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With research staff from more than 60 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

researcher spotlight

Kalyani Raghunathan

Kalyani Raghunathan is Research Fellow in the Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit, based in New Delhi, India. Her research lies at the intersection of agriculture, gender, social protection, and public health and nutrition, with a specific focus on South Asia and Africa. 

Where we work

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Where we work

IFPRI currently has more than 600 employees working in over 80 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

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partnerships

Livelihoods and Food Security Fund (LIFT)

Publications

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Journal Article

Men can cook: Effectiveness of a men’s engagement intervention to change attitudes and behaviors in rural Ethiopia

2025Alderman, Harold; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Hidrobo, Melissa; Leight, Jessica; Mulford, Michael; Tambet, Heleene
Details

Men can cook: Effectiveness of a men’s engagement intervention to change attitudes and behaviors in rural Ethiopia

Graduation model interventions seek to address multiple barriers constraining households’ exit from poverty, however, few explicitly target restrictive gender norms. Using a randomized controlled trial design, combined with three rounds of data, we investigate the impacts on gender equitable attitudes and behaviors of a graduation program that seeks to address multiple constraints for those in poverty and improve restrictive gender norms in Ethiopia. We find that at 1-year follow-up all treatment arms lead to improvements in men’s gender equitable attitudes and their engagement in household domestic tasks as reported by both men and women; but at 3-year follow-up, impacts are only sustained in the treatment arms that introduced men’s engagement groups after the 1-year follow-up survey to further promote improvements in equitable gender norms.

Year published

2025

Authors

Alderman, Harold; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Hidrobo, Melissa; Leight, Jessica; Mulford, Michael; Tambet, Heleene

Citation

Alderman, Harold; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Hidrobo, Melissa; Leight, Jessica; Mulford, Michael; and Tambet, Heleene. 2024. Men can cook: Effectiveness of a men’s engagement intervention to change attitudes and behaviors in rural Ethiopia. World Development 185(January 2025): 106781.

Country/Region

Ethiopia

Keywords

Africa; Eastern Africa; Behaviour; Cooking; Men; Rural Areas

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106781 Source record

Project

Gender Equality

Record type

Journal Article

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Working Paper

Would you rather: Voluntary take-up of a poverty graduation program among cash transfer recipients

2024Allen IV, James; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Kurdi, Sikandra; Yassa, Basma
Details

Would you rather: Voluntary take-up of a poverty graduation program among cash transfer recipients

THIS IS AN INITIAL PUBLICATION. THE FINAL VERSION WILL BE AVAILABLE IN DECEMBER 2024. We study how households in Egypt’s national cash transfer program decide to voluntarily join a new government-run poverty graduation program. Using a randomized experiment, we test official video messages providing respondents with new information on: T1) the duration of the cash transfers after joining the graduation program and T2) expected monthly income from the asset provided by the graduation program. Both video messages increase respondents’ beliefs on their respective topics and interest in recommending the graduation program to others. The evidence is consistent with a theoretical model where new information increasing the expected returns for the graduation program consequently increases preferences for the new program, though estimating the model reveals other factors also likely affect household decision-making. The findings highlight the importance of designing poverty graduation programs that provide compelling economic incentives relative to existing social protection programs.

Year published

2024

Authors

Allen IV, James; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Kurdi, Sikandra; Yassa, Basma

Citation

Allen IV, James; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Kurdi, Sikandra; and Yassa, Basma. 2024. Would you rather: Voluntary take-up of a poverty graduation program among cash transfer recipients. MENA Working Paper 44. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/158340

Country/Region

Egypt

Keywords

Africa; Northern Africa; Social Protection; Poverty; Poverty Reduction; Cash Transfers

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper

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Journal Article

The technopolitics of agronomic knowledge and tropical(izing) vegetables in Brazil

2024Nehring, Ryan
Details

The technopolitics of agronomic knowledge and tropical(izing) vegetables in Brazil

This article critically analyzes the social and political factors behind the advancement of technoscientific development in modern Brazilian agriculture. In the second half of the 20th century, Brazil underwent a rapid industrialization in the agricultural sector by more than doubling productivity in key global commodities and a widespread migration of people from rural to urban areas. Most observers point to the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) as the technological engine that drove the industrialization of Brazilian agriculture. Existing approaches to analyze technoscientific development tend to overlook the role of the environment and individual scientists in enacting change. I argue that, especially in the case of agriculture, technoscientific development hinges on the extent to which the environment is disregarded or embraced by those who have the institutional support and capacity to innovate. To support my argument, I draw on two contrasting cases of crop development spearheaded by Embrapa scientists: the tropicalization of the carrot and participatory research on non-conventional vegetables. Through those two cases, the article demonstrates how the general and specific, the transnational and local, and the industrial and agroecological are all key contrasting factors for understanding technoscientific development in agriculture. This research is based on extensive interviews and participant observation at Embrapa’s vegetable research center near Brasilia, Brazil.

Year published

2024

Authors

Nehring, Ryan

Citation

Nehring, Ryan. 2024. The technopolitics of agronomic knowledge and tropical(izing) vegetables in Brazil. Environmental Science and Policy 162(December 2024): 103911. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103911

Country/Region

Brazil

Keywords

Americas; South America; Agricultural Research; Carrots; Food Systems; Politics; Technology; Tropical Zones; Vegetables

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103911 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

Blogs

Resource-poor rice farmers in Myanmar suffer double impact from political conflict
IFPRI Blog
 | 
November 12, 2024

Resource-poor rice farmers in Myanmar suffer double impact from political conflict

By Hiroyuki Takeshima, Zin Wai Aung, Ian Masias, and Bart Minten

Productivity erodes amid turmoil.