Research Talks

Research Talks
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Research Talks is a new monthly podcast from IFPRI that takes listeners along the journey of policy-relevant research, including the ups and downs of tackling a development problem, implementing cutting-edge research in remote and underserved settings, and working with partners to help the research make an impact. IFPRI is a CGIAR Research Center

Episodes

  1. Episode 12: The Challenges of Phone Surveys with Women in India during COVID

    12/16/2020

    Episode 12: The Challenges of Phone Surveys with Women in India during COVID

    How has COVID impacted the way researchers do fieldwork? This episode features IFPRI Research Analyst Shweta Gupta (https://www.ifpri.org/profile/shweta-gupta) who, in a conversation with Sivan Yosef (https://www.ifpri.org/profile/sivan-yosef), tells the story of how the pandemic has upended the way IFPRI researchers are doing household surveys. In Gujarat, India, Shweta and her colleagues have launched a multi-round survey of rural women, interviewing them over the phone instead of in-person. The switch has had huge implications, from how enumerators are being trained to how many respondents are willing to participate. But the biggest questions of all: who is listening in on women’s phone conversations, and how might that impact their survey answers? To learn more: -Blog post: https://pim.cgiar.org/2020/07/14/phone-surveys-to-understand-gendered-impacts-of-covid-19-a-cautionary-note/ -Book: COVID-19 & Global Food Security - http://bit.ly/IFPRICovidBook -IFPRI Resources And Analyses Of COVID-19 Impact - https://www.ifpri.org/covid-19 -Subscribe IFPRI Insights newsletter and event annoucements at www.ifpri.org/content/newsletter-subscription Donors & Partners: PIM: https://pim.cgiar.org/ BMZ: https://www.bmz.de/en/ SEWA: http://www.sewa.org/ Interviewee: Shweta Gupta Interviewer: Sivan Yosef Producer: Sivan Yosef Editor: Jennifer Weingart Promotions: Drew Sample and Sarah Edwards

    16 min
  2. Episode 11: Poop from the Coop: Livestock Contamination and Nutrition in Burkina Faso

    11/21/2020

    Episode 11: Poop from the Coop: Livestock Contamination and Nutrition in Burkina Faso

    This episode features IFPRI Senior Research Fellow Derek Headey ( https://www.ifpri.org/profile/derek-headey ) who, in a conversation with Sivan Yosef ( https://www.ifpri.org/profile/sivan-yosef) , tells the story of how IFPRI researchers decided to probe the link between the presence of livestock feces in the home and childhood stunting. The research took them from Ethiopia to Burkina Faso, where they designed an intervention to test whether simple poultry value chain improvements as well as water, sanitation, and hygiene education could reduce contaminants and improve young children’s nutritional status. To learn more: Blog post: https://www.ifpri.org/blog/newsflash-chickens-dont-use-toilets Journal Article: https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.16-0270 Journal Article: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0160590 Project Page: https://www.ifpri.org/project/advancing-research-nutrition-and-agriculture-arena Donors & Partners: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Feed the Future at USAID (https://www.feedthefuture.gov/) , and A4NH Interviewee: Derek Headey Interviewer: Sivan Yosef Producer: Sivan Yosef Editor: Jennifer Weingart Promotions: Drew Sample

    15 min
  3. Episode 10: Working Amid War: Assessing Cash Transfers for Nutrition in Yemen

