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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

Timothy Thomas

Timothy Thomas is a Senior Research Fellow in the Foresight and Policy Modeling Unit. His research focuses on the impact of climate change on agricultural productivity. Tim’s work involves developing innovative methods for simulated climate futures and model coordination between climate, crop, water, energy, and economics.

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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

Agrifood Innovation and Resilience

Elizabeth Basauri Bryan

Research Fellow

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Bio

Elizabeth Bryan is a Research Fellow in the Agrifood Innovation and Resilience (AIR) Unit, where she leads a sub-theme on Equitable Climate Action. She has 19 years of experience conducting policy-relevant research on climate action, small-scale irrigation, agriculture–nutrition linkages, and gender equality and social inclusion, using mixed methods. She currently leads the Gender, Climate Change, and Nutrition Integration (GCAN) Initiative, and a project on gender equity in irrigation service delivery. She is also the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Focal Point for the CGIAR Climate Action Science Program and leads an activity under the CGIAR Gender Equality and Inclusion Accelerator. She has extensive experience integrating gender and social inclusion across large, interdisciplinary, multi-partner research programs in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Elizabeth has published widely in peer-reviewed journals and policy outlets and regularly presents research results to diverse audiences, including international conferences, policy workshops, and trainings, with a focus on translating evidence into policy and program design.

Before joining IFPRI, Elizabeth worked as a consultant for the Poverty Reduction Group of the World Bank and as a program assistant in the Latin American Program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. She holds a PhD in agricultural sciences from the University of Hohenheim, an MA in development economics from American University, and a BA in international affairs from Wagner College.

Google Scholar Citations

Publications

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Report

GCAN Partner Workshop: Report on lessons and priorities for strengthening policy engagement, institutional capacity, and sustainability

2026Bryan, Elizabeth; Go, Ara; Sarswat, Esha; Mawia, Harriet
Details

GCAN Partner Workshop: Report on lessons and priorities for strengthening policy engagement, institutional capacity, and sustainability

The Gender, Climate Change, and Nutrition Integration Initiative (GCAN) brought partners together in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to reflect on progress, exchange lessons on capacity strengthening and policy engagement, identify priorities for the remaining period of the project, and engage with stakeholders in Ethiopia. The three-day workshop combined reflection, peer learning, forward planning, and stakeholder consultation. Several key takeaways emerged from the workshop:  Partners have made substantial progress in building awareness of the gender-climate-nutrition nexus, developing tools and training materials, convening multisectoral actors, and creating entry points into policy and planning processes. The next challenge is moving from awareness of the importance of integrating gender, climate change, and nutrition goals in policy processes to routine application and institutionalization.  Capacity strengthening on integrating gender, climate change, and nutrition needs to extend beyond training individuals. Participants emphasized leadership buy-in, institutional mandates, coordination mechanisms, practical tools, sustained financing, follow-up, and opportunities to apply learning in real policy and planning processes.  Country approaches differ, but partners gained insights from cross-country experiences and valued the opportunity for cross-country learning. Existing manuals, frameworks, metrics, policy briefs, and facilitation approaches could be consolidated and adapted rather than creating entirely new products in each setting.  Policy engagement is most effective when it is sustained, demand-driven, linked to active policy windows, and grounded in relationships with both technical staff and decisionmakers. Partners also highlighted the importance of co-creating evidence and translating it into practical guidance to facilitate GCAN integration.  Looking ahead, partners want to strengthen monitoring of capacity and institutional change, deepen peer learning, embed GCAN approaches in existing institutions and platforms, and mobilize resources and partnerships that can sustain the work beyond the current project period.

