Assessment of Factors Affecting Household Level Graduation from Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP): Evidence from Emba-Alaje District Southern Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

PSNP is an approach to improve livelihood of more than 7.5 Million people. Graduation of beneficiaries from the program was among the measurements which show effectiveness of PSNP, determines the sustainability of PSNP client’s livelihood and realizing the broader food security agenda. There is low level of graduation in the study area. The main objective of this study was to identify factors affecting household PSNP graduation in Emba Alaje district of Tigray Region, Ethiopia. Primary and secondary data were used for this study. Cross-sectional survey was employed taking a sample of 235 households selected through systematic random sampling technique to gather data using semi structured questionnaire. Moreover, focused group discussion and interview were employed to collect qualitative data. Furthermore, the study employed binary logistic regression model to identify the factors determining household level graduation from PSNP. The finding of the study shows, 78.30% of the beneficiaries didn’t believe the graduated households are food self sufficient rather the respondents argue, there is no significant difference among the current and graduated beneficiaries. The binary logistic regression results showed that, sex, credit, irrigable land ownership, total crop production and targeting mechanism had a positive and significant impact on graduation, while dependency ratio and drought negatively influence graduation. Likewise, implementation of PSNP graduation is not satisfactory because the process failed to be consistent with the PSNP implementation manual and graduation guidance note. These all leads to premature graduation of program participants which change perception of graduation from being food self sufficient to matter of receiving cash or food aid for six years. To achieve food self sufficiency officials should follow the implementation manual, supporting beneficiaries beyond PSNP projects and experience need to be shared from PSNP plus projects in Ethiopia.