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Who we are

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

Agnes Quisumbing

Agnes Quisumbing is a Senior Research Fellow in the Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit. She co-leads a research program that examines how closing the gap between men’s and women’s ownership and control of assets may lead to better development outcomes.

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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experts

Nutrition, Diets, and Health

Neha Kumar

Senior Research Fellow

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Bio

Neha Kumar is a Senior Research Fellow in the Nutrition, Diets, and Health Unit at IFPRI. Neha is an economist by training and has an accumulated expertise that spans the diverse sectors of agriculture, social protection, gender, and nutrition-focused programs. Since joining IFPRI, she has been involved in several complex and multidimensional impact evaluations, including social protection programs like the Productive Safety Net Program in Ethiopia, agriculture-nutrition interventions such as the HarvestPlus-funded biofortified Orange Sweet Potato program in Uganda and Mozambique and the Improved Vegetables and Fish Technology Intervention in Bangladesh. She has expertise and substantial experience with using state-of-the-art econometric techniques for impact evaluation. Neha holds a PhD in Economics from Boston University.

Languages spoken: English, Hindi

Publications

RePEc Author Profile

LinkedIn Profile

Publications

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Working Paper

Social protection and gender: policy, practice and research

2024Hidrobo, Melissa; Peterman, Amber; Kumar, Neha; Lambon-Quayefio, Monica; Roy, Shalini; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Paz, Flor
Details

Social protection and gender: policy, practice and research

Gender considerations in the design and delivery of social protection programs are critical to meet overall objectives of reducing poverty and vulnerability. We provide an overview of the policy discourse and research on social protection and gender in low- and middle-income countries, focusing on social assistance, social care, and social insurance. Taking a ‘review of reviews’ approach, we aggregate findings from rigorous evaluations on women’s health, economic, empowerment, and violence impacts. We show there is robust evidence that social assistance has beneficial effects across all four domains. In addition, there is emerging evidence that social care has positive impacts on women’s economic outcomes, but scarce evidence of its impacts on other domains. Aggregated evidence on the impacts of social insurance are lacking. Key design elements facilitating positive impacts for women relate to gender targeting; quality complementary programming; replacing conditionalities with soft nudges; ensuring the value, frequency, and duration of benefits are sufficient; and gender-sensitive operational components. We close with a discussion of evidence gaps and priorities for future research.

Year published

2024

Authors

Hidrobo, Melissa; Peterman, Amber; Kumar, Neha; Lambon-Quayefio, Monica; Roy, Shalini; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Paz, Flor

Citation

Hidrobo, Melissa; Peterman, Amber; Kumar, Neha; Lambon-Quayefio, Monica; Roy, Shalini; Gilligan, Daniel O.; and Paz, Flor. 2024. Social protection and gender: policy, practice and research. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2257. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/144240

Keywords

Gender; Poverty; Social Protection; Vulnerability; Women’s Empowerment

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Gender Equality

Record type

Working Paper

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Book Chapter

Demand-side approaches: Supporting healthier food choices

2024Kim, Sunny S.; Koyratty, Nadia; Blake, Christine E.; Kumar, Neha
Details

Demand-side approaches: Supporting healthier food choices

Understanding individual food choices and their net aggregate — which constitutes demand — is essential for any effort to reshape food systems to achieve broad nutrition and sustainability goals. This chapter presents an overview of food choice and consumer food demand in complex food systems, provides a summary of evidence for demand-side approaches to improve the healthfulness of diets, and identifies key areas where demand-side approaches can foster healthier food choices to achieve optimal health and nutrition.

Year published

2024

Authors

Kim, Sunny S.; Koyratty, Nadia; Blake, Christine E.; Kumar, Neha

Citation

Kim, Sunny S.; Koyratty, Nadia; Blake, Christine E.; and Kumar, Neha. 2024. Demand-side approaches: Supporting healthier food choices. In Global food policy report 2024: Food systems for healthy diets and nutrition. Chapter 3, Pp. 26-35. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/141884

Keywords

Demand; Health Foods; Feeding Preferences; Programmes; Healthy Diets

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Book Chapter

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Brief

Improving fruit and vegetable intake and production in Tanzania: An evaluation of the FRESH end-to-end approach

2023Bliznashka, Lilia; Kumar, Neha; Kinabo, Joyce; Mwombeki, Wiston; Hess, Sonja; Marshall, Quinn; Azupogo, Fusta; Olney, Deanna
Details

Improving fruit and vegetable intake and production in Tanzania: An evaluation of the FRESH end-to-end approach

