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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

Loty Diop

Loty Diop is a Senior Research Analyst in the Nutrition, Health, and Diets Unit, based in Dakar, Senegal, where she works on projects that tackle food security and acute malnutrition. These projects involve assessing the nutritional status and micronutrient adequacy of the diets of vulnerable populations, as well as conducting in-depth analyses of the food environment.

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What we do

Since 1975, IFPRI’s research has been informing policies and development programs to improve food security, nutrition, and livelihoods around the world.

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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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partnerships

The CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH), led by IFPRI, is dedicated to improving agriculture development and nutrition among the global poor. A4NH helps realize the potential of agricultural development to deliver gender-equitable health and nutritional benefits to the poor. A4NH was created to help ensure that agricultural practices, interventions, and policies will maximize health and nutrition benefits, while also reducing health risks.

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Projects

Nudging for Good: A.I.-driven diagnostics and behavior change to improve diets and nutrition

Nudging for Good: A.I.-driven diagnostics and behavior change to improve diets and nutrition

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Operational Research for WFP’s Food assistance for Assets (FFA) Program in Sri Lanka

Operational Research for WFP’s Food assistance for Assets (FFA) Program in Sri Lanka

Background: The World Food Programme (WFP) and IFPRI have been collaborating for several years to increase the impacts of WFP’s programs on diet, nutrition and……

Applying New Evidence for Women’s Empowerment (ANEW)

Applying New Evidence for Women’s Empowerment (ANEW)

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Publications

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Working Paper

Leveraging the role of MSMEs for healthier diets and nutrition: Insights from fruit and vegetable value chain studies across five countries

2024Nguyen, Trang; Termeer, Emma; Berkhout, Ezra; Mekonnen, Daniel Ayalew; Dijkxhoorn, Youri; de Steenhuijsen Pieters, Bart
Details

Leveraging the role of MSMEs for healthier diets and nutrition: Insights from fruit and vegetable value chain studies across five countries

In most low and middle-income countries (LMICs) the food system falls short in providing sufficient amounts of healthy foods to a burgeoning population. The growing awareness of how food systems are stressing planetary boundaries and failing to provide sustainable healthy diets and livelihoods has prompted the widespread call to transform the global food system (Béné 2022; FAO et al. 2020, 2024; Webb et al. 2020). Transforming food systems requires engaging various groups of actors with diverse perspectives and challenges (Leeuwis et al. 2021), including setting up alliances with the informal sector (Brouwer & Ruben 2021) and a strengthened focus on the role of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Globally, MSMEs represent about 90 percent of all businesses and account for 60 to 70 percent of employment and 50 percent of GDP. In the current food system, by being present at all value chain stages and better linking small-scale farmers to markets, MSMEs can offer affordable food to both urban and rural areas, create jobs and opportunities for young and female entrepreneurs, and support sustainable, circular food practices (IFAD 2021). These promises can be fulfilled if certain barriers that can hinder their contributions, such as high rates of food loss and waste (FLW), food safety concerns, and the uncertain informal context in which the majority of them operate are addressed (Termeer et al. 2024).

Year published

2024

Authors

Nguyen, Trang; Termeer, Emma; Berkhout, Ezra; Mekonnen, Daniel Ayalew; Dijkxhoorn, Youri; de Steenhuijsen Pieters, Bart

Citation

Nguyen, Trang; Termeer, Emma; Berkhout, Ezra; Mekonnen, Daniel Ayalew; Dijkxhoorn, Youri; and de Steenhuijsen Pieters, Bart. 2024. Leveraging the role of MSMEs for healthier diets and nutrition: Insights from fruit and vegetable value chain studies across five countries. SHiFT Working Paper December 2024. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/168852

Country/Region

Benin; Ethiopia; Philippines; Vietnam

Keywords

Tanzania; Western Africa; Eastern Africa; South-eastern Asia; Africa; Asia; Food Systems; Small and Medium Enterprises; Sustainability; Healthy Diets; Value Chains; Fruits; Vegetables; Food Environment; Markets

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Sustainable Healthy Diets

Record type

Working Paper

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Report

Capacity assessment to support food systems transformation towards sustainable healthy diets in Bangladesh: Exploring the capabilities of the SHiFT strategic partners

2024Namugumya, Brenda S.; Abedin, Jainal; Herens, Marion
Details

Capacity assessment to support food systems transformation towards sustainable healthy diets in Bangladesh: Exploring the capabilities of the SHiFT strategic partners

Strengthening the multidisciplinary capabilities necessary to accelerate food systems transformation has garnered increased interest over the past decade. A capabilities assessment was done with the Strategic Partners of the CGIAR Research Initiative on Sustainable Healthy Diets through Food Systems Transformation in Bangladesh to understand their abilities to facilitate transformative changes towards sustainable healthy diets. Both Strategic Partners, the Food Planning and Monitoring Unit (FPMU) and the Bangladesh National Nutrition Council (BNNC), have long histories and well-established structures for collaboration and coordination with diverse stakeholders to realize the nutrition-focused (BNNC) and the food-related (FPMU) ambitions of the Government of Bangladesh. They are engaged in food and/or nutrition policy development, governance of the sectors, and monitoring progress at both national and sub-national levels. Using a capability assessment tool tailored to capturing food systems transformation capabilities at organizational level, the capabilities to deliver results and adapt and self-renew were the highest scored for FPMU. BNNC scored more on the capabilities to achieve coherence and to relate to support food systems transformation higher. However, food systems transformation and sustainable healthy diets emerged as relatively new concepts in both organizations. It was acknowledged that whereas the current mandates of BNNC and FPMU may address issues relevant for sustainable healthy diets, to date this still lacks adequate translation into the current policy development and planning operations and has no intentional prioritization. Both teams underscored the urgency to invest in human resources and institutional capacity strengthening as well as earmarking finances to pursue food systems transformation agendas. Becoming more articulated and explicit about what comprises food systems change, what are sustainable healthy diets and what could be monitored is crucial to support the Strategic Partners to have tangible actions to track. Moving from food system narratives to specific actions will facilitate understanding of what is, or needs to be, monitored.

