Publications

Integrated social protection programmes are increasingly being pursued as more effective and efficient ways to improve children’s health and nutrition outcomes. UNICEF Ethiopia is implementing a pilot Integrated Safety Net Programme (ISNP) in the Amhara region of Ethiopia aimed at integrating a cash transfer (through the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP)), a health insurance (the Community Based Health Insurance (CBHI)), social and behaviour change communication (on nutrition, feeding practices, sexual and reproductive health, gender equality, and child marriage), and case management (for malnourished and out of school children).

The ISNP implementation began in early 2019. Knowing that integration comes with its own challenges in terms of planning, coordination, harmonization of systems and tools, and the alignment of budgets, this qualitative study sought to understand the status of implementation, emerging challenges, and potential remedial actions to ensure the intervention achieves the stated objectives. The study shows that while there is progress, more action is needed in terms of implementing the planned management information system (MIS), ensuring adequate and well trained frontline workers are in place, further improving harmonization of targeting tools, and increasing budgetary allocation.

Integrated social protection programmes are increasingly being pursued as more effective and efficient ways to improve children’s health and nutrition outcomes. UNICEF Ethiopia is implementing a pilot Integrated Safety Net Programme (ISNP) in the Amhara region of Ethiopia aimed at integrating a cash transfer (through the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP)), a health insurance (the Community Based Health Insurance (CBHI)), social and behaviour change communication (on nutrition, feeding practices, sexual and reproductive health, gender equality, and child marriage), and case management (for malnourished and out of school children).

The ISNP implementation began in early 2019. Knowing that integration comes with its own challenges in terms of planning, coordination, harmonization of systems and tools, and the alignment of budgets, this qualitative study sought to understand the status of implementation, emerging challenges, and potential remedial actions to ensure the intervention achieves the stated objectives. The study shows that while there is progress, more action is needed in terms of implementing the planned management information system (MIS), ensuring adequate and well trained frontline workers are in place, further improving harmonization of targeting tools, and increasing budgetary allocation.

This series of briefs draws on the findings of multi-country research based on first-hand migration experiences of 1,634 children and young people moving between Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt (available at www.unicef-irc.org/child-migration-hoa).

The briefs highlight findings that can inform decision makers when designing child-sensitive solutions for children on the move, in line with relevant objectives of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.

This series of briefs draws on the findings of multi-country research based on first-hand migration experiences of 1,634 children and young people moving between Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt (available at www.unicef-irc.org/child-migration-hoa).

The briefs highlight findings that can inform decision makers when designing child-sensitive solutions for children on the move, in line with relevant objectives of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.

This series of briefs draws on the findings of multi-country research based on first-hand migration experiences of 1,634 children and young people moving between Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt (available at www.unicef-irc.org/child-migration-hoa).

The briefs highlight findings that can inform decision makers when designing child-sensitive solutions for children on the move, in line with relevant objectives of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.

Migration is a regular feature of life in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa region. It takes multiple forms and is driven by numerous factors, including personal aspirations, economic exclusion and forced displacement as a consequence of inter-ethnic communal violence or natural disasters. 

As part of a regional research series and based specifically on interviews carried out in 2019 with 405 migrant children and young people in Ethiopia, this report provides a deeper understanding of their perceptions and feelings around safety, well-being and their protective environments. It also provides a snapshot of their access to services and resources, and their trust in authorities and other service providers in Ethiopia. 

The report concludes by offering policy and programme recommendations that can help rethink child protection approaches for migrant children and young people in Ethiopia.

The number of international migrants under 18 is rising, accelerated by complex and fast-evolving economic, demographic, security and environmental drivers. Based on interviews carried out with 1,290 migrant children and young people in Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, this report helps address the evidence gap on children and young people migrating in the Horn of Africa by providing a better understanding of their protective environments; their access to services and resources; and their perceptions of safety, well-being and trust in authorities and other providers.

It concludes by offering policy and programme recommendations to rethink child protection approaches for migrants in the region.

Ethiopia is one of the world’s largest recipients of donor funds for development and emergency interventions. As such, its targeting of social protection has received substantial attention. In particular, concerns have been raised that political connections could play a role in determining the selection of beneficiaries. With the introduction in 2005 of the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP), Ethiopia implemented various policies aimed at increasing transparency in the targeting of social protection. This case study compares targeting before and during the implementation of PSNP, and shows improvements in targeting for both public works and emergency aid in relation to the dimensions of poverty, food security and political connections. Most notably, political connections are no longer found to determine the receipt of benefits during the implementation of PSNP.

Social protection in Ethiopia is primarily allocated through community-based targeting. The few studies that have analysed the efficacy of aid targeting in Ethiopia have revealed targeting biases in regard to demography, geography and political affiliations. With the introduction in Ethiopia in 2005 of the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP), a major social protection programme, various administrative guidelines were introduced (and subsequently periodically revised) with the aim of improving targeting. This paper uses data from the last two rounds of the Ethiopian Rural Household Survey to investigate whether PSNP implementation resulted in changes in both targeting determinants and amount received for public works (a component of PSNP) and emergency aid between 2004 and 2009 in 11 rural villages. In general, public works appear to have been allocated on the basis of observable poverty-related characteristics, and emergency aid according to household demographics. In addition, the results suggest that, for both public works and emergency aid beneficiaries, political connections were significant in determining the receipt of aid in 2004 but that this was no longer the case by 2009, indicating an improvement in the channeling of social protection to its intended target groups. However, a household’s experience of recent shocks was found to bear no relationship to receipt of support, which suggests that a more flexible and shock-responsive implementation could improve targeting for transitory needs.