, the
construction of over 55,000 hand-dug wells, and the construction or rehabilitation of 8,300 km of
canals.
7.
Less is known about the outcome of HABP. OFSP/HABP have been shown to contribute to
the increase in food security: in 2010, access to the PSNP alone increased food security by 0.61
months, while access to the PSNP and OFSP together (with access to the OFSP operationally defined
as access to extension) increased food security by 1.53 months. Yet the complexity of livelihoods
interventions, their close alignment with regular extension and financial service activities, and the
absence of a system for tracking household receipt of services, make it difficult to attribute specific
improvements to the programme.
8.
However, poverty, malnutrition and vulnerability remain high. Although the poverty rate
decreased by over nine percentage points during the nine-year period between 2004 and 2012, this
period also saw high population growth (74 million in 2004 to 91.7 million in 20123). As a result, the
total number of people in poverty has decreased only slightly, from 28.8 million in 2004 to 27.1
million in 2012. Moreover, malnutrition has decreased but remains high, with 44.4% of children
stunted, 28.7% of children underweight and 9.7% of children wasted; and 27% of women
underweight.4 29% of the population are absolute poor,5 but an estimated 43% (46% of the rural
population) are vulnerable to absolute poverty. Furthermore, although the PSNP has provided an
important safety net for many poor rural households, nearly half (12.2 million) of the 27 million
identified as vulnerable to absolute poverty live in non-PSNP woredas. This is due to the fact that
much vulnerability is determined not by geography but by individual access to assets, lifecycle
events and other factors.
9.
While uptake of education and health services have improved, poor households remain
constrained with their use of services. Children living in poor households are: less likely to attend
school; less likely to benefit from vaccination programme; and more likely to get sick but less likely
3World
Bank, 2013
2011 DHS
5World Bank, MOFED
4
2
to receive medical attention. The net attendance rate6 in primary education is 52% for children in
the poorest quintile and 84% for those in the wealthiest quintile. 15% of children in the poorest
quintile suffered from diarrhoea in the two weeks preceding the Demographic and Health Survey
(DHS), but only 22.4% of these were taken to a health service provider. This compares to 11.2% of
children in the wealthiest households suffering from diarrhoea of which 53% were taken to a health
service provider.7 There is also a high chance that very poor households will transmit poverty to the
next generation. Poor household heads are often those born into poor households in the past, and
future poor household heads are likely to be children in the poor households of today.
10.
Poverty and economic growth also remain heavily influenced by Ethiopia’s susceptibility to
shocks. The majority of years in which negative economic growth was experienced were marked by
shocks, most commonly drought but also conflict. Many households living with food insecurity point
to specific large-scale crisis events as being the cause for their current circumstance. Poor
households are more risk prone, both because they often live in marginal environments and also
because they are less able to cope with shocks when they occur. They are also more likely to be in
debt as a consequence of an emergency or crisis.
Chapter 2:
PSNP 4OBJECTIVES
11.
The PSNP 4design aims to support the transition from a series of time-bound programmes to
the development of an efficient and effective system for delivering elements of social protection and
disaster risk management. In doing so it also aims to make contributions to the GTP and to the
achievement of four key government policies, strategies and programmes:

The Social Protection Policy

The National Policy and Strategy on Disaster Risk Management (NPSDRM)

The National Nutrition Programme (NNP)

The Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE)
12.
In supporting the above, the PSNP 4 will result in enhancement of household and
community resilience to shocks and improvements to household food security, nutrition and
economic wellbeing. It will do so by ensuring that poor and vulnerable households benefit from an
essential suite of services including safety net transfers, livelihood interventions, key health and
nutrition services, community assets constructed through public works and support to households
up to, during and beyond safety net graduation to ensure that the improvements they have
achieved are sustainable.
2.1 Overview of Objectives
13.
The objectives of the PSNP 4 are articulated at 3 levels:the policy objectives, the programme
goal and the programme outcomes. The extent of the contribution of the PSNP 4 varies between
these levels. With regard to the policy objectives, the PSNP 4 is one of several programmes or
interventions aiming to contribute to the achievement of these objectives. With respect to the
programme goal, the PSNP 4 expects to make a more significant contribution, although other
interventions are also critical to achieving the goal; this means that the achievement of the goal is
beyond the power of the PSNP 4 alone. However, the progress towards achieving this goal and the
contribution by the PSNP 4 will be measured through its regular impact assessments. The
programme outcome, on the other hand, is within the PSNP 4’sability to deliver.
6The
Net Attendance Rate (NAR) for primary school is the percentage of the primary-school age (7-14 years) population that is attending
primary school (this figure is lower than the Net Enrolment Rate[NER] because it measures attendance rather than enrolment)
7CSA, 2011a
3
2.1.1 POLICY OBJECTIVES
Policy and Objective
Growth and Transformation Plan
To become a country where democratic rule, goodgovernance and social justice reign, upon the
involvement and free will of its peoples, and once
extricating itself from poverty to reach the level of a
middle-income economy as of 2020-2025
Social Protection Policy
To see all Ethiopians enjoy social and economic wellbeing, security and social justice
Indicators


Number of clients raised above poverty line. 8
Total poverty-oriented expenditure as % of GDP.9

Number of safety net clients expressed as a
percentage of people living below poverty line. 10
Number of safety net clients benefiting from fee
waivers and nutrition-related conditionalities.

Disaster Risk Management
To reduce risks and the impacts of disasters through
the establishment of a comprehensive and
integrated disaster risk management system within
the context of sustainable development.
Climate Resilient Green Economy
To achieve the GTP goal of building Ethiopia into a
middle-income country by 2025 in a way that is both
resilient to the negative impacts of climate change
and does not result in a rise in greenhouse gas
emissions.
National Nutrition Programme
To improve nutritional status of women and
children in Ethiopia.





Reduction in distress sales of assets by safety net
clients as compared to previous similar disasters
in operational areas.
Reduction in the number of children in
operational areas affected by severe
malnutrition11.
% of land covered by improved watershed and
rangeland management structures and practices
Mt CO2e sequestered in public works supported
watersheds.12
Reduction in % of stunting in children under 5 in
operational areas13
14.
As stated above, the PSNP 4 will make contributions to the Government of Ethiopia’s overall
Growth and Transformation Plan and the achievement of four government policies, strategies and
programmes. The key objectives of the plan, policies, strategies and programmes and the indicators
by which the PSNP 4 will measure its contribution are as follows:
2.1.2 PROGRAMME GOAL
15.
The PSNP 4 has the following goal:
“Resilience to shocks and livelihoods enhanced and food security and nutrition improved for
rural households vulnerable to food insecurity.”
16.
While the PSNP 4 is expected to make a substantial contribution to this goal, its achievement
will also require support from other interventions as well as a more general enabling environment.
8PSNP
4PSNP 4’s contribution to the GTP indicator “Decrease in # of people living below the poverty line”. Measuring the “Number of
clients raised above the poverty line” indicator will require panel data on per capita consumption/poverty. If this is not possible (e.g.
through the Ethiopian Food Security Study or HICES), then this indicator will need to be adapted in order to be measurable.
9 GTP Indicator
10 At present there are not indicators included in the Social Protection Policy or Strategy. These indicators may need to be revised once a
results framework for the strategy is developed.
11
PSNP 4PSNP 4’s contribution to the DRM SPIF indicators: “the reduction in the number of lives lost as compared to previous similar
disasters, the reduction in the value of economic losses incurred as compared to previous similar disasters and the reduction in the
number of people and children affected by severe malnutrition”
12
PSNP 4PSNP 4’s contribution to CRGE Strategy Indicator “Annual C02 emissions remain at 150 Mt C02e”
13PSNP 4PSNP 4’s contribution to NNP indicator “% height for age”
4
17.
The PSNP 4’s contribution to achieving this goal will be regularly measured through
programme impact assessments, using the following indicators:

% of children age 6-23 months of age who receive minimum acceptable diet

Household dietary diversity

Average value of asset holdings

Number of different income sources
18.
The above indicators will be analysed to allow comparisons between PSNP 4 clients, a
control group (or counterfactual) and those who have exited the programme (graduates). This will
allow an assessment of the impact of the programme on households participating in the
programme, and the contribution of the programme to achieving sustainable livelihood security.
Furthermore, data will be disaggregated to assess the differing impacts by gender of household head
and gender of the household member participating in livelihood enhancing activities (whether credit
or livelihood transfer).
2.1.3 PROGRAMME OUTCOME
19.
The PSNP 4’s outcome is as follows:
“Enhanced participation in improved rural safety net, livelihood and nutrition services by
food insecure female/male headed households”.
20.
The PSNP 4’s achievement of this outcome will be realized through a combination of the
expanding scale of the programme; improved quality of implementation; the introduction of
instruments and tools which can enhance implementation and are one of the building blocks of a
broader system; and key activities that improve programme clients’ access to key social services
(particularly in relation to nutrition).
21.
The major indicators by which the programme will measure its success in achieving this
outcome are as follows:












Number of months of self-reported food insecurity
Average non-food expenditure of PSNP PW clients
Percentage of clients reporting that they can provide adequate meals for their family for 12
months a year
Percentage of households reporting improvements in self-reported well-being
Percentage of clients reporting that asset depletion is prevented as a result of transfers
Number of clients covered by the programme
Average number of consecutive years that highland client households have received safety
net transfers
Percentage of safety net clients reporting that their livelihood has benefited from public
work created assets
Percentage of safety net clients reporting that they have benefited from public work created
social infrastructure
Percentage of client households with adequate Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of
nutrition-related behaviors
Percentage of safety net clients reporting new income sources
Percentage of safety net households with business plans reporting that their business plans
reflect their priorities, needs and capabilities
5
2.2 Key Issues Informing Programme Design
2.2.1 POLICY FRAMEWORK
22.
Ethiopia’s Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) sets the broad institutional framework for
the next phase. The GTP’s goal is to contribute to Ethiopia’s achievement of middle income status by
2025, while its development objective is to sustainably increase rural incomes and national food and
nutrition security. The GTP has four strategic objectives: 1) to achieve a sustainable increase in
agricultural productivity and production, 2) to accelerate agricultural commercialization and agroindustrial development, 3) to reduce degradation and improve productivity of natural resources, and
4) to achieve universal food security and protect vulnerable households from natural disasters. In
the agriculture and food security sector, the GTP aims to improve agricultural productivity, expand
irrigation and water conservation, reduce imports of staple crops and food aid, and accelerate
poverty reduction through mechanisms such as the PSNP 4.
23.
Four complementary policies provide a more specific framework for PSNP 4. In particular,
the Social Protection Policy and the Disaster Risk Management Policy provide the majority of the
foundational framework for the PSNP 4, and are complemented by the National Nutrition
Programme and the Climate Resilient Green Economy.
24.
The PSNP 4 is a cornerstone of the Social Protection Policy. To date, Ethiopia has not had a
comprehensive and integrated social protection system, but rather an array of social protectionrelated programs and plans. The Social Protection Policy aims to provide an overall framework for
these initiatives under the following mission: to create an enabling environment in which Ethiopian
citizens have equitable access to all social protection services that will enhance their growth and
development.The policy identifies social safety nets as one of its main pillars and commits the
Government to establishing a social protection system. Further, the policy recognises that not all
households would graduate from the PSNP in rural areas, thus requiring a long-term safety net for
the poorest in the country.
25.
The PSNP 4 can support the Social Protection Policy by reducing institutional budgetary
fragmentation among services supporting the same client (such as the safety net, livelihoods
support, and nutrition and health services). Specifically, the PSNP 4 will:

Take the first steps in moving towards a national rural safety net

Pursue the harmonisation activities referenced above

Develop explicit linkages with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MoLSA) and the
Social Protection Platform, and with the Ministry of Health (MoH) to ensure duplication
of services is avoided

Based on the capacity review of MoLSA, gradually transition the Permanent Direct
Support clients over to the responsibility of MoLSA while ensuring common systems for
targeting and implementation are used (e.g. the single registry)

Support livelihood and employment schemes
26.
The PSNP 4 will be an important contributor to the new Disaster Risk Management Policy.
The overall objective of the National Policy on Disaster Risk Management is to reduce risks and the
impacts of disasters through the establishment of a comprehensive and integrated disaster risk
management system within the context of sustainable development. This will entail a shift from
response and recovery to a multisectoral and comprehensive approach that focuses on disaster
prevention, mitigation and preparation.
27.
The PSNP 4 can contribute to disaster risk management by helping to improve national risk
management. Key areas include:
6

Transfers which help poor households mitigate and cope with the impact of shocks.

Public works which help reduce the probability of a weather shock turning into a
production shock, and/or, reduce the severity of a shock when it occurs, thereby
helping prepare households and communities against the impacts of disasters.

Strengthening and adjusting the response instruments (PSNP contingency budgets, Risk
Financing mechanisms and humanitarian resources) to ensure that a seamless,
responsive system is established. This will entail aligning contingency budget and risk
financing mechanism use with humanitarian requirements document processes.

Helping strengthen Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) planning including woreda risk
profiles in order to integrate the components of transfers, NRM and livelihoods support.

Helping strengthen and integrate the early warning system with PSNP 4 activities to
ensure the most vulnerable are protected by early and appropriate response.
28.
The PSNP 4 can contribute to the National Nutrition Programme. The NNP (2013-2015),
overseen by a National Nutrition Coordinating Body that is chaired by the Federal Ministry of Health
and co-chaired by the Ministries of Agriculture and Education, aims to drastically reduce stunting,
wasting and chronic undernutrition in Ethiopia by 2015. The National Nutrition Programme places a
renewed focus on the 1,000 days from conception to when a child reaches two years of age, and
works in conjunction with the Health Extension Programme (HEP). The HEP provides free services on
a range of basic health interventions (immunization; impregnated bednets; and treatment for
malaria, severe malnutrition and pneumonia in young children) as well as behaviour change
communication (BCC) through health extension workers and a “health development army (HDA)”.
29.
The PSNP 4 can contribute to the NNP by integrating nutrition sensitive approaches
throughout the new design and by designing specific linkages to ongoing health and nutrition
interventions. These include:

Ensuring that vulnerable households with a malnourished child are adequately targeted
in safety net initiatives

Improving the nutritional value of the food basket with the addition of pulses or the
equivalent cash value.

Enhancing the implementation of nutrition-sensitive public works

Introducing soft conditionalities related to attendance at BCC events or uptake of other
services, in order to increase health-seeking behaviour

Using the single registry to identify and refer households for health fee waivers.
30.
The PSNP 4 can contribute to the Climate Resilient Green Economy. Launched in 2011, the
CRGE aims to achieve the GTP goal of building Ethiopia into a middle-income country by 2025 in a
way that is both resilient to the negative impacts of climate change and does not result in a rise in
greenhouse gas emissions. The CRGE comprises two strategies: the Climate Resilience Strategy and
the Green Economy Strategy. The Climate Resilience Strategy is overseen by the Ministerial Steering
Committee (in the Prime Minister’s Office), and led by a Technical Committee, chaired by the
Ministry of Environment and Forests, six technical subcommittees (Power Supply, Green Cities,
Agriculture, Transport, Industry and Health.)
31.
The PSNP 4 can assist Climate Resilient Green Economy by increasing climate resilience by
strengthening household resilience to shocks through increasing food security and livelihoods; and
by reducing carbon emissions and increasing carbon sequestration through public works. Specific
interventions include:
7

Continuing to develop and adapt climate sensitive activities

Adapting public works and livelihood guidelines to be climate sensitive and to include
low carbon and low regret options

Monitoring the impact of climate change by establishing a baseline to prove carbon
sequestration results from programme activities and thus can access climate funding.
32.
The PSNP 4 can contribute to the Drought Disaster Resilience and Sustainability
Initiative.Regionally, IGAD’s Drought Disaster Resilience and Sustainability Initiative (IDDRSI) seeks to
end drought emergencies in the Horn of Africa and drive economic growth. IDDRSI comprises both
regional and national programming papers and associated investment programmes. An Ethiopian
IDDRSI Country Programme Paper (CPP) was developed in 2012 under the leadership of MoA with
the overarching objective to improve food and nutrition security and enhance resilience to external
shocks with particular focus on drought prone communities. The six major components of the CPP
are: natural resource management, market access and trade, livelihood support, pastoral disaster
risk management, research and knowledge management and peace building and conflict resolution.
These components form a clear resilience agenda that complements the overall policy objectives
stated above. The PSNP 4 could contribute to the CPP resilience agenda by ensuring strong linkages
are in place to complement and support these activities, particularly in communities more
vulnerable to drought.
2.2.2 PRIORITIES FOR THE NEXT PHASE
33.
The PSNP 4 will build largely on the successes and lessons learned from the current phase,
with a number of important innovations:
34.
Transition to a system of integrated service delivery: As highlighted above, this phase of
support to the Government of Ethiopia safety net promotes the transition from a series of timebound programmes to the development of an efficient and effective system for delivering elements
of social protection and disaster risk management.
35.
Integration of the livelihoods component within the PSNP 4 as one programme/system. The
two sets of interventions—safety net activities and livelihoods activities—will be merged into one
integrated programme with a common log frame. This will require systems building, appropriate
programme management, and institutional arrangements.
36.
An increase in the value of the transfer: to allow for improved levels of consumption as a
result of the increased kilocalorie value and higher protein and fat contents, as well as more
significant contribution to resilience and asset protection because of its higher value.
37.
Twelve months of support for permanent Direct Support clients: to recognise the greater
needs of households who have no adult able-bodied support and to provide these extremely
vulnerable households with the support they need.
38.
Strengthened continuum of response: to further strengthen the current mechanisms which
allow the programme to scale up in response to both localised and more wide-spread shocks
through greater decentralisation of decision making and clear triggers and mechanisms.
39.
Greater flexibility in public works: to allow the programme to increase its impact in the areas
of social infrastructure, nutrition, climate resilience and disaster risk management.
40.
Expansion of conditionalities beyond current public work focus: the current programme
implementation manual (PIM) allows for some skills training and behaviour change communication,
but this has only been implemented to a limited extent. The PSNP 4 will establish mechanisms to
ensure that this is a widely implemented part of the programme
8
41.
Support to three livelihood pathways to graduation: Crop and livestock; off-farm income
generation and employment. Each pathway will be supported with better tailoring and sequencing
of interventions. In addition the use of livelihoods transfers for the most vulnerable households – for
whom credit is not an option – will be explored and expanded.
42.
MoLSA to gradually assume responsibility for permanent direct support clients: based on the
planned capacity review and in line with the development of MoLSA capacity, the PSNP 4 will
gradually transition the Permanent Direct Support clients over to the responsibility of MoLSA while
ensuring common systems for targeting and implementation are used (e.g. the single registry).
43.
A strengthened focus on gender equity: gender equity is one of the eight principles that
have guidedPSNP implementation to date,14butprovisions intended to enhance women’s equal
participation and increase their benefit have been not fully realised.Hence, the PSNP 4 will more
systematically address gender-related concerns, particularly in the areas of nutrition, household
asset management, and community cohesion,in order to make meaningful strides towards
sustainable and gender equitable development outcomes.
44.
Gradual increase in Government of Ethiopia’s financial contribution: in line with
Government of Ethiopia commitments to increase domestic financing of social protection, the PSNP
4 will see a gradual increase in Government of Ethiopia’s financial contribution to the services this
programme supports, with the goal of putting the programme “on budget” within a ten-year
period.The total value of the GoE’s contribution is estimated at approximately USD 500 million, of
which approximately USD 285 million will be provided as a cash contribution that will be
incorporated in the annual PSNP budget and will be deposited into the pooled local currency
account
2.3 Scale and Scope
45.
The PSNP 4 will scale up to a national rural programme. The programme will scale up
systematically so as to ensure that capacity is built before programme implementation begins in
each area. The scaling up of the programme will build on the residual caseload and phase in the
introduction of households and woredas experiencing the greatest vulnerability in the existing
program regions15through the following steps:

Year 1: Repeat transitory caseload in current PSNP woredas

Year 2: Half of rural woredas in existing safety net regions where the programme is not
yet operational andwhere a recurrent transitory caseload exists, beginning with rural
woredas in Somali Region

Year 3: Remaining rural woredas with a recurrent transitory caseload
46.
In the end, the PSNP 4 will cover all regions in the country except Gambella and Benishangul
16
Gumuz and become a national programme. The estimated maximum annual programme caseload
will be 10 million clients, consisting of 8.3 million chronic food insecure clients and the capacity to
support an additional 1.7 million transitory clients if need exists. Transitory needs will be determined
using data generated by the early warning system through a joint seasonal assessment conducted in
December each year.
47.
As clients graduate, new clients will be added on a needs basis, using the targeting system,
as long as there are unmet needs in the country.
14
PSNP Implementation Manual, 2012, 9
Afar, Amhara, Oromia, SNNP, Somali, Tigray, Diredawe and Harari
16 These regions are covered by other government programs
15
9
48.
The programme will also build strategic linkages between the development of the rural
safety nets and the urban safety net (under development with the Ministry of Urban Development)
to ensure consistent coverage using complementary tools and a consistent approach.
49.
The PSNP 4 will retain previous phases focus on food insecurity and poverty as the key
criteria for selecting programme clients. However, within this poverty focus specific services will be
targeted so that the particular needs of categorical groups (elderly, young children, pregnant and
lactating women) can be better addressed.
Chapter 3:
PROGRAMME OUTPUTS AND ACTIVITIES
50.
Achieving the outcome described above requires the delivery of five key outputs. These
outputs and there core components are outlined in a table below:
Outputs
Key Components
Output 1: Prioritised instruments and
tools in place to support an effective
system for Social Protection and
Disaster Risk Management






Targeting (programme entry and exit)
Management information systems (MIS)/single registry
Disaster risk management system
Planning, coordination andgovernance
Socialaccountability
Capacity development
Output 2: Appropriate, timely and
accessible transfers received by male
and female clients

Provision of transfers (food and cash) for public works clients
(six months of support), temporary direct support (six
months), and permanent direct support (12 months)
Operationalization of risk management tools which allow
safety net transfers to be scaled up in response to shocks

Output 3: Sustainable community assets
built up and access to social services
enhanced



Output 4: Clients’ livelihood
opportunities facilitated through three
pathways: crop and livestock, off-farm
income generation, and employment

Output 5: Effective management and
operational processes in place to
manage the programme









Planning and construction of public works that contribute to
livelihoods, nutrition and other social services, climate
resilience and DRM
Expansion of public works to include participation in BCC,
literacy and financial literacy
Soft conditionalities which link temporary direct support
clients to existing health and nutrition services
Basic training and technical support (e.g. financial literacy and
savings)
Tailored technical support to three livelihood pathways
Referral of households to credit service providers
Provision of livelihoods transfer
Human resource management
Accountable programme management systems with
strengthened monitoring and evaluation function
Accountable budgeting and financial management
Accountable food management systems
Accountable procurement systems.
Accountable asset management systems
10
3.1 Output 1: Prioritised instruments and tools in place to support an effective
system for Social Protection and Disaster Risk Management
3.1.1 OVERVIEW OF OUTPUT
51.
PSNP 4 will evolve from a relatively independently implemented programme to become a
central part of broader system that delivers social protection, disaster risk management, nutrition
and Climate-Resilient Green Economy policy objectives under the overall framework of the GTP.
52.
The Social Protection Policy and the National Nutrition Programme both draw attention to
the need to remove or reduce the barriers faced by poor households and vulnerable groups in
accessing services. The Social Protection Policy highlights the problem of unequal access to services,
while the National Nutrition Programme highlights the need to coordinate social protection
interventions with nutrition activities in order to maximise impact. Previous phases of the
programme indicated that linkages were necessary, but the lack of clear activities limited the
implementation of actual interventions in this regard. Therefore, the PSNP 4 will aim to build a
system through which these linkages will be operationalised.
53.
At the heart of the PSNP 4 is the shift to a systems approach. A systems approach involves
the use of common administrative mechanisms to address the challenges of policy, institutional and
budgetary fragmentation and has a number of implications:

Appropriateinvestmentsare
requiredinthebuildingblocksforthe
‘ system’towork:transparentfinancial
managementandappropriateprocurementproceduresmainstreamedintoGoEstructures,a
ppropriatelevels
ofqualifiedpersonneltodelivertailoredservices,robustsafeguardstoensurethatenvironme
ntal
and
socialissuesareadequatelyprotected,effectivecoordinationmechanismsandstructurestha
tputtheclientatthe
heartofservicesandincentivisestaffaccordingly,an
acceptancethatasystemispermanent, and appropriate administrative and management
instruments that are fully aligned and harmonized and operate as one.

TherewillbearangeofservicestoaddressvulnerabilitiesthattheGoEcanprovideatanyonet
ime. PSNP 4 will not, and cannot, be the only system or programme that addresses
vulnerability and delivers resilience. Instead, it must be designed as one component of
an overall system that delivers an appropriate range of responses wherever and
whenever there are needs. The broader social protection and DRM system should be
the framework to synchronise and coordinate the range of services.

A robust capacity development component is fundamental to support the
implementation of the PSNP 4 and to build the system. All of the system level
recommendations will need systematic capacity development activities to address all
implementation and management aspects of the programme. As the safety net
becomes increasingly integrated within evolving social protection and DRM systems, so
the types of capacity required (in terms of human resources, facilities, and institutions)
will become more complex, and will need to be harmonised with the capacity
development plans of other programmes existing within the region (the Agricultural
Growth Programme [AGP], Sustainable Land Management Programme [SLMP], PSNP,
the Pastoral Community Development Programme [PCDP]). A functional and pragmatic
knowledge management system is crucial to strengthening capacity and to increasing
overall performance, and should ensure best practices and lessons learned are captured
within the system.
11

As with any Government system, it should be ‘on-budget’. In line with the ambitions
in the GTP, there will be an incrementalshiftinthe way thatPSNP 4 programme will be
resourced. There will be a progressive increase in domestic financing of the programme
in line with (i) the importance attached to the safety net and livelihood support
activities in social protection and DRM strategies and (ii) an increase in fiscal space;
54.
Under this output, the tools and instruments central to the delivery of the PSNP 4 will be
designed, tested and scaled up. These tools will not only support the function of the next phase of
the programme, but will be designed to form the foundation of the emerging overall system that will
eventually deliver social protection and disaster risk management objectives, while significantly
contributing to CRGE, nutrition and resilience polices. Ultimately, those agencies serving the same
clients should use a common set of tools, instruments and approaches to ensure maximum impact
and cost effectiveness. These tools and instruments will be delivered through a stronger planning
and coordination framework which will be a major priority under this output.
55.
Key Priorities:
56.
Under the social protection and DRM system, develop a minimum suite of services for
vulnerable households with clear linkages and roles for multiple implementers under unified
planning and coordination structures with clear roles and responsibilities. Within this are six priority
areas:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
Targeting (programme entry and exit)
Management Information System/Single Registry
Disaster Risk Management System
Planning, coordination and governance
Social accountability
Capacity development
Priority Area 1: Targeting (programme entry and exit)

Develop and implement information systems for refined targeting (more accurate and
evidence-based)

Strengthen targeting mechanisms, particularly in pastoral areas

Ensure that conditions are in place to support evidence-based graduation
Priority Area 2: Management Information System (including Unified Single Registry)

Design and implement an integrated programme management information system in
stages with an interface with other information systems

Design and implement a Unified Single Registry as a key component of the MIS
Priority Area 3: Disaster risk management system

Incorporate scalable safety net and livelihood programming as a core component of
local DRM planning

Support the development of a more harmonised Early Warning information
management system including the development of triggers for the continuum of
support
Priority Area 4: Planning,coordination and governance

Harmonise planning and strengthen coordination

Support the transition to a national, domestically financed rural safety net
12
Priority Area 5: Social accountability
 Strengthen social accountability andgrievance redress mechanisms, including for the
implementation of gender provisions
Priority Area 6: Capacity development

Implementa comprehensive national Capacity Development Strategy and Action Plan

Ensure knowledge management mechanisms are in place to draw practical lessons
learned and best practice
3.1.2 LESSONS LEARNED INFORMING THIS PHASE OF THE PROGRAMME DESIGN
57.
Targeting (programme entry and exit): To date the PSNP has used a combination of a
geographical quota and community-based targeting methods to allocate resources and select
households for programme entry. Lessons learned include:

The design of the PSNP targeting system represents a pragmatic, low-cost approach
reflecting institutional, budgetary and data constraints. It builds on established methods
(community-based targeting had been used to select beneficiaries for humanitarian
food aid in Ethiopia in the decade before PSNP was introduced) and reflects a rational
adaptation to an environment with (i) limited readily-available information held on
household status and (ii) limited administrative capacity.17

The focus to date has been on reviewing the quality of household targeting of the
programme, with less attention paid to the geographic resource allocation. A safety net
programme targeted to only specific woredas will always exclude many vulnerable
Ethiopians. This persistent under-coverage is reflected in the continued provision of
emergency assistance in most PSNP woredas. The average provision of emergency
assistance to PSNP woredas in 2008-2012 was 3.53 million people.

Targeting in Afar and Somali is very problematic, with significant inclusion errors.
Problems found in 2010 were still pronounced in late 2012. Taking livestock holdings as
the measure of household wealth, it appearsthat participation in PSNP public works is
equal across all wealth groups. Access to PSNP transfers in Afar and Somali is in effect
not targeted. This undoubtedly reflects the weaker institutional capacity of the
programme in these regions (where it has been in operation only since 2010) and the
time required to “clean” beneficiary lists (which were initially developed based on
previous food aid distribution programmes and contained high inclusion and exclusion
errors18), but it may also reflect a poor fit between lowland social structures and
targeting processes.19 There is some evidence that traditional leaders set criteria for the
selection of beneficiaries, often in biased way,as no clear guidelines regarding eligibility
criteria and targeting processeshad been defined or enforced.20In addition, strong
traditional community safety nets in pastoral areas often mean that wealthier
households support poorer households during the other 6 months of the year, and
therefore feel justified in receiving a portion of safety net support.

Local structures matter for targeting, but take time to establish and get right. Where
targeting succeeds (as now in most of the highlands), this reflects returns on many
years of investment in capacity and process: KFSTF are in place in all sampled highland
17
Coll-Black et al., 2011
Ayala, 2014. Lowlands Targeting Study and Single Household Registry Feasibility Assessment.
19
Sabates-Wheeler et al., 2011 and Lind et al., 2013
20Ayala, 2014
18
13
kebeles, and KACs are in place in most kebeles. Similar levels of investment are required
in lowland areas to increase capacity and adapt approach if required.

The final lesson is that in the absence of significant scale up, exclusion errors will
remain large, and will limit the prospects for the rapid elimination of chronic food
insecurity.
58.
Graduation: The graduation system is moving towards becoming evidence-basedin order to
avoid the risk of removing transfers from households before they are food secure. However,
graduation is implemented with considerable variation between regions and criteria are not always
clearly related to food security. The linking of ambitious programme graduation objectives to highlevel policy targets has created incentives which a number of sources suggest have encouraged local
authorities to move households off the safety net prematurely. Possibly the most important change
needed to the system overall is the need for absolute separation of the target setting process from
the assessment of graduation of individual households.Work has taken place to implement the
Graduation Prediction System (GPS) in several PSNP operational areas, with the exception of Somali
and Afar, and should be a valuable tool to aid in building a stronger evidence base for graduation.
59.
Management Information System: The current set of information instruments has been
reasonably effective in capturing key trends in programme implementation and results. However,
the lack of a unified overall MIS has meant that fragmentation is still an issue and opportunities for
greater coherence are missed. For instance, in public works, the absence of a mapped database,
M&E component, and watershed baseline has been a detriment to overall public works
implementation.Moving towards a systems approach requires more joined-up information systems
that not only bring together the information requirements of the PSNP 4, but also lay the foundation
for the overall system that will eventually emerge. The principle is that agencies serving the same
client should share a common MIS system and/or mechanisms by which information can be shared
across systems. To do otherwise wastes scarce resources and risks duplication and fragmentation.
However, moving towards a common MIS system even within the programme requires a high level
of government commitment and a specific allocation of time and resources. Investments are also
required to establish the initial architecture and to ensure that existing systems are built upon and
systematically folded into the broader MIS. Efforts are already underway to merge the current
programme’s Public Works MIS with that of the Sustainable Land Management Programme (SLMP)
which is a strong starting point for this initiative.
60.
Disaster risk management system (early warning and the continuum of response): The
recently completed DRM Strategic Policy Investment Framework (SPIF) highlights some of the gaps
within the early warning and response function. The SPIF notes that “while data collection has been
a strength in the EWRD, the use of this data in planning and decision making processes still remains
weak which has also been a challenge in terms of providing timely early warning. One of the biggest
challenges is to bring greater coherence into the whole DRM information system which is now
characterised by a number of information-based projects rather than a unified system. Risk
assessment, monitoring and early warning products (Woreda Disaster Risk Profiles [WDRP],
Livelihood Impact Analysis Sheets ([LIAS], and the EWS) are not fully harmonised within one system
which reduces efficiency, can lead to duplication and risks slowing response. For example, Risk
Assessment tools are not used for guiding early warning which is a lost opportunity.”21 The DRM SPIF
recommends ‘further harmonising the various DRMFSS approaches and products so that risk
assessment, monitoring and early warning is one continuum that informs decision making
throughout the DRM cycle”. Investing in a more joined-up early warning information system is in the
direct interest of the PSNP 4 and is central to strengthening the continuum of response mechanisms.
21
MoA, 2013, DRM SPIF
14
61.
Planning and coordination: The commitment in the PSNP to pursue linkages with other
programmes, such as nutrition, has been poorly implemented in practice despite the intent
described in the design document of the previous phase. There are missed opportunities due to lack
of systematic integration and linkages between programmes (that have different implementation
guidelines and manuals), compromising the programmes’ performance. Lessons include:

Strong coordination is critical at each level to ensure that the programme functions
efficiently and that households have access to a full range of services required to ensure
graduation.

