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With research staff from more than 60 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

Ahmed Akhter

researcher spotlight

Akhter Ahmed

Akhter Ahmed is a Senior Research Fellow in the IFPRI’s Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit and Country Representative for IFPRI Bangladesh. He has worked on strategies for agricultural and rural development, social protection, and women’s empowerment to reduce poverty, food insecurity, and undernutrition in developing countries including Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Malawi, the Philippines, and Turkey.

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Since 1975, IFPRI’s research has been informing policies and development programs to improve food security, nutrition, and livelihoods around the world.

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IFPRI currently has more than 600 employees working in over 80 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

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experts

Development Strategies and Governance

Sikandra Kurdi

Research Fellow and Country Program Leader, Egypt

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Bio

Sikandra Kurdi is a Research Fellow and Country Program Leader for Egypt in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit. Her dissertation work looked at the impacts of Labor Intensive Public Works program in Yemen on household incomes and the use of store credit for coping with shocks. She completed her PhD in Agricultural Economics at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2015, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Paris School of Economics.

Publications

CV

Publications

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Book Chapter

Regional developments: Middle East and North Africa [in 2025 GFPR]

2025Kurdi, Sikandra; Hassan, Ganna; Jovanovic, Nina; Steinhuebel-Rasheed, Linda
Details

Regional developments: Middle East and North Africa [in 2025 GFPR]

Over the past 50 years, food and agricultural policy in the Middle East and North Africa has alternated between the dual aims of prioritizing efficiency and economic growth, and ensuring national security through food self-sufficiency and broad-based provision of staple commodities. This chapter summarizes the historical trends in policies and outcomes as the region moved from heavy state interference to a period of liberalization, first examining agricultural production and related policies and then consumers and food and nutrition policy, before concluding with emerging policy issues and research priorities. Book link: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174108

Year published

2025

Authors

Kurdi, Sikandra; Hassan, Ganna; Jovanovic, Nina; Steinhuebel-Rasheed, Linda

Citation

Kurdi, Sikandra; Hassan, Ganna; Jovanovic, Nina; and Steinhuebel-Rasheed, Linda. 2025. Regional developments: Middle East and North Africa. In Global food policy report 2025: Food policy: Lessons and priorities for a changing world, eds. Johan Swinnen and Christopher Barrett. Part Six: Regional Developments and Priorities, Chapter 24, Pp. 555-567. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174358

Keywords

Africa; Middle East; Northern Africa; Agricultural Policies; Policies; Social Protection; Research

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Book Chapter

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Working Paper

Don’t spend it all in one place: The medium-term effects of a national cash transfer program on household well-being

2024Karachiwalla, Naureen; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Kurdi, Sikandra
Details

Don’t spend it all in one place: The medium-term effects of a national cash transfer program on household well-being

Cash transfer programs are often effective at increasing household consumption in their early years, but impacts become more nuanced over time as the use of transfers varies. This paper examines the medium-term effects of Egypt’s f lagship cash transfer program, Takaful, on several measures of household wellbeing using a regression discontinuity (RD) design. Findings reveal no significant impacts on household consumption (total, food or non-food), but notable decreases in monthly wage income that are comparable in magnitude to the average monthly transfer. Employment patterns are suggestive of a decrease in hours worked in formal labour among men. There are positive effects on asset ownership, particularly productive assets, indicating a shift toward longer-term investments. Reductions in informal debt suggest improved financial health among beneficiaries and increases in enrollment in primary and preparatory school suggest increased human capital investment as well. These results underscore the potential of cash transfer programs to foster economic stability and investments in the future, even in the absence of significant immediate consumption effects.

