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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.

researcher spotlight

Kate Ambler

Kate Amber is a Senior Research Fellow in the Markets, Trade, and Institutions Unit. Kate’s research broadly focuses on interventions that can increase incomes for smallholders and other microenterprises in agrifood value chains, with a specific focus on the inclusion of women. This includes work on programming in fragile settings, innovations in agricultural finance, and regulatory solutions for food safety. 

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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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Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion

Mehrab Bakhtiar

Research Fellow

Bio

Mehrab Bakhtiar is a Research Fellow in the Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit. A Bangladeshi development economist, he uses experimental and non-experimental methods to study the impact of interventions related to social protection, nutrition, and agriculture with a special focus on women’s empowerment and intrahousehold decision-making. He has carried out research in Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Ethiopia. As Deputy Chief of Party of the Feed the Future Bangladesh Agricultural Policy Activity, he has helped lead IFPRI’s policy engagements, research outreach, and implementation of national and sub-national surveys in Bangladesh since 2019.

Prior to his work with IFPRI, Bakhtiar worked as a Research Analyst at the Africa Gender Innovation Lab at the World Bank and was selected in the World Bank’s Young Professionals Program in 2019. Before heading to graduate school, he was a Research Coordinator at Innovations for Poverty Action, Bangladesh. He received his PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from University of Maryland–College Park, where his doctoral research was recognized by the Dr. and Mrs. Bill V. Lessley Dissertation Excellence Award.

Personal Website

Publications

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Journal Article

Trends and inequities in adequacy of micronutrient intakes in rural Bangladesh

2025Nguyen, Phuong; Ali, Masum; Ghostlaw, Julie; Tran, Lan Mai; Parvin, Aklima; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Ahmed, Akhter U.
Details

Trends and inequities in adequacy of micronutrient intakes in rural Bangladesh

Background Micronutrient deficiencies pose a significant public health challenge, yet limited evidence exists on micronutrient intakes over time in Bangladesh. Objective We assessed trends and adequacies in micronutrient intakes and examined the changes in inequities by age group, sex, and expenditure quintile. Methods We used panel data from the 2011 and 2018 Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey (n =21,475 and 21,589 household members aged ≥2y, respectively). Food consumption data were collected using a household dietary recall. Changes in micronutrient intakes were assessed using non-parametric Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon rank sum test. Inequities in outcomes were examined using the Slope Index of Inequality and Concentration Index. Results Micronutrient intakes remained suboptimal across 2011 and 2018, with low adequacy (<0.50) for all nutrients except niacin. While vitamin A intake increased across various demographics, trends for other micronutrient intakes differed by age. Intakes improved for 10 micronutrients among children aged 2-<5y, but increased for only half of examined micronutrients among children aged 5-9y. For adolescents and adults, most micronutrient intakes slightly declined, with greater inadequacies observed among females versus males. Pregnant women experienced sharper declines in adequacy of micronutrient intakes than lactating women. The mean probability of adequacy (MPA) was low (around one-third) for all age groups with lower MPA among poorer compared to richer households across age, sex and survey years. Inequity gaps in MPA mostly declined, except for females ≥50y and pregnant women. Conclusions Micronutrient intakes and adequacies remain suboptimal and have decreased marginally over time for many nutrients and MPA across most age groups. Inequities in micronutrient intakes persist by age, sex, and income levels, disproportionately affecting the poor, adults, and women. Our study calls for evidence-based policies and programs that incorporate a range of proven approaches and tailored solutions to effectively tackle persisting inequities and ensure access to healthy diets for all.

Year published

2025

Authors

Nguyen, Phuong; Ali, Masum; Ghostlaw, Julie; Tran, Lan Mai; Parvin, Aklima; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Ahmed, Akhter U.