Year published

2026

Authors

Bryan, Elizabeth; Go, Ara; Sarswat, Esha; Mawia, Harriet

Citation

Bryan, Elizabeth; Go, Ara; Sarswat, Esha; Mawia, Harriet. 2026. GCAN Partner Workshop: Report on lessons and priorities for strengthening policy engagement, institutional capacity, and sustainability. Project Report October 2026. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/186223

Keywords

Climate Resilience; Capacity Building; Gender; Climate Change; Policy Innovation

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Report

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Book Chapter

A vision for equitable food, land and water systems by 2050

2026
Lecoutere, Els; Muchiri, Caroline; Voss, Rachel; Bryan, Elizabeth; Haan, Nicoline C. de; Elias, M.; Heckert, Jessica; Puskur, Ranjitha; Rao, Nitya; Resurrección, Bernadette P.
…more Singaraju, Niyati
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A vision for equitable food, land and water systems by 2050

The world faces a defining moment. By 2050, global demand for food is expected to rise, climate shocks are expected to intensify, and youth populations in many regions are expected to grow rapidly. Food, land and water systems (FLWS) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are being pushed to their limits by the polycrisis — multiple interconnected global challenges whose combined impacts exceed the sum of their individual effects — deepening inequalities and threatening food security, socioeconomic stability and ecological resilience.3 The compounding challenges facing FLWS include climate change, strains on natural resources and profound demographic shifts, including a growing population marked by shifts toward both younger and older population structures, rapid urbanization and accelerating, increasingly diverse, and often gendered patterns of internal and international migration. Sudden-onset triggers (like natural disasters, conflicts or pandemics) interact with slow-onset stressors (like demographic shifts, rising temperatures and socioeconomic inequalities) to push established global systems into a state of disequilibrium and breakdown. A unique challenge of the polycrisis lies in the deep uncertainty it creates — FLWS actors at all scales are struggling to make decisions about a rapidly changing future.

Year published

2026

Authors

Lecoutere, Els; Muchiri, Caroline; Voss, Rachel; Bryan, Elizabeth; Haan, Nicoline C. de; Elias, M.; Heckert, Jessica; Puskur, Ranjitha; Rao, Nitya; Resurrección, Bernadette P.; Singaraju, Niyati

Citation

Lecoutere, E., Muchiri, C., Voss, R., Bryan, E., de Haan, N., Elias, M., Heckert, J., Puskur, R., Rao, N., Resurrección, B.P. and Singaraju, N. 2026. A vision for equitable food, land and water systems by 2050. IN: Lecoutere, E., Muchiri, C. and Voss, R. (eds.), 2026. Advancing equality, transforming futures: a path to resilient and productive food, land and water systems in 2050. Nairobi, Kenya: CGIAR Gender Equality and Inclusion (CGIAR GENDER Accelerator).

Keywords

Food Systems; Land; Water; Gender

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Book Chapter

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Book Chapter

Looking ahead: gender and inclusion in food, land and water systems in 2050

2026Bryan, Elizabeth; Malapit, Hazel J.; Lopez Avila, Diana; Thurlow, James; Escalante, Luis Enrique
Details

Looking ahead: gender and inclusion in food, land and water systems in 2050

Foresight research has not fully explored gender equality as a possible outcome of changes in FLWS over time, nor has it examined how gender inequalities hinder the transformation of these systems. Current trends suggest that only marginal progress is being made to address gender inequalities in food, land and water systems (FLWS), and this lack of progress will make it more difficult for women to participate in, benefit from and contribute meaningfully to FLWS transformation into the future. Young people also face considerable barriers to full participation in FLWS, such as lack of access to land and other resources, and limited economic opportunities. While progress has been real, it remains incremental because most interventions in FLWS have focused on women’s access to resources, services and participation, while insufficient attention has been paid to underlying structural factors, such as biases in institutions, unequal governance and decision-making structures and restrictive social norms that perpetuate inequalities. Progress is also uneven. While advancements are being made in some areas, such as closing the gender digital divide6 and integrating gender into the design of policies and interventions, other trends, such as intensifying climate change and conflict proliferation are eroding progress or even exacerbating inequalities. Moreover, these general trends and patterns vary both across and within regions and backsliding on progress toward gender equality can occur, particularly following major geopolitical shifts and global shocks — as is currently evident in the ongoing polycrisis. This chapter explores key drivers of gender (in)equality and youth inclusion in FLWS to 2050 by region under different scenarios, considering optimistic, pessimistic and business-as-usual trends in terms of demographic shifts and economic growth, drawing on historical trends over the past 20 years. Unequal outcomes, such as gender-related earnings gaps, reflect unequal power relations embedded within FLWS that also shape the process of agricultural transformation. While power relations are not directly observed in the projections presented in this chapter, these underlying and evolving dynamics also determine the degree to which it is possible to achieve gender parity by 2050.

