Country engagement

The Food Prices for Nutrition project equips policy analysts with tools for monitoring the cost and affordability of healthy diets, to help them guide change in agriculture, and food systems and nutrition. We develop and share user-friendly materials in dialogue with partners worldwide, and provide limited technical assistance through country workshops and other activities in nine focus countries: Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, and Tanzania. The project also supports researchers and practitioners to inform government policies in those and other countries through the global Agriculture, Nutrition and Health Academy, so you can sign up for events and news through that ANH Academy Research Community on Food Access.

Our engagement with national governments and international agencies aims to scale up the use of food price data, including new diet cost and affordability metrics to monitor food systems and inform policy in agriculture, health, and related fields. To do this, we convene discussions of national user groups to discuss, interpret, and use published food price data and analyses, involving a variety of stakeholders such as:

  • Government officials designing agricultural policy, transportation infrastructure, or social protection programs;
  • Individuals and leaders of civil society organizations, advocating for change or investment in a specific sector;
  • Market analysts in private sector businesses interested in food system opportunities; and
  • Researchers and students interested in monitoring food system performance, to understand how food environments limit food choice.

Ethiopia

The first national government to produce its own analysis of cost and affordability for local national dietary guidelines is Ethiopia, as a joint effort between the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) and the Ethiopian Statistical Service (ESS), supported by the Food Prices for Nutrition project at Tufts and IFPRI. Their initial analysis of national data was published in August of 2023 and is available here.

Nigeria

In January 2024, Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) became the first country to regularly monitor the Cost of a Healthy Diet on a monthly basis. This work was completed thanks to a collaborative effort from NBS leaders and staff; the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition; and the Food Prices for Nutrition Project. Nigeria’s NBS launched their first bulletin on January 31, 2024, as reported in Nigerian media like The Guardian among other outlets, and was quickly the topic of independent local data analysis and policy advocacy.

Francophone countries

Francophone collaborators in West Africa are encouraged to view our bilingual publication through OECD entitled Alimentation saine, coûts et politiques alimentaires au Sahel et en Afrique de l’Ouest, also available in English as Healthy diets, costs and food policies in the Sahel and West Africa. Francophone collaborators can also view the Burkina Faso webinar below, and the July 2022 global World Bank launch event in French.

Other countries

National user groups are designed to share data and methods among researchers and practitioners working or interested in each of the nine focus countries of the Food Prices for Nutrition project. Food price user groups are country-specific and open to all. Please contact rachel.gilbert@tufts.edu if you are interested in working with the Food Prices for Nutrition project in a similar capacity in your country or organization.

Technical Assistance & Stakeholder Workshops

Introductory Webinars

These videos are also available on the Food Prices for Nutrition YouTube Channel at bit.ly/FoodPricesforNutritionYouTube

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