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

Kinya Kaibung’a

Kinya Kaibung’a is a Research Officer with the Development Strategies and Governance Unit, based in Nairobi, Kenya. She has a keen interest in leveraging machine learning, AI, and other cutting-edge technologies to boost climate resilience and food security in smart agriculture systems.

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

Sonjida Simi

Research Analyst

Follow

Sonjida

at:

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

Resource thumbnail

Manual

Qualitative research tools to study women’s voice, leadership, and the role of collectives and programs on household and community change

2026Raghunathan, Kalyani; Chauhan, Alka; Mahzab, Moogdho; Simi, Sonjida Mesket; Kyle, Jordan
Details

Qualitative research tools to study women’s voice, leadership, and the role of collectives and programs on household and community change

These guides are designed to support researchers and implementing organizations in conducting rigorous, in-depth qualitative research on women’s voice, agency, and leadership and its impacts on households and communities. This toolkit is intended for social scientists, research teams, and program staff who want a structured, validated approach to understanding how women experience and exercise voice and agency and how collectives, social movements, and programmatic interventions shape those experiences. It is designed to be used when the objective is to understand current conditions, to reconstruct the process of change that produced those conditions, and the consequences on communities and community groups of women’s leadership over time. The toolkit takes a multi-level approach, comprising five instruments that together capture individual, household, collective, and organizational perspectives on women’s leadership. Community- and individual-level instruments capture individual and collective experience from the perspective of male and female group members and non-members, leaders, and household members. An organizational-level instrument captures the programmatic perspective — what conditions preceded program entry, how decisions were made about where to start programming, and how organizations understand their own contribution to change. Together the instruments enable a more complete account of how women’s voice and leadership environments develop than any single data source could provide.

Year published

2026

Authors

Raghunathan, Kalyani; Chauhan, Alka; Mahzab, Moogdho; Simi, Sonjida Mesket; Kyle, Jordan

Citation

Raghunathan, Kalyani; Chauhan, Alka; Mahzab, Moogdho; Simi, Sonjida Mesket; and Kyle, Jordan. 2026. Qualitative research tools to study women’s voice, leadership, and the role of collectives and programs on household and community change. IFPRI Research Guide. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/183721

Keywords

Communities; Households; Programmes; Cooperative Activities; Gender; Women; Women’s Empowerment; Qualitative Analysis

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Manual

Resource thumbnail

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

Resource thumbnail

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

Research

Topics/Countries