Akhter Ahmed is a senior research fellow in the Poverty, Health, and Nutrition Division at IFPRI. He joined IFPRI in 1990. His work focuses on developing strategies for restructuring social protection and safety net programs to improve the food security, nutrition and livelihoods of the poor in developing countries. Ahmed is currently posted in Bangladesh as the Chief of Party of the Policy Research and Strategy Support Program for Food Security and Agricultural Development in Bangladesh. Since joining IFPRI, he has worked on poverty and human development issues in Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Malawi, the Philippines, Turkey, Viet Nam, and Yemen. Before coming to IFPRI, Ahmed worked with the World Bank and was an agricultural economist for the U.S. Agency for International Development. He received a Ph.D. in agricultural economics from Colorado State University, and an M.S. in agricultural economics from Cornell University.