Author: PARTICIP GmbH - European Commission |...

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Evaluation of Food Aid Policy and Food Aid Management and Special Operations in Support of

Food Security

Food Aid Seminar

Author: PARTICIP GmbH

PARTICIP GmbH, Hildastrasse 66, D – 79102 Freiburg/Germany, Phone: +49-761-790740, Fax: +49-761-7907490, E-mail: [email protected]; Internet: http://www.particip.de

Brussels Branch Office: Avenue des Arts 50, B – 1000 Brussels/Belgium, Phone: +32-2-5501160, Fax: +32-2-5501169

EUROPEAN COMMISSION, AIDCO

Evaluation Unit H6

Brussels November 25, 2004

Ethiopia: Transition from Food Aid to Development

I. Overview

Ethiopia one of the poorest countries in the world

Relief food aid has remained the standard response mechanism to food insecurity

Food aid is neither an effective nor an efficient means to tackle the wide spread problem of structural poverty and chronic food insecurity

Government plans to address causality and effect of food insecurity in Ethiopia

2002 Food Security Strategy of the GoE is targeted mainly to the chronically food insecure moisture deficit and pastoral areas

Donors including EC have been advocating a shift away from food aid towards developmental oriented food security programs

An increasing amount and share of the resources provided under the EC Food Aid and Food Security Programme to Ethiopia have been in the form of food aid

I.1. Introduction

I.2. Socio Economic Analysis of Ethiopia in Brief Ethiopia is a country in a permanent transition

Ever since the transitional period several policies and strategies have been implemented

Agriculture is the most important sector of the Ethiopian economy,

The food production has significantly increased curing the last years

In spite of the progress achieved, Ethiopia is still a least-developed country ranked 170 out of 177 countries in the UNDP Human Development Index for 2004

In 2004, the Ethiopian Government, the UN and humanitarian partners appealed for US$ 85 million of non-food assistance and 871,000 tonnes of food aid to meet humanitarian needs

II. Transition From Food Aid to Development

II.1. Drought and Hunger situations in Ethiopia

Hunger is clearly a symptom of a deeper problem, that of poverty

Ethiopia had been self-sufficient in major staple foods and was classified as net exporter of food grains till the late 1950s

The most known and registered famine years were :1965, 1969, 1973, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 2000, 2002

As much as 45 percent of the population is affected in drought years

Thanks to the partnership of the government and other donor countries and multilateral organizations, it was possible to minimize the human loss and the disaster in general

Pastoral areas of the country remain comparatively more vulnerable in general, with some areas pointing towards crises

Food insecurity combined with poor health infrastructure and service delivery continues to manifest itself in growing epidemics

The greatest concern in 2004 was the Somalia Region and Southern Oromiawhere October rains in 2003 was late, acute water shortage were reported in those areas

II.2. Role of food aid in emergency, rehabilitation anddevelopment

Food aid from donor countries and multi-lateral organizations tackle hunger

The role of food aid is reaching the poor explicitly.

operations in Ethiopia include many development interventions,

A food security action plan include emergency preparedness, safety nets relief to development, and broader economic growth interventions

Local purchase another benefit offered by the multi lateral routes

Role of Food aid in development activities

II. 3. Advantages and disadvantages of food aid at different levels

Advantages

Save lives and prevent mass migration

Promotes Local purchase

Develops information base for food markets and market prices

Helps improve livelihoods in rural communities and households

Improves pupils’ ability to concentrate in class

Supporting Households, Women and Children Infected and Affected by HIV/AIDS

Helps displaced people, assists refuges

Helps as bridge to those households participating in the safety net Disadvantages

Food aid for free or through food work projects that are best short term make-work projects has deepened the dependency syndrome.

Served as a disincentive to farmers in surplus producing regions

Emergency assistance has helped to mask the structural problems involved in such emergencies

II. 4. Government Polices and Strategies to transit from Food Aid to Development

Economic Policies and Strategies (1991-95)

The Ethiopian Economic Policy during the Transitional Period (November 1991);

An Economic Development Strategy for Ethiopia (February 1994)

Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) Five Year National Development Programme 1995-2000 (May1995)

Sector Development Programs

Roads, Education, Health, Energy and Water

Recent Economic Policies and StrategiesAgricultural Development Lead Industrialization (ADLI)

Emphasizes the development of the private sector and progressive withdrawal of the public sector from productive activities

Components included encouragement of the private sector in agriculture, transport and exports

I-PRSP/SDPRSP

Consist of four building blocks

ADLI and Food Security

Judiciary and Civil Service Reform

Governance, Decentralization and Empowerment

Capacity Building in Public and Private Sectors

Recent Economic Policies and Strategies … Contd.