    10/25/2020

    Episode 10: Working Amid War: Assessing Cash Transfers for Nutrition in Yemen

    How do you carry out research in the middle of one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world: the civil war in Yemen? This episode features IFPRI Research Fellow Sikandra Kurdi (https://www.ifpri.org/profile/sikandra-kurdi) who, in a conversation with Sivan Yosef ( https://www.ifpri.org/profile/sivan-yosef), tells the story of how Yemen’s Social Fund for Development and IFPRI partnered on the evaluation of a project that gave cash transfers and nutrition education to women in rural Yemen. But when civil war broke out across the country, the Social Fund had to figure out how to keep the project going, and even expand it. The story reflects the determination of IFPRI’s partners in reaching the most vulnerable people in the world and how, against all odds, research showed that nutrition interventions can still work in humanitarian settings. Interviewee: Sikandra Kurdi Interviewer: Sivan Yosef Producer: Sivan Yosef Editor: Jennifer Weingart Promotions: Drew Sample Music/Credits (if any): News Clip from CNN. 2015. Houthi rebels seize airport; U.N. envoy warns Yemen at 'edge of civil war'. https://www.cnn.com/2015/03/22/middleeast/yemen-unrest/. To learn more: Blog post [link forthcoming] Policy Seminar: https://www.ifpri.org/event/impacts-cash-transfers-preventing-malnutrition-yemen Journal Article: https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.12973 Policy Brief: http://ebrary.ifpri.org/utils/getfile/collection/p15738coll2/id/133205/filename/133416.pdf Full Report: https://www.ifpri.org/publication/cash-nutrition-intervention-yemen-impact-evaluation-study Donors & Partners: Yemen Social Fund for Development: http://www.sfd-yemen.org/index.php Yemen Emergency Crisis Response Program: https://www.ye.undp.org/content/yemen/en/home/projects/yemen-emergency-crisis--response----wb.html#:~:text=Through%20the%20Yemen%20Emergency%20Crisis,shore%2Dup%20SFD%20and%20PWP.&text=Our%20work%20brings%20together%20humanitarian,from%20falling%20into%20further%20fragility. The World Bank: http://projects.worldbank.org/P159053?lang=en United Nations Development Programme: https://www.undp.org/ CGIAR Program on Institutions and Markets: https://pim.cgiar.org/ Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit: https://www.giz.de/en/html/index.html Nordic Trust Fund

    15 min
  4. Episode 9: It’s All in the Design: Soil Health Cards in India

    09/24/2020

    Episode 9: It’s All in the Design: Soil Health Cards in India

    What happens when researchers start learning all about marketing? This episode features IFPRI Program Manager Vartika Singh who, in a conversation with Sivan Yosef, tells the story of how IFPRI researchers in India set out to investigate whether government-issued soil health cards were effective in getting smallholders to improve their farming practices. Instead, the researchers discovered an entirely different challenge: farmers couldn’t understand the cards. Working with a visual designer, IFPRI and its partners embarked on a process usually reserved for the marketing sector: helping make a product easy to understand and use. The story holds numerous lessons on how to make research more accessible to a wide audience. To learn more: - Blog post: https://www.ifpri.org/blog/designing-better-soil-health-card-farmers-india - Book Chapter: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128187524000084?via%3Dihub - Cereal Systems Initiative For South Asia (CSISA): http://csisa.org/ - CISA Research Note: https://csisa.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/SHC-Research-Note-12.pdf - India Ministry Of Agriculture Soil Health Card Scheme: http://soilhealth.dac.gov.in/ Donors & Partners: - International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center: https://www.cimmyt.org/ - The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI): https://irri.org/ - Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/ - CGIAR Program on Institutions and Markets (PIM): http://pim.cgiar.org/ - Bihar Agriculture University: https://www.bausabour.ac.in/ - Indian Council of Agricultural Research: https://www.icar.org.in/ Interviewee: Vartika Singh Interviewer: Sivan Yosef Producer: Sivan Yosef Editor: Jennifer Weingart Promotions: Drew Sample

    18 min
  5. Episode 8: Safety Nets, Safe Households: How Cash Transfers Can Reduce Intimate Partner Violence

    08/25/2020

    Episode 8: Safety Nets, Safe Households: How Cash Transfers Can Reduce Intimate Partner Violence

    Can cash transfers reduce violence within the home, keeping women safe from intimate partner violence? This episode features IFPRI Senior Research Fellow Melissa Hidrobo (https://www.ifpri.org/profile/melissa-hidrobo) and Research Fellow Shalini Roy (https://www.ifpri.org/profile/shalini-roy) who, in a conversation with Sivan Yosef (https://www.ifpri.org/profile/sivan-yosef), tell the story of how development programs can sometimes have surprising impacts. When Melissa found that a cash transfer program in Ecuador reduced intimate partner violence, defined as physical, sexual, or emotional harm by a current or former partner or spouse, she and Shalini decided to team up and see whether the same results held in Bangladesh and Mali. Their work shows the vast potential of cash transfer programs, which are already used by many countries around the world, to reduce intimate partner violence at a large scale. Interviewees: Melissa Hidrobo; Shalini Roy Interviewer: Sivan Yosef Producer: Sivan Yosef Editor: Jennifer Weingart Promotions: Drew Sample To learn more: Blog: https://www.ifpri.org/blog/cash-transfers-and-intimate-partner-violence VoxDev - Op-ed: https://voxdev.org/topic/public-economics/cash-transfers-and-intimate-partner-violence TMRI Website: https://bangladesh.ifpri.info/tag/tmri/ Project Output: https://www.ifpri.org/cash-transfer-and-intimate-partner-violence-research-collaborative-project-outputs Donors & Partners: United States Agency for International Development, World Bank, Sexual Violence Research Initiative, PIM, CGIAR, International Initiative for Impact Evaluation, the Government of Mali, World Food Program

