Gov’t Commits to Improve Welfare of Poor, Vulnerable Households in Ethiopia: Finance Minister

March 29/2021(ENA)Minister of Finance, Ahmed Shide has affirmed government’s commitment for more jobs creation to reduce poverty and improve the welfare of poor and vulnerable households in Ethiopia.

The Minister made the remark today in his opening remarks at the launching of PSNP V Strengthen Ethiopia’s Adaptive Safety Net (SEANS) project.

The Productive Safety Net is a program initiated by the government of Ethiopia in collaboration with different development partners like World Bank and other organizations in response to the problem of food insecurity.

During the occasion, the minister affirmed Ethiopia’s commitment to continue working to ensure the recent gains in poverty reductions are supported with expanded jobs creation.

According to him, this will be achieved as Ethiopia makes use of its investments in sectors such as infrastructure and education and transitions into a private sector-led growth.

Ahmed also expressed his appreciation for seeing more enhanced service delivery design in the project to improve the well-being of poor and vulnerable households, particularly in drought-prone communities.

EU delegation, represented by the Head of Social Protection and Migration Section Sabrina Bazzanella, congratulated Federal Ministries for designing a more robust program based on lessons from previous phases.

She said PSNP V will play an important role as it contributes to multiple development programs in Ethiopia and it is anticipated to operate more efficiently under the coordination of one institution which is the Ministry of Agriculture.

Bazzanella, also explained how the fifth program will make contributions to twelve of the sustainable development goals.

In this regard, she said evaluation of the last program shows how the capacity of the government has increased to scale up and reach more lives as well as human development objectives which were reached through public works.

This she said is also evident in the increase of government financial contribution to the program which has grown from 3 to 20 percent.

The project launching ceremony was attended by Minister of Agriculture, Oumer Hussein, donors of the project, other dignitaries, and leading technical experts in the field.

The ceremony was concluded with the Ministry of Finance signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with regional governments focusing on the implementation.

Federal Ministries have also signed an MOU with development partners, according to ministry of Finance.