Policy Seminar | IFPRI Policy Seminar
Informing Crisis Response in Sudan
Co-organized by IFPRI and the CGIAR Science Program on Food Frontiers and Security | Part of the Fragility to Stability Seminar Series
October 22, 2025

The recent resurgence of armed conflicts in Africa is increasing the need and urgency for investments in shock-responsive humanitarian and social assistance programs. Armed conflicts both increase the need for aid and greatly complicate delivery of humanitarian services to vulnerable populations. In addition, humanitarian organizations are facing an increasing funding gap because of dwindling donor aid.

These challenges are forcing humanitarian organizations to revisit the effectiveness and cost-efficacy of their programs and services for conflict-affected populations. The choice and relative efficacy of alternative modalities and delivery of humanitarian or social assistance programs in these communities remains an active area of debate.

The armed conflict in Sudan, which erupted in April 2023, has created the world’s largest displacement crisis, and has left over 30 million of the 47.5 million Sudanese population needing multifaceted humanitarian assistance. To help inform the crisis response, this policy seminar will bring together researchers, practitioners, and humanitarian organizations working in Sudan to share and discuss recent evidence on preferences and impact of alternative modalities to deliver humanitarian aid amid armed conflict.

Introduction and Opening Remarks
Johan Swinnen, Director General, IFPRI
Laurent Bukera, Country Director and Representative, UN World Food Programme (WFP), Sudan

Highlights From Recent Findings
Khalid Siddig, Senior Research Fellow and Leader of the Sudan Program, IFPRI
Kibrom Abay, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI
Gabrielle Fox, Chief of Party, Cash Consortium of Sudan (CCS)

Panel Discussion
Alex De Waal, Executive Director, World Peace Foundation, Tufts University
Samantha Chattaraj, ‏Emergency Coordinator, UN World Food Programme (WFP), Sudan
Lena Mahgoub, Convener of the Sudan Social Protection Alliance (SSPA), Former Federal Minister of Labor and Social Development and Co-Founder of Impact Hub Khartoum

Closing Remarks
Katrina Kosec, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI

Moderator
Hala Abushama, Research Analyst, IFPRI

More about this Event: https://www.ifpri.org/event/informing-crisis-response-in-sudan/

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Informing Crisis Response in Sudan

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.

Informing Crisis Response in Sudan

International Food Policy Research Institute

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