Resilience in Practice: Evaluating the Synergies and Trade-Offs Between Social Welfare Programmes and Indigenous Coping Mechanisms in Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, multidimensional resilience building through various social protection programmes and local coping mechanisms is necessary to protect households whose well-being is threatened by climate-related risks and socioeconomic instability. This study delves into their synergies and trade-offs that shape household resilience using the five waves (2011-2021) of the Ethiopian Living Standards Measurement Survey (ELSMS). A pseudo-panel of 15,191 cohorts is constructed, and a beta regression model with random effects is employed to study the determinants of a multidimensional resilience intensity. The strongest effect is social protection programmes, with each one-unit increase associated with a 50-percentage-point increase in resilience. There is also an important contribution by the indigenous standard coping practices, adding 9.75 percentage points to resilience. However, the interaction does not produce any marginal significance, thus indicating independent operations. Contextual factors like credit access, gender, and food security also play critical roles. Indigenous strategies, though culturally embedded, are being increasingly limited by external shocks. This study also highlights the need for integrated approaches and provides empirical insights institutions might draw upon in designing context-specific resilience policies in Ethiopia.