Policy Seminar | IFPRI Policy Seminar
Mobility in a Fragile World: Evidence to Inform Policy
Co-organized by IFPRI, the CGIAR Science Program on Food Frontiers and Security, and the Louvain Institute of Data Analysis and Modeling in Economics and Statistics (LIDAM), IRES | Part of the Fragility to Stability Seminar Series
September 18, 2025

Migration today reflects a complex interplay of demographic pressures, conflict, poverty, climate change, and economic shocks. Worldwide, one in every seven people is a migrant—that is, someone who changes his or her country of usual residence, irrespective of the reason for migration—or a refugee forced to leave his or her home, often without warning, for reasons including war, violence, or persecution. Over the past two decades, international migration and forced displacement have surged, with more than 100 million additional people on the move—a large share of whom originate from rural areas, driven by a lack of economic opportunities, environmental degradation, and insecurity.

The number of refugees has doubled since the early 2000s, with most hosted by low- and middle-income countries. Ongoing conflicts and intensifying climate crises have compounded vulnerabilities, leaving 80% of displaced people facing acute food insecurity. Climate change-related displacement disproportionately affects women, who are also at heightened risk of violence and exploitation during migration journeys and in host communities.

This policy seminar will explore these complex dynamics and assess how economic analysis, machine learning, and policy innovation can contribute to more inclusive, equitable, and effective responses to migration and forced displacement.

Moderator Welcome Remarks
Katrina Kosec, Interim Deputy Director, CGIAR Science Program on Food Frontiers and Security; Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI 

Opening Remarks
Ruth Hill, Director, Markets, Trade, and Institutions, IFPRI

Setting the Stage: The Migration Challenge
Anna Maria Mayda, Professor of Economics, School of Foreign Service and Department of Economics, and Incoming Director, Institute for the Study of International Migration (ISIM), Georgetown University (GU)

Research in Action: This three-part session will showcase how current research is shaping better migration policies
Silvia Peracchi, Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute of Economics and Social Research (IRES), Louvain Institute of Data Analysis and Modeling in Economics and Statistics (LIDAM), UCLouvain
Francisco Ceballos, Research Fellow, IFPRI
Thomas Ginn, Research Fellow, Center for Global Development

Building the Evidence Base for Smarter Policy in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Contexts: What Are the Gaps and Needs

Panelists
Andrew Harper, Special Advisor on Climate Action, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Damien Jusselme, Head, Data Science and Analytics (Foresight), International Organization for Migration (IOM)
Jean-Francois Maystadt, Professor, Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS), Louvain Institute of Data Analysis and Modeling in Economics and Statistics (LIDAM) / Institut de Recherches Économiques et Sociales (IRES), Université catholique de Louvain, and Lancaster University Management School

Closing Remarks
Kate Ambler, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI

More about this Event: https://www.ifpri.org/event/mobility-in-a-fragile-world-evidence-to-inform-policy/

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Mobility in a Fragile World: Evidence to Inform Policy

Introductory Remarks by Geraldo B. Martha Jr., Coordinator, Embrapa, Labex-USA
 
Successful agricultural transformations around the world provide critical lessons and offer insights into opportunities for other countries seeking to take this step forward.

 
At this special event, we will learn about Brazil’s agricultural transformation from Embrapa’s President, Maurício Lopes. IFPRI Director General Shenggen Fan will share insights from Asian countries, ERS Administrator Mary Bohman will review the experience of the United States, and Asia-Brazil Agro Alliance President Marcos Jank will discuss the role of the food industry in agricultural transformation.

IFPRI Special Event:  Transforming Agriculture - 5/15/2018 - GMartha

Speaker: Marcos Sawaya Jank, President, Asia-Brazil Agro Alliance and IFPRI Board member
 
Successful agricultural transformations around the world provide critical lessons and offer insights into opportunities for other countries seeking to take this step forward.
 
At this special event, we will learn about Brazil’s agricultural transformation from Embrapa’s President, Maurício Lopes. IFPRI Director General Shenggen Fan will share insights from Asian countries, ERS Administrator Mary Bohman will review the experience of the United States, and Asia-Brazil Agro Alliance President Marcos Jank will discuss the role of the food industry in agricultural transformation.

IFPRI Special Event:  Transforming Agriculture - 5/15/2018  - M.Jank

What happens when a child is malnourished? Can such a child ever “catch up” later in life? Why does urbanization and obesity seem to go hand in hand—and what does this mean for food production? We’ll explore big picture food system questions today on the Leading Voices in Food with our guest Dr. Shenggen Fan.

The Leading Voices in Food

Shenggen Fan on Hunger, Climate Change and the Hope of Innovation

Speaker: William A. Masters, Professor, Tufts University

Interventions and innovation can lower the price of individual foods, but healthy eating depends on access to a mix of foods from diverse sources. How has the overall cost of meeting dietary needs changed over time worldwide, and in Africa and South Asia specifically? What determines the cost of a healthy diet? And how does affordability affect dietary intake and health status in different locales?

To answer these questions, Changing Access to Nutritious Diets in Africa and South Asia (CANDASA) (https://sites.tufts.edu/candasa) has been using new food price indexes that account for food substitutions to meet nutritional needs to evaluate food systems all over the world, including in Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Malawi, and Tanzania.

This seminar will present the outcomes of CANDASA’s work to date, with a panel discussion featuring field researchers from each country to discuss the local and global implications of their results.

Research by Tufts and IFPRI on this topic is supported by UKAid and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

IFPRI Policy Seminar:  What is the Cost of a Healthy Diet? - 5/29/2019 - WMasters

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. Established in 1975, IFPRI currently has more than 600 employees working in over 50 countries. It is a research center of CGIAR, a worldwide partnership engaged in agricultural research for development.

Mobility in a Fragile World: Evidence to Inform Policy

International Food Policy Research Institute

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