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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. 

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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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experts

Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion

Melissa Hidrobo

Senior Research Fellow

Bio

Melissa Hidrobo is a Senior Research Fellow in the Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit. She is an applied microeconomist working at the intersection of gender, rural livelihoods, poverty reduction, and social protection. Her gender research focuses on how different interventions affect intrahousehold dynamics and how intrahousehold dynamics affect agricultural production. Her recent research involves impact evaluations of nutrition-sensitive agricultural programs, social protection and economic inclusion programs, and edutainment to change gender norms in Mali, Ghana, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Kenya, and Senegal. Melissa holds a PhD in agricultural and resource economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Language: English (fluent), Spanish (fluent), French (proficient)

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Publications

Resource thumbnail

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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Report

Impact evaluation of the economic inclusion programme in Kenya: Baseline report for cohort 2

2024Abay, Kibrom A.; Ayalew, Hailemariam; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Hidrobo, Melissa; Kimathi, Sally; Kosec, Katrina; Mekonnen, Yalew
Details

Impact evaluation of the economic inclusion programme in Kenya: Baseline report for cohort 2

Graduation and economic inclusion programs complement cash or food transfers with multisectoral investments in asset building, income generation, skill training, and access to financial services and markets to strengthen resilience and opportunity for households who are poor (Andrews et al., 2021). Compared to classic social assistance programs that offer regular cash or food transfers to ensure minimum consumption levels, these programs aim to enable beneficiaries to invest in assets and skills that can make them more productive. Following promising results from initial studies on multiple economic Photo Credit: Peter Lowe / CIMMYT and social outcomes (e.g., Banerjee et al., 2015; Bandiera et al., 2017; Banerjee et al., 2021), these graduation and economic inclusion programs are increasingly being taken up by governments to complement their national social assistance programs. In 2019 the Government of Kenya’s (GoK) State Department of Social Protection and Senior Citizen Affairs, Directorate of Social Development, initiated the Kenya Social and Economic Inclusion Programme (KSEIP). The KSEIP is designed to complement and build on the flagship National Safety Net Programme (NSNP) and target those being served by it, moving beyond cash transfers to an integrated Social Protection system to enhance social and economic inclusion services and shock-responsive safety nets for poor and vulnerable households. The KSEIP is expected to contribute towards Kenya’s Vision 2030 and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Year published

2024

Authors

Abay, Kibrom A.; Ayalew, Hailemariam; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Hidrobo, Melissa; Kimathi, Sally; Kosec, Katrina; Mekonnen, Yalew

Citation

Abay, Kibrom A.; Ayalew, Hailemariam; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Hidrobo, Melissa; Kimathi, Sally; Kosec, Katrina; and Mekonnen, Yalew. 2024. Impact evaluation of the economic inclusion programme in Kenya: Baseline report for cohort 2. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute.

Country/Region

Kenya

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Capacity Development; Impact Assessment; Economic Integration; Data

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Fragility, Conflict, and Migration

Record type

Report

Resource thumbnail

Journal Article

Making complementary agricultural resources, technologies, and services more gender-responsive

2024Hidrobo, Melissa; Kosec, Katrina; Gartaula, Hom N.; Van Campenhout, Bjorn; Carrillo, Lucia
Details

Making complementary agricultural resources, technologies, and services more gender-responsive

Rural women in low- and middle-income countries face multiple constraints in accessing and benefiting from essential complementary resources, technologies, and services for agricultural production and participation in the agrifood system. This paper highlights recent thinking around these constraints and how to overcome them. The complementary factors we consider are: (1) networks and social capital, (2) information and communications technologies, (3) other agricultural tech nologies, (4) agricultural extension and advisory services, (5) financial services, and (6) social assistance. We first analyze constraints women face in accessing and benefiting from these complementary factors and describe the potential benefits of reducing these constraints and gender inequities in the agrifood system. We then provide evidence on what has been effective for improving women’s access to and ability to benefit from the six complementary factors. We conclude by highlighting the importance of considering the different preferences of men and women when designing policies and interventions; challenging customs, norms and perceptions; and reforming formal rules and institutions toward more inclusive agrifood systems.

Year published

2024

Authors

Hidrobo, Melissa; Kosec, Katrina; Gartaula, Hom N.; Van Campenhout, Bjorn; Carrillo, Lucia

Citation

Hidrobo, Melissa; Kosec, Katrina; Gartaula, Hom N.; Van Campenhout, Bjorn; and Carrillo, Lucia. 2024. Making complementary agricultural resources, technologies, and services more gender-responsive. Global Food Security 42: 100778. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2024.100778

Keywords

Women; Gender; Rural Areas; Agricultural Production; Agrifood Systems; Networks; Information and Communication Technologies; Agricultural Extension; Financial Inclusion

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2024.100778 Source record

Project

Gender Equality

Record type

Journal Article

Events

Deepening Social Protection Systems: Enhancing livelihoods and health in Ethiopia
IFPRI Policy Seminar

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April 17, 2024, 10:30 – 12:00 pm

Deepening Social Protection Systems: Enhancing livelihoods and health in Ethiopia

Hybrid Event: April 17, 2024 at 10:30am-12:00pm EDT. This event will present findings from a randomized controlled trial of Strengthening PSNP Institutions and Resilience (SPIR), a graduation model program embedded within the PSNP that is led by World Vision, in collaboration with CARE and ORDA, and with support from the Ethiopian government and USAID.

SPIR II Learning Event
IFPRI Program/Country Event

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May 16 to 17, 2023

SPIR II Learning Event

May 16 and 17, 2023 (9:00am – 5:00pm Addis Ababa): The Strengthen PSNP5 Institutions and Resilience (SPIR II) Resilience Food Security Activity (RFSA) in Ethiopia is a five-year project (2021-2026) that supports implementation of the fifth phase of the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP5) in Amhara and Oromia regions and provides additional graduation model programming through complementary gender-sensitive livelihood, nutrition, and climate resilience activities to strengthen the program and expand its impacts.

Integrated Cash Transfer Programs in West Africa: How to make cash transfer programs more nutrition sensitive?
IFPRI Program/Country Event

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February 13, 2020, 2:30 – 5:30 pm

Integrated Cash Transfer Programs in West Africa: How to make cash transfer programs more nutrition sensitive?

IFPRI West and Central Africa Office and the Poverty, Health and Nutrition Division (PHND) will be hosting a policy seminar on Integrated Cash Transfer Programs in West Africa to provide evidence on the impacts of integrated programs implemented in West Africa and discuss program design and policy options to make them more nutrition-sensitive. The use […]

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News

October 22, 2019 | In the News

Cash transfers and intimate partner violence (Agrilinks)

Agrilinks reported on an IFPRI study. The authors identify three policy-relevant knowledge gaps related to the potential of transfer programs to reduce intimate partner violence, drawing on case studies from Bangladesh, Ecuador, and Mali.

February 08, 2019 | In the News

Opinion: Measuring the unintended benefits of a development program (Devex)

Devex published an op-ed by Akhter Ahmed, Melissa Hidrobo, and Shalini Roy about the additional impact development programs may have on wellbeing.  Evaluating the Transfer Modality Research initiative in Bangladesh, research showed that cash transfers and behavior change communications can reduce intimate partner violence and lead to improved nutrition knowledge. 

November 12, 2018 | In the News

How a $50-a-year nutrition program cut domestic violence in Bangladesh (Vox)

Vox published a news editorial about the ability of cash transfer initiatives to reduce rates of intimate partner violence. The article included the recent research of IFPRI research fellows Shalini Roy, Melissa Hidrobo, and Akhter Ahmed because their findings are different from past research, where they examine intimate partner violence using cash transfer programs and […]

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