“It is important to recognize the importance that policy has for nutritional outcomes”- Olivier Ecker, Senior Research Fellow at IFPRI On 19 September 2019, Olivier Ecker, Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) presented a research seminar entitled “Food System Transformation, Dietary Change, and the Role of Agricultural Policy in Nigeria” in Abuja. The audience of the seminar was made up of 36 individuals (13 male, 23 female) representing various ministries, departments and agencies; private sector organizations; and non-governmental organizations working on nutritional issues in Nigeria. A major point arising from the presentation was that while increasing the knowledge about nutrition encourages healthy food choices, this would have little impact on nutritional outcomes without an accompanying
Participants at the Monitoring and Evaluation Training A 3-day Monitoring & Evaluation for Result training from 14th to 16th August 2019 was delivered by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) on behalf of the Feed the Future Nigeria Agricultural Policy Project (NAPP) to staff of the Project Coordinating Unit (PCU) and some of the donor funded projects in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development (FMARD). The PCU coordinates all donor funded projects in FMARD.The training was conducted to teach the PCU and donor funded project staff the basic concepts of and scope of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning, to identify M&E gaps in the project activities of the participating Department and projects and to generate program-specific M&E plans
Participants during a Group Discussion at the Policy Communications Workshop in Abuja One of the aims and objectives of the Feed the Future Nigeria Agricultural Policy Project is to strengthen the national capacity for making available and disseminating evidence relevant to public policy. As such, a two-day workshop on Developing Policy Brief was held for participants drawn from the seven Feed the Future states (Benue, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Kaduna, Kebbi and Niger) from 22nd to 23rd August, 2019. This training-workshop was facilitated by the Head of Policy Communications Unit (IFPRI-Nigeria) as part of the Nigeria Agricultural Policy Project (NAPP) activities in Nigeria. The workshop was attended by 25 participants (22 males and 3 females) that work in either the
On 13-14 February 2019, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) trained on behalf the FtF Nigeria Agricultural Policy Project 25 staff members (18 male, 7 female) of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Policy Communications in Abuja. The training introduced the participants to basic concepts around policy communications, as long as more contemporary tools, such as policy briefs/notes and social media, which are used for communicating and disseminating evidence and promoting engagement on policy issues. The training was geared at boosting the ability of Nigeria’s researchers and policy analysts to make widely available the evidence required for effective policymaking for Nigeria’s agricultural sector. Especially for NBS, which is a major supplier of statistical data for government and other
On 12-13 February 2019, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) on behalf of the FtF Nigeria Agricultural Policy Project trained 23 (18 male, five female) senior staff (Assistant Director level) of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Abuja on Nigeria’s national and regional agricultural policy framework for the period spanning 2007 to the present. The training, which was facilitated by Dr. George Mavrotas, Head of IFPRI’s Nigeria Strategy Support Program (IFPRI-NSSP) and Hyacinth Edeh, a Research Analyst with IFPRI-NSSP, took participants on a journey across policies relevant to Nigeria’s agricultural sector, with an aim of providing participants with a better understanding of how these policies have shaped the role of agriculture in present-day Nigeria. The training
Motunrayo Oyeyemi, IFPRI’s Research Analyst, supporting participants during a practical exercise at the STATA training for FMARD in Abuja (c) 2018 IFPRI/Amina Bashir As part of efforts towards strengthening the capacity of Nigerian analysts to produce evidence that is relevant to agricultural policy, the International Food Policy Research Institute’s Nigeria Strategy Support Program (IFPRI- NSSP) carried out a training for staff of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) from 26-28 November 2018 in Abuja, on behalf of the Feed the Future Nigeria Agricultural Policy Project. The 21 participants (18 male, 3 female) were trained on the use of STATA for data analysis in agricultural research, with a combination of demonstrations and practical exercises. Facilitators and participants of
Drew Sample, IFPRI’s Media Engagement Manager, facilitating a discussion on the role of the news media in policy making (c) 2018 IFPRI/Bisola Oyediran The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has trained 30 of Nigeria’s journalists (19 male, 11 female) in a policy communications masterclass in Abuja. The training workshop was organized on 11-12 June 2018 and included participants from Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, and the states of Cross River, Ebonyi, Kaduna, Kebbi and Niger. Elisabeth Douglas, IFPRI’s Communication Specialist, leading a discussion on policy notes and how to prepare them (c) 2018 IFPRI/Bisola Oyediran The masterclass was led by Mr. Drew Sample, IFPRI’s Media Engagement Manager who is based at the IFPRI Headquarters in Washington DC, alongside Elisabeth
Participants undertaking group exercises during the training (c) 2018 IFPRI/Bisola Oyediran As part of efforts towards strengthening Nigeria’s capacity for greater evidence-based policy processes in agriculture by increasing the capacity of Nigerian analysts to undertake and make widely available relevant evidence-based policy analysis, on 7-9 May 2018, a team of three (3) trainers from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)’s Nigeria Strategy Support Program (NSSP) facilitated a training course on “Econometrics for policy analysis using Stata” in Abuja for 21 (19 males and 2 females) faculty and senior members of staff from State Ministries and Agricultural Development Programmes of the seven Feed The Future states. As a result of this training, participants’ capacity in handling data for evidence-based decision