Reducing poverty in low- and middle-income countries remains a preeminent challenge. Gains made in recent decades are now under threat from persistent crises, including health crises , conflict, and climate change as well as uncertain progress in transforming food systems. Renewing progress in addressing poverty, food insecurity, and low levels of nutrition, health, and education requires understanding the gender dimensions of development challenges and strategies in order to promote inclusion of women and girls and marginalized and excluded groups. To address these challenges, the Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit, together with its partners, conducts research in three areas:

• Poverty and Social Protection: Poverty causes underinvestment in human and physical capital and undermines the fabric of communities. PGI conducts research, including rigorous impact evaluations, to inform effective designs of social protection programs and gender-responsive development and humanitarian interventions to address poverty, livelihoods, nutrition, health, and empowerment.
• Gender: Women play a critical and potentially transformative role in developing countries’ agricultural growth and in ensuring their families’ food and nutrition security, but they face persistent economic, social, and normative constraints. PGI uses a variety of research approaches to improve understanding of the role of gender, including relationships between women and men, in achieving food and nutrition security for current and future generations.
• Governance and Voice: Progress against poverty and malnutrition stalls unless women and marginalized groups can exercise voice and agency in the agrifood system. PGI research examines strategies to increase women’s voice in community and government decisions and to strengthen local institutions that are essential to development.

Predecessor IFPRI Division page is available at :

• POVERTY, HEALTH, AND NUTRITION (PHND)