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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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Emily Schmidt

Emily Schmidt is a Senior Research Fellow in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit. Her most recent research explores household livelihood strategies in Papua New Guinea, including linkages between agriculture, poverty, and nutrition outcomes among rural smallholder farmers.

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Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion

Giordano Palloni

Nonresident Fellow

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Bio

Giordano Palloni is a Nonresident Fellow in the Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit. His current research focuses on three related topics: exploring the determinants of maternal and early childhood health, evaluating health and education programs targeted at children in developing countries, and understanding how childhood experiences evolve into adult outcomes. He earned his PhD in Economics from the University of Maryland.

Languages spoken: Spanish

Publications

CV

Publications

Resource thumbnail

Journal Article

Feasibility of using an artificial intelligence-based telephone application for dietary assessment and nudging to improve the quality of food choices of female adolescents in Vietnam: Evidence from a randomized pilot study

2024
Braga, Bianca C.; Nguyen, Phuong; Tran, Lan Mai; Hoang, Nga Thu; Bannerman, Boateng; Doyle, Frank; Folson, Gloria; Gangupantulu, Rohit; Karachiwalla, Naureen; Kolt, Bastien
…more McCloskey, Peter; Palloni, Giordano; Tran, Trang Huyen Thi; Trơưng, Duong Thuy Thi; Hughes, David; Gelli, Aulo
Details

Feasibility of using an artificial intelligence-based telephone application for dietary assessment and nudging to improve the quality of food choices of female adolescents in Vietnam: Evidence from a randomized pilot study

Background Adolescent nutrition has faced a policy neglect, partly owing to the gaps in dietary intake data for this age group. The Food Recognition Assistance and Nudging Insights (FRANI) is a smartphone application validated for dietary assessment and to influence users toward healthy food choices. Objectives This study aimed to assess the feasibility (adherence, acceptability, and usability) of FRANI and its effects on food choices and diet quality in female adolescents in Vietnam. Methods Adolescents (N = 36) were randomly selected from a public school and allocated into 2 groups. The control group received smartphones with a version of FRANI limited to dietary assessment, whereas the intervention received smartphones with gamified FRANI. After the first 4 wk, both groups used gamified FRANI for further 2 wk. The primary outcome was the feasibility of using FRANI as measured by adherence (the proportion of completed food records), acceptability and usability (the proportion of participants who considered FRANI acceptable and usable according to answers of a Likert questionnaire). Secondary outcomes included the percentage of meals recorded, the Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women (MDDW) and the Eat-Lancet Diet Score (ELDS). Dietary diversity is important for dietary quality, and sustainable healthy diets are important to reduce carbon emissions. Poisson regression models were used to estimate the effect of gamified FRANI on the MDDW and ELDS. Results Adherence to the application was 82% and the percentage of meals recorded was 97%. Acceptability and usability were 97%. MDDW in the intervention group was 1.07 points (95% CI: 0.98, 1.18; P = 0.13) greater than that in the control (constant = 4.68); however, the difference was not statistically significant. Moreover, ELDS in the intervention was 1.09 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.18; P = 0.03) points greater than in the control (constant = 3.67). Conclusions FRANI was feasible and may be effective to influence users toward healthy food choices. Research is needed for FRANI in different contexts and at scale.

Year published

2024

Authors

Braga, Bianca C.; Nguyen, Phuong; Tran, Lan Mai; Hoang, Nga Thu; Bannerman, Boateng; Doyle, Frank; Folson, Gloria; Gangupantulu, Rohit; Karachiwalla, Naureen; Kolt, Bastien; McCloskey, Peter; Palloni, Giordano; Tran, Trang Huyen Thi; Trơưng, Duong Thuy Thi; Hughes, David; Gelli, Aulo

Citation

Braga, Bianca C.; Nguyen, Phuong H.; Tran, Lan Mai; Hoang, Nga Thu; Bannerman, Boateng; Doyle, Frank; et al. 2024. Feasibility of using an artificial intelligence-based telephone application for dietary assessment and nudging to improve the quality of food choices of female adolescents in Vietnam: Evidence from a randomized pilot study. Current Developments in Nutrition 8(6). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cdnut.2023.102063

Country/Region

Vietnam

Keywords

Asia; South-eastern Asia; Adolescents; Artificial Intelligence; Capacity Development; Diet Quality; Diet; Feeding Preferences

