Loraine Ronchi serves as CGIAR Senior Policy Advisor in the Director General’s Office, with a focus on climate, on a two-year secondment from the World Bank Group (WBG). Housed within the Systems Transformation Science Group and based at IFPRI, she works to amplify the impact of CGIAR research on agriculture and food policies, and on the design of on-the-ground operations in developing countries. She will conduct analytical work on the science of scaling and on private sector scaling of climate innovation; supporting strategic efforts for closer collaboration between CGIAR climate-related research and the policy dialogue and investment activities of development partners; and providing strategic advisory support to the new CGIAR Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Impact Area Platform.

Loraine brings a wealth of policy, analytical, and operational expertise to her role. In her 18 years at the WBG, Loraine designed, supervised, and evaluated investment projects related to food and agriculture from both headquarters and country offices in East Africa. Her operational work spanned multiple regions, covering everything from on-farm technology adoption to inclusive and sustainable growth under climate change. She has managed high-level policy dialogues on issues around food security, private sector investment, inclusive agribusiness, sectoral growth strategies, climate-smart agriculture, and (food and climate) crisis management. She served most recently as Practice Manager for the WBG’s food and agriculture portfolio in South Asia, including Afghanistan. Loraine has authored and co-authored multiple publications on maximizing finance for development and inclusive value chain growth, among other topics. A Canadian citizen and Rhodes Scholar, Loraine received her MPhil in Economics from Oxford University and her DPhil in Economics from Sussex University in the UK.

Languages spoken: English, French, Spanish, Italian