Rural Development Strategy: main objectives of the programme are as follows:

RDS believes Agriculture Development comes through the following:

Labor extensive utilization approach

Proper use of agricultural land

Compatible approach with different agro-ecological zones

Integrated development strategy

Building and using human resource capacity

Preparation of development packages compatible with each situation

Creating market-led agricultural development


Rural Development Strategy:

Main objectives of the programme are as follows:

Agriculture and rural-centered development is capable of ensuring rapid development and enables people to benefit from growth;

RDS believes Agriculture Development comes through the following:

Labor extensive utilization approach

Proper use of agricultural land

Compatible approach with different agro-ecological zones

Integrated development strategy

Building and using human resource capacity

Creating market-led agricultural development

Improving the rural finance system

Encouraging Private investors to Participate in Agricultural Sector Development

Recent Economic Policies and Strategies … Contd.Food Security Strategy

Food Security may be defined as " access by all people at all times to sufficient food, in terms of quality, quantity, and diversity, for an active and healthy life without risk of loss of such access."

Three main components:

Support to economic growth and employment,

Targeted entitlement and access programs to poor and vulnerable groups

The development of capacity to cope with emergency situations

Preparation Process (1996-2002)

Food Security Strategy 2002:

Three basic pillars:

To increase the availability of food through increased domestic production

To ensure access to food for food deficit households

To strengthen emergency response capabilities


Food Security Strategy … Contd.

Essential Elements of the Strategy

The development of irrigation is integral to the pursuit of food security

Crating conditions for year-round agricultural activity

Livestock development is an important component of the FSS.

Increasing food security in the moisture deficit areas

Interventions different for the drought prone and moisture deficit areas

Disseminating appropriate technologies and products for dry land agriculture

resettle farmers in suitable, under -utilized areas


Food Security Strategy … Contd.Essential Elements of the Strategy … Contd.

Through resettlement program under-utilized land will be brought to economic use

Communities responsibility for safeguarding natural resources

Government will increases security of tenure through certification

measures to strengthen the financial sector

encourage the participation of private sector to improve the efficiency of the marketing and distribution system

improvement in the provision of market information

Strengthening farmers' cooperatives

Improved livestock marketing facilities and dairy products


Food Security Strategy … Contd.

Essential Elements of the Strategy … Contd.Increasing role in the import, distributing and trading of fertilizers by the private sector

Multiplying seeds by the private and public sector

Improved agricultural hand tools and implements

expand the research network into agro-ecological zones

Importation of agricultural technologies from other countries for the dry land and food insecure areas

strengthen research in the development or adoption of improved tools and implements

extensive construction of new roads, and rehabilitation of existing roads in rural areas


Safety net programs

Safety net serves as a multi-annual source of funding for food security programs in food insecure communities

safety net programs are meant to cover the food needs of 5.1 million chronically food insecure people

Ethiopia's Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) includes a community `public works' component aimed at developing communal infrastructure and assets in areas of chronic food shortage. The program will make food or cash payments for labor provided by community members in the implementation of the projects

public works projects include hillside terracing, land reclamation, improvement of roads or bridges, improved access to water, or repair of health facilities, in pastoralist areas it includes projects such as development of water points, Agro-forestry, or initiatives related to livestock


Safety net programs … Contd.

Safety net system of the FSP will be targeted to those chronically food insecure households who live in the 214 woredas(districts) identified by the regions as being food insecure

Funds allocated for Safety Nets will be guaranteed (Earmarked) with in the FSP budget line

Safety net will consist of three core components: Labor- intensive public works,unconditional transfers


Safety net programs … Contd.

Government preference for the labor-intensive public works component of the safety net

Transitioning from Emergency Appeals to safety Nets

The Safety Net, as part of the FSP will be "Phased-in" over 3 years

When the safety net allocations are made to woredas, the corresponding number of households covered by those resources should be removed from the DPPC emergency appeal mechanism


Pastoralist Programs

Pastoralists 11% of the population; occupy 52% of the driest and most marginal land areas. Basically depend on livestock for their livelihood

Pastoral areas highest rates of poverty

Access to education and health services extremely low

Poor access to animal health services limited livestock marketing opportunities

Development for pastoralists remains very limited


Pastoralist Programs … Contd.

