The Ethiopian and U.S governments, in collaboration with other development partners of Ethiopia, have launched the next five-year phase of the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) for Ethiopia. The programme is a multi-billion dollar initiative by the Ethiopian government to create a public safety net around food, public works, and social safety for those in need across the country.
PSNP was first launched in 2005 with the collaboration of the U.S government. The United States Agency for International development is the largest donour to the programme, contributing more than 550 million USD this round and more than 4 billion USD in the last five years.
The new phase of the programme is being launched with a 2.2 billion USD investment. More than 9 million people are expected to receive food and social aid from the programme; it is also expected to lift millions out of poverty.
Ethiopia’s Minister of Finance, Ahmed Shide, and Minister of Agriculture, Oumer Hussein, launched the new phase of PSNP with heads of agencies from the USAID, the World Bank, the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, the World Food Program, UNICEF, Irish Aid, and the government of the Netherlands.