Year published

2026

Authors

Bryan, Elizabeth; Malapit, Hazel J.; Lopez Avila, Diana; Thurlow, James; Escalante, Luis Enrique

Citation

Bryan, E., Malapit, H., Avila, D.L., Thurlow, J. and Escalante, L. 2026. Looking ahead: gender and inclusion in food, land and water systems in 2050. IN: Lecoutere, E., Muchiri, C. and Voss, R. (eds.), 2026. Advancing equality, transforming futures: a path to resilient and productive food, land and water systems in 2050. Nairobi, Kenya: CGIAR Gender Equality and Inclusion Accelerator.

Keywords

Gender; Food Systems; Water

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Book Chapter

Blogs

Integrating gender perspectives to prevent or reduce climate crisis impacts
Issue Post
 | 
November 07, 2023

Integrating gender perspectives to prevent or reduce climate crisis impacts

By Muzna Alvi, Claudia Ringler, and Elizabeth Bryan

Why women are key to building resilience.

Call to action: Addressing gender inequality in agrifood systems for effective responses to climate change
Event Post
 | 
May 10, 2023

Call to action: Addressing gender inequality in agrifood systems for effective responses to climate change

By Elizabeth Bryan and Claudia Ringler

Launching an Innovation Sprint on Gender and Climate Action.

Feeding Africa: how small-scale irrigation can help farmers to change the game
Research Post
 | 
May 02, 2023

Feeding Africa: how small-scale irrigation can help farmers to change the game

By Elizabeth Bryan and Claudia Ringler

Strong evidence of the relationship between small-scale irrigation, food security, diet quality, and nutrition.

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Events

IFPRI @ 31st UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP31)
IFPRI at External Event

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November 9 to 20, 2026

IFPRI @ 31st UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP31)

IFPRI is pleased to participate in the 31th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP31) being held in Antalya, Türkiye from November 9 to November 20, 2025. COP31 (31st Conference of the Parties) is the latest session of the supreme decision-making body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Its core purpose […]

IFPRI @ Tropentag 2026
IFPRI at External Event

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September 16 to 18, 2026

IFPRI @ Tropentag 2026

IFPRI is pleased to participate in Tropentag 2026, taking place September 16–18, 2026, in Göttingen, Germany. The annual interdisciplinary conference focuses on research in tropical and subtropical agriculture, natural resource management, and rural development. This year’s conference will be held under the theme “Towards multi-functional agro-ecosystems promoting climate-resilient futures.” Tropentag 2026 will highlight interdisciplinary research […]

IFPRI @ World Water Week 2026
IFPRI at External Event

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August 23 to 27, 2026

IFPRI @ World Water Week 2026

IFPRI is participating in World Water Week 2026, the leading conference on global water issues, taking place August 23–27 in Stockholm, Sweden. World Water Week 2026, organized by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), will bring together decision-makers, experts, practitioners, and other stakeholders from around the world to advance dialogue, collaboration, and innovation on water. […]

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News

December 03, 2023 | Press Release

CGIAR and partners launch Innovation Sprint on Gender and Climate Action

December 3, 2023, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). CGIAR and partners have committed US$31 million over four years (2023-2027) to ensure that climate innovations in agrifood systems are designed to work for women and rolled out in ways that address underlying gender inequalities. Together with 20 partners, CGIAR launched the AIM for Climate Innovation Sprint on […]

April 18, 2023 | In the News

Feeding Africa: How small-scale irrigation can help farmers to change the game (The Conversation)

The importance of small-scale irrigation to farmers and its numerous benefits, including increasing agricultural productivity and incomes. It can contribute more rapidly to the achievement of national agricultural and development goals compared to large irrigation schemes and can improve nutritional outcomes in several important ways are discussed In an op-ed in The Conversation (United States edition) […]