    19 min
  6. Episode 7: The Road to Financial Inclusion in Kenya

    07/28/2020

    Episode 7: The Road to Financial Inclusion in Kenya

    Can researchers help develop a financial tool that lowers risk for both farmers and private banks? This episode features IFPRI Senior Research Fellow Liangzhi You who, in a conversation with Sivan Yosef, tells the story of how IFPRI researchers partnered up with the Government of Kenya as well as private-sector partners in Kenya to develop Risk Contingent Credit (RCC). RCC is a financial inclusion product that allows farmers to get loans for much-needed agricultural supplies, but it also uses insurance to guarantee that banks will be repaid, even during production shocks such as catastrophic drought. It highlights the potential role of the private sector in scaling up solutions for the poor. To learn more: Website: https://www.ifpri.org/project/satellite-technologies-innovative-and-smart-financing-food-security-satisfy Blog Post: https://www.ifpri.org/blog/gaining-better-understanding-local-fertilizer-prices-african-smallholder-farmers Related publication: https://www.ifpri.org/publication/design-and-rating-risk-contingent-credit-balancing-business-and-financial-risks-kenyan Interviewee: Liangzhi You Interviewer: Sivan Yosef Producer: Sivan Yosef Editor: Jennifer Weingart Promotions: Drew Sample

    14 min
  7. Episode 6: The Power of Safety Nets in Egypt

    06/19/2020

    Episode 6: The Power of Safety Nets in Egypt

    Can impact evaluation drive changes in the design of social safety net programs? This episode features Egypt’s Minister of Social Solidarity Nivine El-Kabbag along with IFPRI researchers Clemens Breisinger and Hoda El Enbaby. In a conversation with Sivan Yosef and Drew Sample, they share the story of how IFPRI collaborated with the government of Egypt to evaluate the country’s first national conditional cash transfer program, Takaful and Karama. The research results had a powerful impact, prompting policymakers to allocate more funds to protecting the poor. The evaluation was commissioned by the World Bank and funded by the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office. To learn more: -Blog post : https://www.ifpri.org/blog/evaluation-finds-successes-egypts-first-conditional-cash-transfer-program -Book Chapter : https://www.ifpri.org/publication/targeting-social-safety-nets-using-proxy-means-tests-evidence-egypts-takaful-and-karama -Policy Brief : https://www.ifpri.org/publication/egypts-takaful-and-karama-cash-transfer-program-evaluation-program-impacts-and Donors & Partners: - United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office : https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/foreign-commonwealth-office - World Bank : https://www.worldbank.org/ Interviewees: Nivine El-Kabbag, Clemens Breisinger, Hoda El Enbaby Interviewers: Sivan Yosef, Drew Sample Producer: Sivan Yosef Editor: Jennifer Weingart Promotions: Drew Sample

    17 min
  8. Episode 5: Picturing a Better Crop Insurance

    05/15/2020

    Episode 5: Picturing a Better Crop Insurance

    Can a smartphone camera help provide a safety net for smallholder famers? This episode features IFPRI’s Research Fellow Berber Kramer ( https://www.ifpri.org/profile/berber-kramer), who in a conversation with Sivan Yosef (https://www.ifpri.org/profile/sivan-yosef), shares the story of how IFPRI researchers came up with the idea of using smartphone pictures to help small farmers in India reap the benefits of crop insurance. Working together, IFPRI researchers are testing a suite of innovative financial instruments that have the potential to help farmers manage risk, with the aim of improving resilience, incomes, and making inroads against poverty. To learn more: - Blog post ( https://www.ifpri.org/blog/picture-based-crop-insurance-it-feasible-it-sustainable) - Journal Article ( https://doi.org/10.1016/j.deveng.2019.100042) - Project Website (https://www.ifpri.org/project/PBInsurance) Donors & Partners: - CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions and Markets (http://pim.cgiar.org/) - CGIAR research program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security ( https://ccafs.cgiar.org/) - International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) (https://www.3ieimpact.org/) - Borlaug Institute for South Asia (https://bisa.org/) - HDFC ERGO General Insurance (https://www.hdfcergo.com/) - CGIAR Platform for Big Data on Agriculture https://bigdata.cgiar.org/) - Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (https://www.cabi.org/) - Manchester University - Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (http://www.ncfc.gov.in/) - Dvara E-Registry (https://dvaraeregistry.com/) - Digital Credit Observatory (https://cega.berkeley.edu/initiative/digital-credit-observatory/) Interviewee: Berber Kramer Interviewer: Sivan Yosef Producer: Sivan Yosef Editor: Jennifer Weingart Promotions: Smita Aggarwal

