Download or read book The contribution of IFPRI research and the impact of the Food for Education Program in Bangladesh on schooling outcomes and earnings written by Ryan, James G. and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2004-11-17 with total page 91 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper evaluates the influence and impact that IFPRI research and related activities had on the initiation, evolution, and impact of the food for education (FFE) program in Bangladesh. It reviews the outputs from the IFPRI program and summarizes the perceptions of various stakeholders about the value and influence of these on the FFE program. A novel experimental evaluation methodology is used on household sample survey data to analyze the effects of FFE on schooling outcomes. Earnings functions are then estimated using national household income and expenditure survey data to assess the effect of schooling on earnings. Combining the two, the effects of the increased participation and duration of schooling (due to the FFE program) on lifetime earnings of children are derived. Using these incremental earnings figures, the internal rates of return for both national and private investments in the FFE program are estimated. From these, a conservative assessment of the economic value of IFPRI's contribution to the generation of the national benefits is made... We conclude that a very conservative assessment of the economic value of IFPRI's contribution to the generation of the national benefits estimated above is that the FFE program began one year earlier than it might have without the IFPRI input. Based upon the total cost of the IFPRI-FFE research program of US$151,000, the internal rate of return on this research investment ranges from 64-96 percent. of all the other benefits are added to this, clearly the IFPRI contribution has been an outstanding economic investment. These benefits might have been even greater had IFPRI had an explicit communications strategy with more timely and available publications, along with appropriate advocacy based upon a more thorough knowledge of the dynamic political economy of government decision making in Bangladesh." -- from Authors' Abstract

Download or read book Has IFPRI s research decentralization strategy made a difference An econometric study of African and Asian Countries 1981 2014 written by Benin, Samuel and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2018-08-09 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study uses country-level panel data on 57 countries in Africa and Asia from 1981 to 2014 to assess the relationships between IFPRI’s in-country presence (as measured by staff present) and various policy and outcome indicators in those countries. An econometric model with country fixed-effects, year fixed-effects, and country-specific time trends is used, controlling for several factors deemed to affect the different policy and outcome indicators such as the country’s research capacity, production environment and resources, political economy and institutions, and complementary investments.

Download or read book Policy Oriented Research Impact Assessment PORIA case study on the International Food Policy Research Institute IFPRI and the Mexican PROGRESA anti poverty and human resource investment conditional cash transfer program written by Behrman, Jere R. and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2007-12-10 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The objective of this study is to attempt to characterize the influence and impact of IFPRI in relation to the Mexican PROGRESA/Oportunidades anti-poverty and human resource program with its conditional cash transfers (CCT)—conditional on specific investments in education, health, and nutrition. The paper first describes PROGRESA/Oportunidades and estimates of the impact and benefits-to-costs of this program; then discusses the challenges in assessing the influence and impact of IPRRI on and through PROGRESA/Oportunidades; and then presents the information sources used in this study to attempt to identify the influence and impact of IFPRI on PROGRESA/Oportunidades including interviews with 39 key informants as well as various published and unpublished studies and memos, publications in the popular media and on the internet and press releases and other documents. With this foundation it next explores the apparent influence and impact of IFPRI on PROGRESA/Oportunidades by considering four questions: Was the PROGRESA program design influenced by prior IFPRI research? Why was IFPRI chosen to undertake the initial impact evaluation of PROGRESA? How did the IFPRI evaluation of PROGRESA contribute to the program? Were there spillovers of the IFPRI evaluation of PROGRESA?

Download or read book Case Studies in Food Policy for Developing Countries written by Per Pinstrup-Andersen and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2018-07-05 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The food problems now facing the world—scarcity and starvation, contamination and illness, overabundance and obesity—are both diverse and complex. What are their causes? How severe are they? Why do they persist? What are the solutions? In three volumes that serve as valuable teaching tools and have been designed to complement the textbook Food Policy for Developing Countries by Per Pinstrup-Andersen and Derrill D. Watson II, they call upon the wisdom of disciplines including economics, nutrition, sociology, anthropology, environmental science, medicine, and geography to create a holistic picture of the state of the world's food systems today. Volume I of the Case Studies addresses policies related to health, nutrition, food consumption, and poverty.

