IFPRI-Egypt is made up of globally renowned experts with extensive technical expertise in policy research, capacity strengthening and communication to reduce poverty and to improve food and nutrition security in Egypt. The team draws upon a unique set of skills, with demonstrated analytical, technical, interpersonal skills, and collective experience implementing research and building capacity in Egypt and the Arab world.
Sikandra Kurdi is Egypt Country Program Leader and a Research Fellow. She completed her Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics at the University of California, Berkeley in 2015, followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at the Paris School of Economics. Her dissertation work looked at the impacts of the Labor Intensive Public Works program in Yemen on household incomes and the use of store credit for coping with shocks.
email: s.kurdi@cgiar.org
Nina Jovanovic is an Associate Research Fellow in the Development Strategy and Governance Division based in Cairo, Egypt. Her dissertation looked at the effects of technology adoption decisions made by smallholder farmers with incomplete information. She completed her PhD in Agricultural Economics at Purdue University in 2023.
email: n.jovanovic@cgiar.org
Fatma M. Abdelaziz is a Senior Research Associate and Project Manager. During her 10 years work at IFPRI, she managed several development projects in Egypt, Tunisia and Sudan funded by USAID, FAO, IFAD, EU. Fatma’s project and research scope involves different cross cutting development topics that include Social Policy, Gender equality and Woman Empowerment, Food and Nutrition Security, Industrial and Value Chain Development, Digitization Literacy for Smallholder Farmers, among others . She also managed the IFPRI Egypt Seminar Series, that feature research-based policy dialogues, with the aim to identify and provide evidence-based policy solutions in Egypt. Prior to her work at IFPRI, she worked as a consultant with the UNDP and PwC. Fatma is currently a PhD candidate at Wageningen School of Social Sciences (WASS), Department of Social Sciences, Development Economics Group and holds an MSc in Public Policy and Administration from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and a BA in Economics from the American University in Cairo (AUC). Fatma’s Research interests include public policy and development economics, with a special focus on cluster-based development and digital agriculture for smallholders.
email: F.Abdelaziz@cgiar.org
Basma Yassa is a Research Associate. Before Joining IFPRI she has worked as an Economist in the Governance and Economic Research Unit in the Ministry of Investment and International Cooperation. She has also worked as a Senior Teaching Assistant in the Economics Department at the American University in Cairo. She has completed her Master’s Degree in Economics in International Development at the American University in Cairo. She holds a BA in Economics from the American University in Cairo. She is currently completing her Ph.D. in Economics at FEPS, Cairo University. Her research interests are Applied Development Economics, Public Policy Evaluation, Macroeconomics, Labour Economics, and International Trade.
email: B.Yassa@cgiar.org
Mogeda Ramadan is an HR & Administration Officer. She graduated from the Faculty of Commerce- Cairo University- Major Accounting and has a Human Resources Management Diploma from the American University in Cairo and studying MBA online at the University of the People. She worked as a Senior Secretary at the Program Support Unit (PSU)- in collaboration with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) at the Canadian Embassy. Later she worked as an Executive Assistant on a project Support to the Primary Schooling Project (STEPS II)- funded by CIDA– a 5 years Project and is aimed at enhancing the quality of Primary Education in Upper Egypt ( Sohag, Qena & Assuit Governorates). Worked as Senior Executive Assistant at the Early Childhood Education Enhancement Project (ECEEP)-Canadian Assistance Team – funded by CIDA- the aim of this project was to enhance the quality of education at the Kindergarten stage in Upper Egypt Governorates. Worked as Administration Associate at ICARDA Cairo office for three and a half years, responsible for the office overall Administration and Financial procedures.
email: M.Ramadan@cgiar.org
Mohamed Ali Abdel Gawad is Program Assistant. He holds a Diploma in Travel and Hotels from Orman Tourism and Hotels, Egypt. Mohamed started as a Driver with Ericsson company, after that he worked in the UNICEF office as a driver in Egypt until he joined IFPRI Egypt.
email: Mohamed.Ali@cgiar.org
Ali Abdelhadi is a Senior Communications Specialist based in IFPRI's office in Cairo, in charge of the communications and public affairs activities in the region. Ali is also acting as the office’s communication liaison between IFPRI’s office in Cairo and IFPRI’s headquarters as well as other country and regional offices. Ali has over 7 years of experience in communications event planning and marketing. Before joining IFPRI, Ali worked at Vodafone Group, Magrabi Foundation, Fair Trade Egypt, and Nawaya Egypt. Ali holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Mansoura University, Egypt.
email: a.abdelhadi@cgiar.org
Nada Shokry is a Research Associate. Before Joining IFPRI, she worked as an Economist at Towson University’s Regional Economic Studies Institute (RESI) in Maryland, USA. She has also worked as a Consultant for both IFPRI and the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies (ECES) as well as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Economics Department at the American University in Cairo and at the Arab Academy for Science and Technology (AAST) Business Department in Alexandria. She holds both her MA and BA degrees in Economics from the American University in Cairo (AUC) and has completed a graduate certificate program in healthcare data analytics from University of Connecticut in the USA. Her research interests are Applied Development Economics, Public Policy, Macroeconomics, Health Economics and International Economics.
