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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.

Ahmed Akhter

researcher spotlight

Akhter Ahmed

Akhter Ahmed is a Senior Research Fellow in the IFPRI’s Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit and Country Representative for IFPRI Bangladesh. He has worked on strategies for agricultural and rural development, social protection, and women’s empowerment to reduce poverty, food insecurity, and undernutrition in developing countries including Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Malawi, the Philippines, and Turkey.

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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

Director General’s Office (DGO)

Ruth Meinzen-Dick

Research Fellow Emeritus

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Ruth

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Bio

Ruth Meinzen-Dick is a Research Fellow Emeritus in the Director General’s Office. She has extensive transdisciplinary research experience in using qualitative and quantitative research methods. Her work focuses on two broad (and sometimes interrelated) areas: how institutions affect how people manage natural resources, and the role of gender in development processes. This has led her to study land and water policy, property rights, collective action and other governance arrangements, games for experiential learning, and the impact of development interventions, drawing on fieldwork in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Tanzania, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.

Ruth is a co-creator of the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) and recipient of the Elinor Ostrom Collective Governance of the Commons 2019 Senior Scholar Award. She holds a PhD in development sociology from Cornell University.

Languages: English, Tamil

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Publications

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Journal Article

Women’s tenure security on collective lands: A conceptual framework

2025Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.; Doss, Cheryl; Flintan, Fiona; Knight, Rachael; Larson, Anne M.; Monterroso, Iliana
Details

Women’s tenure security on collective lands: A conceptual framework

Within discussions of land and resource rights, there is growing attention to women’s rights, mostly in terms of household and individual rights to private property. This leaves unanswered questions about whether and how women’s land rights can be secured under collective tenure, upon which billions of people worldwide depend. There is an important gap in conceptual tools, empirical understanding, and policy recommendations on this topic. To address this gap and lay the foundations for a sound body of empirical studies and appropriate policies, we develop a conceptual framework to improve understanding of women’s land rights under collective tenure. We discuss what secure tenure for women on collective lands would entail, then what factors would affect women’s tenure security. We give attention to particularities of rangelands, forests, and other types of collective lands as well as commonalities across types. A key theme that emerges is that for women to have secure tenure under collective tenure, the collective (group) itself must have tenure security and the women must have secure rights within this collective. The latter requires us to consider the governance structures, how men and women access and control land, and the extent to which women have voice and power within the collective. More consistent analyses of collective tenure systems using the conceptual framework presented in this paper can help to identify which action resources are important for groups to secure rights to collective lands, and for women to advocate for their rights within the group.

Year published

2025

Authors

Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.; Doss, Cheryl; Flintan, Fiona; Knight, Rachael; Larson, Anne M.; Monterroso, Iliana

Citation

Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.; Doss, Cheryl; Flintan, Fiona; Knight, Rachael; Larson, Anne M.; and Monterroso, Iliana. 2025. Women’s tenure security on collective lands: A conceptual framework. Journal of Rural Studies 118 (August 2025): 103694. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103694

Keywords

Common Property; Forests; Land Rights; Rangelands; Tenure Security; Women

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103694 Source record

Project

Livestock and Climate

Record type

Journal Article

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Book Chapter

Environmental sustainability: The intersection of agrifood systems with ecosystem health

2025Ringler, Claudia; Zhang, Wei; Nkonya, Ephraim M.; Wyckhuys, Kris A.G.; Rakotonarivo, O. Sarobidy; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.
Details

Environmental sustainability: The intersection of agrifood systems with ecosystem health

Climate change and biodiversity loss are arguably the greatest environmental challenges facing humanity today, and unsustainable agrifood systems are both a key cause and consequence of this environmental degradation. This chapter reviews how key environmental challenges in land, water, and energy systems intersect with agrifood systems and describes research contributions toward understanding and addressing these challenges over the past 50 years, as well as exploring future directions for environmental sustainability research. Book link: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174108

Year published

2025

Authors

Ringler, Claudia; Zhang, Wei; Nkonya, Ephraim M.; Wyckhuys, Kris A.G.; Rakotonarivo, O. Sarobidy; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.