Year published

2024

Authors

Namugumya, Brenda S.; Abedin, Jainal; Herens, Marion

Citation

Namugumya, Brenda S.; Abedin, Jainal; and Herens, Marion. 2024. Capacity assessment to support food systems transformation towards sustainable healthy diets in Bangladesh: Exploring the capabilities of the SHiFT strategic partners. SHiFT Report September 2024. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/169013

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Capacity Building; Sustainability; Healthy Diets; Food Systems

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Sustainable Healthy Diets

Record type

Report

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Working Paper

Capabilities assessment to support food systems transformation towards sustainable healthy diets in Viet Nam

2024Namugumya, Brenda S.; Herens, Marion; Kruft, Krista; de Groote, Bram; Tuyen, Huynh Thi Thanh; Huong, Pham Thi Mai; Thanh, Duong Thi
Details

Capabilities assessment to support food systems transformation towards sustainable healthy diets in Viet Nam

Collaborative governance processes are increasingly recognized as critical for normative food systems transformation (FST) globally. For instance, collective action and multistakeholder partnerships is one of the main levers of change stated in Viet Nam’s “National Action Plan on Food Systems Transformation in Viet Nam towards Transparency, Responsibility, and Sustainability by 2030” (FST-NAP). The collaborative processes bring together government, private actors and citizens in collective forums and networks to engage in long-term goal-oriented decision making and implementation, for example, change towards sustainable healthy diets and better planetary health for all populations (Ansell and Gash 2008). Forming and maintaining collaborative governance processes entail navigating different challenges attributed to the inherently dynamic nature of such partnerships.

Year published

2024

Authors

Namugumya, Brenda S.; Herens, Marion; Kruft, Krista; de Groote, Bram; Tuyen, Huynh Thi Thanh; Huong, Pham Thi Mai; Thanh, Duong Thi

Citation

Namugumya, Brenda S.; Herens, Marion; Kruft, Krista; de Groote, Bram; Tuyen, Huynh Thi Thanh; Huong, Pham Thi Mai; and Thanh, Duong Thi. 2024. Capabilities assessment to support food systems transformation towards sustainable healthy diets in Viet Nam. SHiFT Working Paper September 2024. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/169021

Country/Region

Vietnam

Keywords

Asia; South-eastern Asia; Capacity Building; Food Systems; Sustainability; Healthy Diets

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Sustainable Healthy Diets

Record type

Working Paper

Events

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: Reflections from a Career in Research for Development
IFPRI Policy Seminar

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November 22, 2021, 9:30 – 11:00 am

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: Reflections from a Career in Research for Development

Virtual Event: Nov 22, 2021 – 09:30 AM to 11:00 AM EST. This special event will present experiences and insights gained over four decades of research, including reflections on academia and development in Africa. 

Food systems lessons from COVID-19: From understanding fragilities to building resilience
IFPRI Policy Seminar

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March 2, 2021, 9:30 – 11:00 am

Food systems lessons from COVID-19: From understanding fragilities to building resilience

COVID-19’s impacts on our global food system have affected the food security and nutritional wellbeing of millions of people worldwide, with market closures, supply disruptions, and income and employment losses. Understanding the extent and nature of these impacts will be critical to building resilience to future shocks. At this seminar, researchers from the CGIAR COVID-19 Hub […]

Virtual Event - COVID-19’s Short-term Impacts on Economies, Food Systems and Poverty in African and Asian Countries: Economywide Estimates from Economywide Models
IFPRI Policy Seminar

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August 11, 2020, 9:30 – 10:45 am

Virtual Event – COVID-19’s Short-term Impacts on Economies, Food Systems and Poverty in African and Asian Countries: Economywide Estimates from Economywide Models

Using economywide models, presenters discuss the varied effects of different policies and economic structures on food systems and poverty during COVID-19 in Nigeria, Myanmar, and Sudan.
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Blogs

World Food Safety Day 2024: Empowering consumers and small businesses with information
IFPRI Blog
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June 06, 2024

World Food Safety Day 2024: Empowering consumers and small businesses with information

By Vivian Hoffmann

Targeting interventions to benefit public health.

Adapt, assess, progress: Integrating measures of women’s empowerment into rural development projects
IFPRI Blog
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May 13, 2024

Adapt, assess, progress: Integrating measures of women’s empowerment into rural development projects

By Carlo Azzarri, Sedi-Anne Boukaka, Jessica Heckert, Ruth Meinzen-Dick, Greg Seymour, and Sara Savastano

A new tool developed by IFPRI and IFAD.

Introducing the Women’s Empowerment Metric for National Statistical Systems (WEMNS)
IFPRI Blog
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October 13, 2023

Introducing the Women’s Empowerment Metric for National Statistical Systems (WEMNS)

By Emily Myers, Jessica Heckert, Ruth Meinzen-Dick, Hazel Malapit, Greg Seymour, and Agnes Quisumbing

A new tool to address the gender data gap in agricultural development.

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