Aiming to support chronically food-insecure households, the Ethiopian government launched a large-scale social protection programme known as the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) in 2005. This study draws on mixed-methods data collection undertaken by the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) study research team in Ethiopia during 2017–2018 to understand the relationship between PSNP benefits and young adolescents’ multidimensional well-being.

Our analysis suggests that the PSNP is associated with limited changes in educational and voice outcomes among adolescents, although there is some important heterogeneity by adolescent gender and geographic region across outcomes related to physical health and nutrition, economic empowerment, and the experience of violence. Our findings suggest that there is still need to complement the PSNP with an adolescent-responsive social protection strategy in an effort to improve the well-being of adolescents in Ethiopia, including the most vulnerable.