The Promise and Pitfalls of Index Insurance: Building Resilience Through Responsible Implementation

6 June, 9:30-11 a.m. (Eastern time)
Host: USAID Bureau for Food Security

Agriculture is an inherently risky activity. This risk exposure can make and keep farmers poor. Agricultural index insurance can help farmers avoid costly coping mechanisms and unlock opportunities for increased investment and greater resilience, but such positive development impacts largely depend on the quality of the index insurance product and its appropriateness in a particular context.

The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Assets and Market Access has tested dozens of agricultural index insurance interventions around the world. Based on the results of this research, the lab is developing resources to enable stakeholders to assess the potential and quality of index insurance in a given context.

In this Agrilinks webinar, participants will gain an overview of agricultural and livestock-based index insurance as a development tool and the emerging evidence base around its efficacy. Participants will also be introduced to a new hands-on tool that will help them understand and incorporate minimum quality standards (MQS) for successful index insurance interventions.

Ask the Expert: Africa’s Green Revolution and Policy Levers

7 June, 10 a.m. (Eastern time)
Host: USAID Bureau for Food Security

Agriculture and food policy is a critical development tool that can help direct agricultural transformation to best suit country needs and goals.  This 30-minute Ask the Expert Chat for an online discussion and live audio Q&A will focus on using policy to facilitate or even catalyze agricultural transformation.

Hosted in conjunction with the organizers of the 22nd Conference on the Global Bioeconomy: Disruptive Innovations, Value Chains, and Rural Development, this discussion will address questions such as:

  • Is policy change the key to improved staple crop productivity in sub-Saharan Africa?
  • How can policy affect income change, food security, employment, and nutritional outcomes?  (Spoiler alert: the answer will include evidence from Senegal and Rwanda)
  •  How can we generate the political will in partner countries to drive climate-smart agricultural transformation?

This event is part of Agrilinks’ food security policy month this June, and will preview results to be presented June 12 at the Global Bioeconomy conference.

Gender and Nutrition in Livestock Systems

13 June, 8:30 a.m.
Host: Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Livestock Systems

How can livestock researchers incorporate important gender and nutrition dimensions into their projects? The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Livestock Systems is offering a three-part webinar series on the integration of gender and nutrition into 1) design, 2) data collection and analysis, and 3) final reporting of livestock research projects. Through this interactive webinar series, livestock researchers and collaborators will learn how to integrate gender and nutrition at each stage of the project lifecycle.

Increasingly, the integration of gender and nutrition is a requirement for research for development projects, particularly if they are in developing countries, to increase the impact of such projects. Yet relatively few resources are available on how to integrate gender and nutrition into livestock projects across the entire project life cycle.

Drs. Sarah McKune and Kathleen Colverson from the University of Florida are the principal research scientists and leaders of the Livestock Systems Innovation Lab’s Human Health and Nutrition, and Gender in Livestock Systems cross-cutting themes, respectively. They will present information specifically tailored for livestock researchers and draw on their extensive field experience to present practical suggestions and offer recommendations to webinar participants. Active discussion and questions are encouraged.