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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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Yalew Mekonnen Marilign

Research Officer

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Bio

Yalew Mekonnen is a Research Officer in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. His research interests cover rural development, agriculture value chains, women’s empowerment, and welfare. Yalew holds an advanced master’s degree in international and development economics from the University of Namur, Belgium, and a master of science degree in economics from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.

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Publications

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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

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Working Paper

Small-scale irrigation protects farmers from climate-extreme events: Insights from the 2015/2016 ENSO in Ethiopia

2024Mekonnen, Dawit Kelemework; Mekonnen, Yalew; Warner, James; Ringler, Claudia
Details

Small-scale irrigation protects farmers from climate-extreme events: Insights from the 2015/2016 ENSO in Ethiopia

The El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) weather event of 2015/16 caused severe drought conditions in northern and central Ethiopia affecting the welfare of millions of farmers in late 2015 and early 2016. Using nationally representative panel data collected in 2012 and 2016 and recent advances in the difference-indifferences literature, this paper explores the effects of the 2015/16 drought and the potential role of irrigation in reducing the adverse effects of the drought. We find that the drought caused, on average, a 37 percent reduction in net annual crop income, an 8 percent decline in area cultivated, a 3 percent decline in household dietary diversity score, and a 10 percent decline in the share of harvest sold for rainfed farmers. On the other hand, irrigating farmers affected by the drought managed to increase their daily expenditures by 72 percent of their average daily food expenditure in the pre-drought period, and maintained their net crop income, size of cultivated land, household dietary diversity, and share of harvest sold to the market. Overall, while rainfed agricultural producers suffered sharp declines in welfare, those farmers with access to irrigation maintained their economic status. The results suggest that irrigation protected farmers from the adverse effects of the 2015/16 ENSO event and given increasing climate variability in Ethiopia, the government should intensify its investment and support to irrigation development in the country.

Year published

2024

Authors

Mekonnen, Dawit Kelemework; Mekonnen, Yalew; Warner, James; Ringler, Claudia

Citation

Mekonnen, Dawit K.; Mekonnen, Yalew; Warner, James; and Ringler, Claudia. 2024. Small-scale irrigation protects farmers from climate-extreme events: Insights from the 2015/2016 ENSO in Ethiopia. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2242. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/139780

Country/Region

Ethiopia

Keywords

Africa; Eastern Africa; Drought; Irrigation; Resilience; Farmers

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

NEXUS Gains

Record type

Working Paper

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Working Paper

The digital divide in rural Ethiopia: Determinants and implications of sex-disaggregated mobile phone ownership and use

2023Warner, James M.; Mekonnen, Yalew; Habte, Yetimwork
Details

The digital divide in rural Ethiopia: Determinants and implications of sex-disaggregated mobile phone ownership and use

Mobile phones are rapidly being adopted in less developed countries, with widely acknowledged commensurate socio-economic benefits, including United Nations SDGs advocating for increased ownership of mobile phones to promote women’s empowerment. While overall mobile phone ownership is rising quickly in Ethiopia, it is lagging for rural women, particularly married rural women. Overall, we find that married men are approximately five times more likely to own a phone than their wives even though married women with phones are more active in agricultural decision making. This lack of female mobile phone ownership should be considered within the broader context of several recent Ethiopian digital initiatives, including mobile banking and mobile payments. These initiatives are likely to provide greater benefits to those individuals that own a mobile phone. By applying gender analysis to phone ownership, we believe that we can anticipate some potentially unexpected negative consequences for women created by these mobile phone initiatives. This paper outlines current rural sex-disaggregated phone ownership trends, determinants of phone ownership, and related impacts on intrahousehold decision making. We believe that by identifying these gender differences in mobile phone ownership, policymakers can better target their digital economy initiatives.

Year published

2023

Authors

Warner, James M.; Mekonnen, Yalew; Habte, Yetimwork

Citation

Warner, James; Mekonnen, Yalew; and Habte, Yetimwork. 2023. The digital divide in rural Ethiopia: Determinants and implications of sex-disaggregated mobile phone ownership and use. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2196. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.136868

Country/Region

Ethiopia

Keywords

Eastern Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Africa; Innovation; Women’s Empowerment; Gender; Sustainable Development Goals; Households; Socioeconomic Development; Agriculture; Developing Countries; Marriage; Decision Making; Rural Areas; Women

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Links

https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.136868 Source record

Project

Agriculture for Nutrition and Health

Record type

Working Paper