The World Bank Groups’ Board of Executive Directors today approved US$ 100 million in additional financing from the International Development Association (IDA) Crisis Response Window (CRW) to the Productive Safety Net Project 4 (PSNP 4). The funds will help support the Government of Ethiopia’s (GoE) efforts to respond to the ongoing drought.
Ethiopia is experiencing the worst drought in fifty years. The Government issued a humanitarian appeal in December 2015 seeking international assistance for the drought response. The effects of the drought are concentrated in already poor areas and are pushing poor people deeper into poverty. Over eighteen million people currently require emergency support as a result of the drought, although an ongoing assessment will determine the extent of this need until December 2016.
“PSNP is providing regular cash or food transfers to eight million of the poorest people in those areas which are most often hit by drought,” said Carolyn Turk, Country Director for Ethiopia. “The additional support will prevent millions of households from falling deeper into poverty, as a result of the drought.”
PSNP is helping Ethiopia to further reduce extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity by strengthening the resilience of the poorest households to natural shocks. The additional financing will help ensure that the poorest people in drought affected area continue to receive reliable support from the Government through to the next harvest – a period when food needs are often most acute.
“This additional financing will allow the program to extend the duration of safety net support to existing beneficiaries. It is also delivered through national systems, which are the first line of define against shocks, such as drought, in Ethiopia,” said Sarah Coll-Black, World Bank Task Team Leader for the project.
The PSNP4 is implemented in 318 districts in Ethiopia, reaching 8 million food insecure people per year and includes a total budget of approximately US$3.6 billion from the government and 11 development partners including the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, Irish Aid, the European Union, Canadian International Development Agency, Swedish International Development Agency, the Netherlands, Danish International Development Agency, the United States Agency for International Development, UN Children’s Fund, the World Food Program and the World Bank.
*The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), established in 1960, and helps the world’s poorest countries by providing grants and low to zero-interest loans for projects and programs that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve poor people’s lives. IDA is one of the largest sources of assistance for the world’s 77 poorest countries, 39 of which are in Africa. Resources from IDA bring positive change to the 1.3 billion people who live in IDA countries. Since 1960, IDA has supported development work in 112 countries. Annual commitments have averaged about $19 billion over the last three years, with about 50 percent going to Africa.