Citation

Ringler, Claudia; Zhang, Wei; Nkonya, Ephraim M.; Wyckhuys, Kris A.G.; Rakotonarivo, O. Sarobidy; and Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S. 2025. Environmental sustainability: The intersection of agrifood systems with ecosystem health. In Global food policy report 2025: Food policy: Lessons and priorities for a changing world, eds. Johan Swinnen and Christopher Barrett. Part Two: Sustainability and Natural Resources, Chapter 5, Pp. 107-128. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174232

Keywords

Sustainability; Environment; Agrifood Systems; Ecosystem Health; Ecosystem Resilience; Land Degradation; Water Management; Soil Health; Ecosystem Services; Biodiversity

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Book Chapter

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Book Chapter

Gender research: Metrics and policies for greater equity and inclusion

2025Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.; Malapit, Hazel J.; Heckert, Jessica; Kramer, Berber; Van Campenhout, Bjorn
Details

Gender research: Metrics and policies for greater equity and inclusion

Research on gender in development has evolved in parallel with the growing awareness of women’s role in economic development, the importance of gender relations both within and outside the household, and the recognition that women’s empowerment and gender equality are important goals in themselves. This chapter examines the evolution of gender research in the context of the development discourse on gender, focusing on agrifood systems, and identifies major challenges that future research should address. Book link: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174108

Year published

2025

Authors

Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.; Malapit, Hazel J.; Heckert, Jessica; Kramer, Berber; Van Campenhout, Bjorn

Citation

Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.; Malapit, Hazel J.; Heckert, Jessica; Kramer, Berber; and Van Campenhout, Bjorn. 2025. Gender research: Metrics and policies for greater equity and inclusion. 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 14, Pp. 341-364. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174349

Keywords

Gender; Research; Policies; Gender Equity; Social Inclusion; Intersectionality; Demographic Transition; Women’s Empowerment

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Book Chapter

Blogs

Six synergies to consider for groundwater governance
IFPRI Blog
 | 
December 11, 2024

Six synergies to consider for groundwater governance

By Ruth Meinzen-Dick and Bryan Bruns

Advantages of “both/and” solutions.

Knowledge, motivation, and agency for groundwater governance
IFPRI Blog
 | 
December 06, 2024

Knowledge, motivation, and agency for groundwater governance

By Ruth Meinzen-Dick and Bryan Bruns

Collaborative approaches for a fragile resource.

Combining an array of approaches for systemic behavior change in groundwater governance in India
IFPRI Blog
 | 
December 02, 2024

Combining an array of approaches for systemic behavior change in groundwater governance in India

By Thomas Falk, Richu Sanil, and Ruth Meinzen-Dick

Enabling collaboration in and across communities.

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Events

Building More Inclusive and Natural Resource-Secure Food Futures
IFPRI Policy Seminar

 | 

December 12, 2024, 10:30 – 12:00 pm

Building More Inclusive and Natural Resource-Secure Food Futures

Throughout her career, Ruth Meinzen-Dick has made pathbreaking contributions to natural resource management and gender equity, drawing from her deep engagement with communities to improve understanding and measurement in these areas. Dr. Meinzen-Dick’s research encompasses land and water policy, property rights, collective action, and games for experiential learning, with a longstanding focus on improving equity. […]

32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists
IFPRI at External Event

 | 

August 2 to 7, 2024

32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists

The triennial International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE-2024), centred on the theme “Transformation Towards Sustainable Agri-Food Systems” is scheduled from August 2-7, 2024, in New Delhi, India. The conference offers a distinctive platform, providing a golden opportunity for the agricultural academic institutions and researchers to convene in person, exchange knowledge, and actively contribute to the […]

Introducing the new Women’s Empowerment Metric for National Statistical Systems (WEMNS)
IFPRI Policy Seminar

 | 

February 22, 2024, 9:00 – 10:30 am

Introducing the new Women’s Empowerment Metric for National Statistical Systems (WEMNS)

Virtual Event: February 22, 2024 at 9:00am-10:30am EST. This event will present the WEMNS metric, review the development of the tool, and discuss its use to advance women’s empowerment. A panel of stakeholders from government and national statistical offices and from multilateral organizations will discuss the potential of WEMNS for promoting and monitoring women’s empowerment as part of national statistical surveys.

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News

February 04, 2020 | In the News

How can data build a truer picture of the gender gap in food insecurity? (Devex)

Devex published an article on the challenges of an accurate picture of the differences in food security between men and women when using typical household survey methods. Research Fellow Jessica Heckert stated that “countrywide surveys offer the advantage of gathering data on a wider variety of topics, but because of that breadth in a single […]

November 19, 2019 | In the News

The latest report of the International Food Policy Research Institute shows that gender norms affect the overall performance of agriculture (Cvonet)

Cvonet (China) reported on the 2019 Annual Trends and Outlooks Report.  Senior Research Fellow and co-author of the Report, Ruth Meinzen-Dick, stated that without gender considerations and efforts to achieve gender equality, Malabo’s commitments might not be implemented.” 

November 12, 2019 | In the News

The 19th Annual ReSAKSS Conference Opens Monday In Lomé (Togo 24)

Togo 24 reported on the opening of the conference and the 2019 Annual trends and outlook report: Gender equality in rural Africa: From commitments to outcomes. (2019 ATOR). The Report presents an Africa-wide analysis on a topic of strategic importance to the CAADP agenda. The ATOR 2019 report examines the progress and results of research […]

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