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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

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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experts

Nutrition, Diets, and Health

Soumyajit Ray

Senior Research Analyst

Bio

Soumyajit Ray is a Senior Research Analyst in the Nutrition, Diets, and Health Unit. He is a quantitative researcher with research interests in political economy, public finance, health economics, and econometrics. Prior to joining IFPRI, Soumyajit worked as a researcher with various governmental agencies such as NITI Aayog, the Reserve Bank of India, and the Ministry of Finance, Government of India. He has also worked in developmental consultancy with Oxford Policy Management and the Clinton Health Access Initiative. He holds an MA in Economics from the University of Hyderabad and a BTech in Computer Science from UCE Burla.

Nutrition, Diets, and Health

Publications

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Preprint

Can rights-based conditional cash transfers improve children’s nutrition at scale? Evidence from India’s maternity benefit program

2025Ray, Soumyajit; Chakrabarti, Suman; Pal, Sumantra; Nguyen, Phuong Hong; Scott, Samuel P.; Menon, Purnima
Details

Can rights-based conditional cash transfers improve children’s nutrition at scale? Evidence from India’s maternity benefit program

This study evaluates the impact of India’s Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), a large-scale conditional cash transfer (CCT) program targeting women during their first birth, on child nutrition. Using National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data from 2005 to 2021, we assess changes in growth for 296,782 children under five years old before and after PMMVY implementation. To address potential biases, we employ a quasi-experimental approach with a Triple Difference analysis, comparing first- to second-born children of CCT and non-CCT mothers. We find that potential exposure to PMMVY is associated with improvements in weight-for-age and height-for-age z-scores. These effects likely operate through increased pregnancy registration, antenatal care, and immunizations. PMMVY is cost-effective, with a short-run benefit-cost ratio of 1.35. This study underscores the importance of CCT programs targeting mothers in enhancing child nutrition in low- and middle-income countries.

Year published

2025

Authors

Ray, Soumyajit; Chakrabarti, Suman; Pal, Sumantra; Nguyen, Phuong Hong; Scott, Samuel P.; Menon, Purnima

Citation

Ray, Soumyajit; Chakrabarti, Suman; Pal, Sumantra; Nguyen, Phuong; Scott, Samuel P.; and Menon, Purnima. Can rights-based conditional cash transfers improve children’s nutrition at scale? Evidence from India’s maternity benefit program. MedRxiv Preprint. Available January 13, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.01.12.25320443

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Asia; Cash Transfers; Nutrition; Children; Maternity

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-ND-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.01.12.25320443 Source record

Record type

Preprint

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Working Paper

Can role models and skills training increase women’s voice in asset selection? Experimental evidence from Odisha, India

2024Kosec, Katrina; Kyle, Jordan; Narayanan, Sudha; Raghunathan, Kalyani; Ray, Soumyajit
Details

Can role models and skills training increase women’s voice in asset selection? Experimental evidence from Odisha, India

We explore the impacts of exposing women to female role models and providing skills training on outcomes related to women’s aspirations and engagement in demanding assets under India’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)—the largest public works program in the world, which solicits citizen input on which assets to build and where. While the role model treatment exposes women to a video with stories of female role models from neighboring districts who successfully demanded assets, the skills training shows women how to identify individual and group needs for assets, frame their demands, and articulate them to public functionaries. In a randomized controlled trial spanning 94 villages and involving approximately 2,600 women, we find that exposure to role models alone has limited impacts, but when combined with skills training, there are strong positive impacts on women’s aspirations and engagement in demanding assets. This reveals that even a light-touch training can significantly benefit women’s voice and agency in village decision-making.

Year published

2024

Authors

Kosec, Katrina; Kyle, Jordan; Narayanan, Sudha; Raghunathan, Kalyani; Ray, Soumyajit

Citation

Kosec, Katrina; Kyle, Jordan; Narayanan, Sudha; Raghunathan, Kalyani; and Ray, Soumyajit. 2024. Can role models and skills training increase women’s voice in asset selection? Experimental evidence from Odisha, India. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2315. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/169023

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Civil Society; Decision Making; Gender; Training; Women’s Empowerment

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Gender Equality

Record type

Working Paper

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Blog post

Staking claim to entitlements under MGNREGA: How can women make their demands?

2024Raghunathan, Kalyani; Kosec, Katrina; Kyle, Jordan; Narayanan, Sudha; Ray, Soumyajit
Details

Staking claim to entitlements under MGNREGA: How can women make their demands?

There are internal constraints and structural barriers to women’s claim-making under MGNREGA. Supporting more egalitarian decision-making within the village, designing interventions that can help women gain confidence to speak out in public and making officials more responsive could all help.

Year published

2024

Authors

Raghunathan, Kalyani; Kosec, Katrina; Kyle, Jordan; Narayanan, Sudha; Ray, Soumyajit

Citation

Raghunathan, Kalyani; Kosec, Katrina; Kyle, Jordan; Narayanan, Sudha; and Ray, Soumyajit. 2024. Staking claim to entitlements under MGNREGA: How can women make their demands? The India Forum. Published online August 28, 2024. https://www.theindiaforum.in/public-policy/staking-claim-entitlements-under-mgnrega

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Decision Making; Employment; Surveys; Women; Women’s Empowerment

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Gender Equality

Record type

Blog post

Events

From Research to Impact: Towards just and Resilient Agri-food Systems
IFPRI Program/Country Event

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October 9 to 12, 2023

From Research to Impact: Towards just and Resilient Agri-food Systems

Conference: October 09, 2023 – 9:00 AM to October 12, 2023 – 6:00 PM IST. IFPRI is participating in the 2023 annual CGIAR gender research conference will take place in New Delhi, India.