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What we do

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.

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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Research by country and region

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TOPIC

Resilience

Economic, climate, and health shocks as well as conflict can be devastating for poor and vulnerable people who have limited resources and options. These shocks include food price hikes and financial crises, environmental and natural disasters, armed and political conflicts, and disease outbreaks. They can intensify the risk of food and nutrition insecurity, drive people into poverty or prevent them from moving out of poverty, and spur migration. Building resilience means helping individuals, households, communities, and countries prepare for, mitigate, cope with, and recover from shocks—so that they can not only bounce back but even become better off.

IFPRI’s resilience research examines the impact of different shocks and explores possible interventions to enhance human capital, policies for responding to and recovering from crises, and ways to create resilient food systems, economies, and societies. This includes extensive work on climate change, food prices, migration, and crises, including COVID-19 and the food, fuel, and fertilizer price increases associated with the Russia-Ukraine war. Research on women’s empowerment and gender equity also contributes to understanding resilience.

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IFPRI’s research on this topic is closely aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG1, SDG2, SDG9, and SDG11, and with the CGIAR Impact Areas on Nutrition, Health, and Food Security; Poverty Reduction, Livelihoods, and Jobs; Climate Adaptation and Mitigation; and Gender Equality, Youth, and Social Inclusion.

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topics

Publications

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Report

Impacts of Africa RISING in Ghana

2024Haile, Beliyou; Azzarri, Carlo; Castaing, Pauline; Kizito, Fred; Vitellozzi, Sveva; Boukaka, Sedi-Anne
Details

Impacts of Africa RISING in Ghana

Sustainable intensification (SI) of the smallholder sector in Africa south of the Sahara is among the approaches pursued to build resilient food systems that can supply nutritionally adequate food in the face of rapid population growth and climatic changes. This study assesses the impact of Africa RISING, an SI program in Ghana implemented in the poorest and most food insecure areas of the country since 2012. The program first validated and then scaled up a wide range of SI interventions focused on improved agronomic management and crop cultivars; improved livestock feed, housing conditions, and species; crop-livestock integration; integrated natural resource management; vegetable production and nutritional education; and small-scale mechanization. Impact is estimated using two rounds of quasi-experimental panel data (conducted in 2014 and 2020), propensity score matching, and difference-indifferences techniques. The study design allows us to estimate the impact of Africa RISING by comparing outcomes among program beneficiaries with those of two different control groups—one residing in program villages (within village comparison) and another in non-program (control) villages (out-of-village comparison) on several indicators across five SI domains—environment, productivity, economic, human, and social. We also conduct a placebo test comparing non-beneficiaries in the two control groups. Results from panel data analyses show improvements in several indicators in the environmental and productivity domains. We also find a positive impact on use of conservation practices (fallowing, disc/moldboard ploughing, manure), groundnut yield, livestock, net crop income, and women’s likelihood of becoming members of farmers groups relative to non-beneficiaries. We do not find a statistically significant effect on consumption- and asset-based poverty rates, household dietary diversity, and several indicators of maternal and child nutrition. For both beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries, the share of monetary-based non-poor, dietary diversity, and food security have declined between baseline (2014) and follow-up (2020) likely due COVID-19. Our study highlights useful empirical lessons learned for informing future program design and impact assessments.

Year published

2024

Authors

Haile, Beliyou; Azzarri, Carlo; Castaing, Pauline; Kizito, Fred; Vitellozzi, Sveva; Boukaka, Sedi-Anne

Citation

Haile, Beliyou; Azzarri, Carlo; Castaing, Pauline; Kizito, Fred; Vitellozzi, Sveva; and Boukaka, Sedi-Anne. 2024. Impacts of Africa RISING in Ghana. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148741

Country/Region

Ghana

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Western Africa; Impact Assessment; Sustainable Intensification; Smallholders; Resilience; Food Systems; Climate Change

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Policies, Institutions, and Markets

Record type

Report

Resource thumbnail

Report

Impacts of Africa RISING in Tanzania

2024Haile, Beliyou; Azzarri, Carlo; Tzintzun, Ivan; Boukaka, Sedi-Anne; Vitellozzi, Sveva
Details

Impacts of Africa RISING in Tanzania

Sustainable intensification (SI) of the smallholder sector in Africa south of the Sahara is among the approaches pursued to build resilient food systems that can supply nutritionally adequate food in the face of rapid population growth and climatic changes. This study assesses the impact of an SI program in Tanzania implemented in the poorest and most food insecure areas of the country since 2012. The program first validated and then scaled up a wide range of SI interventions focused on improved agronomic management and crop cultivars; improved livestock feed, housing conditions, and species; crop-livestock integration; integrated natural resource management; vegetable production and nutritional education; and small-scale mechanization. Impact is estimated on several SI indicators and domains using two rounds of quasi-experimental panel data (conducted in 2014 and 2022), propensity score matching, and difference-in-differences techniques. The study design allows us to estimate the impact of Africa RISING by comparing outcomes among program beneficiaries with two different counterfactual groups—one located inside program villages (within-village comparison) and another in non-program (control) villages (out-of-village comparison)—on several indicators across five SI domains environment, productivity, economic, human, and social. We also conduct a placebo test comparing non-beneficiaries in the two counterfactual groups. Results from panel data analyses show improvements in several indicators in the environmental and productivity domains. We also find positive impact of participation in Africa RISING on several indicators under all the considered domains: beneficiaries were less likely to experience soil erosion, used more inputs (fertilizers, pesticides, and seeds) per hectare, obtained higher legume yields, were more likely to produce meat and dairy, reported higher net livestock income, and experienced fewer months of food insecurity. Estimates based on within-village, out-of-village, overall, and placebo comparisons suggest important insights about the challenges in assessing the impact of agricultural programs in general and, specifically, participatory multi-intervention programs in the presence of sample (self-)selection and spillovers. Our study highlights useful empirical lessons learned for informing future program design and impact assessments.

Year published

2024

Authors

Haile, Beliyou; Azzarri, Carlo; Tzintzun, Ivan; Boukaka, Sedi-Anne; Vitellozzi, Sveva

Citation

Haile, Beliyou; Azzarri, Carlo; Boukaka, Sedi-Anne; Tzintzun, Ivan; and Vitellozzi, Sveva. 2024. Impacts of Africa RISING in Tanzania. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148751

Keywords

Tanzania; Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Impact Assessment; Sustainable Intensification; Smallholders; Resilience; Food Systems; Climatic Change

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Policies, Institutions, and Markets

Record type

Report

Resource thumbnail

Brief

Household resilience and coping strategies to food insecurity: An empirical analysis from Tajikistan

2024Rajiv, Sharanya; Aliev, Jovidon
Details

Household resilience and coping strategies to food insecurity: An empirical analysis from Tajikistan

Resilience Index Measurement Analysis (RIMA) is applied to panel household survey data from 2007, 2009, and 2011 in Tajikistan to investigate the causal impact of household resilience on food security in the presence of coping strategies. Key findings • Three significant factors define household resilience capacity: access to basic services, including affordable energy supply; assets; and social safety nets. The latter two factors underscore the importance of formal and informal transfers as effective responses when shocks intensify. • Coping strategies allow households to quickly adjust their behavior to adapt to shocks in the short-term, potentially enhancing their overall resilience in the long-term. • Resilience capacity at a given point in time enhances households’ future food security. Households with higher resilience capacity are likely to have a higher household food expenditure share (HFES) and less likely to face loss of food expenditure share, particularly due to the protective effect of resilience when shocks intensify. • While households with an older head have higher food expenditure share, households with a male head and/or located in rural areas are less likely to face a worsening household food expenditure share. • As household size increases, the household food expenditure share initially decreases but eventually increases at a gradual pace. Conversely, as size increases, households are initially less likely to experience loss of HFES, but this likelihood eventually increases.

Year published

2024

Authors

Rajiv, Sharanya; Aliev, Jovidon

Citation

Rajiv, Sharanya; and Aliev, Jovidon. 2024. Household resilience and coping strategies to food insecurity: An empirical analysis from Tajikistan. Central Asia Policy Brief 13. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute.

Country/Region

Tajikistan

Keywords

Central Asia; Asia; Resilience; Food Security; Energy Consumption; Social Safety Nets; Assets; Households; Financial Institutions

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Climate Resilience

Record type

Brief

Blogs

Shaping the future of agrifood systems: Insights from an Avanzar2030 workshop in Costa Rica
IFPRI Blog
 | 
June 20, 2024

Shaping the future of agrifood systems: Insights from an Avanzar2030 workshop in Costa Rica

By Daniela Salas, Mali Eber Rose, and Brian McNamara

Surfacing the most promising innovations.

