IFPRI CGIAR
Subscribe

Back

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.

researcher spotlight

Lina Alaaeldin Abdelfattah

Lina Alaaeldin Abdelfattah is a Senior Research Associate in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit, based in Cairo. Her research interests include applied economic development, trade, and spatial economics, with a focus on topics relevant to social protection, food, nutrition, and agriculture in the Middle East and Africa. 

Where we work

Back

Where we work

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

IFPRI Regional Programs

IFPRI Country Programs

Research by country and region

Subscribe

experts

Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion

Kalle Hirvonen

Senior Research Fellow

Follow

Kalle

at:

ORCiD
profile

Bio

Kalle Hirvonen is a Senior Research Fellow in the Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit. ​Through his research, Kalle seeks to understand how to sustainably improve nutrition and food security outcomes in low-income countries. Thematically, this work sits at the intersection of development, health, and agricultural economics. Kalle has done extensive research in areas of social protection, agriculture-nutrition linkages, food systems, value chains, and food markets. Most of his work is based on statistical analyses of primary data from large-scale household surveys or randomized controlled trials. Kalle holds a PhD in Economics and a master’s degrees in Development Economics from the University of Sussex, UK, as well as a master’s degree in International Economics from the University of Helsinki.

Personal Website

Google Scholar Citations

RePEc Author Profile

Research Gate Profile

CV

Publications

Resource thumbnail

Brief

The effectiveness of cash and cash plus interventions on livelihoods outcomes: Evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis

2024Leight, Jessica; Hirvonen, Kalle; Zafar, Sarim
Details

The effectiveness of cash and cash plus interventions on livelihoods outcomes: Evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis

Cash transfer programs have become increasingly popular tools for fighting chronic poverty and food insecurity in lowand middle-income countries (Fiszbein and Schady, 2009; USAID, 2022; WFP, 2023). Cash transfers offer recipients flexibility by permitting them to finance immediate consumption needs or to increase future income streams through investments and savings. Moreover, these programs are generally feasible to implement and scale across diverse contexts. While studies consistently show cash transfers effectively reduce poverty in the short term, the evidence on their long-term impact is less clear.

Year published

2024

Authors

Leight, Jessica; Hirvonen, Kalle; Zafar, Sarim

Citation

Leight, Jessica; Hirvonen, Kalle; and Zafar, Sarim. 2024. The effectiveness of cash and cash plus interventions on livelihoods outcomes: Evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute.

Keywords

Cash Transfers; Data; Consumption; Livelihoods

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Fragility, Conflict, and Migration

Record type

Brief

Resource thumbnail

Working Paper

The effectiveness of cash and cash plus interventions on livelihoods outcomes: Evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis

2024Leight, Jessica; Hirvonen, Kalle; Zafar, Sarim
Details

The effectiveness of cash and cash plus interventions on livelihoods outcomes: Evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis

Over the last 20 years, a burgeoning scholarly literature has analyzed the effects of cash transfer and cash plus interventions in a wide range of contexts and using a range of empirical designs. We conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the pooled effect of any cash or cash plus intervention on livelihoods-related outcomes (consumption, income and labor supply), ultimately compiling 305 different treatment estimates from 155 treatment arms in 104 studies (and in 43 countries). Using random effects and multilevel models, our findings suggest that cash transfer programming is associated with an increase of between $1 and $2 in monthly household consumption and income per $100 in cumulative transfers, an effect that persists for a period of roughly three years (inclusive of the period of program implementation); this effect is meaningfully larger (as much as $4 larger) for cash transfer programs that also include a cash plus livelihoods intervention. There are no significant effects observed on labor force participation. We also present a range of estimates capturing the longer-term (cumulative) effects of cash transfers on consumption under alternate assumptions.

Year published

2024

Authors

Leight, Jessica; Hirvonen, Kalle; Zafar, Sarim

Citation

Leight, Jessica; Hirvonen, Kalle; and Zafar, Sarim. 2024. The effectiveness of cash and cash plus interventions on livelihoods outcomes: Evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2262. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148881

Keywords

Cash Transfers; Consumption; Income; Livelihoods

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Fragility, Conflict, and Migration

Record type

Working Paper

Resource thumbnail

Journal Article

Child growth faltering dynamics in food insecure districts in rural Ethiopia

2024Hirvonen, Kalle; Wolle, Abdulazize; Laillou, Arnaud; Vinci, Vincenzo; Chitekwe, Stanley; Baye, Kaleab
Details

Child growth faltering dynamics in food insecure districts in rural Ethiopia

Child undernutrition disproportionally affects children in low- and middle-income countries. In Ethiopia, both wasting and stunting are serious public health concerns, with high human and economic costs. Understanding the dynamics in ponderal and linear growth faltering is critical to inform the design of innovative interventions that can prevent both wasting and stunting in poor and complex settings. Using two longitudinal studies conducted in 2017 and 2019 in four highland regions of Ethiopia, we evaluated the dynamics and drivers of child growth faltering in children 6–23 months of age (N = 5003). Child wasting prevalence peaked during the first 6 months of life, whereas stunting increased significantly after 6 months of age. Male sex, child illnesses (i.e., diarrhoea or fever) and low consumption of fruits and vegetables were associated with higher odds of acute undernutrition (P < 0.05). The consumption of animal source foods (ASF) was associated with increases (β: 95% CI) in weight-for-length Z-score (WLZ; 0.12: 0.0002; 0.242), whereas fruit or vegetables consumption was associated with increases in midupper arm circumference (MUAC; 0.11 cm: 0.003; 0.209). Only consumption of ASF was the statistically significant predictor of future linear growth (0.14: 0.029; 0.251). Distinct trends in WLZ and MUAC were observed by child sex and age. Improving diet quality through improved nutrition knowledge and increased access and affordability of ASFs, along with effective infection prevention/control measures could prevent both child wasting and stunting concurrently.

