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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.

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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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Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion

Hazel Malapit

Senior Research Coordinator

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Bio

Hazel Malapit is a Senior Research Coordinator in the Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). She is a gender and development economist whose work focuses on women’s empowerment, agrifood systems, and the use of evidence to improve policy and practice.

Hazel leads Area of Work 2, Accelerating Change Through Evidence, of the CGIAR Gender Equality and Inclusion (GENDER) Accelerator, where she helps shape a portfolio focused on evidence quality, learning across research investments, and strengthening capacity to produce and use gender evidence.

A major focus of Hazel’s research has been the development and application of tools to measure women’s empowerment, including the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) and the Women’s Empowerment Metric for National Statistical Systems (WEMNS). Her current work also examines how innovations and evidence that advance gender equality can be adapted, scaled, and used more effectively in policy and practice.

Previously, Hazel led the Gender, Equity and Empowerment unit of the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health and co-led the Methods Module of the CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform. She holds a PhD in Economics from American University and a master’s degree in Economics from the University of the Philippines Diliman.

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Publications

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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

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Journal Article

Food systems performance evaluated against targets and benchmarks reveals urgent gaps and a path to 2050

2026
Carducci, Bianca; Schneider Lecy, Kate; Nordhagen, Stella; Beal, Ty; Béné, Christophe; Gonzalez Fischer, Carlos; Herforth, Anna; Tubiello, Francesco N.; Ambikapathi, Ramya; Arunkumar, Krishna
…more Campeau, Christine; Dasgupta, Shouro; DeClerck, Fabrice; del Pino Álvarez, Inmaculada; Guarín, Alejandro; McLaren, Rebecca; Vivero-Pol, Jose Luis; Aburto, Nancy; Barquera, Simón; Battersby, Jane; Cafiero, Carlo; Conforti, Piero; Caron, Patrick; Cattaneo, Andrea; Covic, Namukolo; Elouafi, Ismahane; Fabi, Carola; Gephart, Jessica A.; Fremier, Alexander; Foley, Pat; Golden, Christopher D.; Hendriks, Sheryl L.; Huang, Jikun; Kennedy, Gina; Laar, Amos; Lal, Rattan; Lidder, Preetmoninder; Loken, Brent; Malapit, Hazel J.; Marshall, Quinn; Masuda, Yuta J.; Remans, Roseline; Resnick, Danielle; Saisana, Michaela; Sumaila, U. Rashid; Torero Cullen, Maximo; Webb, Patrick; Wiebe, Keith D.; Haddad, Lawrence; Rosero Moncayo, José; Fanzo, Jessica; Herrero, Mario
Details

Food systems performance evaluated against targets and benchmarks reveals urgent gaps and a path to 2050

Despite national and international commitments to food systems transformation and an increasing adoption of common indicators, no comprehensive targets have been established against which progress can be measured. Here, building on the Food Systems Countdown Initiative framework, we identify existing targets—based on internationally agreed commitments and normative goals—and establish benchmarks—based on empirically derived peer performance reference values at the global, regional and income group levels—for 44 Food Systems Countdown Initiative indicators. We also assess countries’ historical progress and the rate of change required to achieve targets and benchmarks over two different timescales. We show that current progress is insufficient to meet 2030 targets and benchmarks at global level. Comparing countries’ status to regional and income benchmarks, which are generally less ambitious, yields better performance across indicators and regions, although gaps remain. Achieving most targets and benchmarks by 2050 is possible if countries correct course and accelerate progress, but certain indicators will require considerable investment and intervention.

Year published

2026

Authors

Carducci, Bianca; Schneider Lecy, Kate; Nordhagen, Stella; Beal, Ty; Béné, Christophe; Gonzalez Fischer, Carlos; Herforth, Anna; Tubiello, Francesco N.; Ambikapathi, Ramya; Arunkumar, Krishna; Campeau, Christine; Dasgupta, Shouro; DeClerck, Fabrice; del Pino Álvarez, Inmaculada; Guarín, Alejandro; McLaren, Rebecca; Vivero-Pol, Jose Luis; Aburto, Nancy; Barquera, Simón; Battersby, Jane; Cafiero, Carlo; Conforti, Piero; Caron, Patrick; Cattaneo, Andrea; Covic, Namukolo; Elouafi, Ismahane; Fabi, Carola; Gephart, Jessica A.; Fremier, Alexander; Foley, Pat; Golden, Christopher D.; Hendriks, Sheryl L.; Huang, Jikun; Kennedy, Gina; Laar, Amos; Lal, Rattan; Lidder, Preetmoninder; Loken, Brent; Malapit, Hazel J.; Marshall, Quinn; Masuda, Yuta J.; Remans, Roseline; Resnick, Danielle; Saisana, Michaela; Sumaila, U. Rashid; Torero Cullen, Maximo; Webb, Patrick; Wiebe, Keith D.; Haddad, Lawrence; Rosero Moncayo, José; Fanzo, Jessica; Herrero, Mario

Citation

Carducci, Bianca; Schneider Lecy, Kate; Nordhagen, Stella; Beal, Ty; Béné, Christophe; et al. 2026. Food systems performance evaluated against targets and benchmarks reveals urgent gaps and a path to 2050. Nature Food 7(8): 802-812. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-026-01379-0

Keywords

Food Systems; Frameworks; Transformation

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-026-01379-0 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

Resource thumbnail

Journal Article

Women’s Empowerment Metric for National Statistical Systems (WEMNS): Development and psychometric assessment of a face-to-face survey module