Tackling gender inequality in a climate-changed world: How agrifood and social protection systems can empower women and girls to build climate resilience
IFPRI Blog
 | 
June 18, 2024

Tackling gender inequality in a climate-changed world: How agrifood and social protection systems can empower women and girls to build climate resilience

By Clara Ceravolo, Ilaria Sisto, Lauren Whitehead, Matthew Walsham, Morane Verhoeven, and Shalini Roy

Five key ways to promote adaptation.

Sudan food emergency: Unpacking the scale of the disaster and the actions needed
IFPRI Blog
 | 
June 14, 2024

Sudan food emergency: Unpacking the scale of the disaster and the actions needed

By Oliver Kiptoo Kirui

More than 20 million face acute food insecurity.

Events

The Unjust Climate: Measuring the impacts of climate change on rural poor, women, and youth
IFPRI Policy Seminar

 | 

June 18, 2024, 9:30 – 11:00 am

The Unjust Climate: Measuring the impacts of climate change on rural poor, women, and youth

Virtual Event: June 18, 2024 at 9:30am-11:00am EDT. This event will discuss key results from the report and hear from policymakers, practitioners, and partners on how they are working to generate relevant evidence and make a difference on the ground.   

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.

High-Level Partners Roundtable: Keys to strengthening institutions and investments in climate-smart agri-food systems to improve smallholder livelihoods in Africa
IFPRI at External Event

 | 

April 9, 2024, 5:30 – 7:00 pm

High-Level Partners Roundtable: Keys to strengthening institutions and investments in climate-smart agri-food systems to improve smallholder livelihoods in Africa

In-Person Special Event: April 9, 2024 – 4:30 PM- 6:00 PM EDT. In this roundtable, speakers will reflect on the broader context of food systems transformation, emphasizing the importance of partnerships, learning, and actionable insights in addressing food insecurity and climate resilience in Africa.

News

June 21, 2023 | Press Release

WFP resilience programmes in Sahel act as buffer against instability, build peace and social cohesion – study finds

DAKAR – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)’s efforts to build resilience to climate-related and human-made shocks and stressors have been shown to boost food security, while also strengthening social cohesion and improving the prospects for peace in Burkina Faso and Niger – a new study reveals.  The “Sahel Social Cohesion Research in Burkina […]

April 19, 2023 | In the News

Crisis resilience ‘critical’ to stem rising hunger (SciDev.Net)

“A shift towards permanent ‘crisis resilience’ from short-term aid is crucial to mitigate increasingly frequent shocks to the global food system and tackle rising global hunger, say food policy researchers,” writes SciDev.Net in a piece featuring IFPRI’s 2023 Global Food Policy Research.  “Crises, shocks, and volatility are no longer exceptions and may become the new normal,” says Johan Swinnen, […]

October 17, 2022 | Press Release

Agricultural information systems continue to fail women—Videos can make a difference

Nairobi: Over 80 participants gathered today in Nairobi for an event entitled ‘Reaching Small-Scale Women Farmers with Innovative Climate Resilience Strategies.’ The discussion focused on the challenges reported by women farmers in Kenya when it comes to accessing agricultural information, how these challenges intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, and possible approaches that could bridge this […]

Our experts

Deanna Olney

Deanna Olney

Director, Nutrition, Diets, and Health (NDH), Nutrition,
Diets, and Health

Claudia Ringler

Claudia Ringler

Director, Natural Resources and Resilience (NRR), Natural
Resources and Resilience

David Spielman

David Spielman

Director, Innovation Policy and Scaling (IPS), Innovation
Policy and Scaling

James Thurlow

James Thurlow

Director, Foresight and Policy Modeling (FPM), Foresight
and Policy Modeling

Carlo Azzarri

Carlo Azzarri

Senior Research Fellow, Innovation
Policy and Scaling

Francisco Ceballos

Francisco Ceballos

Research Fellow, Markets,
Trade, and Institutions, Latin America and the Caribbean

Nina Jovanovic

Nina Jovanovic

Associate Research Fellow, Development
Strategies and Governance

Katrina Kosec

Katrina Kosec

Senior Research Fellow, Poverty,
Gender, and Inclusion

Berber Kramer

Berber Kramer

Senior Research Fellow, Markets,
Trade, and Institutions

Shreya Kapoor

Shreya Kapoor

Research Analyst, Development
Strategies and Governance