Throughout her career, Ruth Meinzen-Dick has made pathbreaking contributions to natural resource management and gender equity, drawing from her deep engagement with communities to improve understanding and measurement in these areas. Dr. Meinzen-Dick’s research encompasses land and water policy, property rights, collective action, and games for experiential learning, with a longstanding focus on improving equity.

This Policy Seminar highlights her research contributions and examines how the impact of research on natural resources and women’s empowerment can be strengthened through interventions in knowledge, motivation, and agency.

Moderator and Welcome Remarks

• Claudia Ringler, Director, Natural Resources and Resilience (NRR), IFPRI

From WEAI to WEMNS: ‘Engendering’ Food Policy Research

• How measurements changed minds: Agnes Quisumbing, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI (Presentation)
• Gendered land rights for rural poverty reduction: Cheryl Doss, Professor, Economics, Tufts University (Presentation)

From Collective Action to Property Rights: Why Institutions Matter for Water and other Resources

• Why property rights are the cornerstone of water management: Mark Rosegrant, Research Fellow Emeritus, IFPRI

• Natural resource institutions for resilient livelihoods: Jagdeesh Rao, CEO, Living Landscapes and Convenor, Common Ground

From Mentorship to Capacity Sharing

• Water Alternatives: The other journal on water: Francois Molle, Director of Research, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) and Peter Mollinga, Senior Fellow, Center for Development Research (ZEF)
• The International Association for the Study of the Commons: Marco Janssen, Professor, School of Sustainability, College of Global Futures, Arizona State University (ASU) (Presentation)

Increasing the Impact of Research on Natural Resources and Women’s Agency

• Ruth Meinzen-Dick, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI (Presentation)

Policy Panel

Moderated by: Steven Lawry, Senior Associate, The Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF)

• Victoria Stanley, Senior Land Administration Specialist, The World Bank
• Vicki Wilde, Senior Program Officer, Agricultural Development and Women’s Economic Empowerment, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF)
• Aslihan Kes, Senior Gender Advisor, Resilience and Food Security, United States Agency for International Development (USAID)