WEBINAR: Bridging Research and Policy Responses to COVID-19: Value Chain, Food Security

12 June 2020 17:00 CEST/CAT (GMT +2) Bridging Research and Policy Responses to COVID-19: Value Chain, Food Security, Women, Youth and Vulnerable Groups

The three United Nations Rome-based Agencies IFAD, FAO and WFP, jointly with the International Consortium on Applied Bioeconomy Research (ICABR), the International Committee of Women in Agricultural Economics (ICWAE) of the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE), the World Bank, and IFPRI are organising a 2-day webinar.

• WatchLive on IFAD Youtube Page

The event will be webcast and the audience will be able to ask questions to speakers online by using the hashtag #IFADBridge.

The magnitude and breadth of COVID-19 impacts across the world are colossal. We already know that nations will experience economic downturns, with the IMF predicting a contraction in global growth in 2020.

Over the last few months, we have seen an endless number of projections, simulations and predictions about the evolution of COVID-19.

• Virologists, scientists, economists have tried to use models to infer the implications of the pandemic. 
• In the meantime, policy-makers are busy making quick decisions, actions and fund allocations. 
• These two online talks on bridging research and policy responses to COVID-19 bring together academics and policy-makers to synthetize responses on the most relevant topics for the Rome-based food and agriculture Agencies: the future of the value chain, food security, women, youth and vulnerable groups in the post-coronavirus era.

Speakers

Policy Perspective 

• Marie Haga IFAD, Associate Vice-President, of the External Relations and Governance Department 
• Maximo Torero FAO Chief Economist and Assistant Director General for the Economic and Social Development Department
• Arif Husain WFP Chief Economist and Director of Research, Assessments and Monitoring Division
• Gero Carletto World Bank, Manager Research Data Group 
• Jo Swinnen IFPRI Director General 

Research Perspective 

• Marc Bellemare University of Minnesota - Setting the stage  
• Scott Rozelle Stanford University - Rural Development 
• Saweda Liverpool-Tasie MSU - Food Systems 
• David Zilberman UC Berkeley - Natural Disasters
• Tom Reardon MSU - Facts and implications to orient policy discussion about COVID-19 
• Carl Pray President ICABR - Closing Remarks 

Next Webinar: 19 June 2020: Food security, women, youth and vulnerable groups

Moderator: Romina Cavatassi, IFAD

Policy Perspective

• Paul Winters - IFAD Associate Vice-President
• Uma Lele - President Elect IAAE and ICWAE
• Haishan Fu - World Bank, Director Development Data Group
• Ben Davis - FAO, Strategic Programme Leader, Rural Poverty Reduction (SP3), The Future Social Protection Programme
• Ruth Meizen-Dick - IFPRI Senior Fellow

Research Perspective

• Sangeeta Bansal - Centre for International Trade and Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and ICWAE: Health and nutrition
• Madhu Khanna - U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and AAEA President Elect and ICWAE - Agro-environmental technologies
• Chris Barrett - Cornell University: Food Security
• Joanna Upton - Cornell University: High frequency survey data
• Ruerd Ruben - Wageningen University: Food Security and Nutrition