With support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM), IFPRI is working with governments and local partners, including IFPRI’s country programs, to evaluate the economic costs of COVID-19 in developing countries, and identify policy and public investment priorities for relief (2020) and recovery (2020-2022) periods, and over the longer-term (to 2030). Working at national and sector levels, the program is (a) assessing the exposure of national food systems to COVID-19 shocks; (b) identifying vulnerable population groups, including poor men and women; and (c) recommending policies to mitigate risks to food security, poverty, and diet quality.

IFPRI’s COVID-19 studies are already underway in some countries, driven by government and demand. Support from BMGF and USAID is allowing IFPRI to do the following:

• Increase the number of countries where COVID-19 studies are being conducted.
• Maintain in-country engagement with governments and local partners, USAID missions, BMGF in-country staff, and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).
• Broaden the analysis to cover not only COVID-19 impacts, but also relief and recovery policies.
• Track a range of risks (climate variability, global market uncertainty) and outcomes (diet quality).

Furthermore, we wish to acknowledge the contributions of the following donors in their support to the studies undertaken in the countries listed below:

• The Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Papua New Guinea)
• The European Commission (Rwanda)
• The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office of the UK (Malawi)
• The International Fund for Agricultural Development (Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan and Yemen)
• The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions and Markets (China)
• The National Treasury of South Africa, the South African Reserve Bank, the European Union, UNU-WIDER and the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions and Markets (South Africa)

• The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) commissioned and administered through the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) Fund for International Agricultural Research (FIA), and the South African Reserve Bank.

See a synthesis note of the project’s results from June 2021 here.