IFPRI’s research is guided by its mission: to work with partners to provide research-based policy solutions to improve food security, nutrition, and livelihoods, contribute to empowerment for all, and promote sustainable, climate-resilient food systems. IFPRI’s Strategy describes how the Institute applies four approaches to research and impact across five thematic areas of food policy research and works with partners to reshape food systems for greater well-being, equity, and sustainability. In pursuit of these goals, IFPRI staff should adhere to the following principles:
- Guiding Principles
- Research should directly or indirectly serve the poor, food insecure, and malnourished—IFPRI’s ultimate clients. As these clients often do not have a strong voice, IFPRI researchers should seek to take their interests into account when conducting and communicating research and capacity-strengthening initiatives.
- Research should be conceived and conducted in consultation with stakeholders in an open manner. Exceptions to stakeholder consultation may include exploratory research or literature reviews.
- Research should comply with IFPRI’s Principles, Policies and Procedures for the Protection of Human Research Subjects as well as the Institute’s Ethical Principles.
- Research should be freely disseminated, without censorship beyond normal quality controls.
- Integrity and Transparency
- IFPRI generates knowledge and makes it available to all key stakeholders, without supporting any political regime or ideology.
- The processes by which IFPRI’s research topics are identified and its priorities are set are transparent. IFPRI’s research approaches, methodologies, and results are state-of-the-art and are subject to peer review; IFPRI publishes its peer-reviewed research results and makes them available to all stakeholders.
- IFPRI recognizes that in some instances, initial research findings must be made available (with appropriate qualifications) to policymakers before a full, formal peer-review process is complete.
- IFPRI does not shy away from making its voice heard regarding peer-reviewed research findings even if they conflict with conventional wisdom or certain stakeholder interests.
- Because some of IFPRI’s work is undertaken in complex political environments, IFPRI is mindful that controversial policy research findings produced with research partners should not put those partners at risk.
- IFPRI’s policy advice is guided by research and not by individual opinions (about a country, government, etc.). IFPRI researchers must engage stakeholders with care, bearing in mind that as researchers, their primary role is to inform the debate and not advocate for a cause.
- In order to maintain its integrity and transparency, IFPRI discourages its research staff from working as de facto or independent consultants for individual policymakers and donors.
- The appropriate recognition of authorship is integral to the intellectual integrity of IFPRI research. IFPRI actively encourages authorship to be granted to developing-country research partners and research support staff who have substantially contributed to the work.
- Partners and Donors
- To avoid financial dependency on a single donor, IFPRI aims to engage multiple donors for its research programs, when possible.
- The host institutions of IFPRI country- or regional-based programs are selected on the basis of the institutions’ strength in policy research within the country. IFPRI aims to maximize the host institutions’ impact on poverty, food insecurity, and malnutrition by generating public goods and knowledge and by strengthening national capacity. Host institutions with strong affiliations to particular political interest groups are to be avoided.
- Research partners are chosen on the basis of their professional competence or potential for competence. Partners and research program advisory/steering committees should consist of a broad range of members, including nongovernmental implementation or research organizations, academic institutions, United Nations organizations, farmer and consumer organizations, and private-sector groups (see Private Sector Guidelines for further details on engagement with the private sector).
- Regional and International Public Goods
- IFPRI undertakes policy research wherever the expected results will have global or regional impact (international public goods).
- Among other considerations, country-specific studies are selected where a significant impact on poverty, food insecurity, and malnutrition can be expected and where the knowledge generated can have a broader impact beyond the country studied.
- IFPRI endeavors to ensure that all research-based information products are open access as much as possible, subject to the legal rights and legitimate interests of funders, research partners, research subjects, relevant government and government agencies, or other relevant parties (see Research Data Management and Open Access Policy
Updated September 2019