Linkages don’t just happen: the previous design highlighted the importance of linkages
with the Ministry of Health and Promoting Basis Services (PBS)22 amongst others and
suggested a pilot to explore the potential of linkages. However, without clearly assigned
responsibilities, activities, indicators or incentives, linkages did not and cannot take
place.

The important role of integrated woreda planning is stressed in the FSP; however there
is limited attention to strengthening the woreda planning process to achieve these
objectives.

There is a need for greater harmonisation of community-driven development at the
local level. Combining the participatory planning and targeting functions of PSNP and
HABP with those of (where appropriate) PCDP, National Nutrition Programme and other
programmes involved in labour-intensive infrastructure development and livelihoods
support, and bringing these more clearly under the formal government structures,
should help to ensure greater coherence, synergies and efficiencies in the local planning
system.
62.
Planning and coordination in lowland implementation areas:In Afar and Somali, the
implementation of the programme deviates considerably from design, planning and coordination
are a major challenge, and overall outcomes are much weaker, although it is not clear how these
findings are related. The differences between highland agricultural and lowland pastoral / semipastoral production cycles and hungry seasons require changes to annual programme planning and
thus implementation. The timing of contingency plan preparation, transfer of contingency resources,
public works implementation and regular transfer payments, transitory needs assessment and (if
necessary) triggering of contingency budget/risk financing release need to be de-linked from the
annual cycle used in the highlands. The flexibility to plan and implement based on different cycles
needs to be built into the programme and combined with intensive support to planning,
coordination and capacity developmentto strengthen this function.
63.
Grievance redress mechanisms and social accountability: Although appeals structures are in
place, their effectiveness is compromised by their limited decision making power, the lack of
awareness of their existence and role, and their poor record keeping. There are positive experiences
to be learned from regional innovations with this regard. Tigray has developed an appeals template
to improve record keeping and has designated a space for the management of appeals (a room with
copies of the manuals etc.). SNNP has established a woreda appeal evaluation committee to review
the management of appeals. The appeals process is significantly weaker in lowland implementation
areas, with most complaints being submitted through other channels.
64.
The PBS Social Accountability programme has demonstrated its ability to provide Ethiopian
citizens with the opportunity to communicate their views on the quality of service provision and any
areas of improvement needed to woreda level service providers. Reports generated by this process
are then also communicated with regional and federal level decision makers providing them with an
22
During the first two phases of the programme, PBS stood for Protection of Basic Services. Under PBS III, the name was changed to
Promoting Basic Services to reflect a more ambitious objective.
15
overview of the issues which have emerged. Piloting is underway to test PSNP collaboration with this
broader mechanism, with positive early results.
65.
Capacity development: The experience of capacity developmentfor PSNP/HABP is mixed,
with some significant progress but also a number of outstanding and unaddressed issues.
Nevertheless, this experience has generated useful lessons for the future, as outlined below:
66.
The lack of a comprehensive systematic capacity development strategy leads to costly
inefficiencies. The programme has lacked a clear and comprehensive strategy and approach to
capacity development, as well as a single capacity development plan for the programme. The
original plans for the comprehensive Capacity Building Task Force, tacitly supported by relevant GoE
Directorates as well as Development Partners was to address the notion of a single capacity building
action planning entity, but this strategy failed. Capacity development plans were to be coordinated
through the Capacity Building Task Forcebut this proved difficult without an overall strategy and
sufficient commitment. Instead, a shotgun approach was employed which centred on training with
reported over-targeting of the same cohort of leaders, technicians or DAs; need assessments were
rarely used, resulting in supply rather than demand-driven capacity development; and human
capacity development was not prioritised in budgeting or implementation. Moreover, harmonisation
of capacity development among public works, HABP and NGO activities has remained
underdeveloped, and is almost non-existent with other programmes. Finally, women’s participation
in capacity development planning and implementation remains low, which inhibits the application of
learning to programme implementation.
67.
Capacity constraints are most evident in pastoral areasand directly impact programme
outcomes. These problems relate to (inter alia) mechanisms for transfer delivery combined with
severe accessibility issues; the low capacity of local authorities to implement; the presence and
effectiveness of structures for community engagement and social accountability; the processes for
planning effective and sustainable public works; and the ability to deploy different resourcing lines
(regular transfers, contingency budgets and risk financing mechanism) in a joined-up way to allow
timely scaling up in response to drought. Capacity development must be significantly scaled up in
pastoral areas and should focus in the first instance on the basic capacity required to implement the
existing pastoral PIM.
68.
The Safety Net Support Facility (SNSF) and other capacity development initiatives have
generated useful lessons learned:

Capacity development requires attention to three levels of capacity:23human resource
capacity, i.e. the knowledge and skills of individuals, the quality of the organisationsin
which they work, and the enabling environmentin which these organisations are
embedded and which influences their operations. Capacity is not only about skills and
procedures; it is also about incentives and institutional governance and culture.24

A systematic, staged approach to training programme design helps to achieve
consensus on content and the methodology to be used in delivery.

Effective learning and the accumulation of human capital within the programme
workforce require that classroom training be supplemented by opportunities for
discussion, reflection and on-the-job improvement through peer coaching, building
thematic communities of practice, and tailored professional development for
programme leadership roles.
23
Per the OECD framework
OECD, 2006
24
16

Participatory processes can help to define clear organisational and individual
accountabilities that can then be embedded in performance management systems and
incentive structures that support delivery and results.

A critical mass of trainers with skills and experience in applying adult education
methodologies in the design and delivery of training programmes is essential to support
human resource capacity development for the programme.

Human resource capacity development needs to focus on both hard (technical) and soft
(functional) capacities.
3.1.3 PRIORITIES UNDER PSNP 4
3.1.3.1
Priority Area 1: Targeting (Programme Entry and Exit)
Activity 1: Develop and pilot food insecurity/poverty index supported targeting
69.
Household targeting in highland areas is strongly progressive and considerably better than
the international average with the community targeting approach providing a strong base for
accountability. Areas for improvement exist including the issue of under-coverage and including
information on the varying needs of households. Targeting in lowlands areas is very weak and
requires strengthening.
70.
Under the PSNP 4,the existing community targeting system will be complemented by a food
insecurity/poverty index,which could help to address extreme inclusion and exclusion errors and
provide a more informative list of households both eligible for safety net transfers and potentially
eligible for other forms of support. The proposed system will apply the following: i) a food insecurity
index to identify vulnerable kebeles, ii) the current community-based targeting methodology with
standardised guidelines, and iii) verification of clients by a proxy means test-based food
insecurity/poverty index. The proxy means test will only be used to reduce errors of inclusion once
the community nominates households, and will not replace community verification or identification
as a targeting mechanism.In addition to the reduction in inclusion and exclusion errors, this system
will enable management of appeals, adequate graduation procedures, and case management,
provide a ranking score for each household, and continue community empowerment, among other
improvements. It will also allow for a more systematised approach across project areas, while
allowing for local specificity through locally defined (zonal-level) indices. Food security indicators will
be aggregated at the kebele leveland will provide the basis for geographic targeting of kebeles with
updated data and indicators.
71.
This index will be complemented by an MIS and a single registry to capture all relevant
information on households that can be used by multiple actors serving the same clients.
72.

Develop and pilot test a food insecurity/poverty index, using household and individuallevel data from the single registry, to complement community-based targeting and flag
possible exclusion errors for correction.

On the basis of this pilot and any subsequent revisions; gradually phase in the new
approach across programme implementation areas, supported by targeted capacity
development.
Activity 2: Strengthen existing targeting mechanisms across the programme. This will entail:

Ensure that community targeting targets those with the greatest need:
o
For the purposes of targeting (for inclusion in the programme and consideration as
direct support vs. public works clients), consider women in polygamous households
as female household heads.
17
o

Sensitise communities to the needs of poor and vulnerable pregnant and lactating
women to be considered in targeting where resources are available and other
factors are equal. This will include pregnant and lactating women in both maleheaded households and female-headed households.
Apply a household cap of 5 to allow programme resources to cover a greater number of
households
73.
Activity 3: Improve targeting in lowland implementation areas: In pastoral areas, improve
the current targeting system by expanding current pilot initiatives to test methods to adapt to the
unique conditions of pastoral areas. Strengthening lowland targeting mechanisms may require a
variety of strategies, which will be outlined in the PIM.
74.
Activity 4: Implement evidence-based graduation, and ensure graduates receive one-year
notice period. Graduation should be based on case-by-case, evidence-based assessment of a
household’s circumstances compared to relevant, realistic criteria. Given the problems experienced
with current asset benchmarks, they need to be revisited for realism. This also means that
household graduation should be unequivocally de-linked from any policy targets for overall
graduation rates or area based planning figures (i.e. introducing and communicating the primacy of
evidence-based graduation), thereby removing incentives to graduate households before they are
ready.
75.
In recent years, the PSNP has invested in the development of a Graduation Prediction
System as a mechanism for operationalising evidence-based graduation. The system makes use of
baseline livelihood data already generated by the DRMFSS (and stored in EWRD’s Livelihoods Impact
Analysis Sheet or LIAS) against which progress can be plotted to allow woredas and regions to
improve the quality of their decision-making. The Graduation Prediction System is already in the
process of being rolled out and this process will be furthered under the PSNP 4.
76.
Similarly, the Government of Ethiopia already has a provision that safety net graduates
should be provided with 12 months’ notice of the fact that they are expected to stop receiving safety
net transfers. This 12-month notice period was designed to allow households identified as ready to
graduate further time to consolidate their livelihood gains, therebyensuring they are prepared for
the cessation of transfers and reducing the risk of any backsliding after graduation.
77.
The following process is proposed to support a more sequenced and sustainable graduation
process:

Continue the roll-out of the Graduation Prediction System.

Ensure the conditions are in place to support graduation by implementing clearly
sequenced livelihood support activities complemented by tailored support services as
described in Output 4.

Strictly enforce the 12-month notice period given to clients slated for graduation.

Provide clients slated for graduation with a lump sum payment rather than monthly
payments during the 12-month notice period.
Priority Area 2: Management Information Systems (including Unified Single Registry)

Design and implement an integrated programme Management Information System
(MIS) in stages with a deliberate interface with other information systems

Design and implement a Unified Single Registry as a key component of the MIS
78.
The main focus of this priority is the establishment of a functioning management
information systemtogether with a Unified Single Registry of beneficiaries that brings together
18
available data across different programmes serving the same clients. This registry will be housed in
MoLSA and will be jointly administered and supervised by MoLSA and the MoA and other GoE
members in the Social Protection Platform (Ministries of Health, Education, and Local Governments)
The registry should be designed for ease of use, and for providing maximum utility to those directly
implementing the programme starting at woreda level – if it meets the needs of implementers, they
will have a clear incentive to enter information into the system. Simplicity and functionality that
addresses needs at each administrative level will be key design parameters. The MIS will also be
designed from the beginning with a view to becoming a key instrument for moving from
programmes to systems through the ability to analyse the impact of the different interventions and
programmes on client and identifying gaps in support. As such is must address the needs of each
sector involved in the process.25The MIS will be developed to be functional at both federal and
regional levels.The availability of data generated by the MIS will free up the evaluation exercises to
focus on outcomes and impact, including through expanded use of qualitative methods.
79.
The MIS for the PSNP 4 will contribute to the broader MoA MIS but will also be designed to
meet the needs for detailed, real-time information on programme implementation. Specifically, the
PSNP 4 MIS should provide the data necessary to determine client eligibility for various
interventions, monitor the disbursement of transfers, map the implementation of public works,
track the resolution of grievances, monitor the implementation of livelihoods support interventions,
and, more broadly, oversee programme performance across all outputs.
80.
To support effective public works planning, monitoring and impact, the MIS will have a
spatial component (using GIS) composed ofa mapped public works database and a mapped
watershed database, which will complement the public works M&E system.
81.
Effective use of the PSNP 4 MIS requires decentralised capacity for analysis and decision
making through targeted capacity-building efforts (focusing on better data collection and
compilation at the kebele and woreda levels, and better analysis and comparison at the regional and
Federal levels), involving both skills training and investments in information and communication
technology. Capacity development training plans need to recognise that different skills sets are
needed at different levels (although certain needs – notably computer skills – emerge as priorities at
all levels).
Box 1: Principles for MIS / M&E

Collect only information that will be needed and used. More and better data can drive programme
improvements through better design and implementation: but it is also very easy to get trapped in
collecting very large quantities of data which are then never used.

Think through who are primary and secondary users of information, and design the MIS accordingly.
Much / most PSNP management occurs at the woreda level: the MIS should focus on improving the
practical value of information supplied to woreda-level actors (relevance for decision-making, quantity,
quality, frequency, format), only a subset of which will need to be passed upwards in aggregate form to
the Region (and only a subset of this passed upwards to the Federal level).

It is better to be roughly right than precisely wrong. Focus on information that is reliable and adequate
for the required purpose (gets to the people who need it, in the right format (numbers? Percentages?
Ratios?) with the right degree of precision, at the right time to inform programme management and policy
decisions.

Match data needs to instruments (such as frequency and level of disaggregation). Shift the burden from
evaluation (sample-based data collection) to monitoring / MIS (routine administrative reporting): ensure
25For
example, the public works working group has identified the need for a comprehensive MIS system that includes a geo-referenced
database of public works and watersheds with a strong link to an integrated M&E system with links to SLMP. This should be one of the
components of the MIS.
19
basic input-, activity- and output-level data that should be generated at relatively high frequency and for
administrative sub-units can be produced by monitoring / MIS, so freeing up infrequent survey-based
evaluation tools (low frequency, expensive, lag between data collection and release of processed findings,
sampling basis allows for only limited disaggregation to geographical or group strata) for more complex
outcome / impact level information. Smaller set of survey questions would allow for a larger sample size,
and so greater statistical confidence and / or ability to generate statistically robust estimates for smaller
units than would otherwise be possible.

Not everything that matters can be measured; not everything that can be measured matters. Some
critical management information does not come in structured closed question, quantifiable form: MIS has
to also include space / channels for communication of qualitative data on programme performance (spotchecks, RRTs, congresses / meetings between different levels of programme management and clients…)
82.
Detailed MIS and Unified Single Registry Activities:

Integrated programme MIS designed and implemented in stages (single client registry and
public works database as priority modules); explicit interface with other information systems
(existing and planned) allows programme MIS to draw on and contribute to MIS of other
strategies (social protection, DRM) and sectors/programmes (e.g. nutrition, maternal and
child health [MCH]).







Establish National Registry Secretariat within MoLSA to oversee the setup of the
Registry and report regularly on progress to the Social Protection Platform
Contract design of overall modular MIS architecture
Design, test, re-design and build consensus for MIS architecture.
Contract design of Unified Single Registry as part of MIS architecture
Develop Rollout Plan (schedule, assigned responsibilities, capacity development
plan) developed and implemented.
Reach agreements Memoranda of Understanding [MoUs]) between Ministries and
with the Central Statistics Agency (CSA) on protocols for data sharing and common
use of single registry.
Strengthen the link between the cycle of six-monthly joint reviews and high-level
programme management committees
Box 2: Issues to be addressed in the MIS Design Process






Need to specify links, timing and a clear process between targeting exercise and single registry
development. Although these are distinct (which is why the group de-linked single registry from targeting)
they are in fact very closely related.
Ensure that specific sector needs are addressed. For example, for the public works component, integrate a
mapped database, a watershed baseline, and an M&E PW module
Be clear on ownership and users: the MIS needs to deliver information products (dashboards, trends,
patterns, reports) for users at all levels, but particularly the woreda.
How can the MIS design build on existing information systems such as the existing MoA MIS system and
other systems (e.g. MoH) that are serving the same client?
How does the single registry relate to vital registration (universal national system for registering births,
deaths, marriages and divorces)? How to reduce the potential for overlap?
How frequently does the single registry need to be updated (UNICEF experience suggests every two
years)? What are the trade-offs between (i) accurate, current information to sustain accurate targeting
and graduation and (ii) costs entailed by frequent updates?
3.1.3.2
Priority Area 3: Disaster Risk Management Systems
20
Activity 1: Incorporate scalable safety net and livelihood programming as a core component of
local DRM planning (DRR, mitigation and response).
83.
With the development of the new DRM policy and investment framework, the national
imperative to integrate DRM across all ministries is clear. This is directly applicable to the immediate
objectives of the PSNP 4 and to the larger systems building objectives. The current PSNP contingency
planning process was developed to meet a need, but now must be merged under the woreda
contingency planning process linked to the woreda risk profiles. The PSNP experience will be able to
inform the further development of the woreda risk profile and contingency planning process to
ensure it is practical, fit for purpose in terms of the demands on the lower administrative levels, and
able to link clearly to the continuum of response. This is also related to the support of the further
harmonisation of early warning information which should all work seamlessly to prompt early,
appropriate response. This will include:

Work with EWRD to establish the use of common woreda contingency plans.
Harmonise the current PSNP contingency plans with the woreda risk profile contingency
plans and risk reduction plans. Work with EWRD to simplify the methodology and
format for the woreda risk profiles to match existing woreda level capacity, and scale up
adoption of risk profiles at the woreda level. Provide training and follow-up support in
line with other planned training initiatives.

Strengthen accountability for contingency planning

Strengthen coordination in the DRM analysis, decision-making and response process at
woreda level. Focus on support to the woreda and regional level FSTF as a focal point
for coordination of information and decision-making with a clear link to the woreda and
regional councils. During the DRM SPIF design, promote an emphasis on maximising
DRM information for operational use at each level in addition to feeding the federal
level needs of the Continuum of Response.

Incorporate Climate-Smart Initiative (CSI) recommendations
proofing/maximising adaptation function of public works
on
climate-
Activity 2: Support the development of a more harmonised early warning information
management system including the development of well-defined triggers for the continuum of
support
84.
The current continuum of in-year response to progressively greater levels of food insecurity
is not working as designed (from regular PSNP transfer, through contingency budget and risk
financing mechanism scale-up, to humanitarian relief for addressing any residual excess). Rather
than restructuring the instruments, efforts in the next phase will focus on addressing weaknesses in
the current system, especially accountability and monitoring of contingency budget use and
clarification of triggers. This will require efforts to simplify the contingency budget procedures for
cash and food, ensure the same accountability procedures are in place for the contingency budget
caseload as there are for the core PSNP caseload (see Output 2), and to strengthen capacity in
utilising the available response tools.
85.
With the further development of the continuum of response PSNP 4 will be the primary user
of early warning information in Ethiopia. With the recent development of the DRM Strategic Policy
Investment Framework (SPIF), an opportunity exists to work closely with the Early Warning and
Response Directorateto ensure it is a central part of the overall development of an integrated social
protection and disaster risk management system. The result of this process will be a clear system for
collecting and analysing information that can trigger the release of contingency funds at different
levels and is part of the on-going early warning and risk assessment system of the government. This
will include:
21
3.1.3.3

Support the strengthening of the early warning/information system initiatives in the
DRM SPIF (to harmonise information into an integrated information management
system that includes clear linkages between Early Warning, disaster risk profiles, risk
assessment/livelihood analysis, rapid assessment, research and M&E). Provide capacity
development funding with a focus on woreda and regional levels to strengthen this
function.

Develop and adopt clear triggers for the continuum of response process, including
which triggers should be used to activate each level of response (woreda or federal).

Develop capacity to analyse key data required for these triggers and the level a decision
is required (woreda, federal) in order to ensure appropriate and timely decision making.
Use the FSTF at Woreda level and the appropriate joint working groups at federal level
as a focal point for this effort.
Priority Area 4: Planning, coordination and governance
86.
In order to increase impact through better service delivery to households, it is important to
define over time what is the core affordable suite of services (both basic social services and
productive services) necessary to alleviate poverty, build human capital, and ensure sustainable
livelihoods protected from shocks. The key question is who can deliver each service most efficiently,
what capacity support do they require to effectively deliver the services, and how can services be
planned and coordinated under a common framework? Output 5 emphasises the importance of
clearly defining roles and responsibility amongst all agencies responsible for delivering aspects of the
PSNP 4.
Activity 1: Harmonise planning and strengthen coordination:
87.
Stronger coordination and planning is recognised as a key area for improvement including
the need for greater harmonisation of community-driven development efforts at the local level.
Strong planning and coordination is critical at each level to ensure that the programme functions
efficiently and that households have access to a full range of services required to ensure graduation.
88.
In the PSNP 4, and in relation to the overall system that eventually replaces it, there are two
levels of coordination:
1) At the household level, each client will be registered in the Unified Single Registry
which will record each service the client is entitled to in addition to other vital
information. Each client will be issued a card which records the benefits received.
Eventually, MoLSA will develop a “case management system” through which a Social
Worker will work with the client to ensure they have access to the right basic social
services according to their assessed need with links to the DAs to ensure access to
the productive services required.26
2) At the administration level, each implementing agency will deliver the service
according to its mandate and agreed roles and responsibilities. At each
administrative level, a strengthened local planning and coordination system with
adequate skilled human resources will ensure implementing agencies are efficiently
coordinated within government planning mechanisms.
89.
Strengthening planning and coordination requires diligence, capacity development in project
cycle management and coordination, and continued support. There is a risk that over time
coordination structures which are essential for sustained programme effectiveness and adaptation
lapse into disuse. The negative effects of this may not be immediately apparent, but because
26
This could use a similar approach to the MoH’s Family Folder. This paper-based MIS system allows Health Extension Workers to track all
households living in a kebele, the services they need, whether they have accessed them and any follow up actions required.
22
structural problems go unaddressed, there is a progressively greater risk that they will deteriorate to
a point at which they threaten the programme.
90.
There is a need for greater harmonisation of community-driven development at the local
level. Combining the participatory planning and targeting functions of public works, transfers and
livelihood interventions with those of (where appropriate) PCDP, CBN and other programmes
involved in labour-intensive infrastructure development and livelihoods support, and bringing these
more clearly under the formal government structures, should help to ensure greater coherence,
synergies and efficiencies in the local planning system.

Support the woreda planning team through the WFSTF to map all key programmes and
services in the woreda (e.g. safety net, livelihood, nutrition, PCDP etc.) to allow them to
be engaged in coordinated planning

Harmonise management processes (targeting; planning, budgeting and implementation
cycles; tools, manuals, guidelines and MIS/M&E) across programmes

Support the roll out of MoFED’s Integrated Community Based Participatory Planning
(ICBPP) methodology, with clear identification of how the Community Based
Participatory Watershed Management planning approach (which is used for the
planning of public works and other sustainable land management interventions) feeds
into it.

Ensure that Woreda Food Security Task Forcesinclude representation of Woreda Office
of Labour and Social Affairs, where present, as well as bureau-level sector focal
points/persons for social protection, DRM, CRGE and nutrition.27 Aim to work in support
of a broader systems approach under the Cabinet/Council rather than lead the process
where circumstances allow.

Inlowland implementation areas, build in flexibility to plan according to the lowland
production cycles and hungry seasons by de-linking from the annual cycle used to date
in the highlands.

Inlowland areas, continue to develop unified community level planning processes
between the PSNP 4 (particularly with reference to public works planning) and the
Pastoral Community Development Project within overall support to the local
government’s regular development planning process.

Support building of core local planning and coordination capacities based on Capacity
Development Strategy and MOFED planning guidelines (see Capacity Development
below).
91.
There is also a need for planning to more effectively integrate gender issues in planning.
Specific activities will be guided by the final Gender Action Plan but are likely to include
strengthening the planning template to better capture gender provisions and the introduction of
simpler gender analysis for planning at the woreda level.
Activity 2: Transition to a domestically-financed rural safety net
92.
Over the course of PSNP 4 implementation from 2015 to 2020, it is expected that the GoE
will directly finance an increasing portion of the programme budget, with development partner
financing decreasing proportionately over time.
27
In Afar region, this function has been subsumed directly under the responsibility of the Woreda cabinet to reduce the proliferation of
such structures. Flexibility must be in place to allow for regional variations in structure that are most appropriate for the circumstance.
23
Priority Area 5: Social accountability
Activity 1: Implement strengthened social accountability and grievance redress mechanisms
93.
Although appeals structures are in place, their effectiveness is compromised by their limited
decision making power, lack of awareness of their existence and role, and poor record keeping. The
PSNP 4 will focus on improving the system to address these weaknessesso that clear grievance
redress mechanisms are in place to address issues related to inclusion/exclusion, entitlements, work
norms, etc., with clear responsibilities and directions. Furthermore, the programme will scale up the
current piloting of PSNP collaboration with the broader PBS Social Accountability programme. This
approach will allow programme clients and other citizens the opportunity to communicate their
views on the quality of service provision and any areas of improvement needed to woreda level
service providers, with onward communication to regional and federal level coordinators.

Continue collaboration with the Ethiopia Social Accountability Programme (ESAP) and
scaleup current pilot of use of social accountability tools through the use of citizen
report cards (CRCs) and community score cards (CSCs)28

Prepare and implement a Grievance Redress Manualto guide stakeholders on their key
functions, roles and responsibilities,present clear steps on how to address each type of
appeal or complaint with clear procedures to be followed, and ensure that feedback is
provided to complainants.

Finalise roll-out of client cards in Afar and Somali

Implement acommunications campaign to raise the awareness ofclients and non-clients
– with a special emphasis on women, pastoral populations, and direct support clients –
on their rights and entitlements as well as available grievance redress mechanisms

Review and revise structures to include responsibility to record and resolve appeals and
complaints to ensure that it is clear who has the ability to make binding decisions

Resolve complaints at the appropriate level, and provide feedback to complainants.

Monitor the number and nature of appeals presented – along with the outcomes of
these appeals – to Kebele Appeals Committee in gender disaggregated way

Adapt complaints and grievances for pastoral areas including a clear definition of the
appropriate role of local leadership and the clan system

Support the development of local capacities to implement the strengthened
mechanisms
94.
The implementation of gender provisions will be a key social accountability issue.These
provisions includeparticipation of women in light works, a 50% reduced workload for women,
transition to direct support from the 4th month of pregnancy or earlier (from the moment the
woman can present a pregnancy certificate issued by the health sector) through the end of the first
year postpartum, establishment of day care centres, and minimum standards for representation by
women on a variety of safety net committees. To improve implementation of gender and social
development (GSD), a Gender Action Plan has been prepared for PSNP 4. The plan includes capacity
building and awareness raising targeted to women; increased institutional engagement of the
Ministry of Women , Children and Youth Affairs and the Women, Children and Youth Directorate of
28CSCs
are a tool though which communities evaluate their access to basic services and the quality of services they receive. In focus group
discussions, community members develop indicators to evaluate the services they receive. Service providers also assess their performance
in delivering services through a similar process. CRCs are surveys that compile service users opinions on their satisfaction with service
delivery, availability, usage, quality and equity.
24
the MoA ; knowledge management; piloting of innovative approaches to ensure positive effects for
women and gender roles; and ensuring that Social Development Experts are in place at woreda
levels. In addition, the programme will:

Implement Social Accountability tools that measure women’s satisfaction and
implementation of gender PIM provisions

Include in the Grievance Redress Manual a module on grievance related to gender
provisions and use of household transfer

Implement activities designed specifically to increase understanding of gender
provisions and to strengthen women’s ability to use grievance redress mechanisms
3.1.3.4
Priority Area 6: Capacity development
Activity 1: Implementa comprehensive national Capacity Development Strategy and Action Plan
95.
Prior to the start of the programme, aCapacity Development Strategy will be prepared to
guide capacity development interventions for the PSNP 4.With support from other studies, the
Capacity Development Strategy will ensure that clearly defined roles, responsibilities and
accountabilities are articulated at the implementing agency and individual levels. These
responsibilities will be aligned with budget allocation and reflected clearly in implementing agency
and individual performance plans.The Capacity Development Strategy will outline capacity issues at
the various levels of government for all PSNP 4 implementing agencies, with a focus on the following
three types of capacity development:

Individual: technical and functional skills

Organisational: staffing of implementing agencies and coordination units, physical
resources to implement the programme (excluding public works tools), systems,
processes and tools to manage and implement the programme, including roles,
responsibilities and accountabilities of implementing agencies, and performance
management and other motivational measures to reduce staff turnover

Enabling environment: task forces, committees and engagement of stakeholders
relevant to, but not directly implementing, the programme, and policies and strategies
to enable the programme to operate
96.
A National Capacity Development Support (Unit) Facility will be established to support the
implementation of the capacity development strategy at federal, regional, zonal, woreda and kebele
levels.This facility will be staffed with trained capacity development professionals (international and
national)specialised in adult learning methodologies, organisational management, and systems
development. At regional level, Capacity Development Technical Advisory Committees(CDTACs) will
be expanded from their current presence in Amhara, Tigray, Oromiya and SNNP to also cover Somali
and Afar regionswith a mandate to hold all jurisdictions accountable and responsible for the
effective use of capacity developmentbudgets. ,.Regional champion facilitator resources will be
maximised to effectively facilitate training programmes. Together, federal and regional capacity
development units will develop and implement a Capacity Development Action Plan based on
approaches and priorities outlined in the Capacity Development Strategy.. In Harari and Dire Dawaa
capacity development taskforce will be established to fulfil this function.
97.
Capacity development will prioritise human resource development.As human resources are
critical to the implementation of the programme, human resource development – including
developing appropriate incentives – will receive due emphasis in the Strategy and constitute an
important part of the capacity development in the PSNP 4.
25
98.
Capacity development will be harmonised across flagship programmes to the extent
possible. The PSNP 4 will seek to introduce flexibility in how capacity development is implemented
to ensure that what works in one flagship programme is more easily applied to another, and that
joint trainings are conducted where practical. It is expected that regional CDTACs could play a strong
role in supporting greater harmonisation, with support from the Cross-Pillar Task Force in the RED-FS
structure.
99.
Priority attention will be given to address critical needs. Priority areas will be outlined in
detail in the Capacity Development Strategy, but are expected to include:

29Specific
Capacity development of new implementing agencies.The Capacity Development
Strategy will cover the capacity development needs of the full range of institutions that
are responsible for implementing the new activities (e.g. FSCD, EWRD, NRMD, MoLSA,
MOFED, AED, FeMSEDA, FCA, MoWCYA, Livestock Sector, TVETs and MOH). The PSNP 4
is introducing new implementing agencies that have not to date played a very active
role in the PSNP or HABP, and will therefore require significant capacity development as
they take on new responsibilities.These new implementing agencies include:
o
Ministry/Bureaus of Labour and Social Affairs, whose capacity will be built to
gradually assume responsibility for the Permanent Direct Support Caseload and
support employment pathwaysunder Output 4.
o
Federal/Regional Micro and Small Enterprise Development Agencies and TVETs,
whose capacity will be built to support off-farm and employment pathways for
safety net clients under Output 4. Capacity development support will be provided in
accordance with agreements by these agencies to provide services to safety net
clients, and will be rolled out gradually.
o
Ministry/Bureaus of Health, whose capacity will be built to provide the behaviour
change communication and other services outlined in the soft conditionalities in
Output 3.

Capacity development at the frontline implementation level (woreda level and
below)29

Capacity development in lowland areas. Given the unique and often challenging
environment in pastoral and lowland areas, special attention will be given to developing
capacity development activities that are appropriate, participatory, and client-centred.
This requires designing flexibility into the capacity development approach to adapt to
the specific regional context and to support the tailoring of the PSNP 4 to lowland
livelihood contexts.

Capacity development to manage significant changes planned for the PSNP 4. These
include, but are not limited to:
o
Gradual geographic expansion into new implementation areas
o
Transition to a system of integrated service delivery, which will require multisectoral
collaboration and significantly greater coordination both within the
programme/system and with complementary initiatives
o
A shift in public works and transfer scheduling to better match local needs, which
will entail a shift from a common January-June implementation/disbursement
schedule across the programme to a system where different woredas are on
different schedules
capacity development needs are noted within each output and will be further refined in the Capacity Development Strategy.
26

Capacity development for strengthened monitoring and evaluation, particularly for
improved data collection and compilation at the kebele and woreda levels.

Capacity development for better implementation of gender provisions, as outlined in
the Gender Action Plan.
100. Capacity development budgets will be distinct, well planned and utilised according to clear
guidelines established within the PIM.
101. Capacity development will be led by a set of guiding principles. These principles will be
finalised in the Capacity Development Strategy, but an initial list – building on lessons learned – is
included in Box 3 below.
Box 3:Guiding Principles for Capacity Development in the PSNP 4
Although there is no blueprint for capacity development, certain principles of good practices by various
institutions have emerged. These principles can be grouped into the following three categories: the process,
the methods, and the monitoring and evaluation of capacity development.
The Process of Capacity Development
1. Obtain leadership commitment and support.Leaders and managers create a conducive institutional
environment for continuous learning, and can help ensure that capacity developmentinitiatives can be
sustained by the organisations themselves after project completion.
2. Enhance existing strengths. Capacity development is not only about addressing gaps, but also about
appreciating and enhancing inherent strengths to achieve the mission and programme goals.
3. Clarify roles and responsibilities, and respect ownership. Recipient organisations should take ownership
of their capacity development initiatives. This means that those who understand the context and are
engaged in the organisation should be responsible for its design, implementation and evaluation.
4. Strengthen collaboration and coordination.Capacity development requires open sharing of information,
dialogue and discussion within organisations and coordination between collaborating organisations.
5. Ensure sensitivity to gender and social development within capacity development activities
6. Allocate dedicated resources to capacity development. This will require the allocation of dedicated
capacity development budgets as well as the human resources necessary to implement activities.
The Methods of Capacity Development
7. Approach capacity development holistically. This requires a focus on individual, organisational and
enabling environment capacity development needs at all levels of government (from woreda up to federal
level).
8. Applyflexible approaches and methods to capacity development, customising the approach to the
localcontext, culture and specific organisational needs based on local participation.
9. Engage staff.Participatory methodologies such as staff’s active participation in assessing, planning,
implementing, evaluating and improving capacity developmentapproaches will enhance sustainability of
capacity development, whileengaging staff in dialogue about issues relevant to their jobsand encouraging
new ideas will create a learning environment.
Monitoring and Evaluation of Capacity Development Interventions
10. Build in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) at the outset of capacity development. Developing a plan for
M&E involves deciding which indicators to use to monitor the progress of a capacity development
process.Capacity developmentprogrammes need realistic goals with timeframes and indicators.
11. Develop outcome-level capacity development indicators tailored to the project, integrated into the
project during the design phase, and linked to performance. This can generate a body of evidence that can
assist implementers, local counterparts and donors, in planning and prioritisingcapacity
developmentinterventions to improve performance and achieve greater impact.
27
12. Emphasise measurability.One of the persistent challenges in capacity developmentis the lack of evidence
demonstrating measurable improvements in capacity and performance. This requires a baseline
assessment, benchmarks, and progress and success indicators, without which it is impossible to judge
either effectiveness or impact.Benchmarking must be repeated at different points in time to adapt the
approach taken and to allow for accurate monitoring of outputs, the evaluation of outcomes, and the
assessment of impacts achieved.
Activity 2: Strengthen knowledge management
102. The current programme has made impressive gains in developing tools for monitoring and
evaluation including a robust approach to impact evaluation (see Output 5). The programme has
increased the use of evaluation results for decision-making and, to a lesser degree, the results from
ongoing monitoring. In addition, the JRIS process allows for consistent reflection on M&E outputs
although it is still not fully integrated into the government system.Less successful has been the
knowledge management tasks noted in the PIM to identify and disseminate best practices, and
identify new solutions and technologies to enhance outcomes. Capturing and compiling this
information to complement the existing M&E system and planned MIS is a further challenge
103. Moving forward, there is a need to ensure processes are in place to capture lessons learned
and identify solutions, and to develop a repository of PSNP 4 knowledge products in order to
systematically contribute to organisational knowledge. Knowledge capture is the process of
retrieving knowledge. The PSNP has been challenged to retrieve information consistently because its
data collection and collation processes were not always standardised.
104. In December 2012, a draft Knowledge Management Strategy was developedto help ensure
adequate, quality and timely data, information and knowledge is systematically organized into a
database and document repository.The aim is to capture information and knowledge that ensures
organized and smooth implementation of the programme. The information is to be used to design
plans, formulate budgets and make important decisions for programme implementation. The
knowledge management strategy should now be updated in line with the new design including the
proposed MIS.
105. In order to further institutionalise the use of the full range of information products in the
PSNP 4, the knowledge management function should be institutionalised to allow action to be taken
at each level of implementation while also serving the overall needs of the programme at federal
level.

Update the draft knowledge management strategy in line with the new design and in
conjunction with the development of the integrated MIS

Develop simpleprocessesat community, kebele, and woreda levels to draw practical
lessons learned and best practices from other ministries, implementing partners and
flagship programmes

Streamline procedures at each level for the collection, compilation and dissemination of
experiences including innovation and operational lessons

Improve procedures for knowledge management related to gender provisions, as
specified in the Gender Action Plan

Agree on the infrastructure and procedures that will compile and store documentation

Ensure that appropriate information technologies are available to support learning and
program delivery
28

Ensure availability of physical resources and infrastructure to enable efficient
knowledge management

Explore and define the concept of developing a Centre of Excellence at national level

In pastoral areas, build on the PCDP knowledge management experience to jointly
develop this component
3.1.4 NEXT STEPS OVER COMING YEAR
Overall: Develop a detailed Project Implementation Manual
 The PIM is the key instrument to develop the detailed implementation processes of the
PSNP 4. It will require an extensive revision to accommodate the new approach
including the roles and responsibilities of the various actors.
Priority Area 1: Targeting (Programme Entry and Exit)
 Develop and pilot test the food insecurity/poverty index targeting approach
Priority Area 2: Management Information Systems (including Unified Single Registry)
 MIS and Unified Single Registry development: Initiate development of MIS architecture
design (contract design work) and engage with MoLSA from the beginning of the
process as the key process owner

Establish Secretariat within MoLSA
Priority Area 3: Disaster Risk Management Systems
 Ensure regions and woredas are aware of the need to coordinate local DRM planning;
begin the process of coordination by harmonising PSNP 4 contingency plans with
woreda risk profiles; ensure incorporation within woreda development plans

Through engagement in the DRM SPIF design process, develop support to a harmonised
Early Warning information management system including the development of triggers
for the continuum of support
Priority Area 4: Planning, Coordination and Governance
 Begin harmonised local planning activities by creating awareness with all implementing
partners

Redefine woreda-level management; bring in new members and support harmonisation
of structures where possible

Begin mapping programmes and identify potential interface points
Priority Area 5: Strengthen social accountability
 Continue pilot on integration with Ethiopia Social Accountability Program (ESAP)

Document lessons learned

Finalise approach to integration with ESAP

Develop (and/or update) a Communications Strategyto raise awareness of client rights
and grievance redress mechanisms

Develop a Grievance Redress Manual for appeals and complaints

Update PIM to ensure independence of Kebele Appeals Committee
29

Establish accountability mechanisms for the implementation of gender provisions30
Priority Area 6: Capacity Development
 Develop a Capacity Development Strategy for the PSNP 4 that details what type of
capacities will be addressed by the programme and what target groups will benefit from
capacity development and incorporates lessons learned from the PBS DA tracking study.
The strategy will outline the following:

o
A capacity development approach
o
Capacity development priorities
o
Capacity development management and accountability
o
Capacity development planning, implementation and monitoring
Launch Capacity Development Support Facility
30
Refer the Gender mainstreaming in PSNP document for a simple checklist that can be used to monitor the
implementation of PIM gender provisions can be used
30
3.2 Output 2: Appropriate, timely and accessible transfers received by male and
female clients
3.2.1 OVERVIEW OF OUTPUT
106. An essential component of any cash/food transfer programme is a payment mechanism that
delivers regular and reliable transfers in a way that is accessible to programme clients. This output is
concerned with ensuring that this is achieved and that benefit levels are consistent with the
programme goal of strengthened resilience to shocks and improved food security. This output is also
concerned with delivery of transfers both to core safety net clients and to those who require
temporary assistance as a result of shocks. It aims to ensure a continuum of response which will
result in timely interventions to mitigate the impacts of shocks in a way that is linked with activities
by humanitarian actors (Government, UN or NGO).
107. Under this output, households will receive either six or twelve months of support depending
on whether they are categorised as public works clients, temporary direct support or permanent
direct support clients. Those categorised as public works and temporary direct support clients are
households with adult able-bodied labour and may also include pregnant or lactating women who
have been temporarily shifted to direct support (and soft conditionalities) as discussed in further
detail in section 3.3.1.2 below. Scheduling of transfers for public works and temporary direct support
clients will be done in such a way that households receive transfers up to or during the seasons
when needs are typically greatest. In each month a transfer is provided, households will receive a
transfer benchmarked to 15 kilogrammes (kg) of cereal and 4 kg of pulses. Transfers will be provided
in the form of cash, food, vouchers or electronic payments.
108. This output also includes transfers to address transitory needs as a result of shocks. This
approach is central to the Government of Ethiopia’s system of disaster risk management, as it
ensures an early response to shocks that more effectively prevents household asset depletion and
increasing destitution. Transfers to address transitory need can be used to extend support to
existing safety net clients or to support new clients who have transitory needs within regions where
the safety net is operational.
109.
Key principles of Output 2are the following:

Primacy of transfers:The provision of transfers takes priority over all other
considerations, including those related to the implementation of public works or
application of other conditionalities (see Output 3).

Timeliness of transfers: Transfers must be received according to the planned transfer
schedule, and this must correspond to the time prior to or during households’ greatest
need. For some regions/woredas, the application of this principle will require an
adjustment in the transfer schedule.

Predictability of transfers: Clients must know what they will receive (in terms of food
commodities and/or cash values) and when they will receive it, and they must have the
confidence that the transfer will arrive on time.

Appropriateness of transfers:Transfer modalities must meet the needs of households
according to market realities: cash in settings where markets function well, food in
areas where there is no food to purchase or food prices are extremely high, or vouchers
or e-payments where feasible. To beconsidered appropriate, transfersmust havethe
same value whether they are provided in cash or food.
31
110.
111.
Key activities under this output include:

Appropriate planning of transfers including regular reviews of transfer values and the
preparation and approval of annual plans that define disbursement and transfer
schedules and ensure sufficient availability of resources in food and cash

Disbursement of food and cash resources through the system

Implementation of actions which enhance women’s control over the use of cash or food
transfers

Timely production of payrolls

Regular and reliable transfers to clients in accordance with transfer schedules that have
been communicated to clients

Piloting of e-payments and, as appropriate, gradual expansion

Piloting of vouchers and cash transfers in lowland implementation areas

Effective and timely operationalization of risk management components (woreda
contingency budgets and federal contingency/risk financing budgets)

Monitoring
A comprehensive capacity development plan will be implemented to achieve this output.
3.2.2 LESSONS LEARNED INFORMING THIS PHASE OF THE PROGRAMME DESIGN
3.2.2.1
Core Transfers
112. PSNP transfers are resulting in reduced food gaps and improved quality of consumption,
with impacts greater for larger transfers.
113. Cash transfers have consistently fallen below the value of food transfers. This can be
presumed to have had negative consequences on their impact and has been shown to have had an
effect on client preferences for mode of transfer (food or cash). While cash transfers and food
transfers continue to co-exist, the unpredictability of food price inflation will result in differing
effective wage rates being implemented in the programme, however this difference can and should
be minimised.
114. Recent market studies indicate that, with very few exceptions, there is limited justification
for continued food transfers in highland operational areas on the basis of unavailability of food in
markets. Market assessments also indicate the potential to test the use of food and cash in lowland
operational areas.
115. There is significant variation in the needs of safety net households. In particular, direct
support clients continue to experience levels of need much greater than the six months provided.
While variable levels of support can address this issue, they are administratively complex to manage.
116. Programme implementers have demonstrated that it is possible to significantly improve the
timeliness of transfers. A number of factors have been key to achieving this improvement: adequate
capacity, the introduction of IT systems that reduce workload, and more timely flow of funds from
federal level, through the regions to woredas. In addition to this, the strongest improvements are
seen when timeliness of transfers is emphasised by regional senior management and there is a clear
communication of expected targets for timeliness to woredas.
117. The fact that the programme tends to follow the same schedule of public works and
transfers nationwide means that the needs of non-Meher dependent safety net clients are not
32
appropriately met. The PIM allows woredas the flexibility to set their own schedules, but the current
timetable for the disbursement of finances (and food) counteracts this nominal flexibility.
118. The manual approach used for the vast majority of cash and food payments is very time
consuming, is subject to human error, and has necessitated the hiring of temporary staff.
Internationally, the industry standard for ensuring that the correct person receives a money transfer
is two-factor authentication; the PSNP relies on a single factor of authentication. 31 Early evidence
suggests that electronic payments through mainstream financial service providers may offer
enhancements to the current manual transfer mechanism. Such an approach can: (i) increase the
security of payments (by improving how the identity of those collecting payments is verified); (ii)
improve timeliness through more streamlined procedures; and (iii) promote financial inclusion by
enabling clients to save a portion of their transfer and bringing them into frequent contact with
financial service providers.
119. Clients’ experience of the PSNP payment system in highland areas is largely positive, with
clients reporting reasonable travel times, courteous treatment by payments staff and low reports of
harassment or robbery to and from payment sites. Food payments tend to be made through fewer
distribution points with the result that clients have to travel longer distances particularly in Afar
region and the lowland woredas of Oromiya.
120. There is limited information on who in the household receives safety net transfers, although
there is some suggestion that husbands have more say over the use of cash transfers than food
transfers. International experience indicates that when transfers are provided to women, these are
more likely to be used for household nutrition.
3.2.2.2
Continuum of response
121. Contingency budgets and emergency responses have been used to plug gaps created by
insufficient coverage by predictable safety net interventions. The recurrent transitory caseload32 for
the past five years is more than 4.7 million people.
122. The combined effects of the PSNP core operation, PSNP risk management mechanisms and
humanitarian response are widely credited with sparing Ethiopia from the worse effects of the 2011
drought, yet the PSNP’s ability to respond in the most affected lowland areas was severely
constrained. Much of the worst affected areas were in woredas and regions where the core PSNP
caseload was supported in food, and no mechanisms had been operationalised for holding
contingency budgets either in food or cash for these areas. Furthermore, delays in requesting and
approving the risk financing mechanism meant that there was little response financed through this
mechanism in badly affected areas of Somali region.
123. In other areas, woreda and regional contingency budgets have been effectively triggered
and are credited with providing valuable support. However, there are weaknesses in reporting
mechanisms which are resulting in delays and gaps in knowledge on how such budgets are used and
on what basis they are being released.
124. There was no clear understanding between levels of Government and Development Partners
on the expected sequencing of Risk Financing Mechanisms financed responses and those supported
through the humanitarian appeal. Although the 2010 edition of the Programme Implementation
Manual indicated that the Risk Financing Mechanism should be exhausted before a transition to
emergency response, there was widespread perception that the Risk Financing Mechanism should
31
There are three factors of authentication: (i) something one has (such as a programme client card or a bank card); (ii) something one
knows (such as a PIN number); and (iii) something oneis (for example a fingerprint collected biometrically). For authentication to be
considered ‘two-factor’, the two means of authentication need to come from separate factors e.g. a PIN and a card, or a card and a
biometric fingerprint. The only factor of authentication used by the PSNP is the programme client card. While beneficiaries do sign (or,
more frequently fingerprint) to acknowledge receipt of transfers, there is no means of verifying that the signature or fingerprint is correct.
32
Defined as a five year average (2008-2012) of the number of people identified as being in need through the Government of Ethiopia’s
needs assessment process in woredas which have required emergency assistance in three of the past five years.
33
only be triggered very occasionally, while emergency responses could be provided every year. There
also appears to be a preference by federal and regional level actors to use humanitarian resources
rather than triggering risk financing. This has resulted in limited use of the Risk Financing Mechanism
and delays in its triggering and utilisation in the one year it was operationalised.
125. Amongst the challenges of operationalising both the contingency budget and the risk
financing is that its design was predicated on the existence of a functioning early warning system
and woreda contingency plans. Significant weaknesses in data quality, analysis and use of monthly
early warning information meant that more ad hoc indicators had to be used. In addition, the
absence of contingency plans in many woredas delayed both the disbursement and the utilisation of
risk financing funds.
126. Despite these weaknesses, the logic of the approach remains valid because of the potential
benefits of responding early and comprehensively.
3.2.3 PRIORITIES UNDER PSNP 4
3.2.3.1
Core Transfers
127. Roll-out of a new transfer value: Under this phase of the programme, transfers will be
benchmarked against a transfer value equivalent to 15kg of cereal and 4 kg of pulses per month,
which, at 2,100 kcal, is commensurate to the kilocalorie levels provided by the humanitarian food
basket. This new transfer value is expected to result in improved levels of consumption as a result of
the increased kilocalorie value and higher protein and fat contents,33 as well as more significant
consumption smoothing and livelihood impacts because of the higher value of cash transfers. This
transfer will be disbursed either in the form of this mixed food basket, its cash equivalent, or, on a
pilot basis, through vouchers.
128. As key aspect of the new transfer value will be the introduction of a predictive inflation
buffer for cash transfers. Annualwage rate reviews (conducted in September of each year) will assess
how the cash wage rate will need to be adjusted in order to maintain benchmarking against this
value with each adjustment including the buffer to account for projected inflation for the following
year. Wage rate decisions will be made by November each year. Given the extension of support for
permanent direct support clients (see below), the possibility of semi-annual (twice per year) wage
rate reviews will also be considered.
129. Increased duration of support for permanent direct support clients: It is widely recognised
that those who are eligible for permanent direct support are amongst the poorest and most
vulnerable clients. Those who are eligible for direct support are households who lack any adult ablebodied labour. Recurrent PSNP Household Surveys demonstrate that they have lower asset holdings
and lower levels of food security, and are more likely to be elderly- or women-headed than those
who are eligible for public works and the wider population. Their lack of adult able-bodied labour
means that they have very limited income earning opportunities, with the result that their needs
extend beyond the standard six months provided to all safety net clients at present. In recognition of
this greater need and their limited income earning potential, permanent direct support clients will
receive 12 months of support under the new programme.
130. The payment schedule and payroll system for permanent direct support clients will be delinked from the system supporting public works clients. This will have two benefits. Firstly, it will
ensure that any delays in public works implementation will not result in delays to payments to very
vulnerable permanent direct support clients. Secondly, it is a necessary step to transitioning these
households to MoLSA managed support (as described in further detail in Output 5).
33
It is worth noting that although the new transfer reflects significant improvement in nutritional value, it does not provide all necessary
micronutrients and fat, and therefore linkages to other nutrition interventions, where available, will remain important.
34
131. Mode of payment: This phase of the
programme will see further reinforcement of
the cash first principle. This principle states that
“Cash should be regarded as the primary form
of transfer, unless market conditions
significantly reduce the value that the
beneficiaries receive”. 35 Recent market
assessments indicate that there is limited
justification for a continuation of food transfers
in most highland implementation areas and in
this phase of the programme there is a
commitment that cash, electronic payments
andpotentially vouchers will become the mode
of transfer in highland areas.
132. Food is expected to remain the
predominant mode of payment in lowland
areas (Somali, Afar and the pastoral areas of
Oromiya and SNNP). However, during this
phase of the programme pilots will be
conducted to test the appropriateness of both
cash and vouchers in selected areas where
market conditions36, the availability of service
providers (e.g. banks) and other conditions
make it possible. Such transfers will be tested
in areas with well-functioning food marketsand
potentially scaled up on the basis of experience
developed. In addition, given lowland
populations’ preferences for cereals other than
wheat (e.g. maize and sorghum), alternative
cereals will be explored where possible.
Vouchers are also expected to enable lowland
households to purchase preferred cereals.
Box 4: Vouchers
Vouchers are pieces of paper which safety net clients
can present to selected businesses and redeem an
agreed value of goods (for example the 15kg of cereal
and 4kg of pulses mentioned above).
Vouchers are often seen as a useful approach to
support the transition from food to cash in areas
where food markets function well and the primary
constraint is access to (rather than availability of)
food. Vouchersare seen as having lower security risks
than cash and can support the development of
markets because they guarantee a certain level of
demand for traders. Vouchers also protect clients
from the effects of inflation, as they guarantee access
to a set amount of food that does not fluctuate with
prices. A further potential advantage of vouchers is
that they can expand clients’ choice in comparison to
a limited basket of food. The range of goods that
clients can redeem can be more easily transported
than food aid and can include fresh or more nutritious
items such as vegetables or milk. The provision of
vouchers to vulnerable populations in Ethiopia has
been found to increase meal frequency and
diversity.34
Voucher programmes require more planning and
preparation than cash. Agreements need to be
established with traders or shops to allow clients to
redeem vouchers. Traders and shops may be reluctant
to accept vouchers because of the extra
administrative burden (particularly if refunds are
delayed). And care needs to be taken to ensure that
vouchers are providing good that people see as
priorities, if not than a parallel market for vouchers
can develop with vouchers being traded for less than
their face value. For these reasons, vouchers will be
explored on a pilot basis in localised areas, with
scaling up contingent on cost-effectiveness.
34Concern
and WFP experiences in urban areas of Ethiopia, as described in Bossuyt, 2014. Increasing Nutrition Outcomes of PSNP and
HABP. Part 1: Main Report and Part 2: Annexes (Annex 6)
35
Memorandum of Understanding Between the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and Funding PartnersSupporting the Productive
Safety Nets Programme, 2005
36 A recent assessment by WFP (WFP, 2013) found that markets in Somali region are generally well integrated and that cash or voucher
transfers are likely to be appropriate in many parts of the region. Market integration is weaker in Afar and piloting may need to take place
at a slower pace.
35
Box 5: E-Payments
133. Further piloting and roll-out of epayments: The PSNP is currently in the process of E-payments have the potential to enhance the
piloting e-payment mechanisms. The first pilot, timeliness and reliability of payments. They can
which has been operational for 3 years, works enhance timeliness because they reduce the amount
with a microfinance institution (MFI) to provide of manual processing that is required. They can
payment services. The MFI makes use of increase reliability because they include additional
biometric point of sale devices to authenticate security features that ensure that those who are
expected to receive transfers actually receive the
payments. The second pilot, which is currently
payments and provide additional confirmation as to
being established, plans to make use of emerging whether or not they received the intended amount. In
mobile money services in Ethiopia to make addition, they have the potential to link programme
transfers to clients. Clients will receive e- clients to other mainstream financial services. Clients
payments through mobile phones and can then can withdraw the portion of their transfer they wish
withdraw cash through a network of agents. The to use, saving the rest until it is needed. Both
need for the proof of concept phase is due to the mechanisms bring clients into regular contact with
amount of technology involved and the need to MFIs, the first pilot directly and the second pilot
demonstrate that combining payments and because many of the M-Birr agents are MFI offices.
financial services is viable in Ethiopia.After completion of the two pilots by June 2015, the
programmewill evaluate the alternative technologies in order to decide on the possibility of scaling
up and applying them for cash transfers to clients in PSNP 4.
134. Timeliness of payments: Timeliness of transfers has improved significantly in areas where
payments are made in cash. The next phase of the programme will build on this progress by a)
setting a new performance standard for timeliness, b) addressing some of the key bottlenecks which
particularly affect food transfers, and c) ensuring that safety net clients are informed of the
scheduled dates for transfers.
135. The new performance standard for timeliness in the PSNP 4 will be 20 days after the end of
the month for cash and 30 days after the end of the month for food. The achievement of this new
performance standard will be assisted through the following:
a. The establishment of a disbursement schedule to indicate the dates by which financing
for transfers will flow from Development Partners to MOFED, MOFED to BOFED, and
BOFED to WOFED.
b. The establishment of a transfer schedule for each kebele which indicates which dates
payments will be made to clients, and the sharing of this transfer schedule with
programme clients.37
c. The communication of any deviation in the transfer schedule to programme clients in
order that they know when they can expect their next safety net payment and can plan
accordingly.
d. The addressing of key bottlenecks in the timeliness of food transfers as discussed further
in Output 5.
136. In addition, a one-off process – instigated by the Food Security Coordination Directorate –
will be completed to determine the transfer schedule for each woreda. This process will resolve the
current challenge that all safety net woredas follow the same schedule of public works and transfers
despite significant variations in peak seasons of need and peak labour periods. The 2010 edition of
the Programme Implementation Manual indicates that woredas have the flexibility to set their own
schedules, but this has never been operationalised. This one-off process will provide a mechanism to
operationalise this flexibility and will inform the definition of the disbursement and transfer
schedules mentioned in a) and b) above. If necessary, subsequent revisions to the transfer schedule
may be made on an exceptional basis, but clients must be informed of any changes.
37
This transfer schedule will then have implications for public works
36
137. Improved accessibility by clients to payment points: Efforts will be made during this phase to
further reduce travel times to payment points to ensure that almost all clients travel less than the
performance target of a three hour walking distance. This performance target is largely met in areas
supported through cash transfers, with much of the additional work needed in areas supported
through food transfers. This phase will see further investment in Food Distribution Points and will
also explore the possibility to cover transport costs in areas where this is not possible.
138. Implementation of actions which enhance women’s control over the use of cash or food
transfers. International evidence shows that cash transfers are more likely to be used to improve
household nutrition if given directly to women. However, concerns over potential intra-household
conflict and the direct conditional link between public works and transfers make it difficult for the
programme to require that transfers be provided to women. During this phase of support, the FSCD
and its partners will seek to develop greater understanding of who is receiving cash transfers (and
whether this corresponds to the household member who is participating in public works) and learn
from woredas where communities have already decided that women household members should be
the transfer recipient. Specific actions to enhance women’s control over transfers will focus both on
community-level actions (e.g. community discussions and awareness raising on the purpose of safety
net transfers, which should lead to an agreement that the collection of transfers by women should
be promoted) and programme-level actions (e.g. sensitising appeal committees in how to address
abuse of transfers by male spouses), as outlined in further detail in the Gender Action Plan.
3.2.3.2
Continuum of Response
139. Right size programme: As discussed further in section 2.3, and in line with the Government’s
vision for a more comprehensive safety net and disaster risk management system for Ethiopia
(including a vision for a national rural safety net), the Government of Ethiopia will gradually
accommodate the recurrent transitory caseload during this phase of the programme. This process
will start with the absorption of the repeat transitory caseload in existing PSNP woredas and the
gradual expansion of the programme to new woredas that also support a recurrent transitory
caseload. This gradual expansion will include the remaining 36 woredas of Somali Region, which are
not currently covered by the PSNP.
140. Revised conceptual framework for continuum of response: In the PSNP 4, a new revised
conceptual framework for the continuum of response will be in place with a more comprehensive
and integrated system of contingency budgets at woreda and federal level. This framework is
summarised in the table below:
Table 1: Continuum of Response
Funding Source and Purpose
Trigger
Where Resources
can be Used
Implementation
Responsibility
Woreda Contingency Budget
To address exclusion error
identified through appeals
To address transitory needs38


Anywhere within
woreda where the
safety net is
implemented

Woreda Food Security
Desk (WFSD)
In regions where
the safety net is
implemented

In existing operational
areas – WFSD.
In non-operational areas -
Appeals
Ongoing
(improved)
Early
Warning39
Federal Risk Financing/Contingency Budget
To address transitory needs
 Annual Needs
Assessment
and other

38
This budget can both be used to respond to (i) transitory needs among safety net clients (by increasing the number of months of
support); and (ii) transitory needs among non-safety net clients (by adding them temporarily to the programme payroll).
39 These improvements will both focus on the simplification of the data needed to trigger response, but also the development at analytical
capacity to use and make effective and rapid decisions on the basis of this data. This is in line with the DRM-SPIF’s agenda of ensuring that
early warning and risk assessment tools are harmonised into one system to allow effective decision-making (see Output 1).
37
hotspot
assessments
(real time
early warning
data)
Ad Hoc Humanitarian Response
To address transitory needs

141.
Annual Needs
Assessment
and other
hotspot
assessments
WEWRD and other
humanitarian actors as
appropriate
Nationwide

All actors with operational
capacity (WFSD, WEWRD,
WFP and other UN actors
NGOs etc.)
The operationalization of the above system follows some key principles, as outlined below:

The order in which the risk management mechanisms are to be used are as follows: (i)
woreda contingency budget, (ii) federal risk financing/other humanitarian contingency
budgets (see below for further details) and (iii) ad hoc humanitarian response.

Each budget does not need to be physically utilised prior to requests to the next level,
but evidence that it is expected to be utilised (such as plans) should be available.

The right-sizing of the programme will have addressed much of the structural exclusion
error which currently faces the programme, and therefore the use of woreda
contingency budgets to address exclusion error is expected to be more limited.
However, this function will remain in order to ensure that the appeals system
(described in more detail in Output 1) has the wherewithal to request that additional
households be accommodated in the safety net in the event of a successful appeal.

Risk management responses should make use of existing information to trigger
responses (including the annual needs assessment as the core mechanisms by which
the Federal Risk Financing/Contingency Budget is triggered) rather than requiring
specific ad hoc verification. This in turn will require improvements to the early warning
system and a clarification of the triggers to release budgets. These improvements will
focus on improving the system as a whole, but with this process of system improvement
recognising safety net actors as a key client of the early warning system (see Output 1).
142. The effective implementation of the continuum of response will require the establishment
of a system linking programme risk financing mechanisms more explicitly with humanitarian
contingency mechanisms, with the aim of a establishing more unified overall system where
resources are released based on a commonly agreed and consistent set of early warning and needs
assessment information. Hence the programme will establish linkages between its ownrisk financing
mechanisms and other humanitarian contingency mechanisms such as the UN OCHA-managed
Humanitarian Response Fund. The PSNP 4 will revise the previous phase’s Federal Risk Financing
Mechanism to allow it to be more flexible and easier to use. The Federal Risk Financing Mechanism
was infrequently triggered in part because of the perception that it should only be used in the event
of a major crisis, but also because trigger mechanisms were unclear and there appeared to be a
preference for using emergency response mechanisms first. The PSNP 4 proposes the establishment
of a system linking programme risk financing mechanisms more explicitly with humanitarian
contingency mechanisms, with the aim of eventually establishing a more unified overall system. This
will allow for a larger budget with which to front-load humanitarian partners’ interventions and will
allow for the financing of consumption smoothing support in safety net woredas through PSNP 4
mechanisms and in non-safety net woredas through EWRD mechanisms, and provide support to the
non-food sector through a range of relevant agencies. These resources will be released on the basis
38
of a commonly agreed and consistent set of early warning and needs assessment information
(improved as further discussed in Output 1).
143. In addition, in recognition of the more rapid and effective use of woreda contingency
budgets and the Government of Ethiopia’s commitment to decentralised decision-making, the
current distribution of contingency budgets will be slightly revised. Under the PSNP 4, the
contingency budget at woreda level, at 5% of the annual core budget, will be maintained as it is
under the current phase of the program. In addition, the federal level contingency budget will be
maintained to respond to localized shocks with a capacity to support an additional 1.7 million
people.
144. Ensure that vulnerable households with a malnourished40 child are targeted appropriately by
safety net interventions: There is wide recognition that households with malnourished children need
both targeted support for affected household members (in the form of therapeutic or targeted
supplementary feeding) and more general consumption smoothing support for the wider household.
Without this more general consumption smoothing support, there are significant risks that the
targeted support will be shared amongst household members (thereby diluting their effects) and
that affected household members will relapse once the targeted support ceases. Moreover, for
existing safety net client households, it is important that participation in public works not interfere
with the time-intensive task of caring for malnourished children. Therefore, in the PSNP 4,
households with a child who is malnourished will be considered temporary direct support clients.
These households will follow soft conditionalities related to attendance at nutrition sessions as well
as health clinic visits and/or participation in nutrition services, depending on their availability.41
145. In woredas most affected by nutrition emergencies, the PSNP 4 will be the main channel for
more general consumption smoothing support. In households that are already safety net clients, the
child’s caregiver will temporarilytransition from public works to direct support, similarly to pregnant
and lactating women. Households that are not currently clientswill be accommodated as temporary
direct support safety net clients in the short term through the contingency budget. Households will
be eligible to receive as many months of support as needed.42 If the required support extends
beyond the 6-month duration of public works transfers, households will be covered through the
payment mechanisms used to provide year-round transfers to permanent direct support clients. In
the longer term, such households will be considered in the annual retargeting/recertification and, if
eligible, will be included as core programme clients with the conditionalities outlined in Output 3.
146. This general consumption support will not substitute tailored nutrition support (in-patient
therapeutic feeding, community-based therapeutic feeding or targeted supplementary feeding), but
will support households as a complement to this tailored support. In the event of a severe
emergency with potential widespread nutritional impacts, it may be necessary to temporarily review
the appropriateness of the transfer composition to ensure a more nutritionally complete transfer in
order to prevent the devastating effects of severe malnutrition and the need for expensive nutrition
interventions.
147. Ensure adequate accountability for the use of risk management resources: Recent reviews
have highlighted implementationchallenges related to the level of reporting on contingency budget
use, with the result that it is difficult to identify how or why risk management resources have been
used. The PSNP 4 will is address these challenges by ensuring that the same monitoring and
reporting is in place for clients supported through contingency budgets as are used for the core
safety net caseload. In the short term, this will require revisions to the woreda payroll system (PASS)
40
The exact cutoff point for consideration – i.e. severely or moderately malnourished – will be determined at a later stage and outlined in
the PIM.
41To be further operationalised in the PIM.
42
Exact mechanisms for determining the duration of PSNP 4PSNP 4 support for households affected with a malnourished child will be
operationally defined in the PIM.
39
and monitoring formats and in the medium to long term this will be accommodated through the
new Single Registry and Management Information System described in Output 1 above.
148. Development of a new manual to provide guidance on the new procedures: A single manual
clarifying the roles of different agencies in managing and operationalising the above risk
management procedures and the use and triggering of contingency resources across the woreda and
federal levels will be prepared. This manual will be rolled out with training and follow-up support.
149. Operationalising risk management procedures in lowland implementation areas: The most
significant improvement to risk management procedures in lowland operational areas could be
achieved by making already planned mechanisms operational. As highlighted above, there has been
limited use of risk management procedures in lowland areas despite severe needs due to the
absence of operational mechanisms. The 2010 edition of the PIM recognised the logistical
constraints in storing food at woreda and regional levels, but the alternative arrangements proposed
were also not put in place.43 The PSNP 4 will aim to better prepare for both slow and rapid onset
shocks (which will require different mechanisms for preparation and response). In particular, the
PSNP 4 will reconsider how food contingency budgets can be held and managed. The first step will
be to undertake a fiduciary assessment of food contingency budgets and to then implement any
emerging action plans. In addition, the possibility of holding a portion of lowland implementation
areas’ contingency budgets in cash will be explored. This will in principle enable rapid disbursement
as well as prevention of asset depletion as households can use cash to purchase feed and veterinary
drugs for their livestock in addition to food for their household members. However, such an
approach will require mechanisms for distribution of cash, which are not yet in place in lowland
implementation areas, and can lead to delays due to the mix of cash and food within one
distribution system. These challenges must be addressed, through capacity development support, in
order for cash contingency budgets to be feasible in lowland implementation areas.
43
These were to hold the equivalent of 15% of the national food allocation in a combination of EWRD and WFP warehouses, and that
resources would be issues on the request of the region (following approval by the Regional FSP Steering Committee).
40
3.3 Output 3: Sustainable community assets built up and access to social services
enhanced
3.3.1 OVERVIEW OF OUTPUT
150. This output outlines the conditionalities that will be applied to the receipt of transfers.
Under the PSNP 4, the development of community assets through public works will remain a key
focus, and will be complemented by a new focus on additional interventions which improve access
to social services, with a new emphasis on nutrition.
151. Community assets built through public works provide a significant opportunity to enhance
livelihoods while increasing the programme’s impact in the areas of nutrition, climate resilience and
disaster risk management, and will remain a core element under the PSNP 4. In addition, new
activities will be implemented to enhance access to social services.44These will include a range of
activities focused on improving the health and nutritional status of women and children (in line with
the National Nutrition Programme objective).
152. Many of the fundamental principles of safety net public works remain unchanged from the
previous Design Document, with minor adjustments and additions, particularly related tothe
introduction of soft conditionalities. The revised list is as follows:

Contribution to livelihoods, nutrition and other social services, climate resilience and
DRM: This is a fundamental refocusing of the objectives of the public works and is
described in further detail under “Priorities for PSNP 4” below. This is also reflected in
the increased focus on soft conditionalities.45

Participation: The community participates in the selection, planning, monitoring and
evaluation of public works sub-projects to ensure public worksare tailored to the
prevailing livelihood in the area (particularly important in lowland implementation
areas). The participation principle requires that an enabling environment be established
so that women – including women in male-headed households – are able to participate
in public works planning. In addition, within the list of possible “projects” will be
included participation in nutrition BCC and other trainings.

Appropriateness of conditionality: Households with able-bodied adult labour are
expected to participate in public works. Pregnant and lactating women are expected to
transition to temporary direct support both to safeguard the health and welfare of
themselves and child, but also to allow them to participate in soft conditions which
further enhance health and welfare for themselves, the new child and the wider
household.

Predictability: Public works are provided through a multi-annual resource framework.
Programme participants should be aware of both the timing of public works, which
should be scheduled to avoid peak labour periods, and what their entitlements and
responsibilities are (with regards to both public works and soft conditionalities).

Proximity: Public works will be conducted to the extent possible in the immediate
localities of the people in need. Similarly the co-responsibilities (soft conditionalities) to
which temporary direct support beneficiaries agree should be based on what service
provision is adequately available in the local area.

Watershed approach in the highlands: Public works will be planned according to the
community-based watershed management approach outlined in the CBPWD guidelines.
44The
current PIM does include provisions for some of these activities, but they have not been widely implemented.
A conditionality is considered “soft” when a household is informed of its co-responsibilities and basic monitoring is undertaken but no
penalties (in the form of deductions to a transfer) are enforced.
45
41
This ensures a holistic approach to managing a watershed, ensuring that activities
upstream and downstream complement each other, and incorporates mitigation
activities into activities (such as road construction), which may create environmental
risks.

Tailored approaches in the pastoral lowlands: In pastoral lowlands, the geographical
unit of public works planning and implementation shall be the area of grazing land
traditionally used by a specific clan, sub-clan or community. Accordingly, in areas where
livelihoods are dominated by pure pastoralism, activities will focus on grazing land
rehabilitation (including control of invasive species) and water point development and
rehabilitation. In agro-pastoral and riverine areas, activities will also support crop
production, while for ex-pastoralists, additional public works opportunities will be
considered. To ensure that public works are relevant to community needs, it will be
critical to ensure greater community involvement in planning.

Integration: Public works will be integrated into Woreda development plans, Regional
Development plans and – where appropriate – river basin plans (which will allow
consideration of meso and macro-watersheds). The works will be planned on intersectoral basis and will require coordination between woreda-level offices of NRM,
Water, Health, and Education, and collaboration with complementary programs such as
SLM.

Gender sensitivity: Public works are designed to enable women to participate, and
priority is given to works which reduce women’s regular work burden. In order for
public works to accommodate the needs of women and plan effectively for women’s
late arrival and early departure, the programme will institutionalise a 50% reduction in
the work norm for women, e.g. through a separate column in the work norm table
(similar to that currently found for lowland implementation area public works in the
PSNP Pastoral Area Public Works: A Guideline). This would require those planning and
overseeing public works to calculate the total number of person days for a project
based on the mix of men and women within the team.

Work on private land: Work on private land was allowed in previous iterations of the
PIM, but in practice has rarely been implemented. The creation of community assets is
a primary objective of public works, but the watershed approach allows public work
labour to work on private land if this work is necessary for the improvement of the
watershed. In addition, public works activities can be undertaken on private land
belonging to female-headed households with severe labour shortages, for instance for
the establishment of household gardens.

Flexibility: The previous PIM nominally allowed for participation in nutrition BCC and/or
literacy training to count towards a household’s public work requirement. However, in
practice, this flexibility was rarely implemented. Under the PSNP 4, this provision will be
operationalised and expanded to allow for participation in financial literacy training
(provided under Output 4), up to a maximum number of days per month (to be defined
in the PIM).
153. Key activities under this output include planning, implementation and monitoring of public
works and soft conditionalities, as described below. The following sections are divided into two
according to the type of conditionality: public works-related conditionalities (and authorised
substitutions for public works, including participation in BCC and literacy/financial literacy training),
and social services-related soft conditionalities.
42
3.3.1.1
154.
155.
156.
46
47
Public works
Preparation:

Participate in the revision of key tools (e.g. CBPWD and infotechs).

Revise current highland, lowland, and livelihoods ESMFs

Develop public works health and safety guideline

Ensure appropriate technical design for new types of public works

Develop standards for the establishment of temporary and permanent day care centres

Provide sensitisation training to watershed committees on the implementation of
gender provisions and gender sensitivity more broadly

Work with URAP to harmonise community roads construction strategy46

Harmonise strategy with similar programmes such as SLMP and, in lowland areas,
harmonise planning with PCDP Community Investment Funds (CIFs)
Planning of public works47:

Ensure that people are aware of the full range of community assets and activities and
the new priorities and linkages which are the focus of the PSNP 4

Utilise appropriate planning tools in pastoral, agro-pastoral, farming and pastoral dropout areas to maximise community participation and ensure selection of public works
appropriate to differing livelihoods in lowland regions, coordinating with PCDP CIFs
where possible

Utilise appropriate tools for planning climate proof public works

Ensure that women – including women in male-headed households – participate in
public works planning and that their voices are heard

Facilitate participatory community planning of public works projects

Ensure that public works projects are embedded in woreda, regional and river basin
planning frameworks

Ensure appropriate technical design for public works projects

Identify and plan management and maintenance arrangements for new and existing
public works
Construction and monitoring of public works:

Construct public works

Ensure ESMF compliance throughout construction

Implement any mitigation activities identified as needed during ESMF compliance

Manage the different workload requirements of male and female public works
participants

Monitor activities related to public works
As of April 2014, PSNP linkages with URAP are suspended until implementation modalities can be further defined.
This will form part of the planning processes described under Output 1.
43
3.3.1.2
157.
Social service related soft conditionalities

Appropriately transition pregnant and lactating women to temporary direct support

Link temporary direct support clients to health and nutrition services and apply soft
conditionalities.

Provide public works clients with opportunity to participate in Behaviour Change
Communication activities as part of the public works schedule in order to strengthen
caring knowledge and capacity and create demand for health and nutrition services.

Monitor activities related to soft conditionalities.
A comprehensive capacity development plan will be implemented to achieve this output.
3.3.2 LESSONS LEARNED INFORMING THIS PHASE OF THE PROGRAMME DESIGN
3.3.2.1
Public Works
158. Contribution to livelihoods. In rehabilitated watersheds, major examples of successful
livelihoods-based interventions are water harvesting, land reclamation and small-scale irrigation.
Others include cut-and-carry fodder and bee forage in area closures.
159. Contribution to climate resilience. The PSNP has been exploring ways of ensuring that public
works contribute to the mitigation of any climate change impacts. The Climate Smart Initiative 48
highlights a number of clusters of activities that can support communities in the planning and
implementation of public works. These clusters of activities include soil and flood protection, water
supply development, improved rangeland planning, community tree planting and increasing the
climate resilience of all public works activities. Lessons learned from the CSI will be incorporated into
the PSNP 4.
160. Contribution to nutrition and health. Experience with the construction of latrines, in
particular, has shown that infrastructure does not always translate into usage, and could therefore
be strengthened if accompanied with BCC.49
161. Gender and social development. Female participation in public works implementation and
increased involvement in planning have been found to result in some improvements in gender
relations at the community level, increasing women’s exposure to external services and enabling
them to extend their social network. Women have earned greater respect from their spouses and
from men in their communities as a result of regular joint work on public works sites.50 However,
there is no clear definition of “light” works, nor identification of activities that reduce the work
burden of women. As a result,many of the PIM’s gender provisions have been implemented only to a
limited extent,and the impact of long workdays on women and their households is a matter of
concern. This is particularly an issue in areas (e.g. pastoral areas) where many men have migrated,
leaving women to shoulder the lion’s share of the household’s public works burden in addition to
their already heavy workloads. Moreover, late arrival/early dismissal provisions for women have
been inconsistently applied and, when applied, have made the application of work norms for
individual public works projects difficult. As a result, in 2013, FSCD and NRMD Directive mandated
an official change in work load for women to 50% of the current person day.
48
The Climate Smart Initiative seeks to strengthen the PSNP and HABP by systematically integrating implications of climate
change into the two programmes and determining how a more resilience building focused programme could enable the
Ethiopian Government to manage risks related to climate change.
49
Bossuyt, 2014. Increasing Nutrition Outcomes of PSNP and HABP.
Evers, B. J. Garsonnin, A. Wondiu, and A. Aberra (2008) Contextual Gender Analytical Study of the Ethiopia Productive Safety Nets
Program. PSNP Gender Study.
50
44
162. Quality of public works in highlands. An overall technical quality rating of 90% in highland
implementation areas during the most recent public works review masks some technical weaknesses
particularly in the construction of roads and water sub-projects. In the most recent assessment, the
technical quality of natural resource management sub-projects and social infrastructure were both
rated above 90%. However, road construction and water development sub-projects received lower
ratings (82% and 85% respectively), indicating weaknesses in the technical design and oversight of
these projects.51 Weaknesses in the implementation of road sub-projects also undermine their
environmental sustainability, and they are the only category of sub-project not to achieve a 100%
rating for environmental sustainability in the most recent public works review.52
163. Quality of public works in lowlands. The technical quality of public works implementation in
lowland implementation areas is lower, as expected given the programme is still an early stage of
implementation, and the lack of experience at woreda and regional level. These weaknesses may
also reflect limitations in the design of the programme and its applicability to pastoral areas, which
the new Public Works Manual for Lowland Areas has attempted to address. Weaknesses in quality of
the works can be seen across the categories of sub-projects, with knock on effects on the
environmental and technical sustainability of the assets produced. In half of the plans assessed in
2012, community participation was poor, and no plans included a development map nor
socioeconomic or biophysical baseline data.
164. Public works M&E. The monitoring and evaluation of public works is hindered by the lack of
a mechanism for systematically compiling and tracking information on the location, type and size of
public works projects, along with ESMF screening data relevant to each project. Three elements of
the new programme MIS – the mapped public works database, the mapped watershed database,
and the public works M&E system – will enable more effective tracking, monitoring and evaluation
of public works. The mapped public works database will use GIA to map the location of public works
projects along with other information (year of implementation, etc.), while the mapped watershed
database will use GIS and satellite imagery to identify and track the physical condition of the
watersheds, including land use, land cover, and woody biomass, and monitor changes over time.
165.
3.3.2.2
Access to Social Services
166. Malnutrition remains high in Ethiopia, with stunting rates and maternal malnutrition
particularly poor.53Stunting affects 44% of Ethiopian children under five years of age, while 29% are
underweight and 10% are affected by wasting. Stunting mainly occurs during the 1,000 days
betweenconception andthe child’s second birthday(hence including the period of the mother’s
pregnancy), and it is extremely difficult to catchup growth later in life. The consequences of stunting
are far-reaching and include lower educational attainment, poor health and reduced income earning
potential with costs for the individuals affected and the wider Ethiopian society. Maternal
malnutrition is evidenced by high rates of anaemia (17%) and thinness (27%) among women of
reproductive age.
167. Children aged six to 24 months in rural Ethiopia (including in PSNP operational areas) have a
poor diet. The significant problem of under nutrition is already evident at the age of six months, with
further deterioration persisting until 21-24 months.Only 4% of non-exclusively breastfed children
consume items from four or more food groups. There is no statistically significant association
between household PSNP participation and diet quality of children six to 24 months after controlling
for child, maternal, household and location characteristics.
51MMA
Development Consulting, 2013
previous years some water projects were also found to perform poorly regarding environmental sustainability (MMA Development
Consulting 2011b and 2012)
53Indicators in this paragraph are taken from the 2011 DHS.
52In
45
168. Investing in nutrition has been identified as an economically sound investment for
Ethiopia.There is wide recognition that the greatest nutrition impacts can be achieved in the first
1,000 days from conception until the age of 2.Such an investment requires a multisectoral approach
which considers access to food, quality of food, caring practices, health, potable water and a clean
environment. The National Nutrition Programme has identified social protection as a key sector in
which to strengthen nutrition sensitive interventions. The Social Protection Policy also highlights the
problem of unequal access to services and the need to address these barriers.
169. Ethiopia has seen significant progress on many millennium goal indicators (e.g. child
mortality, education etc.), however progress in reducing maternal mortality has been limited.
Maternal mortality stands at 676 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. Nearly 30% of deaths of
women between the ages of 15 and 49 are related to pregnancy and childbirth. Amongst the causes
of high maternal mortality is the limited uptake of antenatal care, low percentage of births
supported by a skilled provider and very low use of postnatal care.
170. The previous phase of the safety net programme sought to enhance impacts on nutrition
with a stated effort to establish linkages with the then planned National Nutrition Programme. A
pilot was conducted and it was concluded that there would not be major barriers to scaling up a
nutrition-focused approach. However, despite some adjustments to the PIM, there was limited
scalingup.Evidence has also shown that there is no meaningful difference in exposure to nutrition
services and messages by PSNP status. Direct support clients, public works clients and non-clients
report similar levels of contact with nutrition services to date. This highlights the need for additional
guidance and tools on how to engage other sectors in the programme, more formal engagement by
the Ministry of Health at each level, and the need for close follow up and monitoring.
171.
172. Conditionalities can contribute to strengthened nutrition linkages.Internationally, there is
significant experience of linking access to social services to safety nets through conditional transfers.
Households commit to achieving a certain level of service utilisation (a 90% attendance record of
children at primary school, or three visits a year to health services for children <2) and receive their
transfer pro-rata on the basis of how well they adhered to their co-responsibilities. There is debate
in the international literature as to whether these conditions with penalties add significant
additional impact, or whether much of the impact associated with conditional transfers is due to the
cash injection at household level which makes use of services more affordable – as unconditional
cash transfers havealso been found to have significant impacts on access to services.
173. For conditional transfers (with penalties) to be an option it is key that services are available,
and that clients have easy access to these services. It is also critical that mechanisms be in place to
record and report compliance without delays in order to facilitate timely and predictable transfers.
There has been substantial investment in both health and education services in recent years with
the result that access has improved dramatically. However, coverage of services and the quality of
care provided does remain variable. Furthermore, recent investments in health service information
systems are still not consistently in place with the result that there is uneven use of new systems.
Given these circumstances the use of soft conditions (households are informed of their coresponsibilities, basic monitoring is undertaken, but no penalties are enforced) linked to attendance
of health, nutrition and sanitation sessions may be a more cost effective and appropriate approach
than the use of hard conditions (with penalties for non-compliance). Such soft conditions will be
reserved for Direct Support Clients.
174. Empowerment of women can contribute to improved nutrition.A close relationship exists
between the empowerment of women and improved nutrition parameters for their children as well
as women’s own health. This correlation justifies investment in promotion of gender equality and
women’s empowerment.
46
3.3.3 PRIORITIES UNDER PSNP 4
3.3.3.1
Public Works
175. Relatively few fundamental changes are recommended in terms of mechanisms for planning
and implementing public works within the PSNP. Priorities under the PSNP 4 are as follows:

To increase the contribution of public works/conditionalities to livelihoods, nutrition
and other social services, climate resilience and DRM. Coordinated planning will be
critical to achieving this shift (see Output 1).

To fully implement previously agreed gender provisions

To more effectively tailor public works planning and implementation to the various
livelihood types in pastoral lowlands.

To increase the quality of water and road sub-projects.

To improve both planning and monitoring & evaluation of public works through the
introduction of public works MIS as a component of the overall MIS development.
176. Priority Area 1: To increase the contribution of public works to livelihoods, nutrition and
other social services, climate resilience and DRM. In the PSNP 4, the creation of employment is a
secondary objective, and the primary objective will be the contribution to livelihoods, nutrition and
other social services, climate resilience and DRM. This renewed focus with a greater emphasis on
livelihoods, nutrition and other social services, will require a revision of CBPWD guidelines and
infotechs in order to improve projects’ contribution to these areas. It will also entail planning and
reporting of public works in terms of their major area of contribution – an example of how this might
be done is provided below.
Table 2: Types of Public Works, Measurement and Supervision Arrangements
Classification
Climate resilience/DRM/crop & livestock livelihoods
(a) Biophysical soil and water conservation:
 Land rehabilitation through area enclosure
 Land reclamation
 Bush control
 Soil bund construction
 Stone bund construction
 Bench terracing
 Nursery site establishment and management
 Introduction of forage/fodder species
 Fodder bank establishment
 Seedling planting and regreening through natural regeneration
Climate resilience/DRM/crop & livestock livelihoods
(b) Water
 Pond construction or rehabilitation
 Spring development
 Hand-dug well construction
 Improvement of traditional wells(ellas)
 Cistern (birka) construction
 Small-scale irrigation canal construction or rehabilitation
 Construction of water harvesting and storage structures
Crop & livestock (other)
 Construction of farmer training centres and pastoral training
centres
 Construction of animal health posts
Supervision and coordination:
Supervision by: Woreda Natural
Resources Expert
Coordination with: CSI
Supervision by: Woreda Water
Resources and Irrigation Experts
(Regional Experts if dam is involved)
Coordination with: Office of Water
and Energy
Supervision by: Woreda Sector
Experts
47
Off-farm livelihoods
 Road construction
 Road maintenance
 Market infrastructure construction?
Employment
 Shelters/reception centres at employment catchment areas (if
these are located in safety net implementation areas).
Nutrition and other social services
 Latrine construction
 Health post construction
 School room construction
 Child care centre establishment
 Garden development
 Asset development on private land of labour-constrained
female-headed households
 Participation in BCC sessions (see below for further details)
Supervision by: Woreda Roads Expert
(for roads up to RR5); Woreda Sector
Experts (for market infrastructure)
Roads Authority
Coordination with: REMSEDA
Cooperative Promotion Office?
Supervision by: Woreda Sector
Experts
Coordination with: BoLSA and
REMSEDA
Supervision by: Woreda Sector
Experts
Coordination with: Office of Health
and Office of Education
177. Livelihoods. Community assets will contribute to improved livelihoods by focusing on
support to the three livelihood pathways: crop and livestock, off-farm income generation, and
employment. Illustrative lists of public works/community assets contributing to each of these
pathways is provided below.

Crop and livestock: nurseries, land enclosures (for fodder and forest production), soil
and water conservation measures to improve soil fertility, land reclamation, market
infrastructure, rural access roads, small scale irrigation, construction of
farmer/pastoralist training centres, etc. In pastoral areas, this will also include
rangeland management activities.

Off-farm: market infrastructure, rural access roads, etc.

Employment: shelters and reception centres at employment catchment areas (when
these fall in safety net implementation areas), etc.
178. Livelihoods-focused public works activities will be particularly important for households in
the 12-month notice period prior to graduation. Public works that will directly support households
as they move towards graduation include the construction of water harvesting structures, smallscale irrigation, check dam ponds, and forage development, among others.
179. Per the current PIM, participation in literacy training is an acceptable “public work”. In
reality, this has rarely been implemented. In the next phase, the programme will explore the
introduction of participation in a certain number of both literacy and financial literacy trainings (the
latter to be provided under Output 4) counting towards a household’s public work requirement, up
to a certain number of total days (to be determined).
180. Nutrition and other social services. In addition to soft conditionalities aiming to improve
access to social services, Output 3 aims to improve nutrition through nutrition-sensitive public works
and social services-related public works. These may include:

Construction of latrines

Health post construction

School room construction

Development of gardens
48

Development of homestead/kitchen gardens on the land of female-headed households
with severe labour shortages. Public works contribution can include land preparation,
irrigation development, and production/distribution of nursery products (vegetable and
legume seeds, and fruit tree seedlings) to these households.

Establishment of child care centres at public work sites and/or villages

Substitution of nutrition BCC sessions for public works (at a frequency to be outlined in
the PIM)

Substitution of literacy training sessions (per the current PIM) and financial literacy
training sessions (to be provided Output 4) for public works for a certain numbers of
days (to be determined in the PIM)
181. Nutrition-sensitive public works must be carried out with close coordination between the DA
(technical support for planting etc.) and the HEW (and, in some instances, the health development
army), who will provide the necessary BCC to ensure that the newly developed infrastructure is
valued and used. The combination of infrastructure and BCC are expected to lead to improved
hygiene and sanitation, increased proximity between lactating mothers and their children, and
increased access to diverse foods with necessary micronutrients.
182. In addition, public works participants may substitute some public works to attend BCC
sessions focused on health, nutrition and hygiene messages.
183. Climate resilience and DRM. Many existing public works projects – particularly those that
focus on soil and water conservation measures and water development – already contribute
significantly to climate resilience and DRM. The PSNP 4 will incorporate lessons learned from the
Climate Smart Initiative54 to improve the resilience focus of public works activities, e.g. through an
increased focus on water supply development (for drinking as well as agricultural production),
community tree planting, and improved siting, design and construction of road features such as
culverts and bridges to ensure they can withstand more frequent extreme weather events. The
public works planning process will ensure that climate proof public works are incorporated.
184. Finally, as outlined in the PCDP project appraisal document (PAD), safety net client
participation in PCDP sub-projects as part of community contributions will count towards their
public works requirement.55
185. Priority Area 2: Tailor public works planning & implementation to livelihood types in pastoral
lowlands. In particular:

More appropriate timing. Timing of public works in pastoral lowlands must correspond
to the timing of the hungry season (for transfers to have the maximum effect) as well as
labour availability.

More appropriate subprojects:
o
Pastoral livelihoods: rangeland management (including water and grazing land
rehabilitation), and social services
o
Agro-pastoral livelihoods: rangeland and integrated water and soil management
o
Riverine agriculture livelihoods: irrigation, bush control and flood control through
dike construction
54
The Climate Smart Initiative seeks to strengthen the PSNP and HABP by systematically integrating implications of climate
change into the two programmes and determining how a more resilience building focused programme could enable the
Ethiopian Government to manage risks related to climate change.
55World
Bank, 2013. Pastoral Community Development Project III.
49
o

Ex-pastoral livelihoods: any labour intensive public works based on community
priorities and income generating activities
Stronger oversight. The PWCU needs to develop a stronger capacity for support and
oversight of the PW programmes in Afar and Somali regions, including support for the
enhancement of their regional PW Focal Units, which came late into existence. Given
the added difficulties of operating in these regions, it is recommended that a minimum
of 2-3 full-time staff in the PWCU should be placed to support PW in these two regions,
and that at least half of this capacity should be devoted to direct support for operations
in the field.
186. Priority Area 3: Implement agreed gender provisions. Many of the gender provisions are not
new but were outlined in the previous PIM or in high-level decisions made prior to the development
of this design report. Such previously agreed gender provisions include participation of women in
light works, a 50% reduced workload for women (per a 2013 FSCD and NRMD Directive), transition
of pregnant women to direct support at the 4th month of pregnancy through the 10th month
postpartum – now extended from the moment women can present a pregnancy certificate delivered
by the health sector to a full year postpartum– , the establishment of day care centres, and
minimum standards for representation by women on a variety of safety net committees. This will
require capacity development of public works site supervisors on gender and social development
provisions.Additionalsteps required for the implementation of each of these are explained in further
detail below.
187. Equitable participation of women in public works planning and oversight. The PSNP 4 will
enhance the participation women from both female- and male-headed households in public works
planning and supervision, including greater representation of women in watershed committees and
leadership positions.
188. Participation of women in light works. This will require the pre-identification of light works
for each type of sub-project and their inclusion in the public works guidelines. Additional guidance
may berequired regarding definition of light work using a gradual classification of light work and
hazardous work as provided by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and according to national
legislation. Light works must also be defined contextually, e.g. as watering seedlings in a nursery
may be considered a light work in some areas, but not in areas where one must walk for several
miles in order to reach a water source.Where appropriate, the programme will also introduce work
tools and improved technology that minimises the work burden of women.
189. 50% reduced workload for women. This will be operationalised through the development of
adjusted work norms for public works projects for women’s participation, similar to the adjustments
that have been made for pastoral areas. The reduction in workload will enable women to arrive late
and leave early (as previously stated in the PIM) as long as their adjusted work norm has been
completed.
190. Establishment of day care centres at public works sites or in villages. This was agreed in the
previous PIM and has been implemented in some areas but not in others, due in part to the lack of
standards for construction as well as provision of child care. Therefore, the PSNP 4 will require the
development and implementation of standards and budgets for day care centre
constructionandprovision of child care– including training of child care providers. In addition, the
programme will provide awareness raising to communities to inform them that these centres are
amongst the types of community assets that public works are meant to deliver, and that mothers
will be allowed to drop off their young children at these sites while they participate in public
works.Once trained, women will be eligible to work at day care centres as a public work activity.Two
types of child care centres are envisaged: temporary centres at public works sites, which will enable
women to breastfeed their children when they participate in public works, and village-level child
50
care centres, which will likely be further from the public works site and therefore less conducive to
breastfeeding, but will have the potential to become permanent, thereby providing child care
opportunities beyond the six-month public works period.
191. Transition of pregnant and lactating women to temporary direct support at 4 months
pregnant until one year postpartum. A similarprovision (from 4 months pregnancy to 10 months
postpartum) was included in the latest version of the previous PIM but a recent gender study found
that the previous provisions (whereby women transition when 6 months pregnant) were the ones
being implemented and even these have been applied inconsistently. The PSNP 4 goes a step further
by allowing women to transition to direct support even earlier than 4 months if they have accessed
ante-natal health services and stay on direct support for one year after delivery – further details are
provided below.
192. Priority Area 4: Increase the technical quality of road and water subprojects. This will
require:

Coordinated planning of road subprojects between the Public Works Coordination Unit
and the Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA). Coordinated planning will enable the ERA to
provide more technical support and ensure that roads constructed and/or maintained
through public works fit within the national rural roads agenda. In addition, coordinated
oversight will enable stricter adherence to design and construction standards of roads.

Close collaboration with Bureaus of Water and their engineers/infrastructure specialists
to ensure that water-related public works meet specific standards.
193. To further focus implementers’ attention on technical quality, the PSNP 4 will revise the
targets for public works quality: the current targets, based on the percentage of public works
reaching satisfactory standards and sustainability ratings, will be replaced by PSNP 4 targets based
on the percentage of public works reaching full info-tech technical standard requirement (equivalent
to a rating of “very good”). By setting higher standards, this change is expected to increase the
quality of road and water subprojects as well as other types of public works.
194. Priority Area 5: Establish a Public Works MIS in coordination with the Sustainable Land
Management Programme. The planning and monitoring and evaluation of public works projects will
be greatly facilitated in the PSNP 4 through the development of a spatially-based MIS of public works
projects. This MIS is described in further detail in Output 1.
195. Priority Area 6: Improve ESMF screening and implementation of ESMF mitigation measures.
While screening of public works projects according to ESMF is standard in the highland safety net
implementation areas, it will require significant investment in the lowland implementation areas
during the next phase. In addition, the programme will place significant emphasis on the
implementation of mitigation actions identified through screening process in both highland and
lowland safety net implementation areas.
3.3.3.2
Access to Social Services
196. Appropriate identification of household members who should temporarily transition to
direct support: The PIM already allows for the women who are more than four months pregnant and
up to ten months postpartum to temporarily transition to direct support. Under the PSNP 4, women
will be allowed to transition to temporary direct support at any time during their pregnancy once
their pregnancy is recorded by a health agent, such as a Health Extension Worker (HEW) and they
have attended their first Ante-Natal Counselling Session, and stay on direct support through one
year postpartum. 56 Moreover, women whose children are malnourished will be allowed to
56
In areas where it has been rolled out, this information will be recorded in the family folder. The family folder is a key component of the
health management information system which is held at health post/kebele level. Each household has a family folder that records the
51
temporarily transition to direct support in order to give them sufficient time to care for their
children, or to enter the programme as temporary direct support clients if they live in safety net
woredas but are not yet clients.
197. By incentivising early contact with health providers, the PSNP 4 seeks to support the GoE’s
efforts to reduce maternal mortality by facilitating early identification of any pregnancy related
complications and to increase the probability that women participating in the safety net programme
benefit from the full course of ante-natal counselling sessions. This approach will also ensure that
women have access to important behaviour change information early in their pregnancy (see below
for further details). It would also promote exclusive breastfeeding during the first 6 months of life.
Furthermore, by reducing the need for women to participate in public works early in their pregnancy
this approach will reduce the risks to women and their unborn child.
198. Once a pregnant or lactating woman
(PLW) has transitioned to direct support, noone in the household will be required to work
for the PLW’s transfers, or to work any days
beyond the existing labour cap of 15 days per
able-bodied adult per month, regardless of
household size. Therefore, up to three
household members will be covered by public
works, while the PLW and any additional
members will be covered by direct support. In
the caseof households where the PLWhad been
the only able-bodied adult, all household
members will transition to temporary direct
support. The text box at right presents several
scenarios of how the labour cap will be applied
when PLWs transition to direct support.
Box 6: Applying the Labour Cap in Households in which a Member
is Temporarily Transitioning to Direct Support
The following are two examples of how to apply the
labour cap to households where a woman has
temporarily transition to direct support:
 Household 1: Comprised of a husband, wife and
young child. The wife becomes pregnant with
her second child and transitions to Direct
Support. The husband continues to participate in
public works to earn a safety net transfer for
himself and child. This labour requirement is
only 10 days, falling below the labour cap.
 Household 2: Comprised of a husband, wife and
three young children. The wife becomes
pregnant with her fourth child and transitions to
Direct Support. The husband continues to
participate in public works to earn a safety net
transfer for himself and two of his children as
this is the maximum he can work under the
labour cap. A payment is still received for the
third child, but this becomes a temporary direct
support payment.
199. Establish
a
system
of
soft
conditionalities for temporary direct support
clients: The Government of Ethiopia through its
Health Extension Programme and National
Nutrition Programme is already providing a
range of key services for pregnant and lactating women and young children. These include: health,
nutrition and sanitation behaviour change communication; antenatal and post natal care;
vaccinations; growth monitoring and promotion; family planning and a range of medical care
services. Although the level of service delivery and the quality of service provision may vary, a core
range of services is available in most highland operational areas.
200. The PSNP 4 will link up with service provision by agreeing with households who have a
pregnant orlactating womanwho has temporarily transitioned to direct support – or households with
a malnourished child – a set of co-responsibilities which the household commits to fulfilling during
the six-month public works period. These co-responsibilities will be soft conditionalities, which
means that while households are informed of their co-responsibilities and basic monitoring is
undertaken, no penalties are enforced (nothing is deducted from the transfer if they do not fulfil
their co-responsibilities). The exact combination of co-responsibilities may vary from
woredatoworeda (or even kebeletokebele) depending on the availability of easily accessible services
but will include a selection of the following:
status of its members with regards to health service delivery (family planning, antenatal care, expanded programme of immunization, etc.)
and the household in general with regards to key indicators for health and sanitation (ownership and use of a latrine, clean water supply
and use, waste disposal, etc.).
52
201.
202.
For PLWs:

Attendance of four ante-natal counselling sessions.

Attendance of one postpartum health facility visit.

Participation in the Community Based Nutrition Programme

Attendance at growth monitoring and promotion sessions (which in many areas will be
the result of participation in the Community Based Nutrition Programme)

Attendance at behaviour change communications (BCC) sessions provided by HEWs or
the health development army (in many places this would be a sub-component of the
above services).
For caregivers of malnourished children:

Participation in community-based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM)
programming, where available

Participation in therapeutic or targeted supplementary feeding, where available

Attendance at BCC sessions provided by HEWs or the health development army
203. The behaviour change communication and other interventions offered as part of the
package of co-responsibilities will not duplicate that which has already been prepared by and is
provided by the health sector; instead it will promote utilisation by temporary direct support clients
of these services. The Social Development Expert at woreda level will be playing a facilitation role in
mobilising communities and households to participate in these services. Where the Health Extension
Programme is rolled out, the work of the Health Extension workers is supported by the Health
Development Army, Women Development Groups, Social Development Committees and Community
Care Coalitions (where they exist). The Health Extension Workers work with a system of sixteen
health extension packages which include the following:

Family Health
1) HIV/AIDS & other STIs and TB prevention & control
2) Malaria prevention & control
3) First aid emergency measures

Disease Prevention and Control
4) Maternal and child health
5) Family planning
6) Immunization
7) Nutrition
8) Adolescent reproductive health

Hygiene and Environmental Sanitation
9) Personal Hygiene
10) Water and Sanitation
11) Food hygiene
12) Latrine
13) Solid and liquid waste disposal
14) Housing Construction
15) Insects and Rodent Control
53
16) Health Education and Communication (which reflect many of the above areas including
nutrition, disease prevention and management, family planning, and hygiene and
sanitation practices).
204. These soft conditionalities will be phased in gradually as services are available. Availability of
these services is more limited in lowland implementation areas, as the Pastoral HEP is only in its
early stages, but delivery of health services are provided through other modalities, such as mobile
health units and other more punctual outreach services (such as the Extended Outreach Strategy,
Child Health days etc.). Where services exist, a range of soft conditionalities can still be offered.
Where regular health services are less available, the focus should be on providing behaviour change
communication regarding Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) which could be provided directly
under the programme or by linking up with other existing networks. Furthermore, in the absence of
significant levels of service provision the PSNP 4 will link safety net clients to services provided by
other partners. In lowland areas, the PSNP 4 will also benefit from PCDP’s new focus on health and
nutrition, particularly through the Community Investment Fund (CIF) which is expected to be used in
part to improve health and nutrition service delivery (e.g. through the construction of new health
posts in pastoral areas). Other options could also be explored such as the use of DAs if their
workload permits.
205. Count participation in BCC as part of a Box 7: Behaviour Change Communication
working day for public works clients57: At a frequency (BCC)
to be outlined in the PIM, BCC will be provided to
Behaviour change communication includes
male and female public works participants with traditional information sharing techniques
attendance taken and considered as participation in (where messages are shared maybe
public works. These services may be provided by accompanied by visual aids). It also includes:
HEWs directly or by the health development army,  Community nutrition conversations
under the supervision of HEWs.These will cover some
(facilitated discussion where participants
raise the issues and problems which
the same BCC messages as those provided to
concern them, and solutions are identified
temporary direct support clients (covering health,
and actions agreed)
nutrition, family planning and sanitation) and will also

Cooking and feeding demonstrations.
include cooking and feeding demonstrations for

Education entertainment (the use of
young children. Where possible, husbands of PLWs
dramas to share key messages)
will be provided similar BCC messaging as PLWs, and
fathers of malnourished children will be provided similar messages as mothers of malnourished
children. Offering these services to public works clients will help ensure that all caretakers (including
women with older children and fathers) benefit from BCC. Evidence shows that it is important for
men as well as women to be aware of key health and nutrition messages so that the household as a
whole has a common understanding and can agree on health and nutrition investments.
Furthermore, a broader community approach may result in broaderimpacts, for example by
promoting behaviour change at a community level for sanitation, open defecation can be reduced
dramatically.
206. The safety net will both depend on existing BCC tools, and will work with the Ministry of
Health to develop some specific BCC tools to encourage safety net clients to optimise the use of
both local and transferred resources for improved nutrition of children under two and pregnant and
lactating women. BCC subjects can be tailored to specific public works, BCC sessions on hygiene and
sanitation when latrines are being constructed or water points developed, the preparation and
consumption of fruit when trees are being planted.
207. Explore possibility of offering soft conditionalities for permanent direct support clients: the
PSNP 4 will also explore the possibility of offering soft conditionalities to permanent direct support
clients. This may require the development of specific BCC material to address the needs of these
57
The provision for public works to include BCC already exists in the PIM but has not been widely implemented.
54
clients, for example: key nutrition messages for elderly populations or people living with HIV/AIDS,
how to address water and sanitation issues in households that include disabled or infirm members,
and how to address some of the specific health problems faced by these households.
208. In addition to the above the programme will seek to ensure that vulnerable households with
a malnourished child are transitioned to temporary direct support (in the case of existing clients) or
temporarily incorporated into the programme (in the case of non-clients in safety net woredas), as
described in Output 2; and will liaise with the Ministry of Health over the potential to use the single
registry to identify and refer households for health fee waivers (see Output 1 for further details).
Caretakersin such households should be counted as temporary direct support clients a) to enable
them to take care of their malnourished children and b) to ensure that they benefit from the softconditionalities which will promote their use of key nutrition enhancing services.
209. Establish mechanisms to coordinate with Woreda Offices of Health and Woreda Offices of
Labour and Social Affairs (where they exist) and agree roles and responsibilities with regards to the
PSNP 4: The above represents a change because of the new linkages required with the Woreda
Office of Heath, its partners and its front-line implementers. For example, many of the services
outlined above will be provided by Health Extension workers with support from the Health
Development Army and/or Social Workers (from pre-existing budgets). This will require training of
safety net implementers in basic nutrition topics; awareness raising for the Woreda Food Security
Desk, the Woreda Office of Health and other key stakeholders; and formalised agreements regarding
roles and responsibilities. These new mechanisms will both support the activities outlined in this
section, but also the increased nutrition focus of public works and livelihood interventions.
210. The MoLSA-managed Social Cash Transfer will explore some of the operational modalities
for implementing these activities both in the period prior to the launch of the PSNP 4 and in the
early years of this programme. They will do so in existing PSNP operational areas, and geographic
areas which may be covered by the PSNP 4.
3.3.4 NEXT STEPS OVER THE COMING YEAR
211. Next steps over the coming year will focus primarily on setting up the systems to ensure
access to social services and will entail:

Development of standards for construction of, and childcare provision at, temporary
and permanent day care centres, as well as a plan for training of child care providers
and institutional oversight of the centres

Development of plans for provision of child care at permanent day care centres during
non-public works months

Operationalization of linkages with BCC providers through soft conditionalities for PLWs
and households with a malnourished child and hard conditionalities for public works
clients, including:

o
How BCC will be provided
o
Howpublic works clients’ attendance will be recorded and entered into PASS
o
How work norms will be adjusted to enable public works clients to participate in BCC
Operationalization of linkages with literacy and financial literacy training provision,
including:
o
Determination of the maximum amount time per month that participation in
literacy/financial literacy training can be substituted for public works
o
How participation will be tracked and recorded into PASS
55
o

How work norms will be adjusted to enable public works clients to participate in
literacy and financial literacy training
Adjustments in work norms to account for women’s reduced workload and counting of
participation in nutrition BCC and literacy/financial literacy training as a public works
activity as outlined above
3.4 Output 4: Clients’ livelihood opportunities facilitatedthroughthree pathways:
crop and livestock, off-farm income generation, and employment
3.4.1 OVERVIEW OF OUTPUT
212. Building on lessons learned from the Household Asset Building Programme, Output 4 aims to
support safety net in improving their livelihoods through support according to the following two
priorities/principles: 1) providing tailored solutions to households and individuals according to their
capacity, and 2) providing tailored technical assistance for each of three livelihoods pathways (crop
and livestock, off-farm income generation, and employment).
213. Providing tailored solutions to households and individuals according to their capacity. In
order to graduate from poverty and food insecurity, households require a carefully sequenced
combination of technical and financial support, beginning with receipt of safety net transfers and
followed by savings participation, financial literacy, livelihoods training, and access to finance.
Moreover, the technical and financial support provided to each client along each livelihood pathway
must be tailored according to each client’s capacity and needs, while taking into account the
capacity of government institutions and frontline workers to provide the necessary support. This will
entail the formation of groups and targeting of poorer individuals to receive livelihoods transfers as
well as intensive coaching and mentoring.
214. Providing tailored technical assistance for each of the three livelihoods pathways: increased
crop and livestock production, diversification into off-farm livelihoods, and employment. Tailored
technical assistance provision will entail working through institutions that have existing skill set and
mandate for the technical area, which will help resolve constraints related to technical capacity. The
table below details the institutions that currently provide support to each of the livelihoods
pathways, along with the specific services to which safety net clients will be linked.
Table 3: Livelihood pathways, institutions and existing services to which safety net clients will be
linked
Pathway
Crop and
livestock
Institution
Agricultural
Development
Sector (particularly
Agricultural
Extension
Directorate)
Livestock Resource
Development
Sector
Off-farm
income
generation
Federal
Cooperative
Agency
MSE Agency
(Regional Micro
and Small
Enterprise
Current activities/services to which safety net clients will be linked
DAs provide extension advice to rural households in crop, livestock, and
NRM. DAs and subject matter specialists (SMSs) provide training at
Farmer Training Centres (FTCs) and Pastoralist Training Centres (PTCs) as
well as households and model farms, where available.
The Livestock Resource Development Sector provides technical support to
both mixed crop and livestock livelihoods as well as pastoral livelihoods.
Cooperative Promotion Officers support the creation and strengthening
of agricultural marketing and multipurpose cooperatives, and rural
savings and credit cooperatives (RUSACCOs).
One-stop service centres in rural towns bring together representatives
from REMSEDA, TVET and MFIs. These one-stop services centres provide
referrals for technical training by TVETs and support the development of
group and individual business plans/enterprise development/access to
56
Development
Agency
[REMSEDA])
Employment
Technical and
Vocational
Education and
Training (TVET)
Bureau of Labour
and Social Affairs
(BOLSA)
REMSEDA
TVET
credit for the development of micro and small enterprises. TVET trainers
serve as “industrial extension” agents and advise MSEs on a variety of
areas. There are currently over 1,200 one-stop service centres in Ethiopia,
with plans for the development of several hundred more in increasingly
rural areas.
In some regions, BoLSAs identify investment opportunities and link
registered unemployed clients to these opportunities.
One-stop service centres in rural towns register the unemployed and
refer them to existing job opportunities. TVETs then provide market-led
training for existing employment opportunities at 5 different qualification
levels (level 1 being the lowest skill level—and representing the largest
number of existing employment opportunities in rural Ethiopia—and level
5 being the highest skill level). The “cooperative training modality”
employed entails the provision of 30% of the training by/at the TVET, and
70% of the training by/at the industry.
215. Output 4 seeks to allocate responsibility for delivery of technical support to institutions
according to existing skill set and mandate, while utilising frontline workers – and particularly DAs –
in a way that is realistic given their workload constraints.
216.
This output will comprise the following seven activities:

Activity 1: Provide basic training and technical support services to safety net clients

Activity 2: Provide tailored support/linkages to clients in crop and livestock pathway

Activity 3: Provide tailored support/linkages to clients in off-farm income generation
pathway

Activity 4: Provide tailored support/linkages to clients in employment pathway

Activity 5: Refer households to credit providers

Activity 6: Facilitate livelihood transfers

Activity 7: Reduce risks for graduates
3.4.2 LESSONS LEARNED INFORMING THIS PHASE OF THE PROGRAMME DESIGN
217. Programme ambition. In seeking to improve on the OFSP, HABP attempted to address
systemic constraints within the extension service by transforming it into a demand-driven model,
while simultaneously engaging heavily with financial service providers for the provision of credit to
PSNP clients, improving input supply to PSNP households, and facilitating marketing. These changes
were ambitious and, in many cases, beyond the reach of the programme to effectively address.
Recognising that the Agricultural Growth Programme (AGP) is already addressing some of these
constraints, Output 4 of the PSNP 4 aims to keep the programme’s ambition manageable by focusing
on converging existing livelihoods services on safety net clients without aiming to transform entire
systems.
218. Tangibility and sequencing. In the end, the aspects of HABP that were the most reliably
implemented were the most concrete elements, for instance business plan development:
programme reports state that over 680,000 household business plans were developed under HABP.
Given DAs’ heavy workloads and programme reporting requirements, and the easy measurability of
household business plans, it appears that business plan production received significantly more
attention than harder-to-measure activities such as building household skills, confidence and
57
knowledge which, although it had its separate output, received relatively little attention. As a result,
the intended sequencing was often not followed, and “there is concern that the business plans
developed under HABP were mass-produced and generic, and did not take full account of an
individual household’s circumstances.”58 The danger of this approach is that a household takes credit
when it is not ready and becomes indebted – an all-too-common scenario under HABP’s predecessor
OFSP. The PSNP 4 seeks to learn from this experience by introducing an equally concrete/tangible
“livelihoods checklist” designed to measure household skills and knowledge prior to business plan
development.
219. Credit availability. Credit availability under HABP varied widely by region. Through the
federal food security block grant, credit funds were largely available through MFIs in Amhara and
Tigray, but other regions had limited credit availability as the block grant was used to expand CCI
rather than for HABP credit in Oromiya, while the limited coverage of MFIs and the nascent state of
RUSACCOs inhibited credit provision in SNNP.59 Credit availability was further constrained by the
discontinuation of the federal food security block grant in 2012. Availing credit will not be the direct
responsibility of the PSNP 4, as this will depend on the ability and willingness of regional
governments to use their own funds for this purpose, and the readiness of other external actors to
capitalise financial institutions and/or buy down their risk in lending to safety net clients.
220. Household credit access. On the household side, credit access was limited by three major
factors: 1) outstanding loans (from OFSP and other sources) which excluded households from taking
HABP credit, 2) the focus of HABP business plans on household heads, who are primarily male, which
limited the ability of youth and women in male-headed households to obtain credit, and 3) poverty
and vulnerability which made some PSNP clients understandably credit averse. In the PSNP 4, credit
access will depend on regional governments’ decisions to introduce flexibility for households with
outstanding loans, and will be facilitated by a renewed programme focus on members within the
household – including women and youth – rather than household heads alone. In addition, poor and
vulnerable households will be assisted through a “pre-credit” option, discussed below.
221. Need for a “pre-credit” option for poorer and more vulnerable households. As noted above,
poverty and vulnerability made some PSNP clients credit averse, for very rational reasons.
Experience under the OFSP has shown that it is dangerous for a household to take credit if it is not
ready to do so and is not capable of repaying the loan, as it may lead to a cycle of indebtedness from
which the household cannot escape. Households that are poor and vulnerable typically own few
productive assets and therefore need a boost if they are going to be able to develop their
livelihoods, access credit and become self-sufficient. The PSNP 4 design benefits from the recent
experience of the CGAP pilot implemented by REST in Tigray, which targeted PSNP beneficiaries and
provided appropriate and sequenced support including group formation, intensive coaching and
mentoring, savings, and a livelihoods transfer. This support enabled households to successfully
graduate from the programme within 18-36 months. The success of these households in developing
their livelihoods and moving towards graduation suggests that this may be a cost-effective
approach. Output 4 builds these lessons learned into programme design by seeking to appropriately
adapt the “graduation” model to the programme’s implementation modalities by working through
existing systems to support group formation, savings, and mentoring, as well as the phased
introduction of a livelihoods transfer.
222. Institutional arrangements and partnerships. Under HABP, programme technical assistance
focused primarily on on-farm support: “Eighty percent of business plans created under HABP are for
on-farm activities, reflecting the priorities of HABP participant households, or perhaps those of the
extension service supporting them60. This is likely due to the limited capacity of DAs to support offfarm enterprises. Moreover, despite the PIM noting the importance of employment to both youth
58MoA,
2014. Review and options paper.
MoA, 2014. Review and options paper.
60 MoA, 2014. 2013 Review: The Productive Safety Net & Household Asset Building Programmes.
59
58
and women, institutional arrangements were not concrete enough to enable this to happen, and the
PIM did not detail how market linkages would be facilitated. For instance, the design document
envisaged the support of FEMSEDA but was unclear on how this support would be provided, and
failed to take into account the fact that FEMSEDA’s mandate at the time was limited to urban areas.
The PSNP 4 has a new opportunity to operationalise both off-farm and labour market support as a
result of the agency’s evolving mandate to serve small rural towns through one-stop service centres,
as described below. Moreover, the PSNP 4 will address capacity issues by working with and through
government institutions that have existing mandates and skill sets to provide certain services, and
strengtheningtheir capacity to provide these services to safety net clients. MFIs and NGOs can also
play an important partnership role supporting the programme.
223. Monitoring, evaluation and knowledge management. Under HABP, there were anecdotal
reports of a variety of innovative and promising practices in labour market linkages, business plan
appraisal, facilitation of access to productive assets, etc., in different regions. However, these
practices were not picked up by core programme M&E (including the impact assessment) and, as a
result, opportunities for cross-learning between woredas and regions were not fully exploited. This
highlights the need to ensure that the results framework and associated data collection be more
robust, combined with a pragmatic knowledge management approach (see Outputs 1 and 5 for
further detail).
3.4.3 ACTIVITIES
3.4.3.1
Activity 1: Provide basic training and technical support services to safety net clients
224. This first activity area seeks to build the capacity of safety net households to participate in
livelihoods activities in order to increase and diversify their incomes. This will require initial training
and capacity strengtheningto build individual household members’ skills, knowledge and confidence
to undertake livelihoods activities within the three pathways.
225. Conduct social mobilisation. This preliminary activity will focus on raising awareness of
livelihoods interventions andmobilising community members, particularly women (in both male and
female-headed households) and youth, to participate in these interventions. With support from
MoWCYA and Women’s Affairs Bureaus/Offices, DAs and other frontline workers will
organisewomen’s group meetings, youth meetings and other community meetings to initiate the
process of aspiration development and create favourable conditions for the livelihoods interventions
– and their renewed focus on women and youth – under Output 4.MoWCYA and the Women’s
Affairs section of the Bureau/Office of Agriculture will continue their involvement throughout the
activities below in order to strengthen women’s confidence in engaging in activities that may not be
typically expected of them, to address barriers to women’s equal access to extension services and
credit, and to increase awareness amongst community members that women and men alike have
the capacities to contribute to a healthier and more stable community.
226. Create PSNP 4 Development Groups. Participation in small groups has been found to be an
effective way for households – and particularly female household members – to build social capital
and network with neighbours, while also providing an efficient means for development agents (DAs),
health extension workers (HEWs) and other government trainers/facilitators to reach multiple
households at once. Given the critical need for extension support to households, small groups will be
an important tool for the implementation of Output 4 activities.
227. Therefore, through DAs, the PSNP 4 will facilitate the formation of Development Groups
comprising 20-30 village members. These groups will be self-selected and will contain both male and
female members, with households encouraged to have both spouses participate in the group.
Existing development groups as well as women’s groups and youth groups that are comprised of
safety net client households and wish to participate in livelihoods interventions will also be
59
considered Development Groups eligible for programme support, with expanded functions. In
addition, this group model may need to be tailored for lowland implementation areas, for instance
through a Collective Action Group model.
228.
These groups will provide an entry point for a variety of programme interventions, including:

DA facilitation and training

Linkages to health and nutrition awareness raising and training provided by HEWs

Group enterprises (e.g. for honey producers)

Initiation of small-scale savings and lending activities
229. Each household that joins a development group will receive a household livelihoods
checklist, which will detail the types of trainings and mentoring support that household members
need to receive as they progress towards sustainable livelihoods. These checklists may include:

Financial literacy training

Participation in regular savings

Livelihoods consultation

Technical training (tailored to livelihoods pathway)

Business/marketing training (tailored to livelihoods pathway)

Business plan development (tailored to livelihoods pathway)
230. As households may select to engage in multiple livelihoods pathways, crop and livestock and
off-farm income generation pathways will be represented on the same checklist, with employment
pathways exempt from the checklist due to the very different nature of requirements. Moreover,
the checklist must include separate sections for male and female household members, including
youth (again with the exception of those who select the livelihood pathway). This process will ensure
that household members receive the required support, with the appropriate sequencing of
activities, to develop their knowledge and skills prior to business plan development. The checklist
may include flexibility on training attendance if household skills are assessed according to
benchmarks and found satisfactory in specific topic areas.
231. Provide financial literacy training. Using the Development Groups as a platform, MFI agents
and cooperative promoters and accountants will provide financial literacy training (including a
component on savings) to safety net clients, with a focus on women. Financial literacy trainings will
use the toolkit developed under HABP.
232. Financial literacy training will be provided at FTCs and PTCs or other accessible locations
within the village, and will be provided for short durations on a recurring basis, at times of day when
women are most able to attend. If individual clients are illiterate and therefore do not have the
capacity to participate in financial literacy training, they will first be referred for functional adult
literacy prior to joining the financial literacy training course. Per the PIM, participation in literacy
training can be substituted for public works where necessary, and under the PSNP 4 this provision
may be expanded to include participation in financial literacy training and possibly other forms of
skills training.
233. Support savings activities. Recognising the centrality of savings to household resilience and
livelihood development, the PSNP 4 will encourage a savings culture amongst programme clients.
This focus on savings will help instil financial discipline and prepare household members to manage
cash and credit within their enterprises. Specialised service providers will provide training and
60
mentoring to Development Groups in group savings and internal lending methodologies and best
practices. Groupswill be encouraged to initiate group savings or, if available, can participate in
savings through RUSACCOs and MFIs.
234. Engage in livelihoods consultation. Using Development Groups as a platform, DAs and
subject matter specialists will consult with clients regarding their livelihoods interests and ideas.
They will also bring in representatives from different agencies, including FEMSEDA and TVET, to
present options for each of the livelihood pathways. The focus of this activity on clients as opposed
to households aims to ensure that women are a part of this consultation, even in male-headed
households, and that their preferred income generating activities are recorded on the checklist.
Individual household members will then each select their own livelihood pathway, which will be
recorded/represented on the household livelihoods checklist.For some households, the checklist will
reflect one pathway for all members, while for others, the checklist will reflect multiple pathways
(one per household member) and the required trainings for each.
235. For ease of implementation, each individual client will be limited to one livelihood pathway
in the household livelihoods checklist and business plan. Once the household checklist has been
completed and the business plan implemented, households may request to start another checklist
(and, in the process, a client may select a second pathway), subject to the availability of technical
and financial resources under the PSNP 4.
236. Table 4 below outlines the common features of the programme across all households and
livelihoods pathways as well as the distinctive features of each pathway and services to be provided
to different types of household.
3.4.3.2
Activity 2: Provide tailored support/linkages to clients in crop and livestock pathway
237. As stated above, household members that select the crop and livestock livelihoods pathway
will receive the following tailored services:

Technical training (including skill development for new technologies)

Business/marketing training

Business plan development

Referrals for marketing support
238. Training and technical support to the crop and livestock pathway will be provided at
FTCs/PTCs as well as model farms, and will be targeted to the livelihoods identified through the
market value chain analyses previously conducted under HABP. This support will also build on a
more explicit emphasis under Output 3 on the contribution of public works to livelihoods. DAs will
identify and promote linkages with public works as appropriate, for instance as water supply and
fodder or bee forage becomes available as a result of public works activities. DAs will provide
technical training to household members, e.g. in livestock fattening, honey production, post-harvest
handling, value addition, etc. Where appropriate, model farmers will be used to reinforce and pass
on DA messaging.
239. Pastoral, agro-pastoral and irrigated agricultural livelihoods in lowland areas fall within the
crop and livestock pathway. Support provided to clients engaging in pastoral and agro-pastoral
livelihoods will include technical advice on endogenous herd growth and drought cycle
management, while support to those engaging in irrigated agriculture will focus on crop production
and marketing.
240. Business skills and marketing training will be provided by specialised service providers such
as Marketing Agency specialists, Cooperative Promotion Officers, TVET trainers, MSE Agency
representatives, etc. For livelihoods (e.g. honey production) that can benefit from collective
61
marketing, households will be formed into marketing groups and will receive training in collective
marketing approaches and strategies. Appropriate institutions (e.g. Cooperative Promotion Offices
and/or Marketing Agencies, depending on the context) will be responsible for support to these
groups, with supplemental support from the programme for the expansion of their mandate to
groups below the cooperative level. When ready, groups may be formalised as cooperatives with
support from Cooperative Promotion.
241. DAs will work with household members to develop business plans tailored to individual
members’ interests and capacity as identified on the checklist. Households will then be responsible
for taking their business plans to financial institutions for financing, with assistance from DAs (or to
appropriate institution(s) for the livelihoods transfer, as described below).
242. To avoid the risk of negative environmental impacts from crop and livestock-related
livelihoods, the PSNP 4 will utilise the Woreda Environmental Profiles and Environmental Guidance
(adapted from ESMF) developed under HABP, which provide guidance on the types of livelihoods
and income generating activities that could be supported by the programme without adverse
environmental impacts. The programme will develop new profiles and guidance as needed in new
livelihoods implementation areas.
3.4.3.3
Activity 3: Provide tailored support/linkages to clients in off-farm income generation
pathway
243. As in the crop and livestock pathway outlined above, household members who select the
off-farm income generation pathway will receive the following tailored services:

Technical training

Business/marketing training

Business plan development

Marketing advice
244. Certain natural resource-based income generating activities, such as gum and incense
collection and cosmetics, will be considered part of the off-farm pathway. These activities will be
particularly important for clients in lowland areas.
245. DAs will create lists of clients that select off-farm income generation pathways during the
livelihoods consultation, and will refer them to one-stop service centres operated by ReMSEDAs in
rural towns.
246. MSE and/or TVET representatives, as appropriate, will create groups and provide technical
training and business/marketing training.Where needed, the programme will support technology
transfer for off-farm enterprises such as agricultural processing/value addition, through the
FTCs/PTCs where possible and/or incubation centres where available. In areas where critical
nutrition-related services (e.g. milk marketing or processing of complementary foods for young
children) are identified as a potential income generation activity, the programme may support their
inclusion as off-farm enterprises eligible for programme support.
247. Short-term trainings will be provided at FTCs and PTCs where possible, with longer and more
specialised trainings provided at TVETs where necessary. Training curricula and methodologies will
accommodate the needs and priorities of women.In addition, as safety net clients start their
enterprises, TVET trainers (or “industrial extension agents”) will visit their MSEs and advise them on
marketing and business development skills.
248. As for the crop and livestock pathway above, Woreda Environmental Profiles and
Environmental Guidance will be used to ensure that the off-farm livelihoods comply with the ESMF.
62
249. After completion of training prerequisites, MSE and/or TVET representatives at one-stop
service centres will assist clients in individual or group business plan preparation in their selected
livelihood area, and link them with MFIs for the provision of credit.
3.4.3.4
Activity 4: Provide tailored support/linkages to clients in employment pathway
250. Support to the employment pathway will build on the existing work of BoLSAs, ReMSEDAs
and TVETs to identify employment opportunities based on existing demand from industries and
farms.
251. Clients who select the employment pathway will be included on a list that will be provided
to the closest one-stop service centre. TVET representatives at the centre will match the client to
existing employment opportunities and provide skills training ranging from 7-12 days to several
months depending on the type of opportunity and requisite qualification level. Two kinds of training
may be provided, depending on the opportunity and the client’s interest:

Competency-based training, which will cover a range of units required in order for the client
to pass the competency exam.

