Subscribe

Back

Who we are

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.

Back

What we do

Since 1975, IFPRI’s research has been informing policies and development programs to improve food security, nutrition, and livelihoods around the world.

Research topics

Projects and impact

Food Security Portal

Modeling tools

What’s new

Where we work

Back

Where we work

IFPRI currently has more than 480 employees working in over 70 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

IFPRI Regional Programs

IFPRI Country and Regional Offices

Research by country and region

Subscribe

experts

Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion

Sarim Zafar

Research Analyst

Sarim Zafar

Bio

Sarim Zafar is a Research Analyst with the Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit, and is based at IFPRI-Washington, DC.

Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion

Publications

Resource thumbnail

Working Paper

Are government or non-governmental organization staff more effective in delivering frontline mental health services? Evidence from a culster randomized controlled trial

2026Hidrobo, Melissa; Deyessa, Negussie; Getahun, Tigabu; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Hailemicheal, Adiam Hagos; Leight, Jessica; Mulford, Michael; Zafar, Sarim
Details

Are government or non-governmental organization staff more effective in delivering frontline mental health services? Evidence from a culster randomized controlled trial

Large treatment gaps in mental health services exist in low- and middle-income countries. While low-intensity psychological interventions delivered by non-specialists show promise in closing this gap, evidence is limited regarding whether government health systems can scale these services effectively. Utilizing a randomized controlled trial across 222 villages in Tigray, Ethiopia, we compare the effectiveness of a psychological intervention, group Problem Management plus (gPM+), delivered in five sessions using two distinct platforms—government-employed Health Extension Workers (HEWs) and NGO-stipended local facilitators (LFs)—vis-a-vis a control arm that receives no intervention. At the one-month follow-up, we find that gPM+ significantly reduces adverse mental health symptoms (particularly depression and anxiety) across both delivery arms, and the intervention is more effective when delivered by LFs (0.22 SD) compared to HEWs (0.11 SD). However, at the 12-month follow-up, treatment effects largely attenuate to zero (mainly due to spontaneous recovery in the control arm) and we find no impacts on child development. The cost per month of depression averted is lower for LFs (PPP $120) vis-a-vis HEWs (PPP $145 to $162, depending on whether HEW time is costed). These findings show that low cost psychological interventions can effectively reduce adverse mental health symptoms in the short term when delivered through both government and NGO platforms, but NGO platforms are slightly more cost-effective.

Year published

2026

Authors

Hidrobo, Melissa; Deyessa, Negussie; Getahun, Tigabu; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Hailemicheal, Adiam Hagos; Leight, Jessica; Mulford, Michael; Zafar, Sarim

Citation

Hidrobo, Melissa; Deyessa, Negussie; Getahun, Tigabu; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Hailemicheal, Adiam Hagos; et al. 2026. Are government or non-governmental organization staff more effective in delivering frontline mental health services? Evidence from a culster randomized controlled trial. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2450. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/185915

Country/Region

Ethiopia

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Mental Health; Government; Nongovernmental Organizations; Interventions; Randomized Controlled Trials

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper

Resource thumbnail

Brief

Count on me: Shocks and formal versus informal assistance in Somalia

2026Karachiwalla, Naureen; Leight, Jessica; Zafar, Sarim
Details

Count on me: Shocks and formal versus informal assistance in Somalia

Somali households face repeated drought, conflict, and price shocks, and rely on both formal and informal support to manage these shocks—but existing evidence only examines one channel at a time. We find that informal support reaches twice as many households as formal support (64 versus 32 percent), with 29 percent of households receiving neither. IDP residence raises formal receipt by 36 percentage points; consumption poverty predicts neither channel. Only informal support tracks local conditions: a one standard deviation rise in produced staple prices raises informal receipt by 6.5 percentage points. There is little evidence of pronounced gender heterogeneity in these patterns.

Year published

2026

Authors

Karachiwalla, Naureen; Leight, Jessica; Zafar, Sarim

Citation

Karachiwalla, Naureen; Leight, Jessica; and Zafar, Sarim. 2026. Count on me: Shocks and formal versus informal assistance in Somalia. IFPRI Project Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/184744

Country/Region

Somalia

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Development Aid; Shock; Households; Informal Sector; Social Safety Nets

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Resource thumbnail

Working Paper

The early bird gets the cash: Early notification and conditional cash transfers for secondary school

2026Leight, Jessica; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Mulford, Michael; Zafar, Sarim
Details

The early bird gets the cash: Early notification and conditional cash transfers for secondary school

What is the optimal timing for a cash transfer targeting increased secondary school enrollment? We present evidence from a randomized trial in rural Ethiopia showing a CCT increases enrollment and reduces child marriage. The largest effects are observed for youth offered the transfer a year prior to their (potential) matriculation; in this cohort, there is also a significant in-crease in the probability students pass the primary school leaving exam. By contrast, reduced treatment effects are observed for prior dropouts, and a generalized random forest analysis suggests this primarily reflects different observable characteristics (lower academic performance) among this sub-sample.

Year published

2026

Authors

Leight, Jessica; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Mulford, Michael; Zafar, Sarim

Citation

Leight, Jessica; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Mulford, Michael; and Zafar, Sarim. 2026. The early bird gets the cash: Early notification and conditional cash transfers for secondary school. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2421. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/183379

Country/Region

Ethiopia

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Cash Transfers; Social Protection; Education; Youth; Secondary Education

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper