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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

Liangzhi You

Liangzhi You is a Senior Research Fellow and theme leader in the Foresight and Policy Modeling Unit, based in Washington, DC. His research focuses on climate resilience, spatial data and analytics, agroecosystems, and agricultural science policy. Gridded crop production data of the world (SPAM) and the agricultural technology evaluation model (DREAM) are among his research contributions. 

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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partnerships

Irish Aid is the Irish government’s program for overseas development and managed by the Development Co-operation Division of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Irish Aid works to fight global poverty, end hunger, provide humanitarian aid, and is particularly focused on Sub-Saharan Africa. Irish Aid supports long-term development and provides humanitarian assistance in more than eighty countries.

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Projects

Value Chains Knowledge Portal

Value Chains Knowledge Portal

The Value Chains knowledge portal (tools4valuechains.org) is a repository of tools and methods, publications, training content, and information about events related to value chain research……

Alive and Thrive

Alive and Thrive

Alive & Thrive is a multi-year initiative that began in 2009 to combat global child undernutrition through interventions to support appropriate infant and young child……

Publications

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Journal Article

Defining and measuring policy coherence for food system transformation: A scoping review

2024Dewi, Deviana; Aytekin, Destan; Schneider, Kate R.; Covic, Namukolo; Fanzo, Jessica; Nordhagen, Stella; Resnick, Danielle
Details

Defining and measuring policy coherence for food system transformation: A scoping review

Changes in food systems—across multiple sectors and through all levels of government—are essential for meeting many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other global environmental and health targets. Steering food systems towards common outcomes and ensuring that actions in one area do not undermine progress in another requires policy coherence. This scoping review examines how policy coherence has been broadly defined and measured in areas related to food system transformation to inform conceptualization, definition, and measurement specific to food systems transformation and provide insights for policy and program implementation. We reviewed literature published from January 2000 to December 2022 and identified 47 studies meeting the inclusion criteria. Results show that common features of definitions of policy coherence relevant for food systems are: an emphasis on minimizing tradeoffs and maximizing synergies; policy integration within different areas of government and food systems or across scales (horizontal or vertical coherence); alignment of objectives, interventions, and indicators within a given policy area; and complementarity and consistency of actions and goals within or across sectors of food systems. Measurement methods to date are mainly limited to qualitative policy document review and participatory assessment, with no examples of application at scale. This paper provides a first step towards a definition and measurement approach for policy coherence that can fill this important data gap in monitoring the governance of food systems transformation and synthesizes evidence to guide actions towards greater policy coherence in governing national food systems.

Year published

2024

Authors

Dewi, Deviana; Aytekin, Destan; Schneider, Kate R.; Covic, Namukolo; Fanzo, Jessica; Nordhagen, Stella; Resnick, Danielle

Citation

Dewi, Deviana; Aytekin, Destan; Schneider, Kate R.; Covic, Namukolo; Fanzo, Jessica; Nordhagen, Stella; and Resnick, Danielle. 2024. Defining and measuring policy coherence for food system transformation: A scoping review. World Food Security 43: 100803. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2024.100803

Keywords

Food Systems; Sustainable Development Goals; Policies; Literature Reviews

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2024.100803 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

Resource thumbnail

Journal Article

Food systems interventions for nutrition: Lessons from 6 program evaluations in Africa and South Asia

2024
Neufeld, Lynnette M.; Nordhagen, Stella; Leroy, Jef L.; Aberman, Noora-Lisa; Barnett, Inka; Wouabe, Eric Djimeu; Girard, Amy Webb; Gonzalez, Wendy; Levin, Carol E.; Mbuya, Mduduzi NN
…more Nakasone, Eduardo; Dhillon, Christina Nyhus; Prescott, Dave; Smith, Matt; Tschirley, David
Details

Food systems interventions for nutrition: Lessons from 6 program evaluations in Africa and South Asia

Although there is growing global momentum behind food systems strategies to improve planetary and human health—including nutrition—there is limited evidence of what types of food systems interventions work. Evaluating these types of interventions is challenging due to their complex and dynamic nature and lack of fit with standard evaluation methods. In this article, we draw on a portfolio of 6 evaluations of food systems interventions in Africa and South Asia that were intended to improve nutrition. We identify key methodological challenges and formulate recommendations to improve the quality of such studies. We highlight 5 challenges: a lack of evidence base to justify the intervention, the dynamic and multifaceted nature of the interventions, addressing attribution, collecting or accessing accurate and timely data, and defining and measuring appropriate outcomes. In addition to more specific guidance, we identify 6 cross-cutting recommendations, including a need to use multiple and diverse methods and flexible designs. We also note that these evaluation challenges present opportunities to develop new methods and highlight several specific needs in this space.