Year published

2024

Authors

Hirvonen, Kalle; Wolle, Abdulazize; Laillou, Arnaud; Vinci, Vincenzo; Chitekwe, Stanley; Baye, Kaleab

Citation

Hirvonen, Kalle; Wolle, Abdulazize; Laillou, Arnaud; Vinci, Vincenzo; Chitekwe, Stanley; and Baye, Kaleab. 2024. Child growth faltering dynamics in food insecure districts in rural Ethiopia. Maternal and Child Nutrition 20(S5). https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13262

Country/Region

Ethiopia

Keywords

Eastern Africa; Rural Areas; Food Security; Children; Child Nutrition; Nutrition; Malnutrition; Wasting Disease (nutritional Disorder)

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13262 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

Blogs

Do ultra-poor graduation programs build resilience against droughts? Evidence from rural Ethiopia
IFPRI Blog
 | 
March 04, 2024

Do ultra-poor graduation programs build resilience against droughts? Evidence from rural Ethiopia

By Kalle Hirvonen, Daniel Gilligan, Jessica Leight, Heleene Tambet, and Victor Villa

Safety nets can buttress households against climate shocks.

Can phone surveys be used in standard poverty measurement? Evidence from Ethiopia
IFPRI Blog
 | 
June 09, 2023

Can phone surveys be used in standard poverty measurement? Evidence from Ethiopia

By Alan de Brauw, Kalle Hirvonen, Gashaw T. Abate, and Abdulazize Wolle

An experiment suggests survey fatigue can skew results.

A food crisis was brewing even before the Ukraine war – but taking these three steps could help the most vulnerable
IFPRI Blog
 | 
March 25, 2022

A food crisis was brewing even before the Ukraine war – but taking these three steps could help the most vulnerable

By Derek Headey and Kalle Hirvonen

The poor in developing countries face severe impacts.

Events

SPIR II Learning Event
IFPRI Program/Country Event

 | 

May 16 to 17, 2023

SPIR II Learning Event

May 16 and 17, 2023 (9:00am – 5:00pm Addis Ababa): The Strengthen PSNP5 Institutions and Resilience (SPIR II) Resilience Food Security Activity (RFSA) in Ethiopia is a five-year project (2021-2026) that supports implementation of the fifth phase of the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP5) in Amhara and Oromia regions and provides additional graduation model programming through complementary gender-sensitive livelihood, nutrition, and climate resilience activities to strengthen the program and expand its impacts.

Rethinking Food Crisis Responses
Series/Special Event

 | 

May 11, 2023, 5:00 – 8:45 am

Rethinking Food Crisis Responses

Virtual Event: May 11, 2023 – 5:00 AM to 8:45 AM EDT. Please join the Nigeria presentation of the Report and the launch of the FCM Initiative on May 11 in Abuja, Nigeria, in person or virtually.

2023 Global Food Policy Report: Rethinking Food Crisis Responses
IFPRI Policy Seminar

 | 

April 13, 2023, 9:00 – 10:30 am

2023 Global Food Policy Report: Rethinking Food Crisis Responses

Hybrid Event: April 11, 2023 – 9:00 AM- 10:30 AM EDT. Join us for the launch of IFPRI’s 2023 Global Food Policy Report, which explores evidence-based policy and governance solutions that can provide better early warning and rapid response and increase resilience of food systems.

News

May 30, 2021 | In the News

Evidence from 22 African countries shows low trust in authorities is affecting vaccine uptake )The Print)

The Print published an op-ed by Senior research fellow Kalle Hirvonen and his co-authors that states while immunization saves millions of lives each year, progress in vaccine coverage remains highly uneven, both between and within countries. Despite considerable progress over the past two decades, the situation is particularly worrying in Africa. Nearly half of the world’s unvaccinated and under-vaccinated children […]

November 13, 2020 | In the News

The height of the Chinese is the highest in East Asia, so who is at the bottom? (The Paper)

The Paper (China) published an article that referenced the IFPRI research on stunting in children, Evaluation of linear growth at higher altitudes (Jama Pediatrics). The study analyzed the height and age data of more than 950,000 children from 59 countries and showed that the growth rate of children living in an ideal family environment is the same as that of […]

September 24, 2020 | In the News

Living in high altitude areas, children are more prone to developmental delays (Sohu.com)) 

Sohu.com published an article on about new research on stunting in higher altitudes. According to Senior Research Fellow Kalle Hirvonen, “More than 800 million people live at altitudes of 1,500 meters or higher, and two-thirds of them live in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. These two regions have most of the stunted children in the world, so understand that altitude […]