From the Inside Out : Importance of Community Participation in sustaining an Asset-Based Social Protection Program : The Case of the Productive Safety Net Program in Doba, Ethiopia

The Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) is the biggest Food Security Program (FSP) in Ethiopia and started its operations in 2005. Its main aim is to shift from a dependence on annual food aid and emergency food assistance that were used to tackle the deep-rooted poverty since the 1983/84 famine, to providing a combined solution of supporting the needs of chronically food insecure households and developing long-term solutions to deal with the root cause of food insecurity. In fact, the program has three intermingled objectives. The first two, which are related to short-term solutions, are directed towards protecting households from hunger by smoothing food consumption and preventing them from further impoverishment by protecting current household assets. The third objective, on the other hand, relates to providing long-term solution to the existing food insecurity by creating community assets that contribute to the promotion of sustainable livelihoods. Further to this, unlike preceding initiatives, the program formally distinguishes between two types of beneficiaries: direct support (DS) and public work (PW). The DS covers vulnerable but labour-constrained households while those in the PW component are expected to use their labour to build community assets. The latter follows the Community Based Participatory Watershed Development Guideline (CBPWDG) which aspires for community participation throughout the cycle. Consequently, achieving the long-term objective of the program relies on proper planning, implementation and management of the assets created by the PWs. Despite this fact, many studies on the PSNP concentrate on evaluating and analysing issues related to the short-term objectives although the long-term objective is crucial in terms of sustainably addressing problems of food insecurity. Motivated by this gap, this study uses primary data from a sample of 118 soil and water conservation projects found in Doba woreda, West Hararghe Zone of Oromiya Region, to examine the effect of community participation on quality and maintenance of the assets. The estimates presented in the paper show that, at least in this specific woreda, the extent of community participation in project planning has a positive effect on project maintenance. However, increased community participation in implementation, which includes a number of technical decisions has a significant negative effect on project quality as measured by a project’s operational state. Relevance to Development Studies Unlike previous studies on PSNP, the current study emphasises the two crucial elements in an asset-based social protection program, durability of the assets and participation of beneficiary community in project decisions. Indeed, by focusing on issues of durability, the study points out the major factors behind sustainability of such assets. Moreover, with the emphasis on the later, the study tries to evaluate the CBPWD approach followed in the cycle of the PWs from the two mechanisms that are used in most development interventions targeting communities, community-based and –driven development (CBD and CDD). Hence, it contributes as empirical evidence for the on-going discourse on issues related to sustainability of asset-based social protection programs and effectiveness of CBD and CDD mechanisms.