POLICY SEMINAR
Introducing the new Women’s Empowerment Metric for National Statistical Systems (WEMNS)
FEB 22, 2024 - 9:00 TO 10:30AM EST

The new Women’s Empowerment Metric for National Statistical Systems (WEMNS) https://weai.ifpri.info/wemns/ is a streamlined tool for measuring women’s empowerment, intended for use in large-scale, multitopic surveys conducted by national statistical systems. WEMNS is designed to measure empowerment in households with all types of livelihoods, in both urban and rural areas, complementing the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) https://weai.ifpri.info/, which focuses on agricultural households. WEMNS was developed by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Emory University, Oxford University, and the World Bank’s Living Standards Measurement Study Unit in collaboration with country partners and the 50x2030 Initiative, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development.

This event will present the WEMNS metric, review the development of the tool, and discuss its use to advance women’s empowerment. A panel of stakeholders from government and national statistical offices and from multilateral organizations will discuss the potential of WEMNS for promoting and monitoring women’s empowerment as part of national statistical surveys.

Welcome Remarks
Johan Swinnen, Managing Director, Systems Transformation, CGIAR; Director General, IFPRI

WEMNS: The Next Stage of Developing Empowerment Metrics
Agnes Quisumbing, Senior Research Fellow, Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit, IFPRI
Ruth Meinzen-Dick, Senior Research Fellow, Natural Resources and Resilience Unit, IFPRI

Intro to WEMNS
Jessica Heckert, Research Fellow, Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit, IFPRI
Greg Seymour, Research Fellow, Natural Resources and Resilience Unit, IFPRI

Maximizing the Potential of WEMNS: Panel Discussion
Shelton Kanyanda, Director of Agriculture and Economic Statistics, National Statistical Office, Malawi
Regina Valiente, Sectorialista recursos naturales, tierra y vivienda, Secretaría Presidencial de la Mujer (SEPREM)
Heather Moylan, Senior Economist, Development Data Group, Development Economics, World Bank
Chiara Brunelli, Statistician, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Closing Remarks
Chiara Kovarik, Senior Program Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF)
Farzana Ramzan, Senior Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Advisor, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) (invited)

Moderator
Hazel Malapit, Senior Research Coordinator, Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit, IFPRI

More about this Event: https://www.ifpri.org/event/introducing-new-womens-empowerment-metric-national-statistical-systems-wemns
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Introducing the new Women’s Empowerment Metric for National Statistical Systems (WEMNS)

POLICY SEMINAR
Dairy and Nutrition in the Global South: Potential, Progress, and Obstacles Ahead
APR 24, 2024 - 9:30 TO 11:00AM EDT

Malnutrition in early childhood is a major risk factor for premature death and disease, and is associated with 45% of all deaths of children under the age of 5. But malnutrition has important economic consequences too, by delaying learning and slowing down economic growth. Solving malnutrition requires multi-sectoral efforts, including more nutrition-oriented food policies. But how exactly can food policies improve nutrition?

This policy seminar examines the potential of dairy development to improve nutrition outcomes, focusing on dairy’s sizable potential for reducing child stunting and other forms of malnutrition, and how dairy systems are being developed to help meet this potential.  Speakers will present success stories that highlight diverse paths to progress, as well as major economic and environmental challenges to scaling up dairy production and consumption in the global South.

The seminar will draw on a recent special issue published in the journal Food Policy on “Dairy Development and Nutrition in the Developing World”, which summarizes the most recent evidence on dairy’s importance for improving child nutrition, as well as the economic challenges of accelerating dairy development in the global South.

Case studies of dairy sector development success stories from sub-Saharan Africa and Asia will be presented by dairy experts to examine how concerted efforts to improve the production, trade, and marketing of milk, were tackled through unique policy, programmatic and institutional approaches. 

Introduction
Namukolo Covic, Director General’s Representative to Ethiopia, CGIAR Ethiopia Country Convenor and CGIAR Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) 

Dairy Development and Nutrition: A synthesis of recent evidence
Derek Headey, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI

Dairy Development in Eastern Africa
Mark Tsoxo, Tanzania Country Director, Heifer International

Uganda’s Emerging Dairy Success Story
Johan Swinnen, Managing Director, Systems Transformation, CGIAR; Director General, IFPRI

Dairy Development Programs at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Donald Nkrumah, Senior Program Officer, Livestock, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF)

Dairy Development and Nutrition in India
Shri Meenesh Shah, Chairman & Managing Director, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), India

Moderator
Charlotte Hebebrand, Director of Communications and Public Affairs, IFPRI

More about this Event: https://www.ifpri.org/event/dairy-and-nutrition-global-south-potential-progress-and-obstacles-ahead
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Dairy and Nutrition in the Global South: Potential, Progress, and Obstacles Ahead

Despite significant progress in addressing hunger, malnutrition remains a major challenge in all regions of the world. Unhealthy diets are a major driver of all forms of malnutrition, including undernutrition, overweight and obesity, and micronutrient deficiencies, as well as diet-related noncommunicable diseases. Worldwide, as many as 3 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet. The imperative to transform our food systems to ensure sustainable healthy diets for all has never been stronger; meaningful change will require that we deploy high-impact, evidence-based solutions in context-specific ways that are adaptable, dynamic, and equitable.

