The impact of social protection intervention on alleviating social vulnerability: Evidence from rural households of Tigrai, Ethiopia

Abstract

Social vulnerability is a multidimensional challenge found as an important concept used to guide policy evaluation. Yet, there has been a knowledge gap in public intervention implementations. Thus, a study was carried out to analyze the impact of social protection intervention (SPI) on alleviating social vulnerability in the eastern zone of the Tigrai Regional state of Ethiopia. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews with 471 target rural households. Factor analysis and Propensity Score Matching (PSM) methods were applied to construct the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) and measure the counterfactual impact of selected interventions. Access to basic services such as social affairs, agriculture, health and education sectors, and the Food Security Program (FSP) are used as Social Protection Interventions (SPIs). This study revealed that the households who had access to SPIs have scored 9.65% lower SVI than in the absence of the intervention. This implies that the beneficiaries would have scored 9.6% higher on the SVI compared to in the absence of the intervention. The causal effect of social protection intervention on social vulnerability was found to be negative (-0.096%). Taking the negative coefficient of ATT as empirical evidence, the beneficiary households have scored negatively (Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) compared to the absence of intervention. Social protection interventions aimed at promoting livelihood capacity not only through food security programs but also through basic public services of education, health, and agriculture. However, 9.6% is revealed to have an insignificant impact, taking the joint aim of the entire public intervention. If basic public goods are delivered, proactive public interventions would be customized to break down the intergenerational effect of social vulnerability. Because amplifying effects of exposure and sensitivity on social vulnerability can be reduced through various public interventions. This study suggests the provision of integrated, proactive, productive, and evidence-based SPIs to alleviate social vulnerability.