Ethiopia Strategy Support Program

The Ethiopia Strategy Support Program (ESSP) is a collaborative program between IFPRI and Ethiopia’s Policy Studies Institute to support inclusive and sustainable growth and transformation. The program’s goals are to:

1. Co-generate and conduct applied policy research to fill key knowledge gaps to strengthen the design and implementation of Ethiopia’s rural development strategy.
2. Strengthen the capacity of Ethiopian policy research institutions through targeted training programs and collaborative engagements.
3. Build a stronger and more integrated knowledge support system within the country to underpin future food policy analysis and help inform key rural development strategy decisions at all levels.

Ongoing and planned activities include research, conducted with collaborators within and outside IFPRI, on a range of issues:

• Transforming agriculture sustainably (public policy, investment, and technology): fertilizer use and profitability; revitalizing the extension system; and diversification into “new” subsectors (aquaculture, poultry, and dairy).
• Improving markets, value chains, and trade: commercialization of smallholder agriculture; and current performance and dynamics of agro-industrial parks.
• Livelihoods and nutrition: food security in Ethiopia and the way forward; livelihoods of rural households in Ethiopia; rebuilding livelihoods in post-conflict communities; pathways from women’s empowerment to nutrition; and the role of complementary infant feeding practices in reducing malnutrition.
• Development strategy and investment planning: medium- to long-term development paths for the Ethiopian economy; and assessing benefits and costs of alternative policies and investment options.
• Increasing resilience to climate change: economics of climate-smart agriculture; and growth and poverty implications of climate change PSNP and asset building.
• Governance and Institutions: role of communities in development; and recovery from conflict.

ESSP actively works toward capacity building through joint research with local collaborators and short-term training courses and communication and outreach events, such as policy seminars, publications, and blog posts. ESSP also conducts on-demand impact evaluations of large government–donor development projects.

To learn more, visit the IFPRI Ethiopia website.