Increasing interest of non-government actors in pastoral areas World Bank, with IFAD (not yet implemented), and planned and implemented programs by the FAO, ADB, UNDP, USAID and DFID

Pastoralists have experienced considerable change over the past decades. Trends include an increase in agriculture, growth in the number of water points move from communal to individual land tenure

Emerging government institutions and policies and strategies over the past 3 years has increased emphasis on long-term development in the emergingregions


Pastoralist Programs … Contd.

Measures to improve food security situation

Strengthening an early warning system

Encouragement of carefully researched diversification

Identification and development of appropriate technology selection

Encouragement and support of large scale commercial ranches

Strengthening livestock marketing

III. Donors and Stakeholders response towards Government Strategies and Polices in transiting

from Food Aid to Development

Donors and Stakeholders response towards Food Aid

The third largest recipient of Official Development Assistance

1995-1998, received development assistance averaging 13.4% of Gross National Product (GNP) an average of US$13.4 per capita

Largest donors to Ethiopia are The World Bank, the EC, USA, the African Development Bank and Japan accounting for slightly over 50% of all development assistance to Ethiopia

The Commission is the second largest donor to Ethiopia (after the World Bank), providing annually 10-15% of all external assistance

Donors and Stakeholders response towards Food Aid … Contd.

March 2001, the main donors Un/USAID/ EU/UN EUE/WFP, reached a consensus of the following eleven points as Joint policy Statement (JPS) Establish a senior -level food security policy steering committee.

Focus DPPC's mandate on emergency function (e.g. acute needs)

Identify appropriate government institutions to mobilize and distribute resources for the chronic food insecure population

Separating the Chronic from the Emergency needs

Refine assessment methodology to distinguish between the chronic and acute food insecurity

Crop and food needs assessments

Donors and Stakeholders response towards Food Aid … Contd

The GoE offsets food aid and food security assistance and contribute its own budgetary resources to DPPC appeals

Food aid more productive for chronically vulnerable, while CFW alternatives should be considered whenever appropriate and feasible

Food aid and food security expenditure should be included in the GoE budget

ADLI should be evaluated against its impact on chronic food insecurity and poverty alleviation

National and regional food security strategies need further development


European Commission (EC)

Integrated Food Security Programs (IFSP)

Ethiopia is a major recipient of assistance under EC's food aid and food security Program (Budget line 7-200).

The EC support comprises all instruments provided under Council Regulation 1292/96, such as food aid and food security interventions food security budgetary support (FSBS), technical assistance, direct aid as well as indirect aid channeled through WFP, ICRC and NGOs

Donors and Stakeholders Response towards Food Aid… Contd

European Commission (EC) … Contd.

EC food aid (435,000 tons pledged, 340,000 tons delivered by end of 2003) reached an unprecedented peak

Food security is one of the key priority areas of intervention. Now the European Commission intends to address the problem of food insecurity through making a development-oriented food security facility available, rather than focusing on short-term food aid


European Commission (EC) … Contd.

The Commission has allocated important quantities of food aid through NGO's Euronaid and WFP totaling 1.5 million MT

A consensus has been reached on the negative effect of food aid on the overall food security situation of the country

The European Union assists for different food security programs in Amhara, Oromia, and Tigray& SNNP amounting to 22 million Euro has been extended in three installment (9, 8, 5 million Euro) in Block grant

In 2002, the EC approved a 25 million FSP that seeks to meet the EC political objectives


The FSP of EC

The Ethiopian Government and the European Union signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in March 2003 for the implementation of the 2002 Food Security Program

22 million Euros (in foreign currency) will be allocated for private food importers

Counter- value fund will be disbursed to finance priority food security activities

3 million Euros will be used for a technical assistance program


Flow of funds under the Food Security Program

Foreign exchange transferred to the National Central Bank

Counter-value funds deposited on a double signature account (DSA) at the Central Bank

Transfer of funds from the DSA to the Central Treasury Account

Funds used according to the national procedures (fungibility)

Monitoring Issues, monitoring in the country, monitoring from HQ

Disbursement procedures from the EC/HQ and counter value funds

Release of funds to General Treasury Account

Financing procedure and negative lists of expenditure interventions that are not eligible


World Bank (WB)

World Bank is supporting a food security project

Following interventions are seen as priorities for World Bank:

Increase substantially the productivity of farms in drought prone areas

Risk of damaging soils and vegetation, and adding to already serious environmental problems

Obtaining employment off the farm would be a more sustainable strategy

Some form of irrigation will be important

Require improved enabling environments for enterprises which are economically sustainable


World Bank Projects

Funds to communities / Kebeles _ the majority of the project

Community-based child growth promotion

Capacity building funds to woredas, Regions, and Federal Ministries for specific, project-related activities

