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researcher spotlight

Lilia Bliznashka

Lily Bliznashka is a Research Fellow in the Nutrition, Diets, and Health Unit. Her research focuses on assessing the effectiveness of multi-input nutrition-sensitive and nutrition-specific interventions and the mechanisms through which they work to improve maternal and child health and nutrition globally. She has worked in Burkina Faso, Burundi, Tanzania, and Uganda.

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experts

Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion

Sonjida Simi

Research Analyst

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ORCiD
Sonjida Simi

Bio

Sonjida Mesket Simi is a Research Analyst in the Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit, based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Before joining IFPRI, she worked with International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B).

Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion

Publications

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Journal Article

Determinants of street food hygiene practices and the effectiveness of interventions for vendors and consumers in low- and middle-income countries: Protocol for a scoping review

2026
Kamal, Abul; Huda, Tarique Md Nurul; Simi, Sonjida Mesket; Thomas, Elizabeth D.; Sultana, Farhana; Sultana, Jesmin; Sarah, Rehnuma Haque; Rafa, Soha Ishrak; Gautam, Om Prasad; Winch, Peter John
…more Rahman, Mahbubur
Details

Determinants of street food hygiene practices and the effectiveness of interventions for vendors and consumers in low- and middle-income countries: Protocol for a scoping review

Background: Street food is readily available food and beverages sold by vendors, frequently situated along streets or other public spaces. Street food is largely popular because it is low cost and readily available. However, unsafe food hygiene behaviors and conditions contribute to a substantial burden of foodborne illness. There is a gap in understanding what factors determine food hygiene behavior among street food vendors and consumers in low-income countries (LICs) and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Objective: This review aims to identify the determinants of safe food hygiene behavior and explore the effectiveness of food hygiene interventions for vendors and consumers in LICs and LMICs. Methods: We will search the PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, ProQuest, and Scopus databases for peer-reviewed articles and Google and Google Scholar for gray literature published in the English language from inception to October 31, 2023. We will apply the World Bank 2023 definition of LICs and LMICs to include studies from these countries in this review. Two independent reviewers will search, screen, and analyze the included literature. Data will be analyzed by narrative synthesis for all objectives. Results: This protocol outlines the methodology for conducting a scoping review. The findings will identify gaps in the existing literature and map the determinants of street food hygiene, as well as the interventions implemented for street food vendors and consumers. The project received funding in October 2022 and institutional review board approval in December 2022. Data analysis is currently underway, and the first results are expected to be submitted for publication in April 2026. Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this will be the first scoping review to investigate the determinants of street food hygiene behaviors and the effectiveness of interventions for vendors and consumers on street food hygiene in LICs and LMICs.

Year published

2026

Authors

Kamal, Abul; Huda, Tarique Md Nurul; Simi, Sonjida Mesket; Thomas, Elizabeth D.; Sultana, Farhana; Sultana, Jesmin; Sarah, Rehnuma Haque; Rafa, Soha Ishrak; Gautam, Om Prasad; Winch, Peter John; Rahman, Mahbubur

Citation

Kamal, Abul; Huda, Tarique Md Nurul; Simi, Sonjida Mesket; Thomas, Elizabeth D.; Sultana, Farhana; et al. 2026. Determinants of street food hygiene practices and the effectiveness of interventions for vendors and consumers in low- and middle-income countries: Protocol for a scoping review. JMIR Research Protocols 15: e68633. https://doi.org/10.2196/68633

Keywords

Street Foods; Food Hygiene; Street Vendors; Developing Countries; Food Safety; Public Health; Behaviour; Foodborne Diseases

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.2196/68633 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

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Manuscript-unpublished

Module for measuring gender norms in agrifood systems: Adapted for focusing on youth and mechanization in Bangladesh

2025Heckert, Jessica; Mahzab, Moogdho; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Simi, Sonjida Mesket
Details

Module for measuring gender norms in agrifood systems: Adapted for focusing on youth and mechanization in Bangladesh

This module is designed for use in agricultural communities in Bangladesh. Specifically, we expect that it will be well suited for evaluating changes in gender norms for gender transformative approaches paired with technical interventions with an agricultural mechanization component. This module is also designed to focus on differences in norms for young women (~ age 1534) and more mature women (~age 35-64) working in agriculture. First, we suggest identifying and using culturally appropriate terminology to refer to women in these two age groups. Additionally, we suggest piloting this survey in a sample with adequate numbers of younger and older women and men. For example, >300 respondents in each of the following categories: women 15-34, men 15-34, women 35-64, and men 35-64. These sample sizes will make it possible to compare perceptions of gender norms regarding younger and older women and consider gender by youth intersectionality. In the modules that follow, the same questions are asked regarding young women and older/mature women. One option to consider that can help avoid respondent fatigue from repeating similar questions would be to randomly assign half of the sample questions about young women and the other half of the sample questions about older/mature women.

Year published

2025

Authors

Heckert, Jessica; Mahzab, Moogdho; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Simi, Sonjida Mesket

Citation

Heckert, Jessica; Mahzab, Moogdho; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; and Simi, Sonjida Mesket. 2025. Module for measuring gender norms in agrifood systems: Adapted for focusing on youth and mechanization in Bangladesh. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179398

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Gender; Agrifood Systems; Youth; Gender Norms; Mechanization

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Manuscript-unpublished

Resource thumbnail

Brief

Impact of NGOs on women’s empowerment and voice in Bangladesh

2025Mahzab, Moogdho; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Kyle, Jordan; Simi, Sonjida Mesket
Details

Impact of NGOs on women’s empowerment and voice in Bangladesh

Bangladesh continues to experience persistent gender inequalities shaped by cultural, religious, and social norms. Within its patriarchal social structure, women’s roles are commonly limited to reproductive work or household-based productive activities. These tasks are essential to family well-being but unpaid, undervalued, and routinely overlooked compared to men’s work (Efroymson et al., 2007). These norms have historically constrained women’s visibility, mobility, and participation in the public sphere. The expansion of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) marked an important shift in this landscape. Bangladesh’s NGO sector is heterogeneous, with diverse organizational structures, management styles, and ideological orientations that span both service-delivery and movement-based models (Kabeer, 2002). The rapid growth of NGOs starting in the 1980s is driven largely by increases in donor funding, which signaled a move away from earlier approaches focused on promoting political mobilization and accountability of government toward more service-oriented delivery systems (Rahman, 2006). Over the last decades, many of these service-delivery organizations have incorporated advocacy and rights-based strategies into their work (Nazneen, 2008). Through these evolving programmes, NGOs highlighted and strengthened the contributions of underprivileged women as economic actors and active participants in development and political process. However, despite this progress, there is still no clear empirical evidence from Bangladesh that directly links the presence of NGOs to improvements in women’s agency, voice, and empowerment.

Year published

2025

Authors

Mahzab, Moogdho; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Kyle, Jordan; Simi, Sonjida Mesket

Citation

Mahzab, Moogdho; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Kyle, Jordan; and Simi, Sonjida Mesket. 2025. Impact of NGOs on women’s empowerment and voice in Bangladesh. IFPRI Project Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178930

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Women’s Empowerment; Gender; Impact; Non-governmental Organizations

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Research

Topics/Countries