Level (unit) training, which will be limited to one or a small number of units within a
technical area
252. Where possible, trainings will be provided at FTCs and PTCs to enable a broad range of
participants – particularly women – to attend. For longer trainings that are provided at TVETs, safety
net clients will receive a stipend to cover their transportation and room and board expenses while
participating in vocational training, where required. The programme will also consider piloting
apprenticeship or internship programmes for semi-skilled trainees as a way of making them more
employable and increasing opportunities for employment, including self-employment.
253. The ESMF for the employment pathway will focus in particular on the social and
environmental impacts of labour migration. These will be addressed partly through the provision of
training to labour migrants by BOLSA on health risks (e.g. HIV/AIDS) along with other important
topics, such as how to do a money transfer.
254.
3.4.3.5
This pathway will be particularly important for ex-pastoralist clients and landless youth.
Activity 5: Refer households to credit providers
255. Technical committees, comprised of cooperative promoters and accountants as well as MFI
staff where available, will gauge the availability of credit locally prior to the completion of household
business plans, and will instruct DAs and woreda subject matter specialists to advise households
accordingly.Then, following completion of the livelihoods checklist and business plans, technical
committees will appraise business plans for their viability. Ad hoctechnical committees are currently
working in some HABP implementation areas, and will be scaled up under the PSNP 4. Households
will then amend business plans if needed and, once these are found viable, will take the completed
checklist and business plan to financial institutions, including MFIs (both regional and private) and
RUSACCOs, in order to access loans. Where credit life insurance available, households will also be
referred to this service.
256. Where needed – particularly for clients with little history of taking credit from financial
institutions, such as women – , DAs will support clients in approaching financial institutions with
their business plans.
257. If household checklists cover more than one pathway, individual clients within the
household may be eligible for credit for that pathway if all prerequisites for the pathway are
completed.
63
258. To avoid the risk of clients becoming indebted, the programme will emphasise the notion of
demand-driven credit uptake and encourage clients to start with relatively small loans that can be
more easily repaid before moving on to larger loans. Proposed loan sizes will be outlined in the PIM.
259. The high rates of outstanding loans from OFSP and other sources have severely constrained
households’ credit access under HABP and will continue to do so under the PSNP 4, thereby severely
constraining the implementation of Output 4, unless high-level decisions are made. This issue will
require action by federal and regional levels, potentially introducing new flexibility with regards to
outstanding loans, in order to ensure that safety net clients are not disqualified from taking loans as
a result of outstanding credit. The PSNP 4 will not avail credit to households but will provide
conditional capacity development support to regional governments – contingent on the provision of
credit funds – and build the capacity of financial service providers to provide services, including
training and financing from their own funds, to safety net clients. This may entail, but will not be
limited to, support for the development of financial products that are acceptable to Muslim clients
(i.e. Sharia compliant). In lowland areas, financial services capacity development interventions will
be closely coordinated with PCDP, which is establishing and strengthening pastoral savings and
credit cooperatives. Further details on capacity development support are outlined in the Priorities
section below, and assumptions necessary for the completion of this activity are detailed in the
programme log frame.
3.4.3.6
Activity 6: Test and gradually roll out livelihood transfer
260. For poorer and more vulnerable safety net clients, credit is not a viable option. Therefore,
Output 4 explores the provision of a livelihoods transfer that gives clients a boost which will enables
them to build productive assets, develop their livelihoods, access credit, and, ultimately, become
self-sufficient. Hence livelihoods transfers can provide a modality for poorer households to
transition to microfinance and/or RUSACCO credit and can be a cost-effective way of accelerating
the process by which households build their assets and move towards food security. Emerging youth
demand for self-employment and wage employment opportunities also highlights the need for a
“boost” to youth in PSNP households.
261.
This activity builds on lessons learned from the CGAP pilot in supporting graduation even for
the poorest and adapts them to PSNP 4 implementation systems. When scaled up, clients targeted
for livelihoods transfers will receive the support outlined in activities 1-4 above, plus a livelihoods
transfer and intensive coaching and mentoring.
262. Conduct targeting. In selected kebeles, at start of programme, communities will conduct
targeting exercise to target clients for livelihoods transfers. Targeting criteria will be laid out in the
PIM but will likely include a selection of the following: female household heads, landless youth, the
poorest households (with or without land), and other clients for whom credit is not an option (e.g.
the credit averse and those who have never taken credit for other reasons), among others.
263. Provide intensive coaching and mentoring. Because many livelihoods transfer clients will
have relatively little prior enterprise experience, low levels of education/literacy, and little social
capital, a significant level of intensive coaching and mentoring will be required. These individuals will
receive a package of support that includes technical advice in selecting their livelihood, a livelihoods
transfer, and intensive coaching support, with household visits and/or group meetings facilitated by
a DA at least every 2 weeks.
264. Provide livelihoods transfer. Existing HABP analyses will be used to create short lists of
livelihoods to be supported in each woreda, with MSE Agency representatives contributing to the
regular updating of off-farm livelihoods opportunities based on their market information. DAs and
other local-level staff will then organise awareness raising meetings regarding livelihoods options,
including initial demonstrations/training to help clients understand the implications of each option
64
including requirements, timing of returns, and upkeep costs. For livelihoods transfer clients, the
programme will create Intensive Mentoring Development Groups, support clients in selecting
livelihoods pathway, provide training, support savings, provide a livelihood transfer of approximately
USD 200, and continue mentoring/coaching through regular visits and group meetings for two years.
265. If household checklists cover more than one pathway, clients within the household may be
eligible for a partial livelihoods transfer for that pathway if all prerequisites for the pathway are
completed.
266. As with the credit referrals above, business plans will be required to be appraised and
approved by ad hoc technical committees prior to the provision of the livelihoods transfer. In order
to ensure objectivity, committee members will not be informed of whether business plans are
destined for livelihoods transfers or credit.
267. Following approval of the business plan, households will receive a livelihoods transfer in
cash. DAs will create a list of clients that receive livelihoods transfer to ensure that their households
are not forced to exit from the programme less than 2 years after the livelihoods transfer is received,
even if the livelihoods transfer puts the household above the asset threshold for graduation.
3.4.3.7
Activity 7: Reduce risks for graduates

The PSNP 4 seeks to reduce risks for graduates by providing clients adequate levels and
duration of support, implementing evidence-based graduation, and allowing
households to be re-targeted for safety net transfers if their food security status
backslides. In addition, the programme seeks to ensure access to services for recent
graduates, both through continuation of livelihoods services for up to a year post
graduation from safety net transfers, and through linkages to appropriate risk reduction
services. Safety net and graduating households will be referred/linked to appropriate
insurance products where available (e.g. weather-indexed crop/livestock insurance as
well as credit life insurance). Provide clients slated for graduation with a lump sum
payment rather than monthly payments during the 12-month notice period.
268. Programme initiatives to reduce risks to graduates are not limited to those listed under this
Output, but include a commitment to evidence-based graduation, implementing the one-year notice
period, and ensuring that households are able to re-enter the programme if their food security
status backslides. To strengthen evidence-based graduation, graduation requirements will be set
based on poverty/food security/asset holdings as proxies for assessing a household’s readiness to
graduate, and using the community-based and PMT system for verification.
3.4.3.8
269.
Activity summary
Output 4 interventions can be summarised in the following graph and table.
65
Figure 1: Livelihoods programme sequencing overview
To reduce
risks of
graduates:
Access to Evidence- GRADUATION
based
markets
Access to (through gradua on
credit
Livelihoods
& re-entry
Extension transfer for (through referrals)
if
& technical
poor
referrals)
necessary
support
households
tailored to 3 (& con nual
Group
coaching)
forma on pathways
PW & DS
Savings
transfers
Intensive
Financial
coaching &
Community
literacy
assets
mentoring
Targe ng Household
access to
services
66
Table 4: Output 4 Summary
Crop and livestock livelihoods
Common
services
for all
pathways
and all
clients
Nontransfer
(credit)
clients







Transfer
clients
Off-farm income
Employment
generation
Households self-select into Development Groups
MFIs and RUSACCOs provide financial literacy training and savings promotion
Households/individuals select a livelihoods pathway (each has its own checklist)
Communities target poor/vulnerable households to receive livelihoods transfers
DAs provide extension and
other technical advice,
following household
livelihoods checklist
Following checklist
completion and business
plan preparation,
households are referred to
MFIs and RUSACCOs for
financing
Clients receive coaching
and mentoring support
(every two weeks) by DAs
and a livelihoods transfer



DAs refer clients to
one-stop service
centres in nearest
rural town
Clients receive
technical advice and
training from
ReMSEDAs and
TVETs


Clients receive
technical advice by
ReMSEDAs and
TVETs for off-farm
livelihoods, coaching
and mentoring by
DAs, and a
livelihoods transfer
DAs refer clients to onestop service centres in
nearest rural town
Clients receive technical
advice and training from
ReMSEDAs and TVETs. For
trainings provided at
TVETs, clients receive
stipend to cover
transportation and room
& board during training
course
3.4.4 PRIORITIES UNDER PSNP 4
270. Priority Area 1: Roll-out of livelihoods activities to all safety net implementation areas and to
all safety net clients. The roll-out to new safety net implementation areas will require the
establishment of institutional arrangements and staff capacity development. It will also entail
tailoring/adaptation of the three pathways to pastoral, agro-pastoral, riverine and ex-pastoral
livelihoods in order to enable effective livelihoods programme implementation in lowland/pastoral
areas. As livelihoods interventions are rolled out to these areas, linkages with PCDP, where
implemented, will be critical in particular for:

Linkages to financial services, as PCDP is strengthening RUSACCOs which can provide a
means for safety net clients to save and access credit

Innovative livelihood solutions, as PCDP has an innovation fund for adaptive research.
This component of PCDP supports the establishment of farmer/pastoralist-research
groups to bring together pastoralists and researchers to undertake adaptive research
trials, introduce inputs/equipment associated with new technologies, support on-farm
seed production particularly for animal fodder and nutrition rich crops for human
consumption, and provides an innovation fund to finance proposals from
farmer/pastoralist-research groups. When applicable, the PSNP 4 will promote safety
net clients participation in farmer/pastoralist-research groups and will disseminate
technology developed through the innovation fund.

Infrastructure development, as the PCDP CIF is expected to develop infrastructure
based on community needs, which may include veterinary clinics (important for the
crop and livestock pathway).

Capacity development, as PCDP has mobile support teams
67
271. The table below summarises preliminary thinking on how each of the three livelihood
pathways applies to different client groups in lowland implementation areas. Further
operationalization of each of the three pathways is expected to be provided in the PIM.
272.
Table 5: Livelihood pathways implementation in lowland areas
All
Crop and
livestock
Off-farm
income
generation
Employment
Focus areas and interventions/linkages
 Savings promotion and financial literacy training
Focus: supporting endogenous herd growth and crop
production
 Training on animal husbandry, herd management, drought
cycle management, irrigated crop production, building on
public works where feasible
 Training in livestock marketing
 Linkages to credit or provision of livelihoods transfers as
appropriate
Focus: providing viable alternatives and/or complements to
pastoralism
 Market assessments to ensure availability of markets for
off-farm products and services
 Training in business skills and marketing for petty trade
 Linkages to credit or provision of livelihoods transfers as
appropriate
 Technical support to NRM-based income generating
activities such as gum and incense collection and marketing
Focus: human capital development
 Supporting the establishment and/or adaptation of
training curriculaof TVETs, as needed
 Savings promotion and financial literacy training
 Provision of short- and long-term skills training as
applicable, with training stipends as appropriate
 Linkages to commercial farms and other employment
opportunities
Target groups
 All
 Pastoralists
 Agro-pastoralists
 Riverine farmers




Agro-pastoralists
Ex-pastoralists
Youth
Clients living near
towns



Ex-pastoralists
Youth
Clients living near
towns
273.
274. The roll-out of the programme to all safety net clients reflects a renewed focus on women
and youth in the PSNP 4. Rather than focusing on households as a whole – which under HABP
translated for the most part into targeting household heads – the livelihoods output will seek to
work with individual clients within the PSNP 4 client households. Specifically, the programme will
make significant efforts at serving the livelihoods needs of youth in safety net households (which will
require a revision of the requirement for a Client Card) and women in male-headed safety net
households (which will require tailored and appropriate support to women in both technical advice
and referrals to financial services).
275. Priority Area 2: Provision of basic technical services to programme clients. Output 4 will
entail a strong focus on the provision of basic training and technical support services to programme
clients. These services include group formation, financial literacy training, and savings promotion,
and are described in detail under Activity 1 above. The programme will engage appropriate service
providers for the provision of these services, and will provide them with adequate preparation and
capacity developmentto ensure high quality service provision. This will likely include, but not be
limited to:

Training of DAs in group formation and facilitation
68

Training expenses related to
promoters/accountants and MFI staff

Training expenses related to savings promotion by specialised service providers

Capacity development of farmer training centres and pastoralist training centres to ensure
that appropriate inputs and equipment are available
financial
literacy
training
by
cooperative
276. Priority Area 3: Conditional support to relevant institutions to converge existing services on
safety net clients. As noted above, Output 4 seeks to facilitate the convergence of a variety of
existing services for each of the three pathways on safety net clients. These services include:

Agricultural extension services

Labour market linkages by BOLSA and REMSEDA

TVET training

Marketing support services by Cooperative Promotion

Financial services by MFIs and RUSACCOs

Etc.
277. Therefore, the programme will provide the financial and technical resources necessary for
each relevant institution to ensure the provision of these services to safety net clients, with
programme funding contingent on service provision. This may include, but will not be limited to:

Programme support to MFIs (including private MFIs where appropriate) and
RUSACCOs/RUSACCO unions, with conditionalities related to credit disbursement to an
agreed number of clients. These conditionalities would be applied to the MFI and, where
appropriate, regional governments. This will be particularly important for MFIs that have
credit funds available, and have demand, but lack the uptake capacity to serve clients. If
applied to regional governments, it may also help in addressing credit availability constraints.

Training, dialogue, and conditional support to regional governments to use their existing
resources, e.g. MDG grants, in support of livelihood interventions.

Technical support to/financial capacity building of agencies delivering on the three pathways,
contingent on an agreement (in an MOU or other document) to train an agreed number of
safety net clients. The programme may provide, e.g.:
o
Training of agency staff (e.g. Cooperative Promotion Offices, BoLSAs, TVETs,
ReMSEDAs, etc.) in technical areas and needs of safety net clients, as needed
o
TVET training expenses (equipment, consumable materials, etc.) and adaptation of
curriculum as necessary to meet needs of safety net clients, including clients in
lowland implementation areas
o
FTC/PTC setup and training expenses, e.g. equipment, inputs, technologies, etc.
o
Expenses related to making one-stop service centres available to safety net clients
278. In addition, the programme will provide more direct capacity building support for the
provision of services in areas where they are less available from existing institutions, e.g. in lowland
implementation areas. This may include covering the cost of developing and supporting the delivery
of targeted training programs to PSNP clients to enable effective livelihoods programming in lowland
implementation areas. As above, this support would be contingent on an agreement to provide
services to safety net clients.
69
279.
280. Priority Area 4: Tailoring of support according to client capacitythrough gradual roll-out and
scaling up of livelihoods transfer and focus on women’s economic empowerment. Under this priority
area, the programme will:

Identify sociocultural and institutional issues which hinder women from participating in and
benefiting from livelihood interventions and accessing credit, and provide training to
implementers in how to address them

Test the livelihoods transfer component in Year 1:
o
Identify at least two woredas in each region for the Year 1 testing of the livelihoods
transfer. These should be woredas where sufficient services are provided to the
three pathways, and where potential for graduation exists.
o
Agree how mentoring support will be provided for livelihoods transfer clients

Roll out livelihoods transfer component in years 2-5

Train DAs in coaching and mentoring skills and techniques.

Provide livelihoods transfers

Provide training stipends for clients attending TVETs (e.g. transportation and room & board).
3.4.5 NEXT STEPS OVER THE COMING YEAR
281.
Prior to start of programme:61

Conduct product market study, labour market study, and off-farm opportunities/local
economic development study to inform implementation of livelihoods activities.

Develop training package for on-farm, off-farm and employment pathways

Determine livelihoods transfer targeting and implementation modality, and defineprocess of
testing and potentially scaling up livelihoods transfer component

Establish a national framework with regional flexibility to determine which entity will be
responsible for providing technical assistance for each of the livelihood pathways
(depending on mandate of BoLSAs/WoLSAs, MSE Agency, TVETs).

Include core livelihood activities in the job description/balanced score cards (BSCs) of DAs

Conduct necessary preliminary market analyses and staff capacity development, and tailor
three pathways as needed, to enable effective livelihoods programme implementation in
lowland/pastoral areas.

Conduct region-by-region awareness raising on the new implementation modalities (as part
of PIM roll-out)

Develop/adapt training materials and curricula, ensuring appropriateness to women
61
Output 4 will require significant levels of innovative support, especially during Year 1. It is recommended that a specific Task Force or
committee be tasked with supporting this process
70
3.5 Output 5: Effective management and operational processes in place to
manage the programme
3.5.1 OVERVIEW OF OUTPUT
282. The institutional arrangements and management structures for the implementation of
programme at all levels of government are thorough if uneven from region to region. Food security
line agencies at every level of Government in Ethiopia are accountable for the oversight and
coordination of the FSP with implementation being undertaken by GoE ministries and development
partners. Federal institutional arrangements include two main ministries: the Ministry of Finance
and Economic Development (MoFED), which is accountable for all financial management, and the
Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), which with its respective agriculture sub-sectors – DRMFSS, livestock
sector, crop productionsector , natural resource management sector and federal cooperative
agency – is responsible for overseeing the management and coordination of the programme. The
PSNP 4 will continue to be implemented through GoE structures with the involvement of a broader
range of different service providers, each according to mandate and capacity to implement. In order
to effectively implement the PSNP 4, all relevant implementing agenciesmust have adequate
management systems and capacityin place.
283. While overall resource management systems have improved in many areas, theyare not
consistent across the programme, particularly in lowland areas and at the lower administrative
levels. Output 5 is concerned with supporting the necessary management systems to enable
effective and accountable programme implementation, including: human resource management,
accountable performancemanagement with a strengthened M&E function, accountable financial
management, accountable food management, and accountable procurement systems. Other critical
elements of programme management include planning, coordination and capacity development,
which are covered under Output 1.
284.
Key activities under this output include:
285.
Priority Area 1: Human resource management62
286.
287.

Clarify roles and responsibilities ofprogramme staff

Scale up SNSF good practices for human resources

Provide training in soft skills such as leadership, communication andteamwork

Implement measures to utilise TAs and contract staff more effectively
Priority Area 2: Accountable performance management

Strengthen regular monitoring mechanism at all levels

Adopt a Performance Management System (PMS)

Strengthen monitoring and evaluation systems

Establish a forum for regular discussionsbetween all programme implementers
Priority Area 3: Accountable budgeting and financial management

Clarify roles and responsibilities of implementing institutions in each region in line with
mandate and skills, and align budgets accordingly

Earmark capacity development resources, including for gender provisions
62
Some human resource-related areas that affect programme implementation will be within the PSNP 4PSNP 4’s control to change, while
others will not. This activity focuses on areas that are within the programme’s control or influence.
71

288.
289.
Priority Area 4: Accountable food management

Strengthen the Government’s ability to account for food resources

Mainstream the use of the Commodity Allocation and Tracking System

Strengthen the system for food management procedures at federal, regional, zonal and
woreda level to ensure timely management of logistics, reporting and communications
Priority Area 5: Accountable procurement systems

290.
Align the PSNP 4 Financial Management system with key components of the
government Public Financial Management system
Strengthen procurement functions
Priority Area 6: Accountable asset management

Strengthen physical resource management functions.
3.5.2 LESSONS LEARNED INFORMING THIS PHASE OF THE PROGRAMME DESIGN
291. Human resource management: Staffing levels and high staff turnover remain key constraints
to programme implementation as noted in the last design. The recent Annual Performance Report
notes that staff turnover due to low salaries and incentives as a major ongoing problem. There have
been efforts to address this through the use of contract staff and TAs with some effect. However,
contract staff and TAs are not always effectively utilised. At times there are unclear or overlapping
job descriptions, which can lead to confusion regarding roles, responsibilities and expectations. In
addition, PSNP 4 specific activities are not consistently reflected in work and performance plans.
292. Performance management and M&E: The previous Performance Management System was
designed to track only the timeliness of transfers and was not widely utilised or applied as it was
reportedly too complicated to implement and did not fit with other PMS used in the regions. With
regards to M&E, the survey-based evaluation of PSNP and HABP implementation and householdlevel impact is extensive and comprehensive. However, there is some way to go in integrating the
large number of separate streams of monitoring data (see MIS under Output 1). The aspects of M&E
that receive the most focus are those which provide information to regional and federal level and
there is a tendency to think that all monitoring information (as well as evaluation data) needs to be
submitted in this way. The joint oversight mechanisms (the six-monthly JRIS events, including the
MTR) are critically important to programme M&E, strategic governance, and effective management.
Their effectiveness is however limited by the failure of federal government and development
partner stakeholders to hold scheduled management meetings in the periods between JRIS
missions.Overall, there is much scope for harmonising the M&E system both within the new design
and with other linked processes that deliver social protection, land management, agricultural
support and DRM to households.
293. Resource management: In overall terms, resource management has continued to improve
with the most progress noted in financial management. However, lowland implementation areas are
the exception to the overall improvement in resource management performance.
294. Financial management: Overall progress has been positive, with functional financial
management systems in place and a steady increase in overall efficiency noted. Budget preparation
procedures and budget categories are clearly defined, which is critical as beneficiary numbers are
the primary driver of major budget lines in the programme. Improvements were seen in budget
utilisation, budget discipline, and timeliness of financial reporting. In 2013, the PSNP had an
unqualified audit for the first time. The overall improvement in financial management is a strong
72
foundation for increasing the appropriate use of cash in the highlands. In the pastoral areas,
performance is uneven and requires focused capacity development efforts.
295. Some challenges remain. In particular, budget discipline and budget utilisation continue to
be a challenge, despite improvements since 2010. There can be significant variations in budget
utilisation performance from year to year and between regions, which highlights weaknesses in
planning and implementation capacity. Delayed action on audit findings and recurrent audit findings
has been a major challenge. Experience to date shows that ongoing training, supervision and
support does result in improvements.
296. Capacity remains a limitation that directly affects performance. Regional and woreda level
bodies need to be more involved with greater capacity built. A key lesson is that well established
structures such as the COPCU with dedicated Financial Management experts and professionals are
key to success. Continuous awareness creation and enforcement mechanisms.
297. Food management: The food management system has made some progress but is still not
properly structured, streamlined, or systematised – a comprehensive food management system is
lacking. Persistent weaknesses continue to exist in monitoring and accountability. The PSNP supply
chain suffers from a shortage of storage facilities although transport contracting has improved. Food
loss and diversion is a major concern of both government and development partners, particularly in
lowland implementation woredas. This is often due to a lack of a well-established mechanism to
monitor the food movement in order to avoid food loss/diversion, particularly after food is
dispatched from the main warehouses. The internal control mechanism at woreda/Food Distribution
Point (FDP) level is weak
298. The creation of intermediate regional hubs has improved accountability but capacity is weak
with responsibility for food management unclear, procedures not fully understood or followed, and
the absence of a capacity developmentbudget for food management.
299. Continued delays in food delivery: Despite improvements over the last 10 years, the
delivery of the food resources continues to lag as compared with the delivery of cash and is
generally not achieving the agreed performance standards. This arises in part from communication
challenges between FSCD and EWRD. Implementation can thus be improved by strengthening
communication betweenthe concerned agencies which will be a focus of PSNP4.
300. Procurement: Overall progress is positive with the process of procurement running smoothly
at the federal level, although monitoring is weak and inadequate support is provided to regions and
woredas. Therefore, there is still room for improvement, particularly at regional and woreda
levels.Internal procurement control systems are often weak,with inadequate record keeping and
non-compliance to procedures noted. The core problem in managing project procurement to
achieve efficiency, economy and compliance is the lack of capacity in procurement planning,
processing and record keeping. Lessons learned show that performance has been enhanced by: the
use of open bidding for select purchases; the early preparation of the procurement process; the use
of clear MoUs between implementing agencies; and the identification of dedicated procurement
staff for PSNP procurement at woreda level.
301. Lowland implementation areas: Lowland implementation areas have underperformed in all
areas of programme management and require sustained and prioritised support. Limited capacity
and institutional weakness has translated into uneven performance in financial management and
procurement. As noted, food management and food losses is a major concern in pastoral areas
where the operating environment is particularly challenging (e.g. poor roads, insecurity, lack of
proper storage facilities).
73
3.5.3 PRIORITIES UNDER PSNP 4
302. Key Principles: The PSNP 4 will adopt the following key principles with regards to overall
programme/system management:

Maintain operational simplicity wherever possible
o
Through simplified procedures
o
Through resisting adding elements that are not central to operations63

Responsibility follows capacity and resources follow responsibility

Services are delivered by those with the mandate and skills

Clear roles and responsibilities ensure clear lines of accountability

Phased handover of responsibility as capacity builds: transferring of responsibility of a
specific activity area from one government entity to another (e.g. single registry, MIS,
transitioning of the Permanent Direct Support caseload to MoLSA) will be realized in
accordance with the level of capacity.

Ensure clarity of resource and financial management responsibility in a way which ensures
that budget allocation follows assigned responsibility.

Abide by Government of Ethiopia policy of decentralisation by ensuring adequate
involvement of woredas and regions in decision making
303.
Priority Area 1: Human resource management
304. The PSNP 4 will approach human resource development systematically and include on-thejob support and sustainability measures. A programme-specific approach to human resource
management will be established that accounts for contracted staff and includes equitable and
efficient recruitment, induction and enhanced affirmative action approaches.Specific activities under
this priority area will include the following:

Develop and implement minimum staffing and programme performance standards for
programme implementation at all levels. This will include setting and tracking female
staffing targets.

Clarify roles and responsibilities for staff: Current staff terms of reference (TORs) are
very generic. While the PSNP 4 cannot change job descriptions for full-time Government
staff, it can add programme-related tasks as an addendum to staff TORs as well as
tostaff’s balanced score cards. This will be particularly important for staff of
implementing agencies that are have not been core PSNP implementing agencies to
date.

Scale up SNSF good practices related to human resource management:These include
practices related to individual performance management, streamlined recruitment
processes (shortened from 8 to 2 months by clarifying processes, who needs to sign off,
etc., and involving the Human Resource Directorate for each agency as this is within
their mandate), conducive work environment, non-monetary incentives, improved
induction processes, andimproved handover systems. Institutionalising these processes
in staff turnover mitigation plans will mitigate the impact of the inevitable turnover of
programme staff.
63
For example, surveys and assessments can become unmanageable if each actor’s particular information needs/preferences are
accommodated without thinking about what is implementable.
74
305.

Provide training in soft skills such as leadership, coordination, communication, and
teamwork: These skills are critical to effective human resource management within the
programme. These trainings will be undertaken through the Capacity Development
Support Facility, as described under Output 1.

Implement measures to utilise TAs and contract staff more effectively:Ensure that TAs
and contract staff have adequate resources and sufficiently defined programme-specific
terms of referenceto effectively carry out programme tasks.
Priority Area 2: Accountable performance management and M&E
306. The PSNP 4 will adopt a Performance Management System which institutionalises key
performance metricslinked to programme M&E.The PMS will be both institutional and individual,
tracking minimum staffing and programme performance standards for programme implementation
at all levels. The PMS will include performance benchmarking, regular dissemination of performance
results, and incentives for improving performance.The PMS will be informed by a study to
determine:

Which performance metrics should be included. These may include the timeliness and
quality of financial reports as well the implementation of gender provisions (as outlined
in the Gender Action Plan). It will be critical to carefully consider which metrics should
be included in order to incentivise quality in addition to quantity.

How to set performance targets (e.g. set incentives based on achieving targets rather
than competing to be the top performer)

Programme incentives as well as individual incentives. E.g. incorporate programmerelated into BSC so that individuals obtain recognition for performing programmerelated tasks well.
307.
Consistency in providing the promised incentives will be critical to the success of the PMS.
308.
In addition, the PSNP 4 will strengthen M&E through the following activities:

Integrate different M&E components into a functioning management information
system and targeted capacity developmentefforts. The various streams of programme
reporting data need to be brought together in a unified monitoring system which allows
for a comprehensive overview of key performance indicators at any given level of
resolution and at any point in time. This will free up the evaluation exercises to focus on
outcomes and impact, including through expanded use of qualitative methods. Progress
has already been made with discussions progressing on harmonising the M&E function
between the current programme and both SLMP and PCDP.64Moving forward, these
discussions should be framed within the overall refinement of M&E and the
development of the MIS outlined in Output 1.

Undertake routine dissemination of data and analysis to the wider set of stakeholders
through linked MIS and agreed reporting mechanisms

Establish a forum for regular discussionsbetween all programme implementers to deal
with monitoring and evaluation, accountability and coordination issues.

Continue to work with CSA to include questions regarding receipt of safety net transfers
in major national surveys and to support them in the analysis of the results

Strengthen regular monitoring mechanism at all levels
64
For example, the public works component requires the development of a mapped database, an M&E component linked to SLMP, and a
watershed baseline which should be developed within this overall framework and not as a stand-alone system.
75

Monitor implementation of gender provisions, with strengthened gender-sensitive M&E
mechanisms as outlined in the Gender Action Plan

Monitor the implementation of safeguards requirements, including the ESMF.
309. In the next phase, M&E functions will need to adapt to reflect the increasing integration of
the safety net programme within broader policy systems (e.g. social protection, DRM). This will
affect both the technical aspects of monitoring and evaluation (expanded indicator sets (see
attached log frame), protocols for routine dissemination of data and analysis to a wider set of
stakeholders through linked MIS, agreed reporting and the inclusion of questions regarding the
receipt of safety net transfers into large scale government surveys); and the ways in which M&E
informs management and policy (the JRIS function, for example, will need to reflect this broader
view on the role of transfers, livelihood diversification and public works).
310. Link with targeted capacity development efforts65 focusing on better data collection and
compilation at the kebele and woreda levels, and better analysis and comparison at the regional and
federal levels, involving both skills training and investments in information and communication
technology. Training plans need to recognize that different skills sets are needed at different levels
(although certain needs – notably computer skills – emerge as priorities at all levels).
311.
Priority Area 3: Accountable budgeting and financial management
312. The PSNP 4 will strengthen accountable budgeting and financial management systems
through the following activities:
313.

Involve regional and woreda level legislative oversight bodies in the implementation of
the programme, through the establishment of an MoU between MoFED and the
government of each implementing region.

Align the PSNP Financial Management system with key components of the government
PFM system at all levels with the involvement of the cabinets/councils for oversight and
execution (including the use of the IBEX system)66

Strengthen the capacity of COPCU in monitoring and supervising channel one projects,
including through the recruitment of internal auditors

Sustain the timeliness of annual financial statement through a semi-annual external
interim audit every six months

Implement the Financial Management and Good Governance Action Plan

Earmarkcapacity development resourceswithin programme budgets

Target the first six months of programme expenditures (during the overlap with the
previous programme) towards systems development, capacity building assessments
and preparatory activities for Output 1 in particular.
Priority Area 4: Accountable food management
314. The PSNP 4 will strengthen accountable food management systems through the following
activities:

Strengthen the MoA’s ability to account for food resources by establishing clear
ownership, accountability and reporting mechanisms for food resource management
for handling systemic and recurrent issues at all levels. This will entail building the
capacity of the logistics case team within DRMFSS to manage humanitarian resources as
65
See Output 1
This involves budget notification, codification, proclamation, accounting and reporting through IBEX and presenting external audit
reports to the council/ cabinet for oversight of execution
66
76
well as safety net resources. Support this process by establishing a Food Management
Unit within DRMFSS to coordinate these activities.
315.

Ensure follow up by DRMFSS to avoid any commodity losses and take corrective
measures in the case there are such losses, to reimburse the programme for food losses,
and to ensure that clients receive their full entitlements ontime. Any losses due to the
nature of the commodity caused by moisture and infestations will be borne by the
programme, whilst any losses due to misappropriation and mismanagement will be
covered by the government, by claiming from the defaulters.

Mainstream the use of the Commodity Allocation and Tracking System for timely
periodical (quarterly) commodity flow and utilisation reporting mechanism and ensure
the Commodity (and Food Management) Procedure Manuals are available, understood,
and properly implemented

Strengthen food management procedures at federal, regional, zonal and woreda level
to ensure timely management of logistics, reporting and communications.
Priority Area 5: Accountable procurement systems
316. The PSNP 4 will strengthen accountable procurement systems through the following
activities:
317.

Increase efforts to build awareness and conduct training with the legislative
body/council members who have oversight with a focus on the lower administrative
levels

Strengthen the procurement and physical resource management function through
provision of equipment and services, streamlining of applicable regulations and
guidelines and the use of internal audit/control systems, including requiring Regional
Procurement Coordinators to prepare workplans for procurement oversight and submit
quarterly monitoring reports. Procurement related to the annual work plans will be
carried out by the responsible agency, unless FSCD is requested to carry out
procurement on their behalf. Regional and woreda cabinets and councils will be directly
responsible for resource management.

Assign a programme-specific procurement Technical Assistant/focal person at woreda
level

Explore alternative methods of food procurement, such as the use of prequalified
suppliers for a specified period or use of framework contracts. This may include
procurement of food grain from the local market, using agreed procurement
procedures, as long as local market supply is adequate.
Priority Area 6: Accountable asset management

Adapt and roll out the physical asset management guideline developed by SNSF and
develop capacity to implement it
3.5.4 NEXT STEPS OVER THE COMING YEAR

Ensure M&E plan is incorporated in the new MIS architecture development

Establish the food management coordination unit within MoA/DRMFSS; prepare TORs
including details on coordination meetings and audit procedures

Prepare a baseline with indicators for gauging recurrent audit findings. Ensure this is
developed in conjunction with overall MIS development.
77

Form a Financial Management Transition task force composed of all the relevant
implementers at each administrative level to prepare for the transition into the new
generation of PSNP.

Update financial management processes including budget coding, development of
guidelines and circulars, external audits, and related financial management core
activities

Customise the electronic financial management system (IBEX) for the PSNP 4

Roll out awareness creation training for council members/ oversight bodies

Prepare/revise relevant manuals to reflect updated processes

Initiate a consultancy to assess the parameters for a Performance Management System
and to develop guidelines and procedures

Formulate an evaluation plan for the next five-year phase: decisions on the timing,
sampling and topic and question coverage required for data collection and analysis;
how evaluation will relate to monitoring; how to bring together household and public
works evaluation.

