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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.

Erick Boy

researcher spotlight

Erick Boy

Erick Boy is the Chief Nutritionist in the HarvestPlus section of the Innovation Policy and Scaling Unit. As head of nutrition for the HarvestPlus Program since 2008, he has led research that has generated scientific evidence on biofortified staple crops as efficacious and effective interventions to help address iron, vitamin A, and zinc deficiency in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and South Asia.

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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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experts

Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion

Jessica Leight

Senior Research Fellow

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Jessica

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@leightjessica
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Bio

Jessica Leight is a Senior Research Fellow in the Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit. Her research focuses on questions linked to social protection, multifaceted livelihoods interventions, agriculture, gender, health, and structural transformation. She conducts fieldwork in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Burkina Faso, Somalia, and Mozambique.

Before joining IFPRI, Jessica was an assistant professor of economics at American University and at Williams College. Jessica received a PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an MPhil in economics from the University of Oxford as a Rhodes scholar, and a BA from Yale University.

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Publications

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Book Chapter

Social protection programs: Building the evidence and defining priorities

2025Gilligan, Daniel O.; Ahmed, Akhter; Alderman, Harold; de Brauw, Alan; Hidrobo, Melissa; Hirvonen, Kalle; Hoddinott, John; Leight, Jessica; Roy, Shalini; Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum
Details

Social protection programs: Building the evidence and defining priorities

Social protection programs to reduce poverty, food insecurity, and vulnerability in low- and middle-income countries have become increasingly prominent over the last 50 years. This chapter examines trends in the development of social protection programs and discusses the contribution of research to changing program approaches and social protection policies, highlighting IFPRI’s role in providing evidence and research. Book link: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174108

Year published

2025

Authors

Gilligan, Daniel O.; Ahmed, Akhter; Alderman, Harold; de Brauw, Alan; Hidrobo, Melissa; Hirvonen, Kalle; Hoddinott, John; Leight, Jessica; Roy, Shalini; Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum

Citation

Gilligan, Daniel O.; Ahmed, Akhter; Alderman, Harold; de Brauw, Alan; Hidrobo, Melissa; et al. 2025. Social protection programs: Building the evidence and defining priorities. In Global food policy report 2025: Food policy: Lessons and priorities for a changing world, eds. Johan Swinnen and Christopher Barrett. Part Four: Transforming Lives and Livelihoods, Chapter 11, Pp. 267-292. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174304

Keywords

Social Protection; Livelihoods; Poverty; Food Security; Targeting; Cash Transfers; Food Assistance; Poverty Alleviation

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Book Chapter

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Data Paper

SELEVER study data

2025
Gelli, Aulo; Becquey, Elodie; Ganaba, Rasmané; Leight, Jessica; Heckert, Jessica; Huybregts, Lieven; Toé, Laetica; Awonon, Josué; Diatta, Ampa Dogui; Diop, Loty
…more Santacroce, Marco; Pedehombga, Abdoulaye; Hein, Alain; Somé, Henri
Details

SELEVER study data

The SELEVER study was a cluster randomized controlled trial aiming to evaluate the effects of an inte-grated agriculture–nutrition intervention package (including poultry value chain development, women’s empowerment activities, and a behavior change communications strategy to promote improved diets and feeding, care, and hygiene practices) on the diets, health, and nutritional status of women and chil-dren in rural Burkina Faso (1). Four rounds of data collection were carried out in rural communities of three regions of Burkina Faso: Boucle du Mouhoun, Centre-Ouest and Haut-Bassins between March 2017 and August 2020. The first round (Baseline) took place between March and June 2017 during the post-harvest season in a sam-ple of 1800 households. The second (Follow-up) and third (Follow-up 2) rounds took place during the lean season in 2017 (September-October) and 2019 (September-October) in a subsample of 1080 households. The last survey round (Endline) took place between March and August 2020 (including a break due to covid-19 restrictions).

Year published

2025

Authors

Gelli, Aulo; Becquey, Elodie; Ganaba, Rasmané; Leight, Jessica; Heckert, Jessica; Huybregts, Lieven; Toé, Laetica; Awonon, Josué; Diatta, Ampa Dogui; Diop, Loty; Santacroce, Marco; Pedehombga, Abdoulaye; Hein, Alain; Somé, Henri

Citation

Gelli, Aulo; Becquey, Elodie; Ganaba, Rasmané; Leight, Jessica; et al. 2025. SELEVER study data. Data Paper. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute.

Country/Region

Burkina Faso

Keywords

Western Africa; Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Value Chains; Poultry; Women’s Empowerment; Maternal Nutrition; Water; Hygiene; Health; Child Nutrition; Health Communication; Dietary Assessment

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Sustainable Healthy Diets

Record type

Data Paper

Resource thumbnail

Journal Article

Educational responses to local and migration destination shocks: Evidence from China

2025Leight, Jessica; Pan, Yao
Details

Educational responses to local and migration destination shocks: Evidence from China

Over the last 20 years, China has experienced substantial positive shocks to export-oriented industries—especially following its accession to the World Trade Organization—and these shocks have had major implications for human capital investment. One primary channel through which export expansion can shape choices about human capital accumulation is positive labor-demand shocks, and these shocks can be observed both at potential within-country migration destinations and in the locality of birth. Exploiting cross-county variation in the reduction in export tariff uncertainty post-WTO, both locally and at plausible migration destinations, this analysis finds that youth in China reaching matriculation age post-accession in counties experiencing a larger export shock (either locally or at those destinations) show a lower probability of enrolling in high school. This pattern is observed in a sample including both youth who ultimately migrate and youth who do not migrate. For urban youth, the effects of local shocks are larger than the effects of destination shocks, but the opposite pattern is observed for rural youth. A supplementary online appendix is available with this article at The World Bank Economic Review website. JEL classification: F14, F16, J24, O15, O18, O19

Year published

2025

Authors

Leight, Jessica; Pan, Yao

Citation

Leight, Jessica; and Pan, Yao. Educational responses to local and migration destination shocks: Evidence from China. World Bank Economic Review. Article in press. First published online November 20, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1093/wber/lhae050

Country/Region

China

Keywords

Asia; Eastern Asia; Capital; Exports; Human Capital; Shock; Trade; Transport; International Organizations

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1093/wber/lhae050 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

Events

From Relief to Resilience in Somalia: Harnessing Research to Inform Social Protection Policy and Practice
IFPRI Program/Country Event

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June 16, 2025, 3:30 – 5:00 pm

From Relief to Resilience in Somalia: Harnessing Research to Inform Social Protection Policy and Practice

Policymakers and program implementers in Somalia are increasingly recognizing the importance of complementing short-term support in the form of cash or in-kind transfers with interventions targeting longer-term development goals and poverty exit, a goal that cuts across both more traditional social protection systems and programming targeting internally displaced people. This webinar will bring together representatives […]

Generative AI for Food Systems: A Skills Workshop for Researchers
IFPRI Program/Country Event

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June 5, 2025, 9:30 – 10:30 am

Generative AI for Food Systems: A Skills Workshop for Researchers

This opening webinar launches IFPRI’s new series, AI for Food Systems Research. The series explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is being integrated into food, agriculture, and development research, with a focus on building the skills and critical understanding needed to use these tools responsibly. As outlined in the recent blog post, AI—and more recently, the expanding […]

69th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69)
IFPRI at External Event

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March 10 to 21, 2025

69th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69)

The sixty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women will take place on March 10 to 21, 2025. The main focus of the sixty-ninth session will be on the review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcomes of the 23rd special session of the […]

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