Poor diets are a primary cause of malnutrition and the leading cause of disease worldwide. Improving diets, including increasing fruit and vegetable (F&V) intake, could save one in five lives annually. Micronutrients are essential for health; those obtained from F&Vs have a lower environmental footprint than those obtained from other foods making F&Vs essential to sustainable healthy diets. Globally, F&V intake is below recommended levels. However, the extent and nature of the problem is poorly understood due to insufficient data on dietary intake and food environments, especially in low- and middle-income countries. More than 3 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet. Often, F&V are among the least affordable foods. Even when F&V are accessible and affordable, intake is too low6 highlighting the role of desirability in F&V intake. Solutions for improving diet quality, in part by increasing F&V intake, will need to be multifaceted and interconnected. Solutions should start with understanding dietary patterns, and addressing barriers across desirability, accessibility, affordability, and availability using an end-to-end approach.

Year published

2023

Authors

Bliznashka, Lilia; Kumar, Neha; Kinabo, Joyce; Mwombeki, Wiston; Hess, Sonja; Marshall, Quinn; Azupogo, Fusta; Olney, Deanna

Citation

Bliznashka, Lilia; Kumar, Neha; Kinabo, Joyce; Mwombeki, Wiston; Hess, Sonja; Marshall, Quinn; Azupogo, Fusta; and Olney, Deanna. 2023. Improving fruit and vegetable intake and production in Tanzania: An evaluation of the FRESH end-to-end approach. FRESH Research Brief 1. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute.

Keywords

Tanzania; Africa; Eastern Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Capacity Development; Fruits; Vegetables; Diet; Nutrition

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Fruit and Vegetables for Sustainable Healthy Diets

Record type

Brief

Blogs

Why gender-sensitive social protection is critical to the COVID-19 response in low- and middle-income countries
IFPRI Blog
 | 
April 28, 2020

Why gender-sensitive social protection is critical to the COVID-19 response in low- and middle-income countries

By Melissa Hidrobo, Neha Kumar, Tia Palermo, Amber Peterman, and Shalini Roy

Governments ramping up pandemic assistance programs must take care to see they don't widen inequalities. 

Why gender matters in COVID-19 responses – now and in the future
IFPRI Blog
 | 
April 22, 2020

Why gender matters in COVID-19 responses – now and in the future

By Agnes Quisumbing, Neha Kumar, Ruth Meinzen-Dick, and Claudia Ringler

In low- and middle-income countries, women are key to practical efforts to limit the spread of coronavirus—but face many obstacles men do not.

International Women's Day: Self-help groups aid communication, empowerment in India
IFPRI Blog
 | 
March 08, 2018

International Women’s Day: Self-help groups aid communication, empowerment in India

By Neha Kumar, Kalyani Raghunathan, and Agnes Quisumbing

How rural women activists are bringing about change from the ground up.

Events

32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists
IFPRI at External Event

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August 2 to 7, 2024

32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists

The triennial International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE-2024), centred on the theme “Transformation Towards Sustainable Agri-Food Systems” is scheduled from August 2-7, 2024, in New Delhi, India. The conference offers a distinctive platform, providing a golden opportunity for the agricultural academic institutions and researchers to convene in person, exchange knowledge, and actively contribute to the […]

GFPR Southeast Asia Launch: IFPRI’s 2024 Global Food Policy Report on Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Nutrition
Series/Special Event

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July 18, 2024, 10:00 – 11:00 am

GFPR Southeast Asia Launch: IFPRI’s 2024 Global Food Policy Report on Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Nutrition

Click HERE to join the IFPRI-ADB Event on IFPRI’s 2024 GFPR on July 18, 2024 from 10:00am to 11:00am Manila time (GMT+8) / July 17, 2024 from 10:00pm to 11:00pm Washington, DC time (EDT). This event, co-organized by the Asian Development Bank and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) will present an overview of […]

GFPR Southeast Asia Launch: Improving Diets and Nutrition through Food Systems: What Will it Take?
Series/Special Event

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July 17, 2024, 7:30 – 3:00 pm

GFPR Southeast Asia Launch: Improving Diets and Nutrition through Food Systems: What Will it Take?

Across Southeast Asia, the double burden of malnutrition—hunger and micronutrient deficiencies, plus overweight and obesity—is widely evident, and is driven by unhealthy diets. Fruits and vegetables are an important part of healthy diets, but consumption of these healthy foods falls well below recommended levels across the region. The drivers of poor diets include the relatively […]