2026
Yount, Kathryn M.; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.; Malapit, Hazel J.; Hassan, Md. Zahidul; Kanyanda, Shelton S. E.; Sharma, Sudhindra; Hassan, Md. Imrul; Heckert, Jessica; Paz, Florencia
…more Pokhrel, Pankaj; Vundru, Wilbert D.; Doss, Cheryl; Seymour, Greg; Moylan, Heather; Kilic, Talip; Myers, Emily; Faas, Simone; Cheong, Yuk Fai; Sinharoy, Sheela S.
Details

Women’s Empowerment Metric for National Statistical Systems (WEMNS): Development and psychometric assessment of a face-to-face survey module

Data to monitor progress towards gender-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) remain limited. A comprehensive, concise set of metrics is needed for routine national data collection to monitor progress toward these goals. Our team developed and tested the Women’s Empowerment Metric for National Statistical Systems (WEMNS) survey module for use by national statistical offices and survey organizations in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to measure women’s and men’s empowerment. This paper summarizes the process of developing the WEMNS module and presents detailed results of a psychometric assessment of face-to-face surveys in Bangladesh, Malawi, and Nepal. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in the pooled sample confirmed that most of the 13 item sets had adequately identified factor structures aligned with specific empowerment constructs and gender-related SDGs. In multi-group CFA assessing measurement equivalence of item sets across gender and countries, configural invariance was observed for 9 of 13 item sets across genders and across country settings. At least partial scalar invariance was observed for one item set across genders and no item sets across country settings. Spearman pairwise correlations among WEMNS factor scores derived from final CFA models showed weak associations, suggesting item sets were weakly related and distinct. Overall, Spearman pairwise correlations of 13 WEMNS-derived factor scores with external measures for basic needs, resources, agency, and subjective well-being were weak, but five moderately high correlations were conceptually aligned. In sum, the WEMNS measures require refinement and further psychometric assessment to confirm their use to make valid comparisons of empowerment across country settings and gender.

Year published

2026

Authors

Yount, Kathryn M.; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.; Malapit, Hazel J.; Hassan, Md. Zahidul; Kanyanda, Shelton S. E.; Sharma, Sudhindra; Hassan, Md. Imrul; Heckert, Jessica; Paz, Florencia; Pokhrel, Pankaj; Vundru, Wilbert D.; Doss, Cheryl; Seymour, Greg; Moylan, Heather; Kilic, Talip; Myers, Emily; Faas, Simone; Cheong, Yuk Fai; Sinharoy, Sheela S.

Citation

Yount, Kathryn M.; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.; Malapit, Hazel J.; Hassan, Md. Zahidul; et al. 2026. Women’s Empowerment Metric for National Statistical Systems (WEMNS): Development and psychometric assessment of a face-to-face survey module. PLoS One 21(5): e0345742. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0345742

Keywords

Africa; Asia; Women's Empowerment; Surveys; Data Collection; Factor Analysis; Gender

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0345742 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

Events

Measuring Women’s Agency: New Tools, Takeaways, and What Comes Next
Series/Special Event

 | 

September 30, 2026, 9:30 – 12:00 pm

Measuring Women’s Agency: New Tools, Takeaways, and What Comes Next

This half-day forum, hosted by the Measures for Advancing Gender Equality (MAGNET) initiative, will share new findings about measuring women’s agency across three dimensions—control over assets, goal-setting and decision-making, and sense of control and efficacy—drawing on a novel set of survey tools developed and tested across 18 countries through the initiative. Partners will discuss what […]

IFPRI @ Tropentag 2026
IFPRI at External Event

 | 

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 […]

Inequality within and outside the household: Reflections from Agnes Quisumbing's career
IFPRI Policy Seminar

 | 

June 24, 2026, 10:00 – 11:30 am

Inequality within and outside the household: Reflections from Agnes Quisumbing’s career

Throughout a career spanning more than four decades, Agnes Quisumbing has made major contributions to research on intrahousehold allocation, poverty and economic mobility, women’s empowerment, and the design and implementation of gender-sensitive agricultural programs. Stemming from her long-standing interest in inequality, Agnes’s work on gender, property rights, and women’s empowerment examines how inequality within the […]

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News

April 19, 2023 | In the News

Crisis resilience ‘critical’ to stem rising hunger (SciDev.Net)

“A shift towards permanent ‘crisis resilience’ from short-term aid is crucial to mitigate increasingly frequent shocks to the global food system and tackle rising global hunger, say food policy researchers,” writes SciDev.Net in a piece featuring IFPRI’s 2023 Global Food Policy Research.  “Crises, shocks, and volatility are no longer exceptions and may become the new normal,” says Johan Swinnen, […]

April 07, 2020 | Press Release

2020 Global Food Policy Report: Inclusive Food Systems Needed to Boost Development, Resilience

Washington, D.C. – The rapid spread of COVID-19 and efforts to contain it are generating growing concerns that food insecurity, malnutrition, and poverty may escalate, particularly among marginalized people in the developing world. To build more resilient, climate-smart, and healthy food systems that help people withstand these types of shocks policymakers must prioritize making them […]

August 10, 2019 | In the News

Use agri index to measure women empowerment, agencies urged (Philippines News Agency)

Philippines News Agency reported on the pro-Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) and the importance of using this index in agricultural development projects. The article quoted Senior Research Coordinator, Hazel Malapit, who elaborated on pro-WEAI and added that for a project to empower women, its goal must be to strengthen the beneficiaries’ ability to make […]

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