Climate Smart Initiative (CSI) aims to enhance the resilience of 1.18 million chronically food insecure people by systematically integrating climate change implications into the planning and implementation of the Government of Ethiopia's Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) and Household Asset Building Program (HABP) by the end of 2015.

The CSI implementing consortium is led by CARE, with SNV, Farm Africa, ORDA, REST and Mercy Corps.  SNV is responsible for facilitating the implementation of activities in SNNPR, and is leading and coordinating gender mainstreaming and pilot market-based and environmental transformation approaches that enhance climate resilience across the regions. Furthermore, SNV:

• Contributed expertise in value chain development, design and testing of community biogas and energy efficient stove technologies supporting HABP enterprise groups in developing ‘risk aware’ business plans and accessing finance;

• Supported the transformation of Farmer Training Centres (FTCs) climate smart information hubs;

• Increased farmers’ access to agricultural inputs, and new and locally applicable technologies such as effective low-cost methods for constructing check dams;

• Supported the mainstreaming of gender in the pilot interventions, to increase the access of rural women to resource ownership and their involvement in decision making and local leadership;

• Connected issues at the local community and woreda levels to understand the added value of individual activities, and to ensure a holistic mainstreaming approach to addressing climate related issues within PSNP and HABP processes;

• Provided training and learning materials, such as a business decision guide for income generation;

• Provided technical NRM support and practical training for farmers, woreda experts and DAs in low cost technologies related to soil and water conservation and small-scale irrigation;

• Supported extension-farmer-research linkages through six regional research institutes, as well as enhanced capacity of DAs in farmer-to-farmer knowledge exchange.