The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) announces the launch the Sudan Strategy Support Program (Sudan SSP). Funded by the United States Agency for International Development, the Sudan SSP will bring together a team of international and local experts to conduct research, capacity building activities and technical support on food security, social protection and produce scientific evidence and build capacity to raise incomes of the rural poor and improve food and nutrition security in Sudan.
A co-creation workshop will soon take place to introduce IFPRI’s new Sudan SSP, strengthen partnerships with stakeholders, researchers and development partners in Sudan. A scoping mission has also already taken place between August 22-26, 2021, where a series of meetings with key stakeholders focused on identifying the landscape of local partners and priority demands for research outreach and capacity building. Stakeholders will also be invited to participate in the IFPRI organized co-creation workshop.
The Sudan SSP’s research activities will focus on five broad areas, providing needed analytical support to local and international partners, building related communities of practice, and sharing prompt and timely research results pushing forward topics at the forefront of discussion circles:
- Agricultural Production
- Markets and Trade (Agricultural Price Distortions)
- Livelihoods and Nutrition
- Development Strategy and Investment Planning
- Increasing Resilience of Farming Systems Under Growing Climate Challenges
These five areas will be further refined in collaboration with civil society and non-governmental organizations, private sector, think tanks and international development partners. IFPRI will pursue an agenda informed by the participatory stakeholder co-creation workshop’s discussions. IFPRI’s main partners may also include the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development, the DAL Group, United States Agency for International Development, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, World Food Programme, and World Bank.
As one of its first research activities, IFPRI has started a wheat value chains study that focuses on both short-term and long-term inefficiencies in the wheat value chains and viable solutions. The study involves a survey assessment of actors in the wheat value chain, estimation of price distortions and opportunities to enhance wheat market competitiveness, analysis of wheat trade, as well as a political economy assessment of coalitions. First results of the wheat study are expected for Fall 2021.
The 3-year Sudan SSP program, running from 2021-2024, will also focus on three key areas for capacity development, including Building technical skills for research analysis, with local research partners; Expanding functional skills; and Establishing a knowledge sharing and analysis research network. The co-creation workshop will additionally help IFPRI further identify the priority training and capacity building needs.
An annual research conference will also be hosted by the Sudan SSP, for community of practice engagement, with local associations of agricultural and development economists to provide exposure to innovative methodologies and the opportunity for researchers to gain quality feedback from colleagues on their work as well as increased visibility to the broader research and development community.
Through its milestones and main goals, the IFPRI Sudan SSP expects to support coalition-building for evidence-based recommendations and reducing poverty in Sudan to ensure that evidence-based solutions are relevant and have a positive impact. In so doing this would also achieve more inclusive dialogue among agri-food systems stakeholders, and reinvigorated local research capacity.
The Sudan SSP will be working in Sudan in the One CGIAR context and in collaboration with ICARDA.
