THE ETHIOPIA INDUSTRIAL PARKS JOBS PROTECTION FACILITY Report 2022

The Ethiopia Industrial Parks Jobs Protection Facility was an emergency funding initiative managed by FSD Africa to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on Ethiopia's textile and garment manufacturing sector. The facility provided wage and innovation incentives to 24 factories, supporting over 31,000 workers and encouraging business pivots, such as the production of PPE, to maintain operational viability and workforce retention.

• The Facility provided a total of US$ 4,645,607 in wage and innovation incentives to 24 approved factories, which benefited 31,511 workers. These factories were located across four industrial parks: Hawassa (14 factories, 21,118 workers), Bole Lemi (7 factories, 9,119 workers), Eastern (2 factories, 432 workers), and Debre Birhan (1 factory, 842 workers).
• The wage subsidy was effective in workforce retention, with 92% of the 24 participating factories retaining 80% or more of their pre-Facility workforce. Some companies, such as Nasa Garment PLC, grew their workforce beyond pre-pandemic levels.
• The Facility supported operational continuity and innovation. 90% of surveyed factories agreed it helped them continue operations, and 85% agreed it helped improve operations. Innovation occurred in three categories: new product lines (e.g., PPE and knitted shoes), new markets (e.g., USA and Europe), and human capital development (e.g., tuition payments and soft skills training).
• The Facility had a positive impact on revenue stability and innovation additionality. 76% of recipient factories avoided a revenue decline during the pandemic, and 52% experienced revenue growth. Regarding additionality, 85% of factories agreed the subsidy encouraged innovation; 50% stated they would have innovated at a smaller scale without the Facility, and 10% stated it would have taken longer.
• The Facility generated several positive unintended impacts, including contributing to the public health response via PPE production, streamlining internal factory processes through required monthly cash reconciliation, and improving financial inclusion by requiring formal payroll channels, which led some workers to open bank accounts.
• The evaluation identified several lessons for future emergency funding, including the need for faster response times (the Facility launched seven months after the pandemic declaration), the importance of building trust regarding the security of proprietary data uploaded online, and the need for rolling application processes to better spur innovation.

APA

FSD Africa (2022). THE ETHIOPIA INDUSTRIAL PARKS JOBS PROTECTION FACILITY Report 2022. https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/22-06-09-EJPF-Learning-Brief_compressed.pdf

Chicago

FSD Africa. THE ETHIOPIA INDUSTRIAL PARKS JOBS PROTECTION FACILITY Report 2022. 2022. https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/22-06-09-EJPF-Learning-Brief_compressed.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=FSD Africa |title=THE ETHIOPIA INDUSTRIAL PARKS JOBS PROTECTION FACILITY Report 2022 |date=2022 |url=https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/22-06-09-EJPF-Learning-Brief_compressed.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{fsdafrica2022ethiopia, author = {{FSD Africa}}, title = {{THE ETHIOPIA INDUSTRIAL PARKS JOBS PROTECTION FACILITY Report 2022}}, institution = {FSD Africa}, year = {2022}, url = {https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/22-06-09-EJPF-Learning-Brief_compressed.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }