Social Protection Schemes in Ethiopia: The Productive Safety Net Program and the Community Based Health Insurance Scheme

This contribution highlights the history, key features, and current outreach of two of Ethiopia’s most prominent and arguably successful social protection schemes. The Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) is a participatory public works program which provides food or cash in return for labor contributions which are directed towards building sustainable rural infrastructure. Recognizing the success of the PSNP in protecting vulnerable rural residents it has now been expanded to urban areas. While it was established more recently the country’s Community Based Health Insurance (CBHI) scheme is a voluntary health insurance scheme intended for the informal sector of the economy. The CBHI has relied on the PSNP to leverage uptake and has been successful at enhancing the use of modern health care and enhancing financial protection. It has been scaled up nationwide and is currently being implemented in 820 of the country’s 1100 districts in the country and covers close to 32 million individuals or about 34% of the country’s population. While impressive, recent events in the country threaten the sustainability of these fine examples of the achievements of a “developmental state”.