Download or read book Impact assessment of IFPRI s capacity strengthening work 1985 2010 written by Kuyvenhoven, Arie and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2015-01-21 with total page 106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Strengthening national capacities for undertaking, communicating, and using evidence-based food policy analysis has long been one of the International Food Policy Research Institute’s (IFPRI’s) major objectives. To that end, IFPRI has engaged in different kinds of capacity strengthening that include formal training, (policy) networks, country strategic policy support, research collaboration with individuals and organizations, institutional development, support to university degree programs, visiting fellows, and training of postdoctoral fellows.

Download or read book Impact Assessment IFPRI 2020 conference Leveraging Agriculture for Improving Nutrition and Health written by Paarlberg, Robert and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2012-12-18 with total page 90 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The IFPRI 2020 Conference on “Leveraging Agriculture for Improving Nutrition and Health” was held in New Delhi, India, February 10–12, 2011, and attracted more than 900 attendees. Conference activities included 12 plenary sessions, 15 parallel sessions, 14 side events, an ongoing knowledge fair with more than 25 exhibit booths and tables, six informal discussion groups, and roughly 30 “rapid fire” presentations during coffee breaks. Assessing the impact of this Conference is a task complicated by multiple issues such as assessment coverage and impact attribution. The assessment methods used here include surveys of conferees, Internet searches, website and literature searches, and extensive personal interviews. Distinctions are drawn between short-term and medium-term impacts, and also among impacts on individuals, on institutions, and on professional discourse. Impacts on individual conferees were measured through pre- and post-Conference surveys and telephone interviews. The impacts on the substantive views of those who attended the Conference were found to be small. Most conferees (75 percent) came to Delhi already convinced that a cross-sector approach to agriculture, nutrition, and health (ANH) was appropriate. At the individual level, the Conference impacted motivation and empowerment more than beliefs. The Conference gave those who attended new information, new networking opportunities, and various “positioning advantages” that made them more effective within their own institutions back home. Such advantages were primarily important in the short term. Regarding impacts on institutions, the 2020 Conference produced important but mixed results. Direct impacts on national governments were small, in part because ministerial structures and bureaucratic routines in governments are traditionally segregated by sector, and resistant to anything more than incremental change. Direct impacts from the 2020 Conference on private companies and NGOs were also modest, but for a different reason: these institutions are inherently comfortable working across sectors, so most of the private companies and NGOs participating in the Conference felt little need to change. The strongest institutional impacts from the Conference came within a category of organizations that wanted to integrate nutrition with agriculture, but were unsure of how, or how quickly, to move forward. These institutions included the CGIAR itself as it moved to create the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (CRP4); the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as it responded to an internal evaluation of its own work in nutrition; and a number of donor institutions including most prominently the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), which used the materials and policy energy generated by the 2020 Conference to help guide and push a major expansion of bilateral funding into the ANH arena. These DFID responses alone were a large enough payoff to mark the Conference a success. A third significant impact from the Conference was on professional discourse. The 2020 Conference helped change the conversation about agriculture and food security by boosting the frequency of reference to cross-sector impacts on both nutrition and health. Impact measurement becomes difficult here, because the Conference was not the only initiative highlighting cross-sector linkages underway. Nonetheless, the average number of Google Internet hits per search for the phrase “linking agriculture, nutrition, and health” increased from 9,288 in the pre-Conference period to 13,508 in the immediate post-Conference period of March–May 2011. Searches of organization websites revealed that 18 of 21 of the sites had more links to agriculture, nutrition, and health issues immediately following the Conference compared to just before, and 20 of 21 had an even higher number of such links one year later in July 2012. The most obvious limitation on impact has been at the level of national government policy (excluding donor policies). Partly this reflects attendance. Only 19 percent of those who attended the 2020 Conference were government officials, compared to 41 percent who came from research institutes or universities. Yet, even where Conference impacts on governments might have seemed probable, they have proved (so far) to be mostly tentative or modest. The government of Malawi co-hosted its own version of the 2020 Conference in Lilongwe in September 2011. While this was an important step, the Conference was donor-suggested and donor-funded, and senior officials from the Ministry of Health were unable to attend.In Uganda, the 2020 Conference helped sustain an effort to mainstream nutrition within the Ministry of Agriculture. However, this effort was underway before the Conference, and parallel efforts from USAID, WFP, and FAO did as much to sustain it.In China, the leadership of the State Food and Nutrition Consultation Committee was briefed on 2020 Conference materials, which may have helped to establish a new (but already approved) food safety and nutrition development institute at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS). Since Chinese leaders had been unable to attend the Conference itself, impacts in the country also depended heavily on a separate outreach effort by IFPRI leadership.In India, national officials and researchers—and IFPRI—made concerted efforts to use the Conference to shape language in the new 12th Five-Year Plan (2012–16). While some engaged in this effort claimed progress in that direction, nothing definitive has emerged and in India it appears that little has changed in the traditional separation between the agriculture ministry and the nutrition and health sectors. The Conference’s largest impacts within India were felt at the individual level, at the level of discourse, or within some state administrations, not within national governmental institutions. What can one reasonably expect when looking for impacts from a single international Conference? In the case of the 2020 Conference in Delhi, where the goal was to change the way individuals and institutions were thinking about ANH issues and considering them in professional discourse, measurable progress was made toward each of these goals in both the short term and the medium term. IFPRI took a risk by designing the Delhi Conference to challenge traditional paradigms. This assessment shows that, in both the short term and medium term, the risk has been rewarded.

