Dr. Sikandra Kurdi

Country Program Leader at International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Speaker

Sikandra Kurdi is a Research Fellow in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and leads the Egypt country office. She coordinates IFPRI’s research portfolio in the MENA region and is active in the design and implementation of impact evaluations of nutrition, social protection, and agriculture interventions in Egypt and Yemen. Within the CGIAR network, Sikandra is the Egypt country representative for the Policy Innovation Science Program and contributes to the Future Food Systems and Scaling Innovations Science Program in the CWANA region. Sikandra earned her Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2015, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Paris School of Economics. Her research interests include the design of cash transfer and graduation programs, child nutrition, the role of credit in rural food markets, and food security in fragile and conflict affected settings. Her work is characterised by rigorous impact evaluations and a commitment to informing evidence-based policy.