Concern is mounting over Ethiopia’s flagship ”safety net” policy set up to end dependency on aid for five million people, the United Nations said.
Paul Herbert, head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said the needy have still not received any food or cash under the scheme. ”Safety net transfers to beneficiaries have not yet started and this is raising serious concerns,” he said on Wednesday.
The scheme, which had been due to start on 1 January, provides food or cash (70 US cents a day) to people for employment in public work programmes. Working for food or cash, the government says, would end aid dependency.
Bill Hammink, head of the United States Agency For International Development, told Prime Minister Meles Zenawi earlier this month that major challenges surrounded the programme.
”We cannot underestimate the challenge involved in moving 5,1-million people into the productive safety nets programme over the next 12 month transition period,” he said.
Ethiopia’s safety net programme is designed to operate alongside its emergency programme. Under the government’s strategy, people in need will this year receive aid either through the safety net scheme or by emergency food handouts.
In districts covered by the safety net programme, however, no one had been getting food or cash, whereas in areas covered by the emergency system, food has been handed out. The emergency food levels are also low, with only 11% of needs covered for March, according to the World Food Programme (WFP).
Herbert said there is ”growing frustration” among the needy that they are not getting aid and said that some people may be moving to areas covered by emergency handouts.
Aid agencies also warned that in areas where they are due to implement the safety net programme, signs of malnutrition are appearing because of the delays in starting transfers.
Anne Bousquet, head of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), said thousands of people whom they are supposed to feed under the safety net scheme are growing weaker by the day.
”The programme hasn’t started and unfortunately the people are too weak to do any public work,” she said.
CRS were supposed to begin providing food in January for 18 000 people, but that figure has now risen to 30 000 and could increase further, she said.
According to humanitarian sources there are also concerns whether the regional authorities in the country have the capacity to manage the plan.
Although the programme was set up to support 5,1-million people, 900 000 people from the Afar and Somali regions have been excluded and added to the parallel emergency system that will feed 2,2-million this year.
Deputy commissioner, Brehane Gizaw, from the Ministry of Agriculture, said they expect transfers of food or cash to begin sometime next month.
Delays, he said, had occurred due to securing cash from donor countries.
A WFP spokesperson said they could not immediately give a specific date when transfers of cash or food will be made.
”WFP is working closely with the government to identify areas where safety nets will be implemented, ascertaining whether they will be cash and which will be food,” Paulette Jones, said. – Irin