Download or read book Impact evaluation of research by the International Food Policy Research Institute on agricultural trade liberalization developing countries and WTO s Doha negotiations written by Hewitt, Joanna and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2008-08-12 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This report assesses the impact of IFPRI's work on the agriculture negotiations in the WTO's Doha Round. It is set against the context of IFPRI's mission which emphasizes food security and the interests of poor people in low-income countries and underlines the importance of active engagement in policy communications to link research work to policy action. The report also traces briefly the evolution of IFPRI's work on international agricultural trade more generally, noting its broad disposition to market-oriented policy prescriptions while illuminating the very different impacts of agricultural trade liberalization on individual developing countries through detailed research at the national and household level." -- from Author's Abstract

Download or read book Taking stock written by Hazell, Peter B. R. and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2016-01-12 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Marking IFPRI’s 40th year, this report draws on external sources of evidence to review the Institute’s policy influence and impact to date and provides recommendations to improve. The external evidence includes citations data, external program and management reviews commissioned by CGIAR, and a series of independently conducted impact assessment studies of many of IFPRI’s research programs and projects between 1995 and 2015. The report also reviews recommendations as to how IFPRI might improve its impact.

Download or read book Balancing international public goods and accountability written by Lynam, John K. and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2016-05-03 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has undertaken research programs on agricultural STI policy since 1995. This study assesses the impact of this body of research outputs and support services in terms of three complementary analyses: (1) an evaluation of the potential impact of the complete body of research using implicit or explicit impact pathways, (2) two case studies that assess the actual impact of particular research outputs, and (3) a more traditional bibliometric analysis. Movement along the impact pathway, in turn, requires different types of research products—evolving from problem framing to methodology development, then to case studies, and finally to context-specific policy recommendations—all within the logical stages of the impact pathway. How far IFPRI operates along this impact pathway produces a basic tension between the CGIAR’s mandate to produce international public goods (IPGs) and the increasing focus on accountability through impact in the use of international public funds.

Download or read book The food crisis of 2008 written by Hovland, Ingeborg and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2011-07-08 with total page 57 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper aims to document IFPRI’s communications activities during the recent food crisis which peaked in mid-2008. IFPRI’s communications activities during the food crisis were somewhat unusual for the Institute. The communications campaign included IFPRI’s usual avenues, and built on IFPRI’s existing place in the global food policy system, but was unusual in its concerted coordination across all divisions of the Institute, the relatively low number of publications and unusually high engagement with the media, as well as a high number of face-to-face presentations and meetings. All in all the campaign, which arose in response to the policy window that opened up in early and mid-2008, was considered particularly effective, and IFPRI earned the position as one of the “thought leaders” during the crisis.