Citation

Nguyen, Phuong Hong; Ali, Masum; Ghostlaw, Julie; Tran, Lan Mai; Parvin, Aklima; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; and Ahmed, Akhter U. Trends and inequities in adequacy of micronutrient intakes in rural Bangladesh. Journal of Nutrition. Article in press. First published online November 28, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjnut.2024.11.018

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Dietary Diversity; Micronutrient Deficiencies; Rural Areas; Trace Elements

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjnut.2024.11.018 Source record

Project

Sustainable Healthy Diets

Record type

Journal Article

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Brief

Social assistance and adaptation to flooding in Bangladesh

2024Ahmed, Akhter; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Hidrobo, Melissa; Hoddinott, John; Mueller, Valerie; Quabili, Wahid; Rakshit, Deboleena; Roy, Shalini; Thiede, Brian
Details

Social assistance and adaptation to flooding in Bangladesh

As climate change exacerbates weather shocks, there is growing interest in understanding whether social assistance programs can support coping among poor rural households and whether program effects vary by gender. We assess whether a social assistance program – the Transfer Modality Research Initiative (TMRI) –influenced the effects of prior monsoon flooding on household consumption and adult diets in southern Bangladesh. TMRI provided cash or food transfers, with or without nutrition behavior change communication, from 2012-2014. Within the study sites and years, flooding was substantial but moderate. Our findings suggest that, without TMRI, a one-standard-deviation increase in lagged flooding led to households smoothing consumption by drawing down savings and reducing diet quality among both men and women. In contrast, among TMRI treatment households, lagged flooding did not reduce savings, and both men’s and women’s diet quality improved. Effects on diet quality appeared largely driven by legumes and by fruits and vegetables, and improvements appeared strongest among households receiving both transfers and behavior change communication. Results indicate that social assistance can help households cope with effects of moderate flooding in southern Bangladesh, protecting household savings and improving both men’s and women’s diets.

Year published

2024

Authors

Ahmed, Akhter; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Hidrobo, Melissa; Hoddinott, John; Mueller, Valerie; Quabili, Wahid; Rakshit, Deboleena; Roy, Shalini; Thiede, Brian

Citation

Ahmed, Akhter; Bakhtiar, Mehrab; Hidrobo, Melissa; Hoddinott, John; Mueller, Valerie; Quabili, Wahid; Rakshit, Deboleena; Roy, Shalini; and Thiede, Brian. 2024. Social assistance and adaptation to flooding in Bangladesh. Gender Equality Initiative Brief. CGIAR System Organization. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/168418

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Southern Asia; Asia; Extreme Weather Events; Climate Change; Rural Areas; Flooding; Cash Transfers; Nutrition

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Gender Equality

Record type

Brief

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Working Paper

Does nutrition-sensitive social protection build longer-term resilience? Experimental evidence from Bangladesh

2024Ahmed, Akhter U.; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Hoddinott, John; Roy, Shalini
Details

Does nutrition-sensitive social protection build longer-term resilience? Experimental evidence from Bangladesh

Evidence shows that cash and in-kind transfer programs increase food security while interventions are ongoing, including during or immediately after shocks. But less is known about whether receipt of these programs can have protective effects for household food security against shocks that occur several years after interventions end. We study the effects of a transfer program implemented as a cluster-randomized control trial in rural Bangladesh from 2012-2014 – the Transfer Modality Research Initiative (TMRI) – on food security in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We assess TMRI’s impacts at three post-program time points: before the shock (2018), amidst the shock (2021), and after the immediate effects of the shock (2022). We find that TMRI showed protective effects on household food security during and after the pandemic, but program design features “mattered”; positive impacts were only seen in the treatment arm that combined cash transfers with nutrition behavior change communication (Cash+BCC). Other treatment arms – cash only, and food only – showed no significant sustained effects on our household food security measures after the intervention ended, nor did they show protective effects during the pandemic. A plausible mechanism is that investments made by Cash+BCC households in productive assets – specifically livestock – increased their pre-shock resilience capacity.

Year published

2024

Authors

Ahmed, Akhter U.; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Hoddinott, John; Roy, Shalini

Citation

Ahmed, Akhter U.; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Hoddinott, John; and Roy, Shalini. 2024. Does nutrition-sensitive social protection protection build longer-term resilience? Experimental evidence from Bangladesh. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2282. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/155053

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Covid-19; Resilience; Shock; Social Protection

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Gender Equality

Record type

Working Paper

Events

Into, Through and Beyond USAID Programs: Lessons from the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index
IFPRI at External Event

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March 29, 2023, 9:00 – 10:15 am

Into, Through and Beyond USAID Programs: Lessons from the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index

Virtual Event: March 29, 2023 – 9:00 AM- 10:15 AM EDT. This webinar will mark the launch of two briefs, one on the use cases of WEAI in USAID projects worldwide and the other on how WEAI has informed and supported the design of policies and programs in Bangladesh.