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With research staff from more than 70 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

Lilia Bliznashka

Lily Bliznashka is a Research Fellow in the Nutrition, Diets, and Health Unit. Her research focuses on assessing the effectiveness of multi-input nutrition-sensitive and nutrition-specific interventions and the mechanisms through which they work to improve maternal and child health and nutrition globally. She has worked in Burkina Faso, Burundi, Tanzania, and Uganda.

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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 480 employees working in over 70 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

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experts

Foresight and Policy Modeling

Eleanor Jones

Program Manager

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Bio

Eleanor Jones is a Program Manager in the Foresight and Policy Modeling Unit. Prior to her work at IFPRI, she worked as a research consultant at the Development Innovation Lab at the University of Chicago. She also served as the managing editor for the Journal of Poverty and Public Policy.

Eleanor has worked in various countries across the world including completing a Fulbright in Mongolia, developing after-school educational programs in South Africa, and serving as an editor for the Journal of Southeast Asian Human Rights at the Centre for Human Rights, Multiculturalism, and Migration in Indonesia.

Eleanor received a Master of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame, Keough School of Global Affairs.

Foresight and Policy Modeling

Publications

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Brief

Ghana: Cost effective options for inclusive and sustainable development

2026Aragie, Emerta A.; Pauw, Karl; Jiang, Shiyun; Thurlow, James; Jones, Eleanor
Details

Ghana: Cost effective options for inclusive and sustainable development

In this policy brief, we present findings of a systematic evaluation and ranking of investment options for Ghana’s agrifood system based on their cost-effectiveness in achieving multiple development outcomes, including agrifood gross domestic product (GDP) growth, agrifood job creation, poverty reduction, declining undernourishment, and lowering diet deprivation. Additionally, the study assesses their environmental footprints, focusing on water consumption, land use, and emissions. In Ghana, extension in agronomy and post-harvest food loss reduction are the most cost-effective ways to improve social outcomes, including notably reducing poverty and undernourishment levels. Meanwhile, advisory services in livestock and support to small and medium enterprise (SME) processors are highly ranked in accelerating agrifood GDP and employment. Moreover, extension services for agronomy and climate, and investments in mechanization are also highly ranked. However, many of these cost-effective investments come with relatively high environmental footprints, which highlights potential tradeoffs. The study further reveals shifts in the cost-effectiveness ranking of investment options over time and moderately so in the presence of extreme production shocks.

Year published

2026

Authors

Aragie, Emerta A.; Pauw, Karl; Jiang, Shiyun; Thurlow, James; Jones, Eleanor

Citation

Aragie, Emerta A.; Pauw, Karl; Jiang, Shiyun; Thurlow, James; and Jones, Eleanor. 2026. Ghana: Cost effective options for inclusive and sustainable development. Agrifood Investment Prioritization Country Series Brief 9. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181872

Keywords

Agrifood Systems; Development; Investment; Economic Aspects; Environmental Impact

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

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Working Paper

School meals in the 21st century: Key evidence gaps and future directions

2026
Gelli, Aulo; Bell, Winnie; Bliznashka, Lilia; Eustacchio-Colombo, Patricia; Heirman, Jonas; Jones, Eleanor; Katundu, Mangani; Khincha, Roshni; Lerva, Benedetta; Lombardini, Simone
…more Schultz, Linda; Scott, Samuel P.; Wineman, Ayala; School Meal Evidence Priorities Collaborators
Details

School meals in the 21st century: Key evidence gaps and future directions

School meal programs are a widely implemented safety net with documented impacts across social protection, education, health and nutrition and high estimated returns to investment (Alderman et al., 2024). Globally, in 2022, these programs reached over 400 million children for a total investment of $70 billion a year(Global Child Nutrition Foundation, 2024). The School Meals Coalition (SMC) created in 2021 and involving 106 member countries, has brought momentum and new opportunities for school meals. Collaborative research activities by development partners from the SMC have included evidence generation, review and synthesis, and the identification of key research gaps on school meal programs. This article provides the basis for a common research agenda to support evidence generation aimed at improving action on sustainable school meal programs. These evidence gaps were generated through a series of activities including evidence reviews, expert consultations and stakeholder workshops undertaken by SMC partners.

