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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

Melissa Hidrobo

Senior Research Fellow

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Bio

Melissa Hidrobo is a Senior Research Fellow in the Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit. She is an applied microeconomist working at the intersection of gender, rural livelihoods, poverty reduction, and social protection. Her gender research focuses on how different interventions affect intrahousehold dynamics and how intrahousehold dynamics affect agricultural production. Her recent research involves impact evaluations of nutrition-sensitive agricultural programs, social protection and economic inclusion programs, and edutainment to change gender norms in Mali, Ghana, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Kenya, and Senegal. Melissa holds a PhD in agricultural and resource economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Language: English (fluent), Spanish (fluent), French (proficient)

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Publications

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Journal Article

Using a list experiment to measure intimate partner violence: Cautionary evidence from Ethiopia

2025Gilligan, Daniel O.; Hidrobo, Melissa; Leight, Jessica; Tambet, Heleene
Details

Using a list experiment to measure intimate partner violence: Cautionary evidence from Ethiopia

While indirect response methods are increasingly used in surveys to measure sensitive behaviours such as intimate partner violence, important questions persist around how respondents understand and react to these methods. This article presents evidence from a list experiment measuring multiple forms of intimate partner violence in rural Ethiopia. We find that the list experiment does not generate estimates of intimate partner violence that are higher than direct response questions; rather, prevalence estimates using the list experiment are lower vis-à-vis prevalence estimates using the direct reports, and are sometimes even negative. We provide suggestive evidence that this pattern may reflect ‘fleeing’ behaviour by respondents who do not wish to be associated with statements indicating their exposure to intimate partner violence.

Year published

2025

Authors

Gilligan, Daniel O.; Hidrobo, Melissa; Leight, Jessica; Tambet, Heleene

Citation

Gilligan, Daniel O.; Hidrobo, Melissa; Leight, Jessica; and Tambet, Heleene. 2025. Using a list experiment to measure intimate partner violence: Cautionary evidence from Ethiopia. Applied Economics Letters 32(11): 1594-1600. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504851.2024.2308579

Country/Region

Ethiopia

Keywords

Africa; Eastern Africa; Domestic Violence; Behaviour; Measurement; Questionnaires

Language

English

Access/Licence

Limited Access

Links

https://doi.org/10.1080/13504851.2024.2308579 Source record

Project

Policies, Institutions, and Markets

Record type

Journal Article

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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

Resource thumbnail

Journal Article

Sustainable poverty reduction through social assistance: Modality, context, and complementary programming in Bangladesh

2025Ahmed, Akhter; Hidrobo, Melissa; Hoddinott, John F.; Kolt, Bastien; Roy, Shalini; Tauseef, Salauddin
Details

Sustainable poverty reduction through social assistance: Modality, context, and complementary programming in Bangladesh

Social assistance programs can increase consumption and reduce poverty, but less is known about whether these impacts are sustained after programs end, or how design and context influence sustainability. Using data collected in two regions of Bangladesh four years after a randomized intervention ended, we find that combining cash transfers with complementary programming led to sustained increases in consumption and reductions in poverty. Combining food transfers with complementary programming showed similar patterns, to a lesser extent. Cash alone had context-specific sustained effects; food alone had no sustained impacts. Results suggest that context, modality, and complementary programming matter for sustained impacts.

Year published

2025

Authors

Ahmed, Akhter; Hidrobo, Melissa; Hoddinott, John F.; Kolt, Bastien; Roy, Shalini; Tauseef, Salauddin

Citation

Ahmed, Akhter; Hidrobo, Melissa; Hoddinott, John; Kolt, Bastien; Roy, Shalini; and Tauseef, Salauddin. 2025. Sustainable poverty reduction through social assistance: Modality, context, and complementary programming in Bangladesh. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 17(2): 102-126. https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20230108

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Southern Asia; Aid Programmes; Poverty; Sustainability; Cash Transfers; Food; Social Protection

Language

English

Access/Licence

Limited Access

Links

https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20230108 Source record

Project

Gender Equality

Record type

Journal Article

Events

SPIR II RFSA Learning Event: Impact results workshops
IFPRI Program/Country Event

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December 9 to 10, 2024

SPIR II RFSA Learning Event: Impact results workshops

December 9, 2024 | 9:30am to 12:00pm (Africa/Addis_Ababa) | Video Recording | Presentation December 9, 2024 | 1:00pm to 3:30pm (Africa/Addis_Ababa) | Video Recording | Presentation December 10, 2024 | 9:30am to 12:45pm (Africa/Addis_Ababa) | Video Recording | Presentation Click HERE to view the agenda. The Strengthen PSNP Institutions and Resilience (SPIR II) Resilience Food […]

Deepening Social Protection Systems: Enhancing livelihoods and health in Ethiopia
IFPRI Policy Seminar

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April 17, 2024, 10:30 – 12:00 pm

Deepening Social Protection Systems: Enhancing livelihoods and health in Ethiopia

Hybrid Event: April 17, 2024 at 10:30am-12:00pm EDT. This event will present findings from a randomized controlled trial of Strengthening PSNP Institutions and Resilience (SPIR), a graduation model program embedded within the PSNP that is led by World Vision, in collaboration with CARE and ORDA, and with support from the Ethiopian government and USAID.

SPIR II Learning Event
IFPRI Program/Country Event

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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.

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News

October 22, 2019 | In the News

Cash transfers and intimate partner violence (Agrilinks)

Agrilinks reported on an IFPRI study. The authors identify three policy-relevant knowledge gaps related to the potential of transfer programs to reduce intimate partner violence, drawing on case studies from Bangladesh, Ecuador, and Mali.

February 08, 2019 | In the News

Opinion: Measuring the unintended benefits of a development program (Devex)

Devex published an op-ed by Akhter Ahmed, Melissa Hidrobo, and Shalini Roy about the additional impact development programs may have on wellbeing.  Evaluating the Transfer Modality Research initiative in Bangladesh, research showed that cash transfers and behavior change communications can reduce intimate partner violence and lead to improved nutrition knowledge. 

November 12, 2018 | In the News

How a $50-a-year nutrition program cut domestic violence in Bangladesh (Vox)

Vox published a news editorial about the ability of cash transfer initiatives to reduce rates of intimate partner violence. The article included the recent research of IFPRI research fellows Shalini Roy, Melissa Hidrobo, and Akhter Ahmed because their findings are different from past research, where they examine intimate partner violence using cash transfer programs and […]

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