Ethiopia: the urban food-for-work project

This paper reports on the successes and shortfalls of CARE Ethiopia's Urban Food-for-Work program (UFFW). UFFW attempts to meet some of the infrastructure needs of the poorest neighbourhoods by providing basic roads and latrines to marginal urban communities in Addis Ababa; providing short-term employment opportunities in the form of food-for-work to the unemployed and underemployed residents of these communities; and enhancing the capacity of community groups to participate in future self-help development endeavours.

Successes:

• the roads built by the UFFW project significantly improved residents' mobility, particularly during the rainy season
• accompanying infrastructure such as drains and culverts reduced flooding
• the food payments reduced food insecurity during periods when the labourers were working
• women noted that participating in the project increased their confidence in their own abilities

Shortcomings included the fact that the impact of roads on employment and markets is uncertain. Almost all of the unskilled labourers who participated said that the project had not helped them get better jobs; they just went back to what they were doing before to earn money.

Recommendations:

• UFFW is a relief rather than development program that provides permanent employment. For longer-term results, UFFW may need to integrate or complement other development activities
• for poor urban residents the rainy season is the most difficult time of year, when prices rise and incomes fall. If CARE could undertake its construction activities at these times, UFFW could enhance its benefits by functioning as a safety net in the time of greatest need
• UFFW needs to establish mechanisms to ensure maintenance after CARE withdraws. CARE could provide a maintenance fund as a part of project costs or work with MPIDCs to secure a fund to help with maintenance
• this project failed to provide long-term food security. Projects like this one should address long-term alleviation of poverty and hunger by seeking to improve participants' labor skills and linking beneficiaries with employers across the city
• CARE should implement some type of worker's insurance to assist injured workers
• CARE could improve on the positive impacts UFFW has on women by adding complementary programming on women's rights and on community health
• poverty and food insecurity in urban areas hardly ever arise from lack of food availability.The problem is lack of access to food, owing to lack of income for buying food. Providing cash instead of food is generally thought to be a more appropriate response to hunger in cities