Contract M&E provider

Discuss with federal and regional stakeholders and agree between GoE and DPs a
schedule of management meetings between the periods of JRIS meetings

Ensure that the MoLSA capacity assessment is an input to the development of the
Capacity Development Strategy
78
Chapter 4:
MANAGEMENT STRUCTURES
4.1 Implications of the New Design
318. The PSNP 4 represents an increase in breadth and scope over the previous design. Within
this, there are a number of new design elements which have implications for the institutional
framework:

The transition to a systems approach which contributes to the GTP and 4 main policies
(Social Protection, Disaster Risk Management, CRGE, Nutrition) implies the need for a
coordination structure that has broad oversight and convening power

The former PSNP and HABP components are now merged under a common Log frame
and management framework

The number of additional sectors/Ministries involved has increased

The design builds on the increased Government efforts to decentralise roles and
responsibilities which requires further strengthening.
319. Given the increased number of agencies involved in the PSNP 4 and the subsequent need for
strengthening the coordination and planning functions, an enhanced implementation support
structure is considered. Lessons from the last phase suggest that there arechallenges in managing
demands on technical agency staff, especially when they are operating within other Ministries or
Directorates. There is room for strengthening institutional arrangements and lowering transaction
costs including planning and implementation provisions (covering financial management, food
management and procurement) and M&E activities. Priorities are to further strengthen financial
management, food management, procurement and simplify the day to day management and
coordination functions.
320. Most of the institutional structures for the implementation of PSNP established under the
current phase will be maintained. Additional arrangements for the proposed livelihood activities
have been developed based on experience gained with the Household Asset Building Program. PSNP
4 will be implemented through Government systems, with Disaster Risk Management and Food
Security line agencies at every level accountable for oversight and coordination, with
implementation being undertaken by line ministries, Government agencies and other partners at all
levels. These arrangements are cemented in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between
Government and development partners.
321.
Key issues to address moving forward:

How to ensure strong coordination across a number of ministries and sectors?

How to have effective management oversight across sectors?

How to embed technical support adequately throughout the PSNP 4?
322. Pastoral areas may require more flexibility to adapt institutional arrangements to their
situation. This has already happened in some regions where moves have been made to simplify
structures by introducing a single steering committee structure to deal with a range of programmes
and initiatives. The principle of simplifying and streamlining institutional arrangements should be
actively supported by the PSNP 4, especially where existing capacity is low. It is recommended that
existing institutional arrangements are reviewed in light of the new design to help improve
effectiveness and efficiency. During this process, the role of customary institutions should be
analysed to determine how best they can help facilitate the process through clear roles and
responsibilities.
79
323. Gender issues are given greater emphasis in the PSNP 4, which requires clear institutional
mandates and lines of accountability. Within this, the role of the gender and social development
experts at woreda level– with a prioritisation of women where possible – to support implementation
of the communications strategy, implementation of grievance redress (i.e. documentation, etc.) and
Gender and Social Development PIM provisions. To facilitate the implementation of the identified
tasks and division of labour, the Gender Action Plan proposes simple gender analysis and reporting
tools at all level with specific emphasis at woreda and kebele,namely: a checklist to monitor the
implementation of PIM gender provisions to be used by the Woreda Food Security Desk(with
support by the Bureau of Women’s Affairs and gender focal points) during public works reviews or
monthly reviews; and a simplified gender analysis monitoring-to-planning tool for public works, to
be used by DA and Woreda FSD and to be adapted/adopted according to the final monitoring tools
that will be included in the PIM.
80
4.2 Roles and Responsibilities of Implementing Sectors & Institutions
4.2.1 FEDERAL LEVEL
324. At the federal level, the MoA, in close partnership with MoLSA, will be responsible for the
management and coordination of the programme, with overall coordination vested in the DRMFSS.
FSCD will ensure the timely transfer of resources to beneficiaries and willrelease resources to
implementing partners in a timely manner based on their approved annual plans and budgets.
MOFED will be responsible for financial management and reporting, and for channelling resources to
regions. FSCD – which will be strengthened with the addition of programme management advisor, a
food management specialist and other technical specialists as needed – will coordinate all other
aspects of the program and willappoint focal points for Systems Development, Livelihoods, Public
Works, Financial Management and Food Management. FSCD will organise monthly management
meetings with all key implementing partners, prior to the monthly joint Coordination and
Management Committee (CMC) meetings.
325. EWRD will be responsible for the early warning system, including triggering of a response
that informs the use of contingency budgets, and the food management system for the storage,
handling, dispatch, delivery and monitoring of in-kind resources. To strengthen commodity
management, EWRD will establish a dedicated Food Management Unit at federal level supported by
a network of food management focal points at regional and woreda level. NRMD through its Public
Works Implementation Unit will provide implementation support, technical coordination and
oversight of PSNP public works. A Public Works Focal Point will be appointed in FSCD to provide
overall coordination. The Livelihoods Focal Point in FSCD and the Livelihoods Implementation Unit in
AED will coordinate and oversee the livelihood related services. Depending on the livelihood
pathway, the Livelihoods Implementation Unit and the Livelihoods Focal Point will work together
with a range of different actors. Key partners in the delivery of these services will be the Livestock
Resource Development Sector, MoWCYA, FEMSEDA, TVETs, FCA, MFIs and Labour and Social Affairs
Bureaus. All these key partners will appoint PSNP Focal Points. FCA will oversee and support capacity
building to RuSACCOs and the creation and strengthening of agricultural marketing and
multipurpose cooperatives.
326. The management of permanent direct support clients will gradually move to MoLSA. Given
the current capacity limitation of MoLSA at all levels, and the fact that the structure of MoLSA does
not exist at the woreda level in some regions, a specific gradual roll-out plan will be decided after
the completion of the MoLSA capacity assessment at all levels. The capacity assessment will also be
used to determine a minimum capacity requirement at the federal, regional, zonal and woreda
levels and to develop a specific capacity building plan. The roll-out plan will first focus on the regions
where there is an existing structure at the woreda level and some level of permanent MOLSA
government staffing. The programme will also provide resources to build capacity including hiring of
additional technical contract staff as required.
327. The roll-out of MoLSA’s management of the permanent direct support caseload will be
guided by the approvalof the Social Protection Policy, which is expected in the next year. Until social
workers are present at the kebele level, DAs and HEWs will provide support on the management of
the permanent direct support activities (soft conditionalities) on the ground. MoLSA will work closely
with the MoA, MoFED, FMOH and other relevant ministries at all levels. In addition, the transfer to
clients will continue be managed through MoFED and the DRMFSS for cash and food respectively.
Lessons learned from the Social Cash Transfer piloted in some regions through MoLSA will be taken
into account during implementation.
328.
The following table summarises the roles and responsibilities of each institutional partner:
81
Main Institutional Partners for PSNP
4
Key Responsibilities
1.
Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED)



MoFED is accountable for the overall financial management of the PSNP 4, including:
Management of the special and pooled Birr accounts and financial reporting.
Disbursement of cash transfers to clients
2.
Ministry of Agriculture (MoA)




The main role of MoA is to oversee the management and coordination of the PSNP 4
Provide technical support for planning and implementation
Assist in setting policy direction
Coordinate and create linkages between ministries
2.1 Disaster Risk Management and Food Security Sector (DRMFSS)

The main role of DRMFSS is to coordinate the PSNP 4. DRMFSS is directly answerable to the Minister of
Agriculture for the performance of the PSNP 4

Food Security Coordination
Directorate

The main role of the FSCD is to facilitate the day-to-day general
management and coordination of the PSNP 4

Early Warning & Response
Directorate


Support the Continuum of Response:
Provide accurate and timely early warning information with PSNP
4 capacity development support
Develop Early Warning triggers for the Risk Financing Mechanism
and work with FSCD to incorporate the Early Warning system into
the continuum of response
Work with FSCD to build strong linkages between the PSNP 4 Risk
Financing resources/activities and humanitarian response
resources/activities
Procure, transport and manage in-kind commodities for the PSNP
4



2.2 Natural Resource Sector

Natural Resource Management
Directorate





Oversee the Public Works component of the PSNP 4, including:
Public works design and technical oversight
Public works monitoring and evaluation
Coordinate with providers of BCC and literacy/financial literacy
training to ensure that public works clients’ participation in these
activities is counted toward their public works requirement
Ensure climate change activities related to carbon sequestration
and climate resilience building are incorporated
2.3 Agriculture Development Sector

Agricultural Extension
Directorate


Through the Development Agents (DAs) and, where applicable,
woreda subject matter specialists:
Support community targeting
Participate in planning, design and implementation of PWs
Provide appropriate technical support to clients who have chosen
the on-farm pathway
Provide mentoring support for all livelihood pathways

Provide appropriate technical and vocational training to clients




Technical & Vocational
82
Main Institutional Partners for PSNP
4
Key Responsibilities
Education & Training (TVET)
who have chosen off-farm or employment livelihoods pathways

Federal Cooperatives Agency
(FCA)





Women’s , Children and Youth
Affairs Directorate of MoA
Provide financial literacy training to safety net clients (in
conjunction with MFI agents depending on the area)
Provide technical support and training for off-farm livelihood
pathways in conjunction with the Federal Micro and Small
Enterprise Development Agency (FeMSEDA)
Provide business skills and marketing training to clients (in
conjunction with FeMSEDA and other relevant actors)
Provide technical support to RuSACCOs to enable them to serve
safety net clients

Oversee and coordinate implementation of PIM gender provisions

Provide technical support and training for on-farm livelihood
pathways related to livestock development
Provide overall coordination support for all livelihood pathways in
pastoral areas in conjunction with FeMSEDA, FCA, and MOLSA
Through the Development Agents (DAs) and, where applicable,
woreda subject matter specialists:
Support community targeting;
Participate in planning, design and implementation of PWs
Provide appropriate technical support to clients who have chosen
the on-farm pathway;
Provide mentoring support for all livelihood pathways.
2.4 Livestock Development Sector






3.
Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs

Social Welfare Development
Directorate




Employment Promotion
Directorate
4.
Ministry of Health

Maternal and Child Health
Directorate
Progressively take responsibility for the permanent direct support
caseload using common instruments and systems
Ensure that the social cash transfer pilot is implemented in tandem
with the PSNP 4 using common instruments and systems
Develop the Unified Single Registry with PSNP 4 and eventually
assume full responsibility as capacity is built

Work with FeMSEDA to provide technical support to link clients to
employment opportunities for the employment livelihoods
pathway

Provide technical assistance to ensure health and nutrition related
activities are technically sound
Help ensure PSNP 4 clients have access to existing health and
nutrition services in a coordinated manner
Work with MOLSA and MoA to jointly develop key tools and
instruments serving the same client (e.g. Unified Single Registry)
Through Health Extension Workers, provide nutrition messaging
through Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) as a soft
conditionality for temporary direct support clients, and as a public
works substitute for public works clients



83
Main Institutional Partners for PSNP
4
5.
6.
Key Responsibilities
Federal Micro and Small Enterprise Development Agency (FeMSEDA)

Provide technical support and training for off-farm livelihood
pathways in conjunction with the Federal Cooperatives Agency ,
Agriculture Development Sector (ADS) and Livestock Development
Sector

Work with MOLSA depending on the region to link clients to
employment opportunities for the employment livelihoods
pathways
Ministry of Women, Children and Youth Affairs



Provide technical assistance to ensure activities targeting women,
children and youth are technically sound
Help ensure PSNP 4 clients have access to existing services
targeting women, children and youth in a coordinated manner
Help ensure gender issues are adequately addressed, monitored,
and adjusted accordingly
329. NGOs will continue to play a role in PSNP 4 implementation. In addition to being members of
the Woreda Food Security Task Force (and Regional Food Security Task Forces) they may also, with
additional financing, contribute their capacity and expertise to the programme. In doing so, they will
work with government structures and abide by the Programme Implementation Manuals.
330. Joint implementation support and supervision.The PSNP 4 will include oversight from a
number of bodies/mechanisms that serve to encourage constructive engagement of all the major
stakeholders in support of Government lead implementation of the new design. Membership in
each of the major structures will be broadened to include representation of each of the agencies
listed above. As the Social Protection policy structures become clearer, there will be scope to either
combine the functions of the Food Security Task Force structure with Social Protection, or to
consider a more harmonised approach directly within the regional and woreda council structures as
has been initiated in Afar Region.
331. Government and development partners will carry out Joint Review and Implementation
Support (JRIS) Missions twice a year following an agreed schedule from 2015-2020(in May and
November each year). The May JRIS will focus on the review of activities and outputs while the
November JRIS will review outcome level progress
332. Twice a year (in April and October), a high-level Joint Strategic Oversight Committee (JSOC),
chaired by the Minister of Agriculture (joined by MoLSA as co-chair once the Social Protection Policy
has been approved) and consisting of other relevant state minsters, selected members of the
Coordination and Management Committee and Heads of Agencies of PSNP DPs, will meet to discuss
strategic challenges and agree mitigating measures inbetween the JRIS missions. Main discussion
points from the JSOC will be reported into the RED&FS meetings.
333. To provide adequate day-to-day implementation support and ongoing supervision, the
following four Joint Technical Committeeswill meet monthly and report through a Coordination and
Management Committee (CMC) to the JSOC:

Systems Development

Livelihoods
84

Public Works

Transfers and Resource Management
334. The CMC will meet on a monthly basis and will be chaired by the Director of the FSCD and
co-chaired by the Donor Chair of the PSNP Donor Working Group. The CMC as well as the technical
committees may establish additional task forces for specific tasks and functions as and when
required.
335. The table below summarises the key oversight structures, their memberships and their
responsibilities.
85
Structure with Key Responsibilities
Joint Strategic Oversight Committee (JSOC)
Chair:State Minister of Agriculture (DRMFSS)
Co-chair: MoLSA (following approval of the Social Protection Policy)
Members: relevant state ministers, selected members of the Coordination and Management Committee and
Heads of Agencies of Development Partners

Make decisions on strategic issues concerning programme implementation, linkages with emergency
interventions, other food security interventions and agricultural growth programme, and related policies
Make decisions on PSNP 4 implementation issues based on the analysis of the Technical Committees (see
below)
Engage in policy and strategy dialogue on issues that are of direct relevance to the PSNP 4
Establish linkages with DRM, Social Protection, Nutrition and CRGE policy initiatives



Coordination and Management Committee (CMC)
Chair: Director of the FSCD
Co-chair: Donor Chair of the Donor Working Group.
Members: all Directors (or their delegates) of relevant Directorates from Ministries involved in the programme
(MOA, MoLSA, FMOH and MOFED), 3 representatives of the Donor Working Group besides the co-chair, and
the Donor Coordinator of the Donor Coordination Team.


Oversee the work of the Joint Technical Committees and report on their work to the JSOC
Oversee the Social Development Task Force
Joint Technical Committees
(Systems Development, Livelihoods, Public Works, and Transfers and Resource Management)

Advise the JSOC on technical and strategic issues, including:
Assess performance and progress toward achievement of agreed benchmarks
Promote linkages with other DRM, Social Protection, Nutrition and CRGE operational initiatives, food
security programmes, agricultural growth initiatives and emergency interventions
 Manage and oversee measures to support regional or federal authorities to implement specific aspects
of the programmes


Risk Financing Management Committee (Federal level CB management committee)

Allocate transfers to targeted clients in safety netregions in response to transitory needs identified jointly
with humanitarian actors . This includes:
 Review client numbers
 Review and approve the release of financing based on Early Warning triggers and specific requests
from woredas
 Monitor the release of funds
 Decide when to transition to an alternative aid modality
 Ensure linkages are made to humanitarian resources to build an overall continuum of response
Task Forces and Support Groups
86
Structure with Key Responsibilities











Risk Financing Task Force: Oversee the operationalization of the RF Mechanism. This function will be
increased to oversee the operationalization of the wider issues around the continuum of response
including the links to the humanitarian sector
Monitoring & Evaluation Task Team: Assist the FSCD in monitoring the implementation of the FSP M&E
Action Plan, notably to ensure that the system has a high degree of credibility, and is producing and
analysing sex-disaggregated data. This function will be broadened to include support to the development
of the MIS system and Single Registry
Food Management Task Force: Provide support to DRMFSS for the implementation of timely food
transfers for the PSNP 4 and emergency responses. The Food Management Task Force(co-chaired by FSCD
and EWRD) will report to the Transfers and Resource Management Technical Committee.
Pastoral Task Force: Provide advice and support for the implementation of PSNP 4 to regions with
pastoral communities and to PSNP 4 Technical Committees
Public Works/Access to Services Support Group (PWSG): Provide guidance and support to
implementation of Output 3 which includes overall advice, monitoring and follow-up.
Social Development Task Force:Provide guidance and support to the implementation of the Gender and
HIV and AIDS activities.The Social Development Task Force will report directly to the CMC.
Nutrition Task Force : this task force will operate as a subgroup of the SDTF and will provide guidance on
nutrition issues and the linkages with the NNP.
Communications Task Force: Provide advice and supportto the implementation of the Communications
Strategy. Broaden this function to include oversight of the Knowledge Management Strategy.
Capacity Development Task Force: Provides clear direction, roles and responsibilities in steering the
implementation of the capacity development strategy of the Programme. The CBTT will need to work
closely with the full range of implementing partners to ensure CD covers all relevant actors.
Financial Management Task Force supports the strengthening of the financial management systems of
the PSNP. The Financial Management Task Force(chaired by MoFED) will report to the Transfers and
Resource Management Technical Committee.
Livelihood Working Group: Provide guidance and support to the implementation of the output 4 ,which
includes overall advice, monitoring and follow-up .
Regional and Woreda Level Structures




The PSNP 4 will build on the existing regional and woreda level structures which are embedded in the
Government system. At each level, the Council is responsible for overall oversight of the programme
implementation, regularly reviews implementation progress and holds PSNP 4 implementers to account
for the quality of implementation. The Cabinet makes decisions arising from the Food Security Steering
Committee, reviews and approves annual plans and budgets, and reviews and acts on annual and biannual
progress reports on implementation and budget utilisation.
Food Security Steering Committees give strategic direction to ensure the proper implementation of PSNP
4 strategies and programmes based on the recommendations of the FS Task Force. Membership will be
broadened to include all relevant implementing partners.
Food Security Task Forces oversees and coordinates programme implementation among all implementing
institutions and advises the FSSC. Tasks are to review annual plans and budgets for approval, ensure all
offices integrate activities into their workplans, oversee reporting and ensure adequate information is
given to Cabinet, participates in M&E, provides technical assistance to the lower levels, and reviews
progress reports. Membership will be broadened to include all relevant implementing partners, including
the Women’s AffairsDirectorate.
Capacity development efforts will aim to strengthen the capacity of all regional and woreda structures
with a focus on woreda level and below.
336. In support of the these structures, the cycle of six-monthly joint reviews will continue given
their proven role in effective programme monitoring and management. To realise the full potential
of these reviews, however, requires that high-level programme management committees (e.g. the
87
JSOC and GMTC) meet regularly between JRIS missions, to address the findings and
recommendations made in the JRIS.67
337.
The organogram below illustrates the PSNP 4 coordination mechanism.
PSNP COORDINATION MECHANISM (JOINT GOE-DONORS)
Minister
MOA
FSCD
PSNP Joint Strategic Oversight Committee
Overall RED- FS
Committees
Chair: MoA DRMFSS State Minister
Co-Chair: MolSA State Minister
Coordination and Management Committee
Chair: Director FSCD
JOINT TC 1
Systems
Development
Co-Chairs:
Directors
MOLSA &
FSCD
Secretary:
DCT
JOINT TC2
Livelihoods
Chair:
Director
Extension
Co-Chairs:
LDD and
FSCD
Secretary:
DCT
JOINT TC 3
Public
Works
Chair:
Director
NRMD
Secretary:
DCT
JOINT TC 4
Transfers and Resource
Management
Co-Chairs:
Directors
COPCU/EWRD/FSCD
Secretary:
DCT
Joint Financial
Management
Task Force
Joint Food
Management
Task Force
Joint Task
Force on Social
Development
338.
4.2.2 REGIONAL LEVEL
339. At regional level, the Regional Cabinet will approve annual plans and budgets. The Regional
Food Security Steering Committee, chaired by the Regional President or his/her delegate,
willoversee implementation of the programme, while the Head of the BoA will be responsible for
67
The higher-level governance structures - the JSOC, RFM Committee, Technical Committee and Task Forces - do not fully function,
primarily because meetings are not held on a regular basis. The TC and existing TFs also do not meet as frequently as required with some
task forces completely inactive (Communication, capacity building).
88
management of thePSNP 4 and will chair the Regional Food Security Taskforce, to which three
Technical Committees (Transfers & Resource Management, Public Works and Livelihoods) will
report. The Regional Food Security Coordination Office (RFSCO)will be responsible for day-to-day
coordination of the programme, including the timely delivery of resources to beneficiaries, while the
Early Warning and Response Department will be responsible for the collection and analysis of early
warning data.
340. The Bureau of Finance and Economic Development (BoFED) will be responsible for overall
financial management at regional level and will channel cash transfers to woredas. NRMD will
manage the public works component through a Public Works Implementation Unit. The Livelihoods
Implementation Unit in the Extension Department will be responsible for the implementation of
livelihoods capacity building activities and for ensuring the effective delivery of livelihood services to
households. Similar to the arrangements at federal level, the LIU will work together with a range of
actors depending on the livelihood pathway. The Cooperative Promotion Bureau will provide
technical backstopping to RuSACCOs.
341.
4.2.3 WOREDA LEVEL
342. At woreda level, the Woreda Cabinet will prepare, and the Woreda Council approve, the
PSNP annual plans. The Council will assist in resolving unresolved appeals, and the Cabinet will
ensure that programme plans, budgets, listing of appeals and appeals resolutions are posted in
public locations. The Woreda Office of Agriculture (WoA) will be responsible for the overall
management of PSNP.The Woreda Food Security Task Force (WFSTF), with the WoA as chair, will
review kebele annual plans and budgets, ensure that contingency plans for contingency budgets are
in place, participate in monitoring and evaluation activities, and provide assistance to kebeles. Three
Technical Committees (Transfers & Resource Management, Public Works and Livelihoods) will report
to the WFSTF. The Woreda Food Security Desk (WFSD) will coordinate safety net and livelihoods
activities. It will chair the Transfers & Resource Management as well as the Livelihoods Technical
Committees. The WFSD functions will include:

Ensuring the preparation of pipeline of projects for PSNP in consultation with the
Kebele Food Security Task Force

Mobilising technical assistance as needed

Ensuring that PSNP contingency plans for the utilisation of federal level contingency
budgets are prepared and implemented

Undertaking monitoring and evaluation in coordination with woreda sectoral offices

Holding quarterly technical review meetings with implementing agencies

Submitting progress reports to the WoA

Maintaining accurate records of kebele safety net activities and list of clients

Providing information on target areas and selected clients to sectoral offices and other
agencies.
343. A Social Development Officer will, in addition to his/her broader gender and social
development responsibilities, play a “facilitation” role to support the activities of the HEWs and DAs
in linkingsafety net clients to NNP activities as soft conditionalities.
344. The Early Warning and Response Desk will co-chair the Woreda Technical Committee on
Transfers and Resource Management with the WFSD. It will play a critical role with regard to the
utilisation of PSNP contingency budgets, by providing accurate and timely early warning information,
ensuring adequate linkages between activities resourced by contingency budgets and other actions
89
related to humanitarian response, and supporting the WFSD and the concerned kebeles in managing
the scaling up of the PSNP 4system in case of activation of the PSNP contingency budgets in the
woreda.
345. The Natural Resource Desk will co-chair the Woreda Technical Committee on Public Works
with the Food Security Desk. It will be directly responsible for managing public works with
implementation and coordination support of the public works focal point of WFSD. Its
responsibilities will include:

Consolidating public works plans and budgets developed in the kebeles

Ensuring integration of community watershed plans into woreda plans and, more
broadly, integration of the PSNP public works in the overall woreda plan

Providing assistance to DAs and communities in the planning process

Implementing the ESMF

Together with WFSD, supervising public works and providing technical backstopping

Supporting the M&E system especially on the Public Works Review

Facilitating experience sharing among kebeles.
346. Through the Woreda Public Works Technical Committee, the public works focal point of
WFSD will coordinate the interaction and involvement of the relevant line offices/desks and other
public works actors.
347. All concerned Woreda Sector Offices (represented in the WFSTF as noted above) are
responsible for:

Consolidating proposals of the Kebele Food Security Task Force for incorporation in the
woreda PSNP 4plans

Incorporating safety net activities in their yearly program/action-plans, based on the
woreda integrated plan including PSNP 4plans

Preparing activity implementation plans and request budget for implementation

Implementing safety net activities at kebele and community levels

Providing technical assistance and training to technical personnel and kebele staff

Undertaking project screening in accordance with the ESMF

Conducting monitoring and evaluation of activities

Preparing quarterly progress and financial reports
348. The Woreda Office of Finance and Economic Development (WOFED) will ensure that the
budgets for PSNP 4 activities are received in a timely manner at woreda level and that subsequent
transfers to clients are undertaken on a timely basis according to the minimum performance
standards. The Woreda Cooperative Promotion Office will assist in building the capacity of existing
RuSACCOs and establishing new ones, and implement directives to improve the regulatory
environment.
349.
4.2.4 KEBELEAND COMMUNITY LEVELS
350. At kebele level, the kebele cabinet will approve the client list for the safety net and related
plans for the programme. It will also assist in establishing and ensuring effective operation of the
Kebele Appeals Committee (KAC), which is tasked with hearing and resolving appeals regarding PSNP
90
in a timely manner. The council/cabinet will post the lists of beneficiaries, appeals heard and
resolved, and programme plans and budgets in public locations. The Kebele Food Security Task Force
(KFSTF) oversees all planning and implementation of PSNP4 activities.
351. At community level, the Community Food Security Task Force (CFSTF) will be responsible for
identifying programme clients. It will participate in mobilising communities for participatory
planning for public works and livelihoods activities. DAs will play a facilitating role in PSNP
4implementation. DAs will be members of the CFSTF and KFSTF. They will support communities in
the preparation of annual plans, oversee implementation of public works, prepare PSNP payment
lists for submission to the WFSD and WOFED, provide training to households on investment
opportunities, and assist households in preparing livelihoods checklists and business plans.
352. At beneficiary level, client and non-client households will participate in public meetings on
PSNP 4that target clients and determine multi-year annual plans. Community members will work
with DAs on an annual basis to determine priority public works and participate in the consultative
meetings to identify viable household-level investment opportunities.PSNP 4clients will participate
in public works or direct support, while those engaged in livelihoods activities will devise business
plans, seek support from local financial service providers, and carry out these activities. Clients and
non-clients alike will play a key role in holding implementers to account through the KAC and public
forums.
91
4.3 Programme Budget Financing
353. The PSNP 4 will be financed through a combination of development partner and
Government of Ethiopia financing. Current GoE financing is limited to staffing and management
costs, but in the new phase of the programme will extend to cover programme costs. The table
below presents an indicative budget framework for the upcoming phase of the PSNP 4:
Table 6: Indicative Budget for PSNP 4 2015 – 2020
Components
1. Systems Development
- Key instrument development
- Capacity Building
2. Productive Safety Nets and Support
to Livelihoods Strengthening
- Permanent DS transfers
- PW and temp DS transfers
- Capital Budget for PW
- Contingency Budgets
- Livelihood capacity building
- Livelihood transfers
3. Institutional and Management Development
- Woreda admin budgets
- Regional and federal level management budgets
- Evaluation and audits
cost
62,000,000
99,182,000
356,787,000
1,605,542,000
300,000,000
559,278,000
75,000,000
135,253,000
124,605,000
88,386,000
5,500,000
Sub total Costs
3,411,533,000
Indicative total Costs, including operational expenditures
GoE
3,625,000,000
354. As can be seen from the above, the overall budget for the PSNP 4 is made up of ten key
components. Further details on the costs that can be incurred against these components can be
found in the sections below:
355. Key Instruments: This budget component includes financing for the design and
operationalization of three key components: the food insecurity/poverty index component of
targeting, the Management Information System (including the Unified Single Registry) and support
to improvements to early warning.
356. Capacity Development: The budget for capacity developmentwill be developed in detail
following the preparation of the Capacity Development Strategy and Action Plan. Capacity
development will have a greater emphasis in the new phase and will thus have a larger budget
dedicated to it. Capacity developmentsupport will be managed through the Capacity Development
Support Facility and will covertraining in key technical and managerial areas as outlined under
Output 1 above, the provision of necessary equipment and services and the development of systems
and manuals, amongst other expenses.
357. Core Transfers: This budget includes core transfers for Permanent Direct Support clients,
Temporary Direct Support Clients and Public Works clients. Transfers can be provided in cash or food
and this budget line covers both the cash transfers and the costs of procuring and transporting food
items.
92
358. Capital Budget Categories for Public Works: The quality of public works requires financing
for important non-transfer costs including: skilled and semi-skilled workers necessary for the
completion of a specific public works project, hand-tools, equipment and materials, amenities at
work sites (such as first aid services and child care centres and the costs of transporting tools and
materials.
359. Contingency Budgets: Contingency budgets are mainly comprised of transfers. . As with core
transfers, contingency budget financing transfers can be provided in cash and food and this budget
line covers both the cash and food transfers.
360. Livelihoods Transfer: The livelihoods transfer budget will cover both the livelihoods transfer
described in section 3.4.3.6 and the training stipend proposed for household members described in
section 3.4.3.4.
361. Evaluation and Audit: Contracting of key external evaluations, assessments and audit will be
covered by this budget item.
362. Woreda Administrative Budget: The woreda administrative budget will cover the
administrative costs of supporting transfers and public works. Costs which can be incurred under this
line item can include travel and transport for supervision and M&E; within woreda training of staff,
community representatives and clients; and communication and stationary expenses. A separate
woreda capacity development budget may need to be developed based on the outcome of the
capacity development strategy.
363. Regional and Federal Management Budgets: Regional and federal management budgets will
support the management and supervision of the outputs . This budget can be used to cover the
following costs: human resources, coordination, equipment and materials, travel and transport,
training, M&E, the rapid response mechanism and communication.
4.4 Programme Monitoring and Evaluation
364. The overall objective of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) under the PSNP 4 is to ensure
better planning, targeting, and implementation of programme components through efficient and
reliable feedback of information to relevant stakeholders and timely decision making. As such the
Monitoring and Evaluation systems aims to:
365.

Improve management of the PSNP 4 at all levels of implementation;

Improve transparency and accountability with a view to ensuring that resources made
available to components and sub project are used to meet the intended purposes;

Draw lessons from experience so as to improve the relevance, methods and outcomes
of sub projects and components; and

To demonstrate efficient and effective use of resources.
The key elements of this monitoring and evaluation system include:

Regular programme monitoring is based on a combination of narrative and financial
reporting, and will increasingly be able to make used of data stored in a computerised
management information system;

Periodic process assessments of key aspects of the programme, which allows for the
verification of monitoring information and complements this information with other
data to assess progress towards achieving outputs.
93

Periodic household surveys and impact assessments to assess programme progress
towards achieving its stated outcome and the contribution of the PSNP 4 to its higher
level goal.
366. The table below summarises the key reports, assessments, audits and evaluations that
comprise the PSNP M&E system.
Table 7: PSNP 4 M&E Reports
Types of
reports
Monitoring
Reports
Information
Center
Reports
Information provided
Regular collection of information at output and
activity level, including regular financial reports
(IFRs).
Information collection from a sample of woredas
largely focused on timeliness of transfers, but also
includes price data.
Frequency
Monthly from
woreda to
Regional level;
Quarterly to
Federal level

Every two weeks



Rapid
Response
Mechanism
Report
Regular assessments of implementation at kebele,
woreda and regional levels to address critical
implementation problems as they occur. This
includes transfers to beneficiaries, public works,
capacity issues and others.
Annual
Assessments







Purchasing power study to set an appropriate
wage rate for the PSNP
PW Review (planning) to assess the adequacy
of PSNP public works plans
PW Review (technical) to review the quality
and sustainability of PSNP PW
Risk Financing (RF) Review to determine the
effectiveness of the RF response, if triggered
Grievance Redress Mechanism Review to
assess the functioning of the appeals and
complaints system
Independent Procurement Assessment to
review procurement processes at woreda level
Livelihoods
Every two
months from
Federal level
(regularly from
Regional and
below)
 Annual

Annual

Annual

As needed

Annual






Annual

Annual


Audits

The Financial Audit includesanaudit of
accounts; systems audit; and review of
transactions to beneficiaries to ensure that
funds were used for purposes intended.

