1.
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Panel 2: Success stories and innovative experiences
How can the Productive Safety Net Programme (PNSP) improve the
nutrition status of vulnerable farmers and pastoralists?
Ges. Dr. Stefan Scholz,
Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs
on the occasion of the 32nd RPCA annual meeting, Abuja

2.
Basic orientations of the Austrian Development
Cooperation (ADC)
 Necessity of differentiation of various target groups and
comprehensive analysis of their different livelihood situations and
vulnerability status…
 Application of systemic approaches in dealing with rural challenges and
facilitating rural transformation…
 Dealing with definitions and concepts of rural worlds…
2

3.
The challenge of different livelihoods or “rural worlds”
3

4.
In development cooperation we encounter different understandings of „social
protection“…
„Social protection describes all public and private initiatives that provide income or
consumption transfers to the poor, protect the vulnerable against livelihood risks, and
enhance the social status and rights of the marginalised; with the overall objective of
reducing the economic and social vulnerability of poor, vulnerable and marginalised groups.”
(Institute of Development Studies Sussex, 2006)
Social protection
 aims for positive effects in terms of
 securing livelihood conditions (livelihood protection)
 and the improvement of living conditions (livelihood promotion)
 by targeting
 the safeguard of existing capital and values (asset protection)
 and the accumulation of assets (asset building)
Definitions and interpretations…
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5.
Social protection has multiple functions, in terms of
 protection – social assistance, improved coping strategies (i.e. food aid,
provision of social services)
- primarily in case of emergency situations
 prevention - social insurance (pensions, unemployment benefits) but also
“agricultural insurances” (e.g. against hail)
- to avoid emergency situations, risk mitigation
 promotion – support of economic opportunities
- strengthening of savings and enhancing capabilities
 transformation - social empowerment of the poor and vulnerable
- targeting specific population groups
Different functions of social protection…
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6.
 Despite improvements in terms of poverty reduction, vulnerability and food insecurity
in Ethiopia remains high, with 9,7 million people requiring food assistance in August
2016
 Chronic food insecurity is thus a noticeable feature of rural Ethiopia !
 Reasons for vulnerability and food insecurity in Ethiopia are
 dominance of subsistence farming,
 small fragmented plots of degraded land,
 low agricultural productivity due to limited inputs, dependency on rain…,
 unsustainable management / use of natural resources (land, forests…),
 recurrent environmental shocks, climate variabilities, droughts etc.
 The impact of the last droughts:
 smallholder farmers and pastoralists are increasingly vulnerable as droughts can
wipe out their livestock and assets…
 vulnerable households in pastoral areas of the lowlands and the high-density parts
of the highlands are most affected…
 rural households are more vulnerable than urban households
Vulnerability and food insecurity in Ethiopia
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7.
 In 2005 PSNP was initiated as a response to chronic food insecurity…
 Objectives of PSNP is “to provide transfers to the food insecure households in
chronically food insecure woredas in a way that prevents asset depletion at the
household level and creates asset at the community level.”
 Components:
1. Direct support to households
2. Public works
 Coverage: food insecure woredas/districts in drought prone areas
 Targeting: combination of administrative and community based targeting approaches
 Transfers: cash and food (preference to cash) or in combination
Productive Safety Net Programme (PNSP)
Objectives, components, coverage…
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8.
 Achievements i.e. in terms of
 improved nutritional status of Ethiopian citizens (i.e. through crop diversification,
dairy cow rearing),
 economic empowerment of women, but not change in some cultural behaviour
 Challenges such as
 coordination mechanism (i.e. with water, health),
 human resources and specific nutrition related capacities,
 coverage and targeting (i.e. reaching out to more food secure households),
 transformation to self-reliance
still pose big problems to solve.
 It is key that Ethiopian government takes up responsibility and improves further
integration of nutrition and social protection into policies and expenditures !
Productive Safety Net Programme (PNSP)
Achievements and challenges ahead
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9.
The indispensable integration of aspects and challenges
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• deals primarily with regional and social
disparities, livelihoods and change
management
• considers problems, challenges and
potentials of different socio-cultural
situations
• aims at integrating nutrition and social
protection
Access to and protection
of natural resources
(Environment, land rights)
Capacity development and
institution building
(Education, training,
research)
Local economic
development
(Production and marketing)
Empowerment and
political inclusion
(Democracy, decentralization,
human rights)

10.
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