Year published

2026

Authors

Gelli, Aulo; Bell, Winnie; Bliznashka, Lilia; Eustacchio-Colombo, Patricia; Heirman, Jonas; Jones, Eleanor; Katundu, Mangani; Khincha, Roshni; Lerva, Benedetta; Lombardini, Simone; Schultz, Linda; Scott, Samuel P.; Wineman, Ayala; School Meal Evidence Priorities Collaborators

Citation

Gelli, Aulo; Bell, Winnie; Bliznashka, Lilia; Eustacchio-Colombo, Patricia; Heirman, Jonas; et al. 2026. School meals in the 21st century: Key evidence gaps and future directions. IFPRI Working Paper. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179539

Keywords

School Feeding; Investment; Sustainability; Cost Analysis; Nutrition

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper

Resource thumbnail

Brief

Kenya: Cost effective options for inclusive and sustainable development

2025Aragie, Emerta A.; Pauw, Karl; Thurlow, James; Jones, Eleanor
Details

Kenya: Cost effective options for inclusive and sustainable development

In this policy brief, we present findings of a systematic evaluation and ranking of investment options for Kenya’s agrifood system based on their cost-effectiveness in achieving multiple development outcomes, including agrifood gross domestic product (GDP) growth, agrifood job creation, poverty reduction, declining undernourishment, and lowering diet deprivation. Additionally, the study assesses their environmental footprint, focusing on water consumption, land use, and emissions. Investments in small and medium enterprise (SME) processors, irrigation, and seed subsidy are shown to be the most cost-effective at driving improvements in social outcomes, like poverty and undernourishment. They are also highly ranked in terms of expanding agrifood GDP and employment. Expansion in extension and advisory services for seeds and agronomy as well as improvements in seed systems also rank high. However, many cost-effective investments have relatively high environmental footprints, which highlights potential tradeoffs. The study further reveals shifts in the cost-effectiveness ranking of investment options overtime and when extreme production shocks occur.

Year published

2025

Authors

Aragie, Emerta A.; Pauw, Karl; Thurlow, James; Jones, Eleanor

Citation

Aragie, Emerta A.; Pauw, Karl; Thurlow, James; and Jones, Eleanor. 2025. Kenya: Cost effective options for inclusive and sustainable development. Agrifood Investment Prioritization Country Series Brief 7. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178746

Country/Region

Kenya

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Agrifood Sector; Sustainable Development; Poverty; Nutrition; Environmental Impact; Agrifood Systems

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Blogs

School meals and school-based actions for people and the planet: Nourishing bodies, minds, and futures
Research Post
 | 
May 01, 2026

School meals and school-based actions for people and the planet: Nourishing bodies, minds, and futures

By Tamsin Zandstra, Aulo Gelli, Daniel Gilligan, and Eleanor Jones

Impacts on education and beyond.

Beyond the harvest: Uncovering the hidden risks driving poverty and hunger in developing economies
Research Post
 | 
April 24, 2026

Beyond the harvest: Uncovering the hidden risks driving poverty and hunger in developing economies

By Askar Mukashov and Eleanor Jones

Systematic risk profiling reveals wide differences in country vulnerabilities.

Models as assets for food security: The impacts of IFPRI's IMPACT, RIAPA, and SPAM models
Research Post
 | 
May 15, 2025

Models as assets for food security: The impacts of IFPRI’s IMPACT, RIAPA, and SPAM models

By Alix Underwood, Eleanor Jones, Karl Pauw, Keith Wiebe, and Liangzhi You

IFPRI’s modeling tools—IMPACT, RIAPA, and SPAM—provide global, national, and subnational insights to guide food policy decisions. These models have influenced major investments and policies, offering evidence-based projections to enhance food security, nutrition, and resilience in evolving agrifood systems.

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Events

How do we prioritize agrifood system policies and investments? Insights from the RIAPA modeling system
IFPRI Program/Country Event

 | 

June 12, 2024, 10:00 – 11:00 am

How do we prioritize agrifood system policies and investments? Insights from the RIAPA modeling system

Virtual Event: June 12, 2024 at 10:00am-11:00am EDT. In this webinar, we will demonstrate how RIAPA has been used to identify priority agricultural value chains that most effectively contribute to development outcomes.