email: n.shokry@cgiar.org
Ganna Hassan is a Research Assistant at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), her research interests include Public Policy Evaluation, Applied Development Economics, Inequality and Poverty Reduction and Applied Econometrics, with a focus on topics relevant to social protection and food and nutrition security in the MENA region. She is currently working on social protection projects in Egypt and Yemen. Before joining IFPRI, Ganna worked in the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning team in a USAID-funded project, implemented by DAI aiming at enabling MSMEs through simplifying tax policies, regulations and processes for MSMEs. In addition, she worked at LYNX Strategic Business Advisors, as an Economic Researcher and Policy Analyst where she worked closely with stakeholders from the public as well as the private sector. Ganna holds her bachelor's degree from the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, the French section at Cairo University and she is currently aiming to successfully obtain her master’s degree.
email:g.hassan@cgiar.org
IFPRI-HQ Staff
Kibrom A. Abay is a Senior Research Fellow in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit, based in Washington DC. He is a development and agricultural economist with research interests including rural development, agricultural transformation, urbanization, food and nutrition security, and behavioral economics. Most of his research involves impact evaluation methods. Some of his recent studies examine the behavioral and inferential implications of mismeasurement in household surveys. Much of his current research focuses on Africa south of the Sahara and the Middle East and North Africa region. Before joining IFPRI, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Copenhagen and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). Kibrom received his PhD in Economics from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark
email: k.abay@cgiar.org
Olivier Ecker is a Senior Research Fellow in the Development Strategy and Governance Division at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Olivier is an economist specializing in development strategy and policies for poverty reduction and food and nutrition security in the Middle East and North Africa region and Sub‐Saharan Africa. Before joining IFPRI in 2009, he worked as a Research Associate in the Department of International Agricultural Trade and Food Security at the University of Hohenheim, Germany. Olivier received his doctoral degree in agricultural economics from the University of Hohenheim.
email: O.Ecker@cgiar.org
Hagar ElDidi is a Research Analyst at the Environment and Production Technology Division (EPTD). She holds a BA in Economics from the American University in Cairo and an MSc in Interdisciplinary Studies in Sustainability, with a specialization in Ecological Economics, from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Her research interests include equitable and sustainable communal governance of natural resources, environmental justice, rural development, and food security for vulnerable communities.
email: H.Eldidi@cgiar.org
Daniel Gilligan is Deputy Division Director in IFPRI’s Poverty, Health and Nutrition Division. His research addresses the economics of household investments in childhood nutrition and education in developing countries, as well as the impact and cost-effectiveness of social protection and agricultural and nutrition interventions. Much of his research is based on experimental and quasi-experimental impact evaluations.
Two recent projects address (i) the role of information and social networks in the diffusion and sustainable adoption of biofortified crops, and (ii) parental incentives to improve cognitive outcomes for children attending early childhood development centers. Dan’s research has been featured in The New York Times, the Economist, The Atlantic online, and blog posts at the World Bank and The Guardian online. Dan holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of Maryland.
email: D.GILLIGAN@CGIAR.ORG
Zhe Guo is a senior GIS coordinator in the Environment and Production Technology at the IFPRI which he joined in 2007. Guo earned B.S. in soil sciences from China Agricultural University, M.S. in Ecology and Geography from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of Maryland, and Ph.D. in Geography from George Mason University. His research focuses on spatial data analysis and modeling, machine learning applications in agriculture, spatial database development, monitoring and classification using big data, and ecosystem modeling and evaluation.
email: z.guo@cgiar.org
Naureen Karachiwalla is a Research Fellow in the Poverty, Health, and Nutrition Division (PHND) and is a non-resident Fellow at the Consortium for Development Policy Research (CDPR). She obtained her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Oxford and was an AMID Fellow at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy.
Her research focuses on empirical development microeconomics, and within that sphere, on public and labor economics. Her research interests include incentives and accountability in the public sector, education, social protection, and technology adoption. Her work has been published in the Journal of Public Economics and Economic Development and Cultural Change, among others, and has focused on incentives and accountability in China, Uganda, and Pakistan, as well as caste and learning outcomes in Pakistan, agricultural technology adoption and counterfeiting in Uganda, and nutrition and social protection in Bangladesh and Egypt.
email: n.karachiwalla@cgiar.org
Claudia Ringler is the Unit Director for Natural Resources and Resilience in the Transformation Strategies Department. She coordinates research at the intersection of nature, agriculture, and development for tangible progress toward more equitable and resilient food systems. As co-lead of the CGIAR NEXUS Gains initiative, she drives research on the role of energy in transforming food and water systems and on climate change adaptation and mitigation, as well as water and other natural resource interventions for increased equity and resilience.
Claudia has more than 200 publications in the areas of water and food security and equity in climate resilience, irrigation, and energy systems, developed in collaboration with partners across Africa and Asia. In 2021, she was awarded honorary life memberships by both the International Water Resources Association and the International Association of Agricultural Economics for her lifelong contributions to the fields of water resources economics and agricultural economics, respectively.
Claudia received a PhD in agricultural economics from the Center of Development Research, University of Bonn, and an MA in international development economics from Yale University.
email: c.ringler@cgiar.org