Quarterly
rolling,
annual

Examples of
indicators
Number of
public works
completed
Volume of
transfers
delivered
Date and
amount of
transfers to
woredas and
beneficiaries
Average cereal
prices
Number of
households
targeted
Beneficiary
satisfaction
with PSNP
Average prices
in PSNP
markets over
time
Proportion of
PW Plans
integrated with
woreda
development
plans
Proportion of
public works
sub-projects
meeting
technical
standards
Number and
performance of
Appeals
Committees
established
Volume of
goods procured
Percent of
households
receiving full
payment
94
Types of
reports
Information provided

Evaluations




The Commodity Audit review to ensure in-kind
resources are used for the purpose intended
Social Assessment to confirm the effectiveness
of program targeting and assess relevant social
issues
Public Works Impact Assessment to determine
if the objective of the PSNP PW were met
Biannual Impact Evaluation, a regionally
representative household survey, to assess
outcomes and impacts of all program
components
Risk Financing impact assessment to determine
if the objectives of RF were met
Frequency

Annual


Once


Every two
years
Every two
years



As needed

Examples of
indicators
Quality of food
stock records
Qualitative
review of
targeting
Benefit:cost
ratio of public
works subprojects
Change in
household food
gap
367.
4.4.1 COMMON LOGICAL AND RESULTS FRAMEWORK
368. In the previous phase of programme implementation, HABP and PSNP each had their own
log frame, which was in turn nested into an overall Food Security Programme log frame. In line with
the commitment outlined in section 2.2.2, in this phase of the programme the livelihoods
component will be integrated with safety net interventions into one integrated programme with one
common logical and results framework with one set of common monitoring and evaluation tools.
This common logical and results framework can be found in Section 5.
369. The logical framework lays out the hierarchy of objectives from policy objectives, through
goal, outcome and outputs, to activities; key programme assumptions; the indicators by which
progress towards the achievement of goal, outcome and outputs will be measured; and the key
mechanisms by which data will be collected against these indicators. The results framework then
explores the outcome and output indicators in more detail and establishes milestones by which
progress towards achieving outputs and outcome will be measured. The use of milestones or targets
allows for interim progress to be measured. Both frameworks indicated the means of data
collection, and the results framework indicates the frequency.
4.4.2 MONITORING AND EVALUATION TOOLS
370. The FSCD will be responsible for the overall monitoring of the programme with contributions
from other agencies who have involvement in specific areas of interventions (for example NRMD for
public works, MOFED – financial management, Agricultural Development Sector and FEMSEDA for
much of the technical support to livelihoods etc.).
4.4.2.1
Regular monitoring data
371. Information at output and activity level will be collected regularly through Government
systems. This includes information on beneficiaries, transfers, public works, soft conditionalities, the
delivery of technical services through the extension system and other livelihood partners, and
livelihood transfers. Public works monitoring will record the location, number, type, and design of all
implemented public works. Financial reports will provide information on budget expended according
to agreed line items.
372. This type of reporting aims to keep stakeholders apprised of expenditures and activities,
verify the proper implementation of processes described in the PIM and other programme
documents, and identify areas where performance does not match expectations so that programme
managers can take corrective actions.
95
373. At present much of this data is collected in paper format, with reports submitted in hardcopy to regional and then federal level. This phase of the programme will see greater automation of
monitoring, both as a consequence of the ICT-based Management Information System (whose
modules will facilitate reporting on beneficiaries, transfers, delivery of technical services, soft
conditionalities and livelihood transfers as well as providing more detailed reporting on public
works) and through greater use of PDAs to record and process key aspects of programme
implementation which can then be used to provide monitoring data.
374. As indicated earlier in this document, this regular monitoring data will not only cover core
clients and transfers but will also include information regarding the use of contingency budget and
risk financing resources.
375. Regular monitoring data will be collected through Government implementing bodies.
Narrative reporting will be completed by the responsible implementing agencies reporting on
resource utilisation by MoFED or its representatives at regional and woreda level. Reporting will
continue to follow the Government of Ethiopia’s fiscal year, which begins on July 8 and ends on July
7. Annual plans for the PSNP 4 will be prepared by June 30 and will be used as the basis for
preparing quarterly achievement reports of the following fiscal year.
4.4.2.2
376.
Real-time monitoring data
Regular monitoring data will be augmented with real-time data from two key sources:
377. Information Centres: Regional Information Centres (RICs) will collect data on transfers
(including timeliness) and other key indicators for monitoring performance targets. RICs are
established and functioning in four of the six focal regions, but are not yet functional in Afar and
Somali region. This will be a priority in the new phase. The Federal Information Centre (FIC) will
compile information to provide programme wide analysis and also provides support and oversight of
the RICs to ensure quality control. The woreda and zonal information centres will play a central role
in real-time data collection but attention must be given to defining and supporting their role in the
design of the integrated Management Information System. Emphasis must be given to the need to
directly connect data collection to woreda level implementers and decision makers. By meeting the
needs at this level, the incentive will be established to ensure quality information is entered.
378. Rapid Response Mechanism: The Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) will address critical
implementation problems as they occur. The RRM will detect problems that warrant immediate
attention and responds rapidly to resolve the problems, thus reducing any potentially serious
humanitarian or other risk. Rapid Response Teams will be regularly deployed to kebele, woreda, and
Regional levels to monitor implementation progress. This will be done through focus group
discussions with implementers, clients and non-clients and a review of records. A key feature of this
mechanisms is that it provides on-the-spot advice to woredas on how to address constraints or
errors in implementation as well as providing regional and federal level managers with information
on the types of challenges which exist.
4.4.2.3
Systems assessments
379. A series of systems assessment will measure, and provide recommendations on how to
improve, a number of the core processes of the programme:
380. The Appeals Review will assess the effectiveness of the appeals system at woreda and
kebele levels and disseminates best practices. This review ensures the Kebele Appeals Committees
are functioning as expected and that records are being kept.
381. The Independent Procurement Assessment will review woreda procurement systems and
processes to ensure that procedures and guidelines are followed and to make recommendations on
how procurement could be improved.
96
382. The Financial Audit will fulfil three critical functions: audit of accounts, systems audit, and
review of transactions to clients to ensure that funds disbursed are used for purposes intended.
383. A Commodity Audit of in-kind resources will audit commodity management systems to
ensure the proper oversight and management of in-kind resources with the overall aim of
strengthening accountability. This audit will also review transactions to clients to ensure that
resources are used for the purpose intended.
384. A Process Evaluation component will be introduced in this phase of the programme. In its
simplest form, a process evaluation, also known as implementation assessment or assessment of
programme process, analyses the effectiveness of programme operations, implementation, and
service delivery. Where an impact evaluation looks at the long-term, deeper changes that have
resulted from that programme, a process evaluation looks at the actual development and
implementation of a particular program. It establishes whether quantifiable targets have been met
and strategies have been implemented as planned. For PSNP 4, it will be important to use process
evaluations to also assess:
4.4.2.4

Whether services and goals are properly aligned both internally and externally

Whether services (e.g. transfers, conditionalities, and livelihood support) are delivered
as intended to the appropriate recipients and by the institutions with the skills and
mandate

How well service delivery is organized and integrated

The effectiveness of programme management across all sectors linked to PSNP 4

How efficiently programme resources are used
Assessments of output indicators
385. The Programme will commission a number of independent studies and reviews to assess
progress towards outputs. These studies will aim to assess if the programme is on track to achieving
its purpose and to identify any adjustments needed. The results of the various studies will also
inform adjustments to programme activities.
386. Annual Public Works Reviews will assess the adequacy of community public works plans and
the integration of these into the woreda plan and the quality of works constructed and their
sustainability.
387. The Wage Rate Study will be conducted annually and will assess the purchasing power of
safety net transfers by assessing market prices of key cereals in safety networedas. It will also makes
recommendations on whether and by how much the wage rate should be adjusted.
388. The biannual household survey (discussed in more detail below) will also provide key data
on a number of output indicators and implementation process. Household-level information will be
augmented through qualitative assessments using focus group interviews with clients, non-clients
and service providers to provide key information on programme processes.
4.4.2.5
Impact evaluations
389. A set of impact evaluations will aim to measure the changes that are brought about for the
direct and indirect beneficiaries and/or their institutional structures as a result of the activities
initiated by the program. These will be carried out through independent assessments.
390. A regionally representative household survey will be carried out every two years to assess
the impact on direct and indirect beneficiaries as a result of activities initiated by the Programme.
Given the significant changes in programme design, a new cycle of baseline and impact assessment
will be launched under the PSNP 4. The baseline will be conducted in 2015, with subsequent surveys
97
carried out every two years (in 2017 and 2019). Quantitative household-level information will be
augmented through qualitative assessments, addressing beneficiary perceptions and related social
issues.
391. An impact assessment of public works will also be conducted using a sample of watersheds
from across programme woredas, using the public works MIS to improve therepresentativeness of
sampled public works and therefore increase their generalizability across the programme. This will
examine the impact of PSNP public works to determine if they have met their objective such as
conserving soil or moisture, growing crops through irrigation, or providing market access through
road networks. In the new phase, the impact evaluation function will be merged under one process
to increase efficiencies under the principle of developing integrated systems.
98
99
Chapter 5:
LOG FRAME68
5.1 Policy Objectives indicators
Hierarchy of Objectives
Policy Objectives
GTP: To contribute to the
achievement of GTP objectives
through contributions to four
key government policies,
strategies and programmes
Social protection: To see all
Ethiopians enjoy social and
economic well-being, security
and social justice72
DRM: To reduce risks and
impact of disasters73
CRGE: To achieve the GTP goal
of building Ethiopia into a
middle-income country by
2025 in a way that is both
resilient to the negative
impacts of climate change and
does not result in a rise in
greenhouse gas emissions75
Nutrition: Improve nutritional
status of women and children77
Objectively Verifiable Indicators69
Means of Verification
 Number of clients raised above poverty line70
 Total poverty-oriented expenditure as % of GDP71
Government of Ethiopia poverty surveys
Government of Ethiopia poverty surveys
 Number of safety net clients expressed as a percentage of people living below poverty
line
 Number of safety net clients benefiting from fee waivers and nutrition-related
conditionalities
 Value of distress sales of assets by safety net clients as compared to previous similar
disasters in operational areas
 Number of children in operational areas affected by severe malnutrition74
 % of land covered by improved watershed and rangeland management structures and
practices
Programme monitoring and core Government of
Ethiopia data
Programme monitoring
 Mt CO2e sequestered in public works supported watersheds76
Public Works Impact Assessment
 % stunting in children under 5 in operational areas78
Biannual Household Survey
Annual analysis of crop and livestock losses
from monthly EW reporting.
Demographic and Health Survey (DHS)
Public Works MIS
For all indicators, and where data sources will allow this, sex disaggregated data will be provided - by sex of respondent or sex of household head; A baseline
survey will be carried out in 2015 and household impact assessment data collection will occur in 2017 and 2019; For indicators where there is no baseline,
targets can be set or revised after finalization of the 2015 baseline survey
68
69
Where possible, client-level indicators will be disaggregated by sex of participant or respondent, and household-level indicators will be disaggregated by sex of household head or respondent, as
appropriate.
70 The PSNP 4’s contribution to the GTP indicator “Decrease in # of people living below the poverty line”
71 GTP Indicators
72
Social Protection Policy
73 Shortened version of overall objective of DRM Policy
74PSNP 4’s contribution to the DRM SPIF indicators: “the reduction in the number of lives lost as compared to previous similar disasters, the reduction in the value of economic losses incurred as
compared to previous similar disasters and the reduction in the number of people and children affected by severe malnutrition”
75 Paraphrased from the CRGE Strategy Vision
76PSNP 4’s contribution to CRGE Strategy Indicator “Annual CO2 emissions remain at 150 Mt C02e”
77 Impact Objective of the National Nutrition Programme
78PSNP 4’s contribution to NNP indicator “% height for age”
100 | P a g e
5.2 Goal indicators
The PSNP 4 has the following goal: “Resilience to shocks and livelihoods enhanced and food security and nutrition improved for rural households
vulnerable to food insecurity.”
Goal indicators
Target
Indicator
1
2
3
4
Baseline
2016
2017
2018
Means of verification
2019
2020
Frequency
Source
Percentage of children 6-23
months of age who receive a
minimum acceptable diet
[Nutrition] – disaggregated
by sex
No PSNP related
data. DHS 2011 is 4%
;
x
x
Every 2 years
Household
impact
survey
Household dietary diversity
[Nutrition] –disaggregated
by sex
2012: 3.4 food
groups (0.46 increase
in # of food groups
consumed by PW
clients and 0.60
increase by DS
clients)
+0.5
+1
Every 2 years
Household
impact
survey
+15%
+25%
Every 2 years
Household
impact
survey
x
x
Every 2 years
Household
impact
survey
Average value of asset
holdings [Livelihoods] disaggregated by sex
Number of different income
sources
[Livelihoods/resilience] disaggregated by sex
101 | P a g e
+30%
5.3 Outcome indicators
The PSNP 4’s outcome is as follows: “Enhanced participation in improved rural safety net, livelihood and nutrition services by food insecure
female/male headed households”.
Outcome indicators79
Indicator
1
2
3
4
5
Number of months of selfreported food insecurity
(including safety net transfer)
for PSNP - disaggregated by
PSNP 3 beneficiaries and all
beneficiaries
Average non-food
expenditure of PSNP PW
clients (2012 constant birr
per adult equivalent per
month) - disaggregated by
sex
Percentage
of
clients
reporting that they can
provide adequate meals for
their family for 12 months
a year - disaggregated by
sex
Percentage of households
reporting improvements in
self-reported well-beingdisaggregated by sex
Percentage of clients
reporting that asset
depletion is prevented as a
result of transfers disaggregated by sex
79Legend
Baseline
2016
PSNP3
beneficiari
es
All
Beneficiari
es
2017
Target
2018
1.5
212
(2012)
2019
2020
1
2.9
2.3
300
360
0
10
40%?
20
Means of verification
Frequency
Source
30
40
Every 2 years
Household
impact
survey
Every 2 years
Household
impact
survey
Every 2 years
Household
impact
survey
50
20
40
Every 2 years
Household
impact
survey
45%
55%
Every 2 years
Household
impact
survey
for baseline data sources: *2012 impact assessment; **Public works review; ***Programme monitoring data (IC or other), most recent available
102 | P a g e
Outcome indicators79
Indicator
Number of clients covered by
the programme (chronic
6
caseload)- disaggregated by
sex
Average number of
consecutive years that
highland client households
7 have received safety net
transfers (survey year and
preceding year) disaggregated by sex
Percentage of safety net
clients reporting that their
livelihood has benefited from
8 public work created assets disaggregated by sex of
respondent and type of
public work
Percentage of safety net
clients reporting that they
have benefited from public
9 work created social
infrastructure - disaggregated
by sex and type of public
work
Percentage of client
households with adequate
Knowledge, Attitude and
10
Practices (KAP) of nutritionrelated behaviours disaggregated by sex
103 | P a g e
Baseline
7.2 million
none
none
2016
2017
7.2
million
7.8
million
Target
2018
8.3
million
2019
2020
8.3 million
8.3 million
Means of verification
Frequency
Source
Annual
Progress
reports/MI
S
x
x
Every 2 years
Household
impact
survey
(then MIS)
30%
50%
Every 2 years
Household
impact
survey
70%
80%
Every 2 years
Household
impact
survey
x
x
Every 2 years
Household
impact
survey
Outcome indicators79
Indicator
Percentage of safety net
clients reporting new income
11
sources - disaggregated by
sex
12 Percentage of safety net
households with business
plans reporting that their
business plans reflect their
priorities, needs and
capabilities (disaggregated by
sex of respondent)
104 | P a g e
Baseline
0
46%
(HABP
CUs
Qualitativ
e survey
report)
2016
2017
0
5
65%
Target
2018
10
2019
2020
20
30
75%
Means of verification
Frequency
Source
Every 2 years
Household
impact
survey
Every 2 years
Household
impact
survey
5.4 Output 1 indicators :
Output 1: Prioritised instruments and tools in place to support an effective system for Social Protection and Disaster Risk Management
Output 1 indicators80
Indicator
1
Percentage of safety net
woredas where MIS and
single registry are
operational
Previous
Indicator/
Target
N.A.
Target
Baseline
Single
Registry
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
0% (Core
modules
ready for
data entry in
pilot
woredas)
0%
25%
50%
75%
0%
25%
50%
75%
25%
40%
55%
75%
MIS
2
3
Percentage of kebeles
where poverty index is
used to complement
community targeting
No
equivalent
Percentage of clients
and non-clients in safety
net woredas reporting
that targeting and
graduation processes
are fair - disaggregated
by sex
Clients:
78% (2012
impact
assessment
data)
Nonclients:
51% (2012
impact
assessment
data)
80Legend
Means of verification
Food
insecurity/po
verty indices
developed
50%
Every 6
months
Programme
Monitoring/A
nnual Report
Programme
Monitoring
Every 2 years
40%
Source
75%
60%
for baseline data sources: *2012 impact assessment; **Public works review; ***Programme monitoring data (IC or other), most recent available
105 | P a g e
Frequency
Household
impact
survey
Output 1 indicators80
Indicator
4
5
Previous
Indicator/
Target
Percentage of
households graduating
in the previous year who
report they were given
20%
at least 12 months'
notice- disaggregated by
sex
Percentage of graduate
households that report
full (12 month) food
security - disaggregated
by sex of HH head
6
Number of woredas
having contingency plan
and DRR plan
7
Percentage of woredas
providing regular (12
months / year) EW
monitoring data to the
regions
8
Percentage of woreda
annual safety net plans
fully incorporated in
woreda development
plan with a rating of
good or above disaggregate by
highland and lowland
106 | P a g e
Target
Baseline
20%
112
90% of
PSNP plans
fully
incorporat
ed in
woreda
developme
nt plans by
December
2016
c. 40%
(50-60% in
highlands, 0%
in lowlands)
Highland: 83%
have good or
above
(2012)**
Lowland: 25%
have good or
above
(2012)**
2017
2018
Means of verification
2019
2020
Frequency
75%
85%
Every 2 years
80%
90%
Every 2 years
160
210
260
310
360
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
90%
95%
95%
95%
95%
50%
60%
75%
90%
Household
impact
survey
Disaster Risk
Management
Coordination
Office
reporting
Disaster Risk
Management
Coordination
Office
reporting
Annual
40%
Source
Public Works
Review
Output 1 indicators80
Indicator
9
Previous
Indicator/
Target
2010
Overall
clients: 62%
(2012 impact
assessment
data)
Clients -male-headed
households:
66%
Clients -femaleheaded
households:
55%
Public works
clients: 68%
Percentage of clients
and non-clients who are
aware of programme
objectives and
entitlements
(disaggregate by sex ,
and by permanent DS
and other clients)
No
equivalent
107 | P a g e
Target
Baseline
Direct support
clients: 44%
Non-clients:
64% (2012
impact
assessment
data)
2016
2017
2018
Means of verification
2019
65%
75%
67%
77%
63%
73%
70%
75%
60%
70%
65%
75%
2020
Frequency
Every 2 years
Source
Household
impact
survey
Output 1 indicators80
Indicator
10
11
12
13
14
Percentage of
grievances registered
related to delivery of
PSNP that are addressed
Number of safety net
kebeles implementing
social accountability
tools
Capacity development
indicators which are
expected to be
developed after the
development of CD
strategy
Number of woredas
implementing CSI
recommendations
Number of woredas
covered by the
programme
108 | P a g e
Previous
Indicator/
Target
Target
Baseline
2016
2017
2018
Means of verification
2019
2020
No
equivalent
70%
70%
75%
80%
80%
80%
No
equivalent
4
30
60
90
120
130
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
Frequency
Annual
(crosschecked
every two
years)
Source
Programme
Monitoring/
MIS (crosschecked by
every 2 years
Household
impact
survey)
Programme
Monitoring
Annual
Progress
reports/MIS
24
24
60
130
250
400
annual
programme
monitoring /
administrativ
e data
319
340
360
411
411
411
Annual
Progress
reports/MIS
5.5 Output 2 indicators
Output 2: Appropriate, timely and accessible transfers received by male and female clients
Output 2 indicators81
Indicator
1
Percentage of clients
paid within the agreed
timeframe (20 days for
cash and 30 days for
food) -
2
Percentage of clients
reporting that they
receive cash or food
transfers at a place less
than 3 hours walking
from their home -
81
Baseline
Highlands: 2013
data varied
between 44 and
77% with an
average for year of
48% of cash
woredas -- but for
45 days rather than
20.***
Lowlands: No data
available for food
because of lack of
functioning IC
84% in highland
area*
Varies between
90% (Somali) and
20% (Oromiya) in
lowland areas*
2016
2017
Target
2018
60%
70%
80%
90%
70%
2019
2020
90%
90%
Means of verification
Frequency
Source
Reported on annually, but
data collected monthly
IC/MIS
Every 2 years
Household
impact survey
90%
90%
For all indicators, disaggregation by sex of household head or by sex of respondent will be provided if data sources allow disaggregation. ;
Legend for baseline data sources: *2012 impact assessment; **Public works review; ***Programme monitoring data (IC or other), most recent available
109 | P a g e
Output 2 indicators81
Indicator
Baseline
2016
2017
Target
2018
2019
Means of verification
Frequency
Source
2020
disaggregated by sex
3
4
5
6
110 | P a g e
% transfers received
that have a value of at
least 15 kg of cereals
and 4 kg of pulses per
person per month
Percentage of
households reporting
that use of transfers is
decided jointly by
wives and husbands disaggregated by sex
Percentage of clients
receiving woreda
contingency resources
within 60 days of
threshold being
reached
Percentage of clients
receiving federal
contingency budget
resources within 60
days of identification of
needs
50%
No data
55%
60%
x
65%
70%
x
Annual
Program
monitoring
and
Household
impact survey
Every 2 years
Household
impact survey
No data
65%
70%
75%
75%
75%
Reported on annually, but
data collected monthly
IC/MIS
No data
50%
60%
70%
80%
80%
Reported on annually, but
data collected monthly
IC/MIS
5.6 Output 3 indicators
Output 3: Sustainable community assets built up and access to social services enhanced
Output 3 indicators82
Indicator
1
2
Percentage of public
works planned and
implemented following
the GoE's CBPWD
Guidelines or
Rangeland
Management
Guidelines integrated
with DRR/Adaptation
and mitigation plan –
disaggregated by
highland and lowland
Percentage of public
works projects
constructed according
to technical standards
in info-techs –
disaggregated by
highland and lowland
Previous
Indicator/
Target
100% of PW
plans
developed
following
community
planning
guidelines by
December
2010
90% of public
works
reaching
satisfactory
standards and
sustainability
ratings by
Target
Baseline
Highland:
72%**
Means of verification
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
75%
80%
85%
90%
90%
Frequency
Source
Annual
PW Review
95%
Annual
PW Review
88%
Annual
PW Review
Lowland:
43%**
50%
60%
65%
70%
70%
Highland:
89%**
90%
91%
93%
94%
Lowland:
81%**
82%
83%
86%
87%
Legend for baseline data sources: *2012 impact assessment; **Public works review; ***Programme monitoring data (IC or other), most recent available
82
111 | P a g e
Output 3 indicators82
Indicator
3
4
5
6
Percentage of public
works projects
screened in accordance
with ESMF –
disaggregated by
highland and lowland
Previous
Indicator/
Target
December
2010
100% of PW
projects
screened in
accordance
with ESMF by
December
2010
Total closed area
subject to enhanced
management for
climate adaptation
112 | P a g e
2017
2018
2019
2020
Highland
90%**
90%
100%
100%
100%
100%
Lowland:
mixed
results
50%
60%
70%
80%
80%
172,00
0 ha
297,000
ha
500,000
ha
75
None
Means of verification
2016
zero
Percentage of clients
that feel PW subprojects reflect their
needs - disaggregated
by sex
Percentage of public
works projects for
which planned
mitigating measures
have been
implemented
Target
Baseline
Voluntary
asset very
high - but
not full
range of
measures
Frequency
Annual
37,50 94,00
0 ha
0 ha
82
84
86
88
90
50%
60%
70%
80%
80%
Source
PW Review
Annual
Annual
Household
impact survey/
Social
Accountability
tool and PW
reviews
Annual
PW Review
Output 3 indicators82
Indicator
7
8
Percentage of public
works projects for
which arrangements
for community
engagement and/or
operation and
maintenance are
established –
disaggregated by
highland/lowland
Percentage of PW
plans prepared
following GSD
considerations –
disaggregated by
highland/lowland
Previous
Indicator/
Target
Target
Baseline
Means of verification
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
Highland:
75%
80%
85%
90%
95%
95%
Lowland:
64%
70%
75%
80%
85%
90%
Highland:
74%
74%
76%
80%
85%
90%
93%
Lowland :
64%
65%
68%
73%
77%
80%
Frequency
Source
Annual
PW Review/MIS
Annual
PW
review/MIS
PW Review/MIS
Annual
9
Percentage of female
clients who report PW
are implemented
following GSD
considerations –
disaggregated by
highland/lowland
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Highlands:
81%
88%
93%
Every 2
years
Household
impact surveys
lowlands:
59%
65%
72%
Every 2
years
Household
impact surveys
Output 3 indicators82
Indicator
10
Percentage of PLWs
(pregnant or with
children <2) in safety
net client households
participating in
Community Based
Nutrition activities
(disaggregated by
specific services
provided to
respectively pregnant
women and lactating
women)
114 | P a g e
Previous
Indicator/
Target
Target
Baseline
None
PSNP
Pregnant
women:
Nutrition
counseling
sessions no baseline
None
Lactating
women with
children
under 2
attending
Growth
Monitoring
and
promotion
(disaggregat
2016
2017
x
x
2018
Means of verification
2019
2020
Frequency
Source
x
Every 2
yearsly
(HH
survey)
and
annually
(PW MIS)
Household
impact
survey/MIS
x
Every 2
yearsly
(HH
survey)
and
annually
(PW MIS)
Household
impact
survey/MIS
Output 3 indicators82
Indicator
Previous
Indicator/
Target
Target
Baseline
Means of verification
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
50
60
70
80
80
Frequency
Source
ed by <1
year and 1323 months)
- no
baseline
11
Percentage of clients
who receive
community-based
nutrition counseling
services
12
Percentage ofadult
household members
whose members
attend at least three
BCC sessions annually
(disaggregated by sex
of participant and by
public works/direct
support)
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40
N.A.
Public work
Clients (No
baseline)
x
x
N.A.
Direct
Support
clients (no
baseline)
x
x
Annual
Every 2
yearly (HH
survey)
and
annually
(PW MIS)
Every 2
yearly (HH
survey)
and
annually
(PW MIS)
MIS/progress
resports
Household
impact
survey/MIS
Household
impact
survey/MIS
Output 3 indicators82
Indicator
13
Percentage of pregnant
women transitioning to
temporary direct
support before 4
months on the basis of
health facility referral
[amongst women who
reach the 4th month of
pregnancy during the
public works period]
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Previous
Indicator/
Target
None
Target
Baseline
No baseline
2016
2017
x
2018
Means of verification
2019
x
2020
Frequency
Source
Every 2
yearly (HH
survey)
and
annually
(PW MIS)
Household
impact
survey/MIS
5.7 Output 4 indicators
Output 4: Clients’ livelihood opportunities facilitated through three pathways: crop and livestock, off-farm income generation, and employment
Output 4 indicators83
Indicator
Previous
Indicator/
Target
Percentage of safety net
households who report
saving regularly (in
development groups/VSLAs,
1
RUSACCOs, MFIs, banks,
etc.) - disaggregated by sex
of household member who
saved
No
equivalent
indicator
Percentage of safety net
households who received
the complete livelihood
2
training package
(disaggregated by sex of
household head)
Target
Baseline
0%
Means of verification
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
Frequency
25
30
35
40
50
Every 2 years
30%
55%
75%
85%
90%
Checklist,
Reported on
annually, but
data collected
monthly
Legend for baseline data sources: *2012 impact assessment; **Public works review; ***Programme monitoring data (IC or other), most recent available
83
117 | P a g e
Source
Household
impact
survey
Percentage of safety net
households reporting that
the programme has enabled
them to access on-farm
and/or off-farm livelihood
3
opportunities and/or
labour/wage employment
opportunities (disaggregated
by sex)
Percentage of safety net
households receiving credit
4 for their business plan after
completion of checklist disaggregated by sex )
90% of
HABP
clients have
access to
financial
services
attributable
to HABP by
December
2012
Percentage of ultra-poor
safety net households
receiving livelihoods
5
transfers [after completion
of checklist] - disaggregated
by sex
No
equivalent
indicator
118 | P a g e
On-farm: 45%
65%
80%
Every 2 years
Household
impact
survey
Off-farm: 20%
30%
40%
Every 2 years
Household
impact
survey
Labour/wage
employment :
0%
5%
15%
Every 2 years
Household
impact
survey
Reported on
annually, but
data collected
monthly
45%
0%
50%
55%
60%
65%
70%
30%
60%
75%
85%
90%
Reported on
annually, but
data collected
monthly
Financial
institutions
Programme
reports
Percentage of clients with
business plans developed 6
disaggregated by sex
Percentage of ultra-poor
safety net households who
received livelihoods
7 transfers reporting at least
every month visits/meetings
by DAs - disaggregated by
sex
Percentage of clients with
business plans reporting
that the plans reflect their
8
priorities,
needs
and
capabilities
disaggregated by sex
Percentage
of
clients
receiving
employment
9
related skills training disaggregated by sex)
119 | P a g e
0
No
equivalent
indicator
40
55
75
85
90
annual
MIS and
progress
reports
Household
impact
survey
0
30%
60%
75%
85%
90%
Annually (if
surveys) or
every two
years (if IFPRI
impact
assessment)
18
60
65
70
75
80
every 2 years
Impact
evaluation
0
10
15
20
25
30
Annual
Progress
reports
5.8 Output 5 indicators
Output 5: Effective management and operational processes in place to manage the programme
Output 5 indicators84
Indicator
1
2
3
Percentage of safety net
woredas/regions meeting
minimum safety net staffing
standards –disaggregated by
highland/lowland and new
woredas
Percentage of woredas that adopt
and meet key performance
standards for planning,
implementing and reporting
(including finance, procurement,
commodity and fixed asset
status)- disaggregated by
highland/lowland and new
woredas
Percentage of agreed Joint
Steering and Oversight Committee
(JSOC) meetings held as planned
84
2016
2017
Target
2018
82%
84%
86%
88%
90%
Annual
Progress
reports/MIS
Lowland
x
x
x
x
x
Annual
Progress
reports/MIS
New Woredas
x
x
x
x
x
Annual
Progress
reports/MIS
82%
84%
86%
88%
90%
Annual
Progress
reports/MIS
Lowland
x
x
x
x
x
Annual
Progress
reports/MIS
New Woredas
x
x
x
x
x
Annual
Progress
reports/MIS
75%
75%
75%
75%
100%
Annual
Progress
reports/MIS
Baseline
Highland (80%)
Highland
2019
2020
Means of verification
Frequency
Source
Legend for baseline data sources: *2012 impact assessment; **Public works review; ***Programme monitoring data (IC or other), most recent available
120 | P a g e
Output 5 indicators84
Indicator
4
Incidence of recurrent audit
findings (financial, commodity and
procurement) on resources at
woreda, regional and federal
levels
5
Percentage of woredas submitting
Woreda Monthly Stock &
Distribution (Utilisation) Reports
to the zone (where active) or
regional government (where
zones are not active) on a
quarterly basis
6
Percentage of permanent direct
support caseload under MOLSA
management
121 | P a g e
Baseline
Financial
management
-Year 1 audit as
baseline
Procurement
-Year 1 audit as
baseline
Commodity audit -Year 1 audit as
baseline
2016
2017
x
x
x
Target
2018
Means of verification
Frequency
Source
2019
2020
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Annual
Progress
reports/MIS
30% in
selected
highland
woredas
50%
70%
100%
Annual
Progress
reports/MIS
Annual
Audit reports
Output 5 indicators84
7
Indicator
Baseline
Level of implementation of the
gender action plan
NA
122 | P a g e
2016
2017
x
x
Target
2018
x
2019
2020
x
x
Means of verification
Frequency
Source
Targets for every
year: A min of
80% of gender
action
plan
x
activities,
included in the
PSNP
annual
plan,
implemented