Download or read book Ex post impact assessment review of the Regional Network on AIDS Livelihoods and Food Security RENEWAL written by Frankenberger, Tim and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2012-02-16 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Regional Network on AIDS, Livelihoods, and Food Security (RENEWAL) was officially launched in 2001 as a joint project of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR), and was operational in Malawi, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, and South Africa through most of 2011. RENEWAL is a “network of networks” comprised of national networks of food and nutrition-relevant organizations, along with partners in AIDS and public health practitioners. Its overarching goal is to provide evidence-based research on the linkages between HIV, food security, and nutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa that would inform responses to prevent or mitigate the impact and consequences of AIDS. RENEWAL’s three main objectives are: (1) to reduce critical gaps in understanding how livelihoods, particularly those deriving from agriculture, both contribute to the spread of HIV and are affected by HIV and AIDS; (2) to generate new policy-relevant knowledge on how households and communities may strengthen both their resistance to HIV transmission and their resilience to the impacts of AIDS; and (3) to enable relevant institutions (particularly governments) to generate and act upon realistic priorities for responding to the interaction of the AIDS epidemic with food and nutrition insecurity. RENEWAL’s strategic approach to achieving these goals involved the three core pillars of capacity strengthening, policy communications, and action research, and the synergies resulting from their interactions. This report assesses the impact of RENEWAL activities from 2000 to 2010 and is based on a review of products resulting from RENEWAL activities (such as books, policy briefs, workshop summaries, reports, and discussion papers), stakeholder perceptions of RENEWAL products and activities, and national policy or programming changes resulting from RENEWAL-supported action research, capacity strengthening efforts, and policy communications.

Download or read book Workshop on best practice methods for assessing the impact of policy oriented research written by Place, Frank and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2015-12-15 with total page 49 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Methods and practice for the impact evaluation of policy-oriented research (POR) lag behind many other research sectors, such as agricultural technology research, making it difficult to prioritize investments in POR and retarding institutional learning about how to make POR more effective. To address these issues within the context of the CGIAR, a workshop on “Best Practice Methods for Assessing the Impact of Policy-Oriented Research” was cosponsored by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM), and the Standing Panel for Impact Assessment (SPIA) of the CGIAR’s Independent Science and Partnership Council (ISPC), and held at IFPRI headquarters in Washington, DC, November 11–12, 2014. This paper provides a summary of the workshop discussions and draws on this, together with findings from the literature, to derive guidelines for assessing policy-oriented research in the CGIAR.

Download or read book Impacts of IFPRI s Priorities for Pro poor Public Investment Global Research Program written by Renkow, Mitch and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2011-02-08 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report assesses the impact of the International Food Policy Research Institute’s (IFPRI) Global Research Program on Priorities for Public Investment in Agriculture and Rural Areas (“GRP-3”). Initiated in 1998, the stated objectives of the research program were (1) to increase public investment for rural areas and the agricultural sector given that there is an underspending in the sector and (2) to better target and improve efficiency of public resources to achieve these growth and poverty reduction goals, as well as other development goals. GRP-3 evolved out of research on the impacts of alternative types of public spending on income and poverty outcomes in India and China that was conducted by staff of IFPRI’s Environment and Production Technology Division (later the Development Strategy and Governance Division). Those studies indicated that public investments in infrastructure—in particular, investments in roads, agricultural research and development (R&D), and education—yielded sizeable marginal benefits in terms of poverty alleviation and income generation in rural areas. This line of research was later expanded to encompass a number of countries in Africa and, to a lesser extent, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. A second major (and ongoing) thrust of the program is to support African governments in establishing public investment priorities and strategies for promoting rural economic growth and poverty alleviation. Major activities undertaken include providing analytical and institutional support to the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and evaluations of individual publicly-funded programs in several African countries. GRP-3 has generated an impressive array of published outputs. The great bulk of these emerged from the research conducted in India and China. A much smaller number of published outputs have been generated by the (more recently conducted) research in Africa; however, a substantial number of papers, book manuscripts, and monographs are in various stages of the publication process. Other important program outputs include a variety of public expenditure databases suitable for assessing the nature and effects of individual countries’ spending priorities. GRP-3 research has had substantial influence on public expenditure priorities in India and China. Most notably, published research in India played a key role in the institution of the Rural Roads Program that directed huge sums toward construction of roads connecting large numbers of previously unserved villages. Quantitative assessment of the positive impacts from these road investments indicates that IFPRI research can reasonably take substantial credit for lifting tens of thousands of individuals out of poverty and increasing agricultural GDP by billions of rupees. Additionally, in both China and India, GRP-3 research has influenced recent policy conversations that have led to increased spending on agricultural R&D and education. Overall, the program has substantially met its stated objectives in Asia. GRP-3 research in Africa has yet to fully meet the program’s objectives, in large part because the policymaking process in the countries where IFPRI has been active are still not far enough advanced for the research outputs to have translated into actual policies. Still, some important outcomes have emerged: The work IFPRI has conducted in support of CAADP has successfully shepherded 19 countries through the Compact process. However, the Compacts are intermediate products; it remains to be seen the extent to which governments follow through on the plans contained within them. IFPRI’s compilations of disparate public expenditure data in a large number of countries represent a useful local public good for use by research and practitioner communities outside of IFPRI. In addition, IFPRI’s role in guiding the formation and operation of a regional strategic assessment and knowledge support system (ReSAKSS) has boosted, if not created, institutional capacity for future monitoring and evaluation activities. Research on the impact of public investments in the agricultural sector has been useful to the donor community by providing empirical backstopping for ongoing policy dialogues with governments. However, the difficult—and often contentious—political environment in which those dialogues occur has meant that policy outcomes are still materializing (and far from certain).