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cdnut.2023.102063 Source record

Project

Agriculture for Nutrition and Health

Record type

Journal Article

Resource thumbnail

Journal Article

Enhancing agency and empowerment in agricultural development projects: A synthesis of mixed methods impact evaluations from the Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project, Phase 2 (GAAP2)

2024
Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.; Malapit, Hazel J.; Seymour, Greg; Heckert, Jessica; Doss, Cheryl; Johnson, Nancy L.; Rubin, Deborah; Ramani, Gayathri; Myers, Emily
…more van Biljon, Chloe; Mulema, Annet; Hannan, Anika; de Brauw, Alan; Go, Ara; Argento, Federica; Ahmed, Akhter; Roy, Shalini; Schreinemachers, Pepijn; de Brauw, Alan; Kramer, Berber; Murphy, Mike; Crookston, Benjamin; Gash, Megan; Theis, Sophie; Bellemare, Marc; Casier, Bart; James, Susan; Krause, Brooke; Lardinois, Mathias; McCarthy, Aine; Gabrysch, Sabine; Sinharoy, Sheela; Waid, Jillian; Wendt, Amanda; Ganaba, Rasmane; Gelli, Aulo; Martinez, Elena M.; Pedehombga, Abdoulaye; Sanou, Armande; Zougouri, Sita; Alonso, Silvia; Galiè, Alessandra; Kakota, Tasokwa; Leroy, Jef L.; Palloni, Giordano; Bryan, Elizabeth; Mekonnen, Dawit; Miah, Mamun; Kumar, Neha; Siraj, Saiqa; Alemu, Mihret; Boonabaana, Brenda; Mekonnen, Dawit Kelemework; Kaaria, Susan; Hillesland, Marya; Mane, Erdgin; Slavchevska, Vanya; Choudhury, Avijit; Khetan, Madhu; Raghunathan, Kalyani; Thai, Giang; Gray, Bobbi; Benali, Marwan; Janzen, Sarah; Joshi, Neena; Magnan, Nicholas; Pradhan, Rajendra; Sharma, Sudhindra
Details

Enhancing agency and empowerment in agricultural development projects: A synthesis of mixed methods impact evaluations from the Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project, Phase 2 (GAAP2)

Development interventions increasingly include women’s empowerment and gender equality among their objectives, but evaluating their impact has been stymied by the lack of measures that are comparable across interventions. This paper synthesizes the findings of 11 mixed-methods impact evaluations of agricultural development projects from South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa that were part of the Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project, Phase 2 (GAAP2). As part of GAAP2, qualitative and quantitative data were used to develop and validate the multidimensional project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI), which was used to assess the impact of GAAP2 projects on women’s empowerment. This paper assesses the extent to which: (1) a two- to three-year agricultural development project can contribute to women’s empowerment; and (2) a suite of methods comprising a standardized quantitative measure of women’s empowerment and a set of qualitative protocols, can evaluate such impacts. Our synthesis finds that the most common positive significant impacts were on the instrumental and collective agency indicators that comprise pro-WEAI, owing to the group-based approaches used. We found few projects significantly improved intrinsic agency, even among those with explicitly stated objectives to change gender norms. Unsurprisingly, we find mixed, and mostly null impacts on aggregate pro-WEAI, with positive impacts more likely in the South Asian, rather than African, cases. Our results highlight the need for projects to design their strategies specifically for empowerment, rather than assume that projects aiming to reach and benefit women automatically empower them. Our study also shows the value of a suite of methods containing a common metric to compare empowerment impacts and qualitative protocols to understand and contextualize these impacts.

