Ethiopia launches 5th Productive Safety Net Program targeting 8mln people

Addis Ababa, March 29, 2021 (FBC) – The Finance Minister, Ahmed Shide reaffirmed government’s commitment for more jobs to reduce poverty and improve the livelihoods of the poor and vulnerable households. The program targets 8 million people.

In his opening remarks during the launching of the fifth Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP), the finance minister affirmed Ethiopia’s commitment to continue working to ensure the recent gains in poverty reductions are supported with expanded jobs creation.

This he said will be achieved as Ethiopia makes use of its investments in sectors such as infrastructure and education and transitions into a private sector-led growth.

During the project launching ceremony which was attended by a number of senior government officials, donors of the project and leading technical experts in the field, the minister also expressed his appreciation for seeing more enhanced service delivery design in the project to improve the well-being of poor and vulnerable households, particularly in drought-prone communities.

EU delegation, who is the current chair of PSNP donors’ group, represented by Sabrina Bazzanella, Head of Social Protection and Migration Section congratulated Federal Ministries for designing a more robust program based on lessons from previous phases.

She said PSNP V will play an important role as it contributes to multiple development programs in Ethiopia and it is anticipated to operate more efficiently under the coordination of one institution which is the Ministry of Agriculture.

Bazzanella, also explained how the fifth program will make contributions to twelve of the sustainable development goals. In this regard, she said evaluation of the last program shows how the capacity of the Government has increased to scale up and reach more lives as well as human development objectives which were reached through public works.

This, she said, is also evident in the increase of government financial contribution to the program which has grown from 3% to 20%.

The ceremony was concluded with the Ministry of Finance signing a Memorandum of Understanding with regional governments focusing on the implementation while Federal Ministries also signed an MOU with development partners.