Ethiopia: Use of Impact Evaluation
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vulnerable households that have no able-bodied members to participate in public works. One important point to note about the PSNP is the enormous amount of consultative work done prior to finalization of the program. In particular, donor harmonization and coordination preceded program finalization; to ensure such harmonization throughout the life of the program, a Joint Coordination Committee was established in 2006. This committee is supported by a Donor Coordination Team established in 2008 with an approved structure and nine staff members (World Bank 2010). The World Bank has provided an Adaptable Lending Program loan of $480 million. PSNP is now extended until 2015. PSNP’s two components are largely intended to reach chronically food-insecure households. The Program Implementation Manual defines chronically food-insecure households as follows: • Households that have faced continuous food shortages (usually three months of food gap or more) in the past three years and received food assistance prior to the commencement of PSNP • Households that have suddenly become more vulnerable as a result of a severe loss of assets and are unable to support themselves • Any household without family support or other means of social protection support. Based on these criteria, communities identify participants for inclusion in PSNP. Once selected, households are assigned to either the public works or direct support component depending on the presence of ablebodied members in the household who can participate in public works. Despite the focus on chronic food insecurity, the system has evolved to address transitory food insecurity as well. Regional and woreda contingency budgets have been established to respond to unexpected emergency needs.1 In the initial phase of PSNP (2005–06), these budgets were used to respond to an increase in the number of food-insecure households above the woreda’s base list.2 It was not until 2007 that contingency budgets evolved into instruments to cover households that fell into transitory food insecurity due to the failure of small (belg) rains or to food price inflation (World Bank 2010). Another evolution of the program has been its responsiveness to different target groups. In 2006, the government launched a pilot program to tailor PSNP to pastoral regions. These areas are prone to weatherinduced shocks, conflict, and market failures. Given the particular needs