    18 min
  9. Episode 4: Doing Research in a COVID-19 World

    04/16/2020

    Episode 4: Doing Research in a COVID-19 World

    How do you conduct research under a global pandemic? This episode features two interviews illuminating the research process in an era of lockdowns and social distancing. IFPRI’s Senior Research Fellow Xiaobo Zhang (https://www.ifpri.org/profile/xiaobo-zhang) , in a conversation with Sivan Yosef (https://www.ifpri.org/profile/sivan-yosef) , talks about using a fleet of student volunteers to conduct a survey of 2,400 small and medium businesses in China, to find out how they have fared economically. Rob Vos (https://www.ifpri.org/profile/rob-vos), Director of IFPRI’s Markets, Trade and Institutions Division, discusses his modelling work with colleagues that projects the impacts of COVID-19 on global and regional food security. Both interviews show that high-quality research is still possible and is more important than ever. To learn more: -Blog post 1: https://www.ifpri.org/blog/covid-19-spreads-no-major-concern-global-food-security-yet -Blog post 2: https://www.ifpri.org/blog/covid-19s-impact-chinas-small-and-medium-sized-businesses -COVID19 Blog Series: https://www.ifpri.org/landing/covid-19-blog-landing-page Donors & Partners: - Peking University (http://english.pku.edu.cn/) - Shanghai University of International Business and Economics (http://eng.suibe.edu.cn/) - Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (https://iie-en.gdufs.edu.cn/) - Harbin Institute of Technology at Shenzhen (http://en.hit.edu.cn/) Interviewees: Xiaobo Zhang, Rob Vos Interviewer: Sivan Yosef Producer: Sivan Yosef Sound Editor: Jennifer Weingart Promotions: Smita Aggarwal

    20 min
  10. Episode 3: Will Travel for Data, to Papua New Guinea

    03/09/2020

    Episode 3: Will Travel for Data, to Papua New Guinea

    How do you collect data in very remote, hard-to-reach places? This episode features IFPRI’s Research Fellow Emily Schmidt (https://www.ifpri.org/profile/emily-schmidt), who in a conversation with Sivan Yosef (https://www.ifpri.org/profile/sivan-yosef), shares how IFPRI researchers began engaging in Papua New Guinea, travelling through difficult terrain to collect household data and working with partners to build up capacity to do research and evidence-based policy analysis. Their results have illuminated the diverse rural livelihood strategies within the country. Interview Transcript: https://www.ifpri.org/file/115532/download To learn more: • Blog post (https://www.ifpri.org/blog/new-data-offers-insights-rural-poverty-and-undernutrition-papua-new-guinea ) • Website (https://www.ifpri.org/country/papua-new-guinea) • Featured publication: Synopsis: Papua New Guinea household survey on food systems (2018): Initial findings ( https://www.ifpri.org/publication/synopsis-papua-new-guinea-household-survey-food-systems-2018-initial-findings) • IFPRI publications on Papua New Guinea: https://www.ifpri.org/collections/related/publications/146 Donors & Partners: Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, PIM, CGIAR, World Vision International, University of Papua New Guinea, UNICEF Interviewee: Emily Schmidt Interviewer: Sivan Yosef Producers: Sivan Yosef Editor: Sivan Yosef and Jennifer Weingart Promotions: Smita Aggarwal Music/Credits: • “The El Nino of 2015-2016”. World Meteorological Organization – WMO. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v92Iqihct98&t=1s • “Fighting an ancient parasite: malaria research program in Papua New Guinea.“ Walter and Eliza Hall Medical Research Institute. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpZRFg0xzeE

    18 min
  • 10 Episodes

About

Research Talks is a new monthly podcast from IFPRI that takes listeners along the journey of policy-relevant research, including the ups and downs of tackling a development problem, implementing cutting-edge research in remote and underserved settings, and working with partners to help the research make an impact. IFPRI is a CGIAR Research Center

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