Feed the Future Livelihoods for Resilience Activity (GRAD-II)

In Ethiopia’s rural highlands, SNV is working to significantly increase food security and resilience among chronically food insecure households through USAID’s Feed the Future Livelihoods for Resilience Activity (GRAD II). The project is led by CARE International and implemented with four regional partners: Relief Society of Tigray (REST), the Organization for Relief and Development in Amhara (ORDA), and Agri Service Ethiopia (ASE). GRAD II targets 97,900 households in 27 woredas in the three regions of Tigray, Amhara, and Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' that are currently enrolled in the Government of Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) and supports them to graduate from PSNP by achieving long term food security, increasing their incomes, and building resilience to market shocks.

Livelihoods for Resilience Activity builds on the best practices and successes of Graduation with Resilience to Achieve Sustainable Development (GRAD), a USAID-funded project also implemented in Ethiopia by a consortium led by CARE International, with SNV providing technical expertise and leadership, from 2012 to 2016. Livelihoods for Resilience Activity will further refine and scale up the successful elements of GRAD, while also introducing new approaches, including an emphasis on youth employment, off-farm income generation, and addressing social barriers that have traditionally constrained women from income-generating activities.

The project will strengthen the capacities of women, men, and youth to build resilient livelihoods by empowering them with improved agricultural and financial skills, access to loans and startup capital, market information, and high-quality inputs (such as fertilizer, veterinarian products, and tools). The project will also help households make forward-looking and informed decisions about their livelihoods, adapt to changes and opportunities, and effectively manage risk. Targeted communities are also strengthened through the establishment of VESAs (Village and Economic and Social Associations), and trainings in financial literacy, gender equity, nutrition, and climate-change resilience strategies.

Within Livelihoods for Resilience Activity, SNV contributes technical expertise and leadership in market systems analysis, value chain selection and development, agricultural extension innovations, and private sector engagement, while applying gender equity, climate change, and nutrition lenses. SNV joins CARE in providing senior leadership to the consortium and is actively involved in collaboration and learning.

The project is being implemented from December 2016 to October 2021, and is working closely with Government of Ethiopia, other USAID supported projects and programs, capacity building organizations, and the private sector.