IFPRI’s 2024 Global Food Policy Report on Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Nutrition presents policy and governance solutions to strengthen diet quality and nutrition in low- and middle-income countries, and examines priorities for future research on food systems for better nutrition. Drawing on a substantial body of research on diets, agriculture, and food systems from IFPRI and CGIAR, in partnership with colleagues around the world, the report emphasizes the critical need to focus on diets that benefit both people and the planet. It explores how demand-side approaches can support healthy dietary choices, the need to invest in improving affordability, and ways to strengthen food environments to support healthy diets. The report also highlights supply-side ways to improve diets, including increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables and assessing the role of animal-source foods, and discusses how effective governance can help achieve change. For each of the world’s major regions, the report identifies critical challenges and opportunities for contextually relevant actions to deliver healthy diets and nutrition for all.

Following a presentation of the report’s key findings and recommendations by IFPRI’s leading researchers in diets and nutrition, a distinguished panel of partners and experts will discuss the report. Remarks will focus on challenges and opportunities to transform food systems so that everyone everywhere can reap the benefits of sustainable healthy diets. 

Opening and Report Launch
Johan Swinnen, Director General, IFPRI and Managing Director, Systems Transformation Science Group, CGIAR
Deanna Olney, Director, Nutrition, Diets, and Health (NDH), IFPRI

Selected findings from the 2024 GFPR

Opportunities and Challenges of Using a Food Systems Framework
Marie Ruel, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI

Demand-side Determinants and Solutions
Sunny Kim, Research Fellow, IFPRI

Food Environments for Better Nutrition
Gabriela Fretes, Associate Research Fellow, IFPRI

Enabling Environments
Danielle Resnick, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI

Panel Reflections
Moderated by Purnima Menon, Senior Director, Food and Nutrition Policy, CGIAR and IFPRI
Soumya Swaminathan, Chairperson, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), India
Namukolo Covic, Director General’s Representative to Ethiopia, CGIAR Ethiopia Country Convenor and CGIAR Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Ethiopia
Christopher Barrett, Stephen B. and Janice G. Ashley Professor of Applied Economics and Management and Co-Editor-in-Chief, Food Policy, Cornell University
Lynnette Neufeld, Director, Food and Nutrition Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), Italy
Shelly Sundberg, Interim Director, Agricultural Development, Nutrition, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF)

Closing Reflections
Purnima Menon, Senior Director, Food and Nutrition Policy, CGIAR and IFPRI

Moderator
Charlotte Hebebrand, Director of Communications and Public Affairs, IFPRI

More about this Event: https://www.ifpri.org/event/improving-diets-and-nutrition-through-food-systems-what-will-it-take
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2024 Global Food Policy Report - Improving Diets and Nutrition through Food Systems: What Will it Take?

2024 Global Food Policy Report

Throughout her career, Ruth Meinzen-Dick has made pathbreaking contributions to natural resource management and gender equity, drawing from her deep engagement with communities to improve understanding and measurement in these areas. Dr. Meinzen-Dick’s research encompasses land and water policy, property rights, collective action, and games for experiential learning, with a longstanding focus on improving equity.

This Policy Seminar highlights her research contributions and examines how the impact of research on natural resources and women’s empowerment can be strengthened through interventions in knowledge, motivation, and agency.

Moderator and Welcome Remarks
Claudia Ringler, Director, Natural Resources and Resilience (NRR), IFPRI

From WEAI to WEMNS: ‘Engendering’ Food Policy Research
How measurements changed minds: Agnes Quisumbing, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI
Gendered land rights for rural poverty reduction: Cheryl Doss, Professor, Economics, Tufts University

From Collective Action to Property Rights: Why Institutions Matter for Water and other Resources
Why property rights are the cornerstone of water management: Mark Rosegrant, Research Fellow Emeritus, IFPRI
Natural resource institutions for resilient livelihoods: Jagdeesh Rao, CEO, Living Landscapes and Convenor, Common Ground

From Mentorship to Capacity Sharing
Water Alternatives: The other journal on water: Francois Molle, Director of Research, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) and Peter Mollinga, Senior Fellow, Center for Development Research (ZEF)
The International Association for the Study of the Commons: Marco Janssen, Professor, School of Sustainability, College of Global Futures, Arizona State University (ASU)

Increasing the Impact of Research on Natural Resources and Women’s Agency

Ruth Meinzen-Dick, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI

Policy Panel
Moderated by: Steven Lawry, Senior Associate, The Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF)
Victoria Stanley, Senior Land Administration Specialist, The World Bank
Vicki Wilde, Senior Program Officer, Agricultural Development and Women’s Economic Empowerment, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF)
Aslihan Kes, Senior Gender Advisor, Resilience and Food Security, United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Links:

More about this Event: https://www.ifpri.org/event/building-more-inclusive-and-natural-resource-secure-food-futures/

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Building More Inclusive and Natural Resource-Secure Food Futures

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.

New tracks tagged #BMGF