Year published

2024

Authors

Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.; Malapit, Hazel J.; Seymour, Greg; Heckert, Jessica; Doss, Cheryl; Johnson, Nancy L.; Rubin, Deborah; Ramani, Gayathri; Myers, Emily; van Biljon, Chloe; Mulema, Annet; Hannan, Anika; de Brauw, Alan; Go, Ara; Argento, Federica; Ahmed, Akhter; Roy, Shalini; Schreinemachers, Pepijn; de Brauw, Alan; Kramer, Berber; Murphy, Mike; Crookston, Benjamin; Gash, Megan; Theis, Sophie; Bellemare, Marc; Casier, Bart; James, Susan; Krause, Brooke; Lardinois, Mathias; McCarthy, Aine; Gabrysch, Sabine; Sinharoy, Sheela; Waid, Jillian; Wendt, Amanda; Ganaba, Rasmane; Gelli, Aulo; Martinez, Elena M.; Pedehombga, Abdoulaye; Sanou, Armande; Zougouri, Sita; Alonso, Silvia; Galiè, Alessandra; Kakota, Tasokwa; Leroy, Jef L.; Palloni, Giordano; Bryan, Elizabeth; Mekonnen, Dawit; Miah, Mamun; Kumar, Neha; Siraj, Saiqa; Alemu, Mihret; Boonabaana, Brenda; Mekonnen, Dawit Kelemework; Kaaria, Susan; Hillesland, Marya; Mane, Erdgin; Slavchevska, Vanya; Choudhury, Avijit; Khetan, Madhu; Raghunathan, Kalyani; Thai, Giang; Gray, Bobbi; Benali, Marwan; Janzen, Sarah; Joshi, Neena; Magnan, Nicholas; Pradhan, Rajendra; Sharma, Sudhindra

Citation

Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.; Seymour, Greg; Heckert, Jessica; Myers, Emily; and the GAAP2 for pro-WEAI Study Team. 2024. Enhancing agency and empowerment in agricultural development projects: A synthesis of mixed methods impact evaluations from the Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project, Phase 2 (GAAP2). Journal of Rural Studies 108(May 2024): 103295. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103295

Keywords

Agricultural Development; Gender Equality; Women’s Empowerment; Data

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103295 Source record

Project

Agriculture for Nutrition and Health

Record type

Journal Article

Resource thumbnail

Working Paper

Can agricultural development projects empower women? A synthesis of mixed methods evaluations using pro-WEAI in the gender, agriculture, and assets project (phase 2) portfolio

2022
Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.; Malapit, Hazel J.; Seymour, Greg; Heckert, Jessica; Doss, Cheryl R.; Johnson, Nancy L.; Rubin, Deborah; Thai, Giang; Ramani, Gayathri V.
…more Myers, Emily; GAAP2 for pro-WEAI Study Team; Dione, Malick; Martinez, Elena M.; Pereira, Audrey; Van Biljon, Chloe; Vaz, Ana; Elias, Marlène; Annet Mulema; Go, Ara; Argento, Federica; Ahmed, Akhter; Hannan, Anika; Younus, Masuma; de Brauw, Alan; Dey, Amita; Kramer, Berber; Murphy, Mike; Benjamin Crookston, Megan Gash; Gray, Bobbi; Benali, Marwan; Schreinemachers, Pepijn; Sobgui, Caroline; Janzen, Sarah; Joshi, Neena; Magnan, Nicholas; Pradhan, Rajendra; Sudhindra Sharma; Theis, Sophie; Bellemare, Marc; Casier, Bart; James, Susan; Krause, Brooke; Mathias Lardinois; McCarthy, Aine; Sabine Gabrysch; Sinharoy, Sheela; Waid, Jillian; Wendt, Amanda; Awonon, Josué; Ganaba, Rasmané; Gelli, Aulo; Martinez, Elena M.; Pedehombga, Abdoulaye; Sanou, Armande; Zougouri, Sita; Alonso, Silvia; Galiè, Alessandra; Tasokwa Kakota; Leroy, Jef L.; Palloni, Giordano; Bryan, Elizabeth; Mekonnen, Dawit Kelemework; Mamun Miah; Kumar, Neha; Siraj, Saiqa; Alemu, Mihret; Boonabaana; Brenda; Ana Paula de la Ocampo; Kaaria, Susan; Hillesland, Marya; Erdgin Mane; Slavchevska, Vanya; Choudhury, Avijit; Madhu Khetan; Raghunathan, Kalyani
Details

Can agricultural development projects empower women? A synthesis of mixed methods evaluations using pro-WEAI in the gender, agriculture, and assets project (phase 2) portfolio

