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The effect of COVID-19 and government response measures on poor and vulnerable groups in urban areas in Ethiopia – report four

This research report is the fourth in a series of six rounds of research, looking at the effects of COVID-19 on the poor and vulnerable urban households in Ethiopia. The report assesses the governments ongoing response to the pandemic as well as changes in household food security, livelihoods, education and access and use of health services and, explores how attitudes and behaviour towards the pandemic have changed. The results so far indicate that there have been varied impacts throughout the research sample, which to an extent are related to structural inequalities. The first three reports are available here.

Authored by  Donna Harris, Biniyam Tadesse, Israel Mitiku, Mekdes Demissie, Alula Teklu, Girmay Medhin, and Frehiwot Belachew.

Brief: Towards shock-responsive social protection: lessons from the COVID-19 response in Ethiopia

COVID-19 and national and international measures to curb its spread, may have pushed 15 million more people below the poverty line in Ethiopia. This policy brief draws on key learnings from the Ethiopia country case study, focused on the social protection response to COVID-19 and identifies recommendations to improve the shock responsiveness of the social protection sector. Recommendations in this policy brief focus on improving Disaster Risk Financing, the need to operationalize the management information systems of the flagship social safety net programmes and the consolidation of existing safety net programmes in to a single national programme in the long-term.

Towards shock-responsive social protection: lessons from the COVID-19 response in Ethiopia

National and international restrictions to combat the spread of COVID-19 led to an economic downturn in Ethiopia which is likely to have pushed an additional 15 million people below the poverty line. This report documents the Government of Ethiopia’s social protection response to mitigate some of the negative impacts of COVID-19 on vulnerable populations. It also analyses the factors that enabled and constrained the effectiveness of the response, at the policy and operational levels, and finds that a more extensive and timely response was undermined by a lack of financing and a social protection system that was designed to respond to droughts but was unprepared to respond to a novel type of shock such as COVID-19. Finally, the report provides an assessment of the response in terms of coverage, adequacy, comprehensiveness, timeliness and gender and social inclusion considerations.

COVID-19 and the urban poor in Ethiopia – part three

This brief from the third report in a 6-part series, explores the impact of COVID-19 and government response measures on poor and vulnerable groups in urban areas in Ethiopia. The findings highlight four key areas for urgent attention: misconceptions about COVID-19, rising food prices, inadequate and costly water supply and a reduction in the number of people receiving aid. The full research report can be found here. Authored by Donna Harris, Biniyam Tadesse, Israel Mitiku, Mekdes Demissie, Alula Teklu, Girmay Medhin, and Frehiwot Belachew.