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Who we are

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

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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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The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is passionate in improving and promoting healthy and safe food for all, specifically for those who lack access. GAIN works with governments and their stakeholders to design and deliver food-based policy and programs to encourage consumption of nutritious and safe foods. GAIN is a leader in its field and keep a meticulous record of exactly how their interventions and policies unfold, to achieve widespread impact.

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Publications

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Brief

Aid budget cuts have dire consequences for malnutrition among the world’s most vulnerable children

2025
Standing Together for Nutrition; Osendarp, Saskia; Bhutta, Zulfiqar; Ahmed, Tahmeed; Brown, Molly; Bryan, Elizabeth; Campbell, Bruce M.; Dinku, Tufa; Ekesa, B.; Fanzo, Jess
…more Haddad, Lawrence; Ho, Melissa; Loboguerrero Rodriguez, Ana María; Zougamoré, Robert
Details

Aid budget cuts have dire consequences for malnutrition among the world’s most vulnerable children

Recent aid budgets announced by governments in the US and Europe could cut 2.3 million children off from lifesaving severe acute malnutrition treatment, resulting in 369,000 additional child deaths annually. The US government cuts alone will cause an estimated additional 163,500 annual child deaths that could have been prevented with funding for adequate treatment.

Year published

2025

Authors

Standing Together for Nutrition; Osendarp, Saskia; Bhutta, Zulfiqar; Ahmed, Tahmeed; Brown, Molly; Bryan, Elizabeth; Campbell, Bruce M.; Dinku, Tufa; Ekesa, B.; Fanzo, Jess; Haddad, Lawrence; Ho, Melissa; Loboguerrero Rodriguez, Ana María; Zougamoré, Robert

Citation

Standing Together for Nutrition. 2025. Aid budget cuts have dire consequences for malnutrition among the world’s most vulnerable children. Policy Brief. Washington, DC: Micronutrient Forum. https://micronutrientforum.org/standing-together-for-nutrition/aid-budget-cuts-have-dire-consequences-for-malnutrition/

Keywords

Development Aid; Malnutrition; Children

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

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Journal Article

Governance and resilience as entry points for transforming food systems in the countdown to 2030

2025
Schneider, Kate R.; Remans, Roseline; Bekele, Tesfaye Hailu; Aytekin, Destan; Conforti, Piero; Dasgupta, Shouro; DeClerck, Fabrice A.J.; Dewi, Deviana; Fabi, Carola; Gephart, Jessica A.
…more Masuda, Yuta J.; McLaren, Rebecca; Saisana, Michaela; Aburto, Nancy; Ambikapathi, Ramya; Rodriguez, Mariana Arellano; Barquera, Simon; Battersby, Jane; Beal, Ty; Béné, Christophe; Cafiero, Carlo; Campeau, Christine; Caron, Patrick; Cattaneo, Cattaneo; Candel, Jeroen; Covic, Namukolo; del Pino Alvarez, Inmaculada; Barreto, Ana Paula Dominguez; Elouafi, Ismahane; Frazier, Tyler J.; Fremier, Alexander; Foley, Pat; Golden, Christopher D.; Fischer, Carlos Gonzalez; Guarin, Alejandro; Hendriks, Sheryl; Herforth, Anna; Honorati, Maddalena; Huang, Jikun; Getaneh, Yonas; Kennedy, Gina; Laar, Amos; Lal, Rattan; Lidder, Preetmoninder; Feye, Getachew Legese; Loken, Brent; Malapit, Hazel J.; Marshall, Quinn; Mulatu, Kalkidan A.; Munguia, Ana; Nordhagen, Stella; Resnick, Danielle; Suhardiman, Diana; Sumaila, U. Rashid; Sun, Bangyao; Mengesha, Belay Terefe; Cullen, Maximo Torero; Tubiello, Francesco N.; Dooren, Corné van; Morales, Isabel Valero; Vivero-Pol, Jose-Luis; Webb, Patrick; Wiebe, Keith D.; Haddad, Lawrence; Herrero, Mario; Moncayo, Jose Rosero; Fanzo, Jessica
Details

Governance and resilience as entry points for transforming food systems in the countdown to 2030

Due to complex interactions, changes in any one area of food systems are likely to impact—and possibly depend on—changes in other areas. Here we present the first annual monitoring update of the indicator framework proposed by the Food Systems Countdown Initiative, with new qualitative analysis elucidating interactions across indicators. Since 2000, we find that 20 of 42 indicators with time series have been trending in a desirable direction, indicating modest positive change. Qualitative expert elicitation assessed governance and resilience indicators to be most connected to other indicators across themes, highlighting entry points for action—particularly governance action. Literature review and country case studies add context to the assessed interactions across diets, environment, livelihoods, governance and resilience indicators, helping different actors understand and navigate food systems towards desirable change.Due to complex interactions, changes in any one area of food systems are likely to impact—and possibly depend on—changes in other areas. Here we present the first annual monitoring update of the indicator framework proposed by the Food Systems Countdown Initiative, with new qualitative analysis elucidating interactions across indicators. Since 2000, we find that 20 of 42 indicators with time series have been trending in a desirable direction, indicating modest positive change. Qualitative expert elicitation assessed governance and resilience indicators to be most connected to other indicators across themes, highlighting entry points for action—particularly governance action. Literature review and country case studies add context to the assessed interactions across diets, environment, livelihoods, governance and resilience indicators, helping different actors understand and navigate food systems towards desirable change.