Download or read book An assessment of IFPRI S work in Ethiopia 1995 2010 Ideology influence and idiosyncrasy written by Mitch Renkow, and Roger Slade and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The 1 5 Billion People Question written by Harold Alderman and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2017-10-12 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most of the people in low and middle-income countries covered by social protection receive assistance in the form of in-kind food. The origin of such support is rooted in countries’ historical pursuit of three interconnected objectives, namely attaining self-sufficiency in food, managing domestic food prices, and providing income support to the poor. This volume sheds light on the complex, bumpy and non-linear process of how some flagship food-based social protection programs have evolved over time, and how they currently work. In particular, it lays out the broad trends in reforms, including a growing move from in-kind modalities to cash transfers, from universality to targeting, and from agriculture to social protection. Case studies from Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Sri Lanka, and United States document the specific experiences of managing the process of reform and implementation, including enhancing our understanding of the opportunities and challenges with different social protection transfer modalities.

Download or read book Innovation for inclusive value chain development written by Devaux, André and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2016-10-21 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Governments, nongovernmental organizations, donors, and the private sector have increasingly embraced value-chain development (VCD) for stimulating economic growth and combating rural poverty. Innovation for Inclusive Value-Chain Development: Successes and Challenges helps to fill the current gap in systematic knowledge about how well VCD has performed, related trade-offs or undesired effects, and which combinations of VCD elements are most likely to reduce poverty and deliver on overall development goals. This book uses case studies to examine a range of VCD experiences. Approaching the subject from various angles, it looks at new linkages to markets and the role of farmer organizations and contract farming in raising productivity and access to markets, the minimum assets requirement to participate in VCD, the role of multi-stakeholder platforms in VCD, and how to measure and identify successful VCD interventions. The book also explores the challenges livestock-dependent people face; how urbanization and advancing technologies affect linkages; ways to increase gender inclusion and economic growth; and the different roles various types of platforms play in VCD.

Download or read book Evaluating the Impact of Land Tenure and Titling on Access to Credit in Uganda written by Carly K. Petracco, John Pender and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2009 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The theorized impact of land tenure and titling on access to credit has produced mixed results in the empirical literature. Land tenure and titling is hypothesized to increase access to credit because of the enhanced land security provided and the newfound ability to use land as collateral. Using land as collateral and obtaining access to credit are paramount concerns in Uganda and in all of Africa, as greater emphasis is placed on the need to modernize the agricultural system. This paper uses a new approach in evaluating whether land tenure and titling have an impact on access to credit for rural households in Uganda. The new approach includes comparisons across four categories: (1) households who have customary land with versus without a customary certificate, (2) households who have freehold land with versus without a title, (3) households with a title or certificate having freehold versus customary tenure, and (4) households without a title or certificate having freehold versus customary tenure. Each comparison is then evaluated for the impact on access to any form of credit, formal credit, and informal credit. This analysis allows for an in-depth look into which element, tenure or title, is impacting access to credit and to which type of credit, formal or informal. To conduct this analysis, matching techniques are used, including propensity score matching and the Abadie and Imbens matching method. These two methods contain both strengths and weaknesses that allow the results to support to one another. The only significant finding of the matching was a positive impact on access to credit of freehold without title over customary without certificate. Results imply that tenure, not title, impacts credit access for rural households in Uganda."--Authors' abstract.