Focus on new safety-nets scheme for poor farmers

In what ranks as one of the most extensive aid programmes in Ethiopia, five million impoverished farmers are to be targeted under a government-led "productive safety-nets" scheme to help protect and insulate them from the effects of drought and poor harvests. Under the scheme, public-works programmes like road building will be initiated country-wide whereby poor rural communities will be paid for work in food or cash. Safety nets, which have been widely used in aid work in Ethiopia for decades, constitute a system designed to support poor families in times of need. But whereas the programme - due to be launched in January - has won plaudits from donors and the international community, some civil society organisations are sceptical and urge caution. The latter are wary of food-for-work-and employment-generation schemes, saying that in the past such programmes have encountered pitfalls and contributed little towards reducing hunger. "Safety nets are a painkiller, not a cure," Getahun Tafese, an economist from the Ethiopian Economic Association (EEA), who advocates economic policy reform instead, told IRIN. "There is no point in strengthening a net to catch people falling if the numbers falling are increasing rapidly," added Getahun. The safety-net programme is one of four critical components of the government’s nationwide anti-poverty blueprint, the Coalition for Food Security (CFS). The CFS is the US $3.2-billion action plan of the government and international donors like the US, the World Bank and the EU, aimed at reversing the country's food dependency within a period of between three and five years. Five million people are to be rendered "food-secure", while the lives of a further 10 million are to be "significantly improved". A POSSIBLE DEVELOPMENT TOOL Whereas safety-net methods such as employment-generation schemes and food-for-work programmes are not new, analysts believe they can be used as a development tool. Under existing programmes, people have generally been paid less than $1 for work, usually in the form of food. But Trina Haque, a World Bank economist, says traditional safety-net practices have been "a missed opportunity" because they failed to build up people’s assets: they were relief-style methods - aid brought in when people were hungry. On average, $265 million in terms of support has been ploughed into Ethiopia each year by foreign donors, a sum equal to 13 percent of total public spending. The World Bank believes that aid used for relief could be diverted towards financing the safety-net programme. Whereas most aid agencies agree that the humanitarian effort has been an enormous success in keeping people alive, in terms of income the country is now poorer than ever. Moreover, in terms of helping people cope with future crises, the effort has failed. WORLD BANK SUPPORT Development agencies believe that a new system can improve on past approaches by providing sustained and flexible support, as opposed to helping only during bad harvests. The idea is to render aid "productive", rather being stop-gap emergency aid to keep people alive - "not only to sustain lives but enhance growth", as the World Bank put it. In short, the new safety-net scheme aims not only to keep people alive but also both protect and boost incomes. "Clearly, there is a need for a long-term social safety net capable of reaching the most vulnerable and insecure households in Ethiopia, and preventing irreversible, lifetime losses in productivity," Haque said. "Ethiopia’s safety net can be designed to address both immediate human needs while simultaneously supporting the rural transformation process within roughly the same resource-envelope as the present humanitarian effort," she added. The World Bank, one of the main advocates of "productive safety nets", believes that they will encourage farmers to take risks by virtue of being able to participate in public works programmes, thus assuring themselves of availability of food even if rains fail and they lose their harvests. Families refrain from selling their livestock in times of need if they have alternative incomes, according to the bank. Support can also be made available to promote schooling, and directed towards major public works, such as vitally needed road construction. "Thus, if designed properly, safety nets can reinforce productive behaviour rather than induce dependency," said Haque. The Bank believes that as many as 10 million people could be supported through a country-wide productive safety-net scheme. It also argues that, potentially, cash would constitute a more effective safety net than food aid. It cites research showing that each donor dollar in the form of cash would provide a family with twice as much benefit than in the form of food aid - due to the high administrative costs associated with the latter. BACKING FROM THE G8 The productive safety-net scheme has also won the backing of the G8 as a way of breaking the cycle of famine in the Horn of Africa. At their recent summit, the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States pledged to take action in an effort to end famines in Ethiopia and the Horn. Meeting at Sea Island, Georgia, they expressed the view that the safety-net scheme could reverse decades of dependency and the chronic hunger that each year blights five million lives in Ethiopia. "The safety net will protect the assets of chronically food-insecure families, enhance the functioning of food markets, and support urgent rural investments," the G8 leaders stated. "Within three to five years, this safety net should provide an alternative to emergency assistance for the Ethiopians who are chronically food insecure," they added. "Our aid agencies will monitor closely the implementation of the safety net and will coordinate on effective approaches for targeting populations and regions. We will expand our support for rural infrastructure development in the Horn, including social infrastructure, soil fertility, and water-management programmes," they added. "In Ethiopia, this support will take place under the safety-net programme and will focus on farm-to-market or feeder roads." Aid organisations assert that whereas boosting development through programmes like safety nets is crucial, G8 countries and the international community must not forget the commitments they have made to supporting developing nations. None of the G8 has met its 30-year-old commitment to meeting UN targets of spending 0.7 percent of national wealth on overseas development, aid organisations add. However, countries such as The Netherlands and Norway are meeting the 0.7 percent target, while France, Ireland, Finland, and Belgium have set a clear timetable for reaching that target. UK-based Action Aid believes that G8 countries must commit that additional support to stand a chance of making a real difference. "Next year, the eyes of the world will be on Britain, as the government hosts the G8 summit," an Action Aid spokesman said. "The meeting offers a great opportunity to secure a significant increase in funds for international development. To make sure it is successful, Britain must lead by example and commit to meeting 0.7 percent." ETHIOPIAN NGO URGES CAUTION Despite the optimism surrounding safety nets in Ethiopia, the EEA urges caution, saying the safety nets may not provide a lasting solution to poverty. "This measure is not going to address the root problem of vulnerability and poverty in the country. It addresses the symptoms, but not the root cause of the problem," Getahun told IRIN. "And that is because the economy is not functioning properly and is more or less stagnant." He asserted that the economic trend indicated a continuously declining per capita income. "At the same time, vulnerability is spreading into new areas so the frequency and severity of vulnerability to disaster has been continuously increasing in recent years. When you have such problems, the government should ask [itself] if there is anything wrong in its main policy framework and in its main interventions."