Year published

2024

Authors

Neufeld, Lynnette M.; Nordhagen, Stella; Leroy, Jef L.; Aberman, Noora-Lisa; Barnett, Inka; Wouabe, Eric Djimeu; Girard, Amy Webb; Gonzalez, Wendy; Levin, Carol E.; Mbuya, Mduduzi NN; Nakasone, Eduardo; Dhillon, Christina Nyhus; Prescott, Dave; Smith, Matt; Tschirley, David

Citation

Neufeld, Lynnette M.; Nordhagen, Stella; Leroy, Jef L.; Aberman, Noora-Lisa; Barnett, Inka; Wouabe, Eric Djimeu; et al. 2024. Food systems interventions for nutrition: Lessons from 6 program evaluations in Africa and South Asia. Journal of Nutrition 154(6): 1727-1738. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjnut.2024.04.005

Keywords

Africa; Southern Asia; Food Systems; Health; Nutrition; Methodology

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjnut.2024.04.005 Source record

Project

Sustainable Healthy Diets

Record type

Journal Article

Resource thumbnail

Journal Article

Food systems interventions for nutrition: Lessons from six program evaluations in Africa and South Asia

2024
Neufeld, Lynnette M.; Nordhagen, Stella; Leroy, Jef L.; Aberman, Noora-Lisa; Barnett, Inka; Wouabe, Eric Djimeu; Girard, Amy Webb; Gonzalez, Wendy; Levin, Carol E.; Mbuya, Mduduzi N. N.
…more Nakasone, Eduardo; Dhillon, Christina Nyhus; Prescott, Dave; Smith, Matt; Tschirley, David
Details

Food systems interventions for nutrition: Lessons from six program evaluations in Africa and South Asia

While there is growing global momentum behind food systems strategies to improve planetary and human health—including nutrition—there is limited evidence of what types of food systems interventions work. Evaluating these types of interventions is challenging due to their complex and dynamic nature and lack of fit with standard evaluation methods. In this paper, we draw on a portfolio of six evaluations of food systems interventions in Africa and South Asia that were intended to improve nutrition. We identify key methodological challenges and formulate recommendations to improve the quality of such studies. We highlight five challenges: a lack of evidence base to justify the intervention; the dynamic and multifaceted nature of the interventions; addressing attribution; collecting or accessing accurate and timely data; and defining and measuring appropriate outcomes. In addition to more specific guidance, we identify six cross-cutting recommendations, including a need to use multiple and diverse methods and flexible designs. We also note that these evaluation challenges present opportunities to develop new methods and highlight several specific needs in this space.

Year published

2024

Authors

Neufeld, Lynnette M.; Nordhagen, Stella; Leroy, Jef L.; Aberman, Noora-Lisa; Barnett, Inka; Wouabe, Eric Djimeu; Girard, Amy Webb; Gonzalez, Wendy; Levin, Carol E.; Mbuya, Mduduzi N. N.; Nakasone, Eduardo; Dhillon, Christina Nyhus; Prescott, Dave; Smith, Matt; Tschirley, David

Citation

Neufeld, Lynnette M.; Nordhagen, Stella; Leroy, Jef L.; Aberman, Noora-Lisa; Barnett, Inka; Wouabe, Eric Djimeu; et al. 2024. Food systems interventions for nutrition: Lessons from six program evaluations in Africa and South Asia. Journal of Nutrition 154(6): 1727-1738. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjnut.2024.04.005

Keywords

Africa; South Asia; Theory of Change; Methods; Food Systems; Nutrition; Evaluation; Health

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjnut.2024.04.005 Source record

Project

Sustainable Healthy Diets

Record type

Journal Article

Blogs

Evaluating impacts: Lessons from food systems interventions across Africa and Asia
IFPRI Blog
 | 
July 16, 2024

Evaluating impacts: Lessons from food systems interventions across Africa and Asia

By Jef L. Leroy, Lynnette Neufeld, Stella Nordhagen, and Sydney Honeycutt

Transforming food systems is promising but complex, requiring strong evidence and rigorous evaluations to ensure effective interventions.