Agricultural development projects increasingly include women’s empowerment and gender equality among their objectives, but efforts to evaluate their impact have been stymied by the lack of comparable measures. Moreover, the context-specificity of empowerment implies that a quantitative measure alone will be inadequate to capture the nuances of the empowerment process. The Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project, Phase 2 (GAAP2), a portfolio of 13 agricultural development projects in nine countries in South Asia and Africa, developed the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI) and qualitative protocols for impact evaluations. Pro-WEAI covers three major types of agencies: instrumental, intrinsic, and collective. This paper synthesizes the results of 11 mixed-methods evaluations to assess these projects’ empowerment impacts. The projects implemented the pro-WEAI and its associated qualitative protocols in their impact evaluations. Our synthesis finds mixed, and mostly null impacts on aggregate indicators of women’s empowerment, with positive impacts more likely in the South Asian, rather than African, cases. There were more significant impacts on instrumental agency indicators and collective agency indicators, reflecting the group-based approaches used. We found few significant impacts on intrinsic agency indicators, except for those projects that intentionally addressed gender norms. Quantitative analysis does not show an association between the types of strategies that projects implemented and their impacts, except for capacity building strategies. This finding reveals the limitations of quantitative analysis, given the small number of projects involved. The qualitative studies provide more nuance and insight: some base level of empowerment and forms of agency may be necessary for women to participate in project activities, to benefit or further increase their empowerment. Our results highlight the need for projects to focus specifically on empowerment, rather than assume that projects aiming to reach and benefit women automatically empower them. Our study also shows the value of both a common metric to compare empowerment impacts across projects and contexts and qualitative work to understand and contextualize these impacts.

Year published

2022

Authors

Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.; Malapit, Hazel J.; Seymour, Greg; Heckert, Jessica; Doss, Cheryl R.; Johnson, Nancy L.; Rubin, Deborah; Thai, Giang; Ramani, Gayathri V.; Myers, Emily; GAAP2 for pro-WEAI Study Team; Dione, Malick; Martinez, Elena M.; Pereira, Audrey; Van Biljon, Chloe; Vaz, Ana; Elias, Marlène; Annet Mulema; Go, Ara; Argento, Federica; Ahmed, Akhter; Hannan, Anika; Younus, Masuma; de Brauw, Alan; Dey, Amita; Kramer, Berber; Murphy, Mike; Benjamin Crookston, Megan Gash; Gray, Bobbi; Benali, Marwan; Schreinemachers, Pepijn; Sobgui, Caroline; Janzen, Sarah; Joshi, Neena; Magnan, Nicholas; Pradhan, Rajendra; Sudhindra Sharma; Theis, Sophie; Bellemare, Marc; Casier, Bart; James, Susan; Krause, Brooke; Mathias Lardinois; McCarthy, Aine; Sabine Gabrysch; Sinharoy, Sheela; Waid, Jillian; Wendt, Amanda; Awonon, Josué; Ganaba, Rasmané; Gelli, Aulo; Martinez, Elena M.; Pedehombga, Abdoulaye; Sanou, Armande; Zougouri, Sita; Alonso, Silvia; Galiè, Alessandra; Tasokwa Kakota; Leroy, Jef L.; Palloni, Giordano; Bryan, Elizabeth; Mekonnen, Dawit Kelemework; Mamun Miah; Kumar, Neha; Siraj, Saiqa; Alemu, Mihret; Boonabaana; Brenda; Ana Paula de la Ocampo; Kaaria, Susan; Hillesland, Marya; Erdgin Mane; Slavchevska, Vanya; Choudhury, Avijit; Madhu Khetan; Raghunathan, Kalyani

Citation

Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Malapit, Hazel J.; Seymour, Greg; Heckert, Jessica; Doss, Cheryl; Johnson, Nancy; Rubin, Deborah; Thai, Giang; Ramani, Gayathri V.; Meyers, Emily; and GAAP2 for pro-WEAI Study Team. 2022. Can agricultural development projects empower women? A synthesis of mixed methods evaluations using pro-WEAI in the gender, agriculture, and assets project (phase 2) portfolio. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2137. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.136405.

Keywords

Southern Asia; Western Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Africa; Eastern Africa; Women’s Empowerment; Gender Equality; Impact Evaluation; Agriculture; Agricultural Development; Impact Assessment

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Links

https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.136405 Source record

Project

Policies, Institutions, and Markets

Record type

Working Paper

Article has an altmetric score of 9

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30th International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE)
IFPRI at External Event

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July 28 to August 2, 2018

30th International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE)

IFPRI is participating extensively in the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE) 30th Conference of Agricultural Economists. The (IAAE) is a worldwide association of agricultural economists and others concerned with agricultural economic problems, including problems related to the use of renewable resources and the environment. Its broad goal is to make a difference through the following: IFPRI Participants: Pre-Conference Workshops  […]