Year published

2025

Authors

Schneider, Kate R.; Remans, Roseline; Bekele, Tesfaye Hailu; Aytekin, Destan; Conforti, Piero; Dasgupta, Shouro; DeClerck, Fabrice A.J.; Dewi, Deviana; Fabi, Carola; Gephart, Jessica A.; Masuda, Yuta J.; McLaren, Rebecca; Saisana, Michaela; Aburto, Nancy; Ambikapathi, Ramya; Rodriguez, Mariana Arellano; Barquera, Simon; Battersby, Jane; Beal, Ty; Béné, Christophe; Cafiero, Carlo; Campeau, Christine; Caron, Patrick; Cattaneo, Cattaneo; Candel, Jeroen; Covic, Namukolo; del Pino Alvarez, Inmaculada; Barreto, Ana Paula Dominguez; Elouafi, Ismahane; Frazier, Tyler J.; Fremier, Alexander; Foley, Pat; Golden, Christopher D.; Fischer, Carlos Gonzalez; Guarin, Alejandro; Hendriks, Sheryl; Herforth, Anna; Honorati, Maddalena; Huang, Jikun; Getaneh, Yonas; Kennedy, Gina; Laar, Amos; Lal, Rattan; Lidder, Preetmoninder; Feye, Getachew Legese; Loken, Brent; Malapit, Hazel J.; Marshall, Quinn; Mulatu, Kalkidan A.; Munguia, Ana; Nordhagen, Stella; Resnick, Danielle; Suhardiman, Diana; Sumaila, U. Rashid; Sun, Bangyao; Mengesha, Belay Terefe; Cullen, Maximo Torero; Tubiello, Francesco N.; Dooren, Corné van; Morales, Isabel Valero; Vivero-Pol, Jose-Luis; Webb, Patrick; Wiebe, Keith D.; Haddad, Lawrence; Herrero, Mario; Moncayo, Jose Rosero; Fanzo, Jessica

Citation

Schneider, Kate R.; Remans, Roseline; Bekele, Tesfaye Hailu; Aytekin, Destan; Conforti, Piero; Dasgupta, Shouro; et al. 2025. Governance and resilience as entry points for transforming food systems in the countdown to 2030. Nature Food 6: 105-116. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-024-01109-4

Keywords

Food Systems; Governance; Resilience; Transformation; Resiliencia; Sistema Alimentario; Gobernanza-gobernancia

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-024-01109-4 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

Article has an altmetric score of 146
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Journal Article

Defining and measuring policy coherence for food system transformation: A scoping review

2024Dewi, Deviana; Aytekin, Destan; Schneider, Kate R.; Covic, Namukolo; Fanzo, Jessica; Nordhagen, Stella; Resnick, Danielle
Details

Defining and measuring policy coherence for food system transformation: A scoping review

Changes in food systems—across multiple sectors and through all levels of government—are essential for meeting many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other global environmental and health targets. Steering food systems towards common outcomes and ensuring that actions in one area do not undermine progress in another requires policy coherence. This scoping review examines how policy coherence has been broadly defined and measured in areas related to food system transformation to inform conceptualization, definition, and measurement specific to food systems transformation and provide insights for policy and program implementation. We reviewed literature published from January 2000 to December 2022 and identified 47 studies meeting the inclusion criteria. Results show that common features of definitions of policy coherence relevant for food systems are: an emphasis on minimizing tradeoffs and maximizing synergies; policy integration within different areas of government and food systems or across scales (horizontal or vertical coherence); alignment of objectives, interventions, and indicators within a given policy area; and complementarity and consistency of actions and goals within or across sectors of food systems. Measurement methods to date are mainly limited to qualitative policy document review and participatory assessment, with no examples of application at scale. This paper provides a first step towards a definition and measurement approach for policy coherence that can fill this important data gap in monitoring the governance of food systems transformation and synthesizes evidence to guide actions towards greater policy coherence in governing national food systems.

Year published

2024

Authors

Dewi, Deviana; Aytekin, Destan; Schneider, Kate R.; Covic, Namukolo; Fanzo, Jessica; Nordhagen, Stella; Resnick, Danielle

Citation

Dewi, Deviana; Aytekin, Destan; Schneider, Kate R.; Covic, Namukolo; Fanzo, Jessica; Nordhagen, Stella; and Resnick, Danielle. 2024. Defining and measuring policy coherence for food system transformation: A scoping review. World Food Security 43: 100803. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2024.100803

Keywords

Food Systems; Sustainable Development Goals; Policies; Literature Reviews

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2024.100803 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

Events

Virtual Event - Micronutrients in emergencies: How can we prevent an increase in hidden hunger?
IFPRI Policy Seminar

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June 9, 2020, 9:30 – 10:45 am

Virtual Event – Micronutrients in emergencies: How can we prevent an increase in hidden hunger?

The event video, presenter slides, podcast, and a blog will be available in the days following the event. The COVID-19 pandemic is transforming our world. We are seeing rapid changes in areas such as health care delivery, food security, agriculture, and international aid prioritization. In addition to the immediate impact to health and society, the […]

The changing challenges of hidden hunger: Micronutrients within the nutrition and development landscapes
IFPRI Policy Seminar

 | 

February 3, 2020, 12:15 – 1:45 pm

The changing challenges of hidden hunger: Micronutrients within the nutrition and development landscapes

Current global challenges in malnutrition and other development goals call for integrated, multi-sectoral approaches focusing on the entire food system, leading to healthier and sustainable diets for all. Among these challenges is micronutrient deficiency, known as “hidden hunger.” Micronutrients—vitamins and minerals needed in only very small quantities but with huge impacts on human health and […]

Food Systems Dashboard: How it will work
IFPRI Policy Seminar

 | 

January 27, 2020, 12:15 – 1:45 pm

Food Systems Dashboard: How it will work

Our food systems are bankrupting our health systems, accelerating climate change and using natural resources in an unsustainable way.  Most people agree they need to be transformed to change this.  But how?  Food systems are complex and offer many entry points for change.  In addition, the data to describe food systems and their performance is […]

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