Investments in communications to ensure transparency

Funds for communities

Asset and income increasing funds

Child growth promotion funds


World Bank Projects

Funds for communities

Asset and income increasing funds

Child growth promotion funds

Block Grants to Woredas for Passing on the Communities


World Bank Projects

General guidelines for promoting the project and designing asset and income generating activities

Woreda level workshop to promote and plan the food security and child

Training of Woreda Development Committee

Promotion of the project at the Kebele Level

Processing and approval of community proposals

Funds for preparations of proposals transferred to Kebele office

Communities prepare simple proposals

Kebele Food Security Committee collects and compiles proposals

Accessing funds and implementation

Donors and Stakeholders response towards Food Aid … Contd.

World Bank Projects … Contd.

General guidelines for promoting the project and designing assetand income generating activities … Contd.

Institutional and implementation Arrangements

A National Project Coordination Unit (NPCU) would be established at the federal level

The Food Security Project will take the following steps to reflect women's interests in project planning and implementation:

project will identify constraints on women's access to and control over resources inside and outside the home early in project implementation

project will develop strategies, adopt mechanisms, and make special efforts to reach women directly

Develop strategies and adopt mechanisms and special efforts to reach women directly


World Food Programme (WFP)

Involved in six projects targeting 5.4 million beneficiaries in 2004

The “Relief Food Assistance to Small-scale Farmers and Drought-affected Pastoralists”projects

Protects household and community assets, before and after disasters through Employment-Generation Schemes (EGS) for able-bodied beneficiaries

The “Managing Environmental Resources to Enable Transition to More Sustainable Livelihoods (MERET)”

The “Promoting Education through School Feeding”

Donors and Stakeholders response towards Food Aid

World Food Program (WFP) … Contd.

The “Urban HIV/AIDS: Supporting Households, Women and Children Infected and Affected by HIV/AIDS” objectives

The “Relief Food Assistance for Ethiopians Internally Displaced by the Ethiopia-Eritrea Border Conflict” objective

The “Food Assistance for Refugees in Ethiopia and for Refugee Repatriation” project objective

U.S. Government contributed 1.2 million MT of food assistance (Over $ 550 million) to meet emergency food needs in Ethiopia, and $ 53 million for emergency health, nutrition, water, sanitation and agriculture and livelihoods interventions


Others

NGOs are also implementing a diverse range of projects and interventions in all the major pastoralist areas. The major sectors, in addition to relief provision, are in livestock health, water, agriculture, human health and education

the reduction of post harvest losses and the emergency support to the present food situation


Government of Ethiopia willingness to work with donors

The regions are free to use the money

The food security grant of the Federal Government is allocated to the regions on the basis of the number of food insecure people in each region

The food security grant budget line is independent of other budget lines

The government is eager to work together with donors and other members

IV. Results Achieved so far and Future Programs

Results Achieved so far and Future Programs … Contd.

The wide-ranging efforts to build sustainable and reliable economy have registered promising outcomes

between 1993 and 1998. the annual a local production stood at an average growth of 6 percent

decrease inflation 21 percent inflation rate during the previousregime to below five percent

Measures control the fluctuation of foreign currency rate, easing the ill effects of the tax system on the economy, creating free market access to financial loans and human labor, charting out new investment law to create favorable situation to local and foreign investors, transferring many government organization to private ownership

Ethiopia gets financial aid and loans from its bilateral and multilateral sources


409 million USD was utilized to execute various programs like food security as well as rural development, infrastructure education, health, safe water, capacity building, and good governance

During the 2001/2003, it was possible to secure 959 million USD annually through bilateral sources from some 18 donor countries to implement three to five year local programs

The country got the advantage of debt relief amounting to 183 million USD from multilateral institutions like IMF, World Bank,

IFAD and OPEC and Paris Clubs

Activities carried out and achievements gained in agriculture and rural development included public mobilization around key policies and strategies

Government disclosed that 18.9 per cent growth rate registered in the agriculture sector in 2003/04


According to figures confirmed by the latest information, the national economy has registered a growth rate of 11.6 percent over the current year

18.9 percent growth in agriculture, 6.9 percent in industry, and 7.6 percent from distribution of other services

the education sector, the report conclude as the previous target of 65 percent primary education coverage by 2004/05., was met two years earlier by 2002/03

Increasing higher education in take capacity to 30,000

Primary education coverage has reached 68.5 per cent, and universities have admitted 25,000 new students in degree programs

health sector has been the implementation of the health extension program

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