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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.

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researcher spotlight

Samuel Benin

Samuel Benin is the Acting Director for Africa in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit. He conducts research on national strategies and public investment for accelerating food systems transformation in Africa and provides analytical support to the African Union’s CAADP Biennial Review.

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Nutrition, Diets, and Health

Amy Margolies

Research Fellow

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Bio

Amy Margolies is a Research Fellow in the Nutrition, Diets, and Health Unit. She has worked on diverse projects including large-scale impact evaluations of social protection and nutrition-sensitive agriculture programs, cost and cost-effectiveness analyses, and qualitative research. Amy has experience conducting research in Latin America (Brazil, Guatemala, Peru, Ecuador, Mexico), Africa (Ethiopia, Uganda, Guinea-Bissau, Malawi, Mali) and Asia (Bangladesh, India, East Timor). She received a PhD from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and holds a master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Language skills: English, Spanish, Portuguese

Publications

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Publications

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Report

Engaging women in microfinance: A qualitative study of the Programme de Microfinance Rural in Mali

2024Margolies, Amy; Heckert, Jessica; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.
Details

Engaging women in microfinance: A qualitative study of the Programme de Microfinance Rural in Mali

The Programme de Microfinance Rural (PMR) was implemented in the rural, impoverished regions of Koulikoro, Kayes, Ségou, Sikasso and Mopti in Mali with support from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). This paper shares the results of a qualitative study designed to improve understanding of the programme’s delivery and explore its impacts in terms of collective agency and efficacy, as well as the use of resources in households, with attention paid to the role of gender in addressing these issues. The findings suggest that the PMR actively engaged women and expanded access to loans through community-based credit groups. It also overcame negative community experiences with previous microfinance programmes to maintain a positive local reputation. In many cases, the PMR led to significant economic benefits for women but, in other cases, loan repayment terms posed a challenge. The collective agency of PMR credit groups built upon progress made by similar community groups in existence prior to the arrival of the PMR. The resources provided by the PMR strengthened these groups and helped enable them to expand their collective efficacy and ability to benefit the community more broadly. Women were most often the target loan recipients and frequently had a strong voice in the PMR groups, which were influential in the community. There is little evidence, however, that the PMR activities and credit group participation spilled over to strengthen either women’s political power in the community or their influence and empowerment in their own households. The paper concludes with specific recommendations for strengthening future iterations of the PMR or similar programmes.

Year published

2024

Authors

Margolies, Amy; Heckert, Jessica; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.

Citation

Margolies, Amy; Heckert, Jessica; and Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S. 2024. Engaging women in microfinance: a qualitative study of the Programme de Microfinance Rural in Mali. IFAD Research Series 94. Rome: International Fund for Agricultural Development. https://www.ifad.org/en/web/knowledge/-/research-series-94

Country/Region

Mali

Keywords

Africa; Western Africa; Households; Women; Gender; Microfinance; Women’s Participation

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Gender Equality

Record type

Report

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Brief

Resilient Cities Urban Country Profile: Rwanda

2023Margolies, Amy; Craig, Hope; Olney, Deanna
Details

Resilient Cities Urban Country Profile: Rwanda

Rwanda is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa. National strategies aim to eliminate chronic malnutrition by 2050. Overall, the country is on track for global nutrition targets for child wasting, overweight and recommended breastfeeding practices. However, there are differences in nutrition challenges between rural and urban areas. The dominance of the agricultural economy at the national level, higher poverty and stunting rates in rural areas has led to a greater focus on promoting food and nutrition security in rural areas.

Year published

2023

Authors

Margolies, Amy; Craig, Hope; Olney, Deanna

Citation

Margolies, Amy; Craig, Hope; and Olney, Deanna. 2023. Resilient Cities Urban Country Profile: Rwanda. Resilient Cities Country Profile. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

Country/Region

Rwanda

Keywords

Africa; Diet; Urban Areas; Malnutrition; Poverty; Agricultural Economics

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Resilient Cities

Record type

Brief

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Journal Article

The burdens of participation: A mixed-methods study of the effects of a nutrition-sensitive agriculture program on women’s time use in Malawi

2023Margolies, Amy; Colantuoni, Elizabeth; Morgan, Rosemary; Gelli, Aulo; Caulfield, Laura E.
Details

The burdens of participation: A mixed-methods study of the effects of a nutrition-sensitive agriculture program on women’s time use in Malawi

Development programs often rely on women’s participation. However, there is little evidence of whether development programs that engage women’s unpaid labor – particularly in care work – add to their time burdens. We tested this hypothesis on a nutrition-sensitive agriculture program delivered through community-based preschools in Malawi. The mixed-methods study was conducted over one year using data from 1,168 female caregivers from a cluster-randomized control trial. A longitudinal binomial logistic regression model was used to estimate the proportion of time spent caregiving in a 24-hour period (expressed as minutes) at baseline and then separately for each treatment group at 6-months and 1-year post-randomization. In addition, two rounds of 38 qualitative in-depth interviews (n = 76) were conducted with women, men and adolescent girls to explore their perceptions of program activities, time use and gender attitudes. We found that the program quantitatively increased daily caregiving time for participating women by approximately 30 min. However, this effect occurred only during the lean season when preschool scale-up investments increased. Qualitatively, program-related tasks were not considered burdensome. Moreover, participants saw contributions as important investments in their children’s development. These findings add to limited evidence of the impacts of nutrition-sensitive agricultural programs and early childhood interventions on women’s time use. Measuring women’s participation through mixed-method evaluations can aid interpretation to avoid harm and to better understand the tradeoffs of women’s time.

Year published

2023

Authors

Margolies, Amy; Colantuoni, Elizabeth; Morgan, Rosemary; Gelli, Aulo; Caulfield, Laura E.

Citation

Margolies, Amy; Colantuoni, Elizabeth; Morgan, Rosemary; Gelli, Aulo; and Caulfield, Laura E. 2023. The burdens of participation: A mixed-methods study of the effects of a nutrition-sensitive agriculture program on women’s time use in Malawi. World Development 163(March 2023): 106122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2022.106122

Country/Region

Malawi

Keywords

Southern Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Africa; Eastern Africa; Women’s Participation; Participation; Mixed Model Method; Nutrition-sensitive Agriculture; Time Use Patterns; Programmes; Child Development; Gender; Unpaid Work; Care Work; Nutrition; Agriculture; Development

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2022.106122 Source record

Project

Gender Equality

Record type

Journal Article

Blogs

Making a Difference: Childcare centers as a platform for improving child nutrition in Malawi
IFPRI Blog
 | 
May 16, 2023

Making a Difference: Childcare centers as a platform for improving child nutrition in Malawi

By Aulo Gelli, Amy Margolies, and Brian McNamara

Education programs for parents yield continuing benefits.

Investing in nutrition through early childhood development in Malawi: Assessing costs and benefits
IFPRI Blog
 | 
November 10, 2020

Investing in nutrition through early childhood development in Malawi: Assessing costs and benefits

By Aulo Gelli, Amy Margolies, Christopher Kemp, Carol Levin, and Natasha Ledlie

The SEEMS-Nutrition initiative offers a set of tools for project evaluations.