Strengthen PSNP Institutions and Resilience Phase II (SPIR II), Ethiopia: Baseline Survey

This dataset is part of the IMPEL (Implementer-Led Evaluation and Learning) evaluation of SPIR-II (Strengthen PSNP Institutions and Resilience), a randomized controlled trial launched in 2022. The SPIR-II aims to enhance livelihoods, increase resilience to shocks, and improve food security and nutrition for rural households vulnerable to food insecurity in Ethiopia.</p> The IMPEL SPIR-II impact evaluation employs an experimental design with multiple treatment arms, comparing combinations of livelihood and nutrition graduation model programming provided to the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) beneficiaries relative to a control group receiving only PSNP transfers. The design includes 234 kebeles assigned to three treatment arms. In the first arm (the control group), PSNP is implemented by the government with SPIR II support for the provision of cash and food transfers only. In the second arm, SPIR II programming is rolled out to PSNP beneficiary households in conjunction with nurturing care groups targeting enhanced infant and young child nutritional practices. In the third arm, PSNP beneficiary households receive SPIR II programming and NCGs, supplemented with additional targeted cash grants.</p> Specifically, it includes data collected from the baseline survey of the RCT conducted in August–September 2022, which entailed interviews with both the primary female respondent (pregnant or lactating woman) and her spouse.</p> The sample for the baseline survey comprises 3,015 households in 234 kebeles from 15 woredas in the Amhara and Oromia regions. The inclusion criteria required that households were PSNP beneficiaries reporting the presence of an infant under nine months of age (along with his/her mother or primary caretaker) or a pregnant woman. The realized sample corresponds to 98% of the target sample; three kebeles were excluded from the sample due to insecurity or other challenges that rendered it impossible to conduct surveys.