Year published

2024

Authors

Karachiwalla, Naureen; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Kurdi, Sikandra

Citation

Karachiwalla, Naureen; Gilligan, Daniel O.; and Kurdi, Sikandra. 2024. Don’t spend it all in one place: The medium-term effects of a national cash transfer program on household well-being. MENA Working Paper 45. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/168421

Country/Region

Egypt

Keywords

Africa; Northern Africa; Cash Transfers; Consumption; Assets; Investment; Schools; Health

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

National Policies and Strategies

Record type

Working Paper

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Brief

Targeting in development projects in Egypt: Approaches, challenges, and lessons learned

2024Shokry, Nada; Jovanovic, Nina; Kurdi, Sikandra; Hamdy, Adham; Elkaramany, Mohamed
Details

Targeting in development projects in Egypt: Approaches, challenges, and lessons learned

Effective targeting strategies are vital for almost all development programs. Universal approaches which provide aid to all individuals regardless of need are not always feasible given limited budgets and varying development priorities. Conversely, targeting directs resources to those in greatest need, ensures efficient allocation while upholding principles of social justice, equality, and the right to assistance. This policy note summarizes the outcomes of a workshop held in Cairo on October 20, 2023, which brought together researchers, development practitioners, and policymakers. The high-level dialogue was part of the “Bridging Evidence and Policy” (BEP) seminar series, a collaborative initiative by the Egyptian Food Bank (EFB), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development (SFSD). The BEP series serves as a platform for knowledge exchange and collaborative learning among donors, local and international implementers, and government representatives, with a focus on improving targeting in development projects. This note highlights the key discussions, offering insights into best practices and recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of program targeting.

Year published

2024

Authors

Shokry, Nada; Jovanovic, Nina; Kurdi, Sikandra; Hamdy, Adham; Elkaramany, Mohamed

Citation

Shokry, Nada; Jovanovic, Nina; Kurdi, Sikandra; Hamdy, Adham; and Elkaramany, Mohamed. 2024. Targeting in development projects in Egypt: Approaches, challenges, and lessons learned. MENA Policy Note 26. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/168420

Country/Region

Egypt

Keywords

Africa; Northern Africa; Targeting; Development Projects

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

National Policies and Strategies

Record type

Brief

Events

Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Nutrition: The MENA launch of IFPRI’s 2024 Global Food Policy Report
Series/Special Event

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June 27, 2024, 9:00 – 11:30 am

Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Nutrition: The MENA launch of IFPRI’s 2024 Global Food Policy Report

Unhealthy diets are a major driver of all forms of malnutrition, including undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and overweight and obesity. Despite increasing global efforts to address malnutrition, as many as 3 billion people globally cannot afford healthy diets. The need to transform our food systems to ensure sustainable healthy diets for everyone is more urgent than […]

Famines and Fragility: Making humanitarian, developmental, and peacebuilding responses work
Series/Special Event

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June 11, 2024, 9:30 – 11:15 am

Famines and Fragility: Making humanitarian, developmental, and peacebuilding responses work

Virtual Event: June 11, 2024 – 9:30 AM- 11:15 AM EDT. This seminar will take stock of what we know of key drivers about protracted food crises and persistent fragility and about the obstacles to successful HDP action.

IFPRI @ 28th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP28)
IFPRI at External Event

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November 30 to December 12, 2023

IFPRI @ 28th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP28)

IFPRI is pleased to participate in the 28th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP28) being held in Dubai from November 30  to December 12, 2023. IFPRI’s Board of Trustees is meeting in Dubai on December 8, 2023, and a number of researchers will engage in meetings and participate in several side events, as […]

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News

October 04, 2023 | In the News

In Middle East, poor miss out as ‘faulty’ algorithms target aid (Reuters) 

“Poverty assessment methods powered by algorithms are supposed to make payments fairer, but activists and researchers say such tools often wrongly exclude people,” writes Reuters in a story on new tools to benefit social protection.  Sikandra Kurdi, a researcher at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), which was hired by the World Bank to […]

January 27, 2023 | In the News

Bread for all and anti-inflation markets to rescue Egyptians from the economic abyss (El País) 

El País, in an article about the food crisis in Egypt, quoted IFPRI findings from a recent issue post in the High Food & Fertilizer Prices and War in Ukraine series and interviewed Sikandra Kurdi, IFPRI research fellow based in Cairo, one of the coauthors.  The economic shock caused by the war in Ukraine – nearly 85% of wheat imports […]

June 24, 2019 | In the News

Biometrics disagreement leads to food aid suspension in Yemen (Devex)

Devex reported on the World Food Programme’s partial suspension of food aid in Yemen due to disagreement over the use of biometric data to track distribution. Associate Research Fellow Sikandra Kurdi was quoted in the article saying that using biometrics makes sense in